#SPRING MAIDEN YANG COME HOME

[astralwukong]

SCREAMING CRYING THROWING UP

[bestworstcase]

ok wait. ok.

some roses will never bloom some dreams will rot on the vine some lives will end much too soon some evil will never ever die […] sometimes it’s worth it all to risk the fall and fight for every life

vs.

’tis the last rose of summer left blooming alone […] i’ll not leave thee, thou lone one to pine on the stem since the lovely are sleeping go, sleep thou with them thus kindly i scatter thy leaves o’er the bed where thy mates of the garden lie scentless and dead.

...hm. anyways.

"the lies come out of you so easily. like-minded souls, indeed."

summer rose telling lies! first time for everything—but the first first first inkling we get of summer's character is "now i'm nothing but a liar and you're thrown into the fray."

the way yang tells the story in 2.6 draws a direct line between summer disappearing and the fact of raven's existence being revealed to her; tai and summer withheld this information.

in 7.4 ruby asks qrow if summer's last mission was "another oz secret" and qrow answers "there were a lot of those back in the day" but that no, "this one was a summer secret."

9.10 we see summer put on a mask for tai and then a different mask for raven. "you're... just going to leave them?" raven asks, and summer deflects like a pro: "you're one to talk!" and "if i get this right, there's nothing to worry about. trust me."

"saw you in a dream/are you who you seem?"

"you were born to hypnotize them all."

she lied, ruby says.

summer rose is the reason raven has Trust Issues.

listen.

ozma lied. salem trusted him. he lied to her for years let her support his ambitions in the only way she knew how for years before he told the truth. "this isn't what he asked of me." "ozma told salem everything: the true reason the god of light had brought him back, the relics that lay scattered around the world, and the day of judgement he had been told to prepare for."

"if i get this right, there's nothing to worry about. trust me." "let's get it over with, i guess."

the god of light's mandate, the divine relics, the day of judgment he had been told to prepare for. don't you see? none of that matters anymore.

summer left her kids behind, but the spring maiden, a child whom raven loved enough to have a kindred link, died that night.

raven blames herself for that girl's death. salem blames herself for the deaths of her daughters.

"leave." <- there is a reason these scenes are paralleled. also

"and so we must... press on." / "and now i have to live with that forever." she blames herself.

anyway--the point is--

"if humanity were ever to stand a chance at being united, one thing was clear..." "he had to destroy salem."

"how can i destroy salem?" "you can't! :)"

"we don't have to kill you to stop you; and we will stop you." "your mother said those words to me. she was wrong, too."

listen. listen to me.

what happens if ozma chooses to stay with salem?

what if—after he tells her everything, after he pours out all the things he's kept festering inside of himself for years because the god of light told him salem lives, but the woman you hold dear in your memories is gone and where you seek comfort, you will only find pain—after he tells her about the relics, about the mandate, about the blade hanging over remnant's neck—what if, when she says none of that matters, he answers you're right, and takes her hand?

what happens if salem chooses to stay with him?

what if, when he tells her that the world is doomed and that he alone is meant to save it because the god of light anointed him for the task, she says very well. let's get this over with, i guess. what if it's salem who balks in the end?

summer rose is both of these questions. she is the ozma who convinced salem to embrace the mandate and she is also the ozma who rose out of the smoldering ruin of the world she couldn't save and decided to take the hand salem held out to her.

(tai never leaves his isolated home in the woods. raven retreats into the wilderness to lead her bandits. ruby rose believes that the world is worth fighting for. summer left him—summer stabbed her in the back—summer lied.)

[strqyr]

...for every life is The Summer Mission song. probably from raven's pov, but.

look. listen. we said goodbye to all the things we loved (which 'we' are you referring to?) (you're just going to leave them? you're one to talk.) gave up our lives just to find that it was not enough (you're better at that life. better than i was.) we leapt in faith, left our solitude, our carefree peace (where did raven leave? summer was living a carefree peace... relatively speaking.) what we thought could change the world was just a childish dream (and now, it feels like a childish dream. gone... like everybody else. <- strq knows a thing or two about childish dreams.)

we failed to stop our own demise, the tragic end's before our eyes, hope has no place here (the ability to derive strength from hope is undoubtedly mankind's greatest attribute. which is why i will focus all of my power… to snuff it out, says salem as raven flies away) maybe the path that leads our way home will finally clear (if i do this right then there's nothing to worry about. <- the intention was to return.) maybe the end we tried to avoid is already here (what was the motivation for the mission?)

some roses will never bloom (summer's plan—if i do this right—didn't work) some dreams will rot on the vine (childish dreams) some lives will end much too soon (the spring maiden) some evil will never ever die (salem lol)

some wars will not end in peace. some heroes choose the wrong side (SUMMER) (but also, just choose, not will choose, like every other line in the chorus prior to this) sometimes it's worth it all to risk the fall and fight for every life / and fight... for everything we love, for all we've ever known. (to know what it is to feel loved is a fair price to some <- both summer and raven left. was ruby / yang knowing what it feels to be loved a fair price to them?) (i love you just the way you are.) (i will do everything in my power to ensure [the tribe's] survival -> [the tribe] is your family -> all i care about is my tribe—my family -> i will do everything in my power to ensure my family's survival. convince raven branwen that the survival of her people (her tribe. her family.) depends on her cooperation.) (it's. it's about mothers' love for their family okay.)

thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[rubyneo]

so (claps my hands together) they 100% misused neo here. they shouldve shown her and what she was doing in EA more. what screen time they did give her was often underwhelming. i had a complete lack of reaction to a certain kiss (& the whole scene honestly). it literally did nothing for me. just like. Ok. finally. it was dumb as fuck that yang was more concerned about defending blake from rubys outburst than she was about her sister clearly being in SEVERE distress?!? ruby the girl who's never lashed out like this ever, the sister she raised and would do anything for. okk... i liked jaune's arc though i thought that was well done + i love that he got to keep the white hair after being younged. the wk moments were... interesting. curious to see where they go with that. i LOVED the brothers lore it literally made me jaw drop. the baby brothers were so cute... really love that they were FROM EA rather than having created it. also the implication that they can come and go from there as they pleased? not really plausible imo but it couldve been interesting to. see them. umm. the neo illusion scene i loved everything about roman ofc. his final line made me cry really hard. clover was funny as hell to me. that man did fucking NOTHING. he only did things as part of the group and then during the fight he literally just stood there holding kingfisher. presumably bc neo had no idea how he fought. he was just there to be a number in the group + to turn into qrow. lionheart at least used his weapon in the fight. neo's backstory shouldve been more explored beyond a couple paintings and a couple lines from roman. not everyone has read roman holiday. ozpin using his cane in the fight like roman (hitting and bludgeoning rather than the fencing style) was a good detail. i've seen people get all up in arms about penny and ironwood being there but like. it is not unreasonable for neo to have made an educated guess as to what happened with them. the summer scenes were fantastic i love her axe-gun. yes ruby stop putting your mom on a pedestal she was a person too! though interesting that it took her so long to be like GASP my mom LIED?!? when in v7 qrow literally tells her that summer had a lot of secrets. meaning she lied a lot. ALSO very interested in who raven portaled to. if qrow knows more than hes been telling or if theres another person we havent met that raven found important enough to have immediate access to. weiss being made into the comedy character was.. annoying to say the least. neo's ending was unsatisfying in a lot of ways. i think this volume couldve done with another couple of episodes to fully flesh out ideas. sorry this was long lmao but it think this is a decent summary of my thoughts

YEAH!!!! honestly so many of my issues with it definitely could have been fixed with just like 2 extra episodes to fit in more of the build up (especially to the ruby and neo plot). bees were fine but they were like meant to be a d-plot to me. i figured it would be like primary plot is trying to get home interspersed with the ruby and neo dramatic build up and ruby's mental state deteriorating, b plot was what was goin on with jaune, c plot is The Penny Thing, and then bees could be doing their thang in the bg.

still mad ruby and neo's Whole Deal was like an episode and 4 lines of dialogue outside of that.

summer and raven's little adventure makes me so fucking crazy. i fully expect the person raven portalled to to be the spring maiden, and lowkey i think its possible it could be gretchen. the timeline would certainly line up.

neo's ending...i was able to be okay with it until i saw that the writers were literally like well she's a fan favourite so we knew we couldnt just off her so we had to give her a more gentle send off like KILL YOURSELVES!!!!!! sniffle. they rly just dropped at the last second "neo is jealous of the love ruby gets from her friends 🥺🥺 now she's gonna kill herself" LIKE SHUT UPPPPP.

the highs for me were VERY high (ruby snapping! neo's dialogue as an echo of salem's! jaune being a crazy hermit to parallel to ozpin! the brothers bg! summer and raven! the horror elements!!!) and the lows were very low. but if theyd had like literally just 2 more episodes i think it would have flowed a lot better and not felt quite so...rushed near the end.

[aerislei]

I'm so normal about this you guys.

(spoilers below the cut, ofc)

So I know Summer's kind of been lurking around the narrative for a ... long time. We see summer's emblem and grave before we even see Ruby's face in the red trailer. Never mind the white hooded figure in the Opening and- you know, the picture in volume 3 finally kind of revealing her just a little more. Ruby at her mother's grave, etc. Yang talks about her, a little, here and there. Qrow says she was a bit of a brat. Both Qrow and Raven mention that Ruby is a lot like her.

But we've kept her very much a mystery.

Of course in the wake of volume 9 she's still a mystery. super mom, fighter of grimm and baker of cookies. But for the first time we've got a rather human element added - she lied about where she was going that night. It doesn't change that she may-or-may-not be dead. It doesn't change anything at all, really.

But it also changes everything. What was summer going to do that night? How much does Raven know? Its incredibly likely that whatever happened that night is directly responsible for exactly the way Raven behaves now.

Summer and Raven did something together but told no one else about it. Summer felt okay trusting Raven with whatever this mission was, but told no one else. Raven, who would sometime around this period also gained the Spring Maiden's powers. And, of course, who seemed to be aware that Salem cannot be defeated.

How... curious.

My current theory is essentially that Summer talked Raven into helping because she knew the boys:tm: would try to stop her, or want to be involved, or both. And she wanted to make sure that the kids would be well taken care of. I think that Raven's portal went to the previous spring maiden, given the timeline that we're working in. As for what they ran into... what happened... while I have theories they're far less concrete. I'm excited to see if we get an answer finally. Summer absolutely hoped she would come home but knew it was likely she wouldn't and my heart just aches. That must have been a hell of a decision.

On lighter notes, learning that Yang got her awkward flirting from Raven, and seeing what "a bit of a brat" might mean, a little was glorious. Poly-STRQs are winning, feasting. We've been on about Taiyang-entire team-Xiao Long for ages but Summer may well have been just as in on it.

I just. I can't wait to see where this goes! Like, Raven knew something! Did she go to Taiyang at the end of volume six and finally be truthful? Is Ruby going to tell Yang what she saw? And are they going to corner Raven to demand the information she has? Whatever it might be? It feels like we're so close to finally learning the truth about Summer. And yet... -

We've barely learned anything.

RIP to my kusarigama wielder summer rose hc tho, ig. that was definitely an axe-gun. It doesn't have a name yet tho so im gonna keep calling it briar rose. Also 0 promises that I don't use my original design sometimes Anyway.

[majoringinsarcasm]

It wouldn’t be my favorite show if ppl didn’t keep up the 10 year long tradition of not acknowledging banana boy as an important character the writers write things about on purpose. Feels like home going out this way.

“Why did they waste an episode focusing on JAUNE instead of anyone else? What about Ruby or Raven or Yang?!”

Deep breath.

Because the company is shutting down and anything that they release are the episodes or parts of the episodes they had already finished and can edit in such a way where they feel it’s good enough to release.

We don’t know. And may never know. What their entire plan for Beyond is. The last stream is on the 26 so maybe someone will ask how many episodes they had PLANNED before learning THE COMPANY WAS BEING SHUT DOWN.

“This is the very first entry in which I guess is going to become my journal.”

Maybe their goal was for 12 mini episodes to touch on specific things that they can’t show super in depth in volume 10 / things they wanted to shine a light on. In rwby proper Sun and Neptune being silly goofy detectives would not match the somber and serious tone of the epilogue we saw. Much like world of remnant was a world building story book of exposition and narration, Beyond doesn’t quite fit into show proper. What I love about rwby being a web series is that it CAN have these offshoots and branches and funny side things and STILL have the main story. Like an OVA.

IF we had gotten Ruby v9 aftermath in this episode instead: what would ppl be okay with seeing. It’s less than six minutes just like volume one episodes. She could not “Tell Yang about Raven, bond with Oscar, have a talk with Pietro” all at the same time. If anyone reads this then maybe they’ll snap “any one of those is better than what we got” and maybe they truly believe that. Or maybe if crwby picked the “wrong” thing to focus on they’d say why This and not That.

The company is shutting down and anything that is released is what they already had finished Enough.

Knocks on the glass. We still have Two Whole Episodes. Next week could be Bees or Weiss family or Penny talk or Ruby. We. Don’t. Know!!!!! What I do know is that it feels familiar in a toxic relationship way to see people bitching YES BITCHING about having a Jaune focused episode. That’s an uncomfortable constant. Won’t miss it but as the Company Shuts Down it truly feels like old times.

The episode was amazing by the way in case people haven’t watched it bc of Jaune. The art style is lovely, it showcases the lingering trauma of the ever after. It’s got Jaune having sympathy for Oscar. “He never apologized!!” And neither did Emerald who episodes before joining the team was helping Cinder fight Penny. It’s not a plot hole. It’s not lazy writing. We clearly have seen Jaune grow to care and worry about Oscar post his volume 6 wall push. Immediate after that he’s so upset when they find out he’s missing. I’m assuming in the show context they had made up. Just like I’m assuming Raven has told ppl she’s the spring maiden after her daughter went missing. Like. I too wish we saw more of things but we didn’t and we gotta move on about what isn’t gonna happen or might not happen the way we Think It Should.

It’s less than a month until the company is shut down along with the apps. Isn’t that fucked.

I WANT to tag this. But I won’t. But if you do find and read this please know that I’m not knocking people for Wanting Other Characters. I’m 100% on board with man I wish we had gotten a glimpse into someone else.

But under the circumstances of who they can get, what they’ve already made, and just. Their own emotions about working so hard for something they might never get the legal rights to work on again. Having a short episode about the secondary main character of the show (I count all of team rwby as main characters all four are the mains) after what he’s gone through and the specific context of feeling out of place. Coming Back Changed in a way that relates to Oscar. Was Intentional.

And to be perfectly honest if they took up five minutes of a show proper episode yall would fucking riot so. As a Jaune fan who understands the anting to see team rwby count your blessing this Jaune Feelings is presented the way it is bc again. Yall would throw a fit if this was a PART of the show proper.

[dragynkeep]

I feel like coming up for a reason for raven to leave should've been so easy tho- just make her become the spring maiden either during her pregnancy or soon after?

Like someone she knew in the bandit camp was the maiden but died, and she knew how dangerous it was for tai and yang so she decided to leave to keep them safe, but maybe she knew tai would try to find her so she did it in a shitty way or something.

i think the reason itself in canon is pretty straightforward; raven left because the family she made wasn't the one she wanted & she couldn't fully leave the tribe behind ... it's just not the nice or respectable or justifiable reason people want.

people don't want raven to be what she is, a coward who valued thieves, bandits & murderers over her husband, brother & infant child. the issue was never why she left but that yang isn't allowed to gain a fulfilling conclusion in her confrontation with raven, it's brushed off in all of five minutes.

raven becoming a spring maiden at all just doesn't make sense in her motivation of not wanting to be put in salem's crosshairs, so her taking the maiden powers at any times which would do exactly that just seems nonsensical. i could buy it if the spring maiden died under her watch & the powers were given to raven against her will, which would explain why she's so angry but the show gives nothing for that.

i genuinely don't think this fandom can handle mother figures that're bad people or shit mothers lmao. raven is a neglectful coward, willow is an emotionally abusive drunk & kali did nothing to bring her child home. the only good mothers are summer, an, saphron & terra; & the first two of those are dead.

[itsclydebitches]

Does Raven insulting Tai and Yang sticking up for him count? If not then... no, they have not thought of their dad even once after leaving home lol. Oh, and then I had an awful thought - in regards to the Qrow and Oz reconciliation ask... what do you want to bet the actual way the show is going to handle it is: Qrow meets up with the Vacuo group, finds out Oz is back, Qrow blames Oz for the loss of his nieces, completely disregarding any hand he had in encouraging them. Prolly punches him again.

I legit can't remember, when does she defend Tai to Raven? I recall Raven bringing Tai up for a generic "He told you about my semblance" statement, but not much else... but regardless it should not be this hard to remember moments where the girls talk about their father lol. We actually got more family bonding during the Beacon era — Tai sending Zwei in the mail, Ruby gleefully hanging onto Qrow, etc. — than we do now when everyone is in mortal danger. Honestly, the fact that Yang knows how Raven's semblance works, knows she and Qrow are both in Haven, but sees Raven portal out, so Yang knows she must have gone to Tai, she just got revelations about how Raven murdered the last Maiden... and none of this comes up? I mean yeah, Yang failing to reveal that she knows who the Spring Maiden is remains a huge, thematic problem, but if the murdering bandit who just got done attacking me and my friends, including gunning for another family member (Qrow), magicked away to my other parent, I'd be just a little worried. We're missing so much emotional work in the show at this point, which is compounded by questions like, "So Raven went off to Tai and... what happened?"

A few years back I never would have thought that such an insane jump in logic was possible — not unless a character was supposed to be irrational — but after Qrow blamed Clover for his own murder? Winter blamed Ironwood for things that literally did not happen? Yeah, anything is possible. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if Qrow reignited his fury at Ozpin, resulting in a confrontation that takes longer to resolve than Emerald's, despite the rest of the group supposedly being on Ozpin's side again. I say with 100% seriousness that I can imagine a moment, sometime in the near future, when we're asking, "Why did everyone immediately accept Emerald's presence, but Ozpin, the long-time friend and ally, needs multiple episodes to be seen as trustworthy again? Why is one lie from a traumatized friend trying to keep the world safe worse than the woman who helped kill multiple people, destroyed Beacon, and was totally fine with world domination for Salem until that suddenly meant she was in danger too?" And why in the world would Qrow be mistrustful when the story has already resolved ("resolved") Ozpin's secret? Why, it's as you say: because his nieces are missing, Atlas is gone, and Salem is running rampant across Remnant. Clearly, if Ozpin had just been a better person, nothing bad ever would have happened. Given how these complex situations keep getting twisted to blame one, tangentially related party, I can easily see a Volume 9 or 10 where Qrow uses Ozpin as his scapegoat — building off the Volume 6 idea that everything he's ever done is useless because Ozpin wasn't forthright with him — and none of the other characters are interested in pointing out the numerous problems with this thinking.

Can Qrow just... stay in Atlas please? Give him and Maria some side mission to do. My ship has long since sunk, so if Qrow and Ozpin can't at least be civil, I'd prefer them ignoring one another like they have the last three volumes lol

[davebehave186]

Have a potato:

As we all know, BMBLB was added at the last minute by Jeff Williams to the RWBY Volume 4 Soundtrack. What we also know is that Jeff has future knowledge of the show and his songs are all allusions to certain portions of RWBY’s story. As I was remembering this song on the way home from work, I realized that while it is a ‘Bumbleby’ song, it is also a preview of volume 9 (possibly of course).

The song BMBLB has too many allusions to Alice in Wonderland (and Through the Looking Glass) to be a coincidence in my opinion. So, while the song is about Blake and Yang, it is also about Yang’s (and potentially others’) journey through the abyss (Wonderland).

Just a breakdown of possible allusions, I’m not looking to go too potato here…

There's a garden where I go – Signifies Yang falling through the world, eventually finding a garden (as Alice does)

If you meet me there no one will know - EDIT: this could mean only Blake will be in Yang’s wonderland

In the springtime in the sun – The Spring Maiden is Raven, I personally think it is possible that Raven met the same fate as Yang, resulting in her drastic personality change and abandoning her family. The Spring Maiden is known for making things grow, like in a garden (and having a good singing voice)

We can be alone without anyone

All the butterflies and the birds – Allusions to the Dodo and Bread-and-Butterfly of Alice in Wonderland, could also signify the Caterpillar eventually transforming into a butterfly (or Yang changing, but not in a bad way)

Keep our secret no they won't say a word

But they watch us and they know

And they're happy as they see our love grow

We'll sit for a while – Sitting for a while, perhaps at a tea party?

As I drink in your smile – drinking in a smile (also like a tea party?), Smile alluding to Cheshire Cat, Drinking tea... Blake’s favorite drink

It feels like a dream that's come true

My head starts to buzz - EDIT: maybe the fantasy world taking a stronger hold?

And my heart fills with love

Over you...

Baby can't you see?

You could be with me

We could live inside a garden of ecstasy – Alice eventually reaches the garden after being guided by the Chesshire Cat

You could be my queen – Allusions to the Queen of Hearts(?)

I could be your dream

Our lives like a fantasy

Maybe set me free? – Meaning that somebody is trapped, possibly Yang in Wonderland?

Let me be your bumblebee

Now the flowers are in bloom – This is the part where I think Blake may enter… Also alludes to the flowers from Alice in Wonderland

And you've chased away my darkness and gloom – Saddened by loss of Yang

When the wind blows through the trees

And your voice is like a song in the breeze – Hearing Yang’s voice cheers her up

My doubts disappear – She no longer feels lost (I sort of think they are going to have a hard time wanting to leave wherever they are)

Every time that you're near

The clouds seem to run from the sky – Canonically a scene when Yang cheers up Blake on the train

The thought of your kiss – Blake confronting her feelings for Yang

Sends my soul into bliss

I get high

Baby can't you see? - EDIT: I’m pretty sure this whole section is one or both of of the girls pining

You could be with me

We could live inside a garden of ecstasy

You could be my queen

I could be your dream

Our lives like a fantasy – This and the previous line saying that they are trapped in their own Wonderlands, I kind of wonder if each member of RWBY will enter their own fantasy story with Blake and Yang having overlapping portions

Maybe set me free?

Let me be your-

Like a serenade – I’m still not sure who is singing, maybe the flowers, maybe the Cheshire Cat, maybe the Spring Maiden…

Every word you say

Has me fallin'

More and more in love with you

Like a Purdie* beat

You are oh so sweet

Every day is sunny, tastes like honey

Feel so alive take me back to the hive

Baby can't you see? - Edit: both?

You could be with me - Yang?

We could live inside a garden of ecstasy - Yang not wanting to leave?

You could be my queen - Yang? with queen reference

I could be your dream - Blake?

Our lives like a fantasy - Blake?

Maybe set me free? - Blake trapped in Wonderland?

Let me be your bumblebee – Both: Somehow Blake and Yang admitting their budding feelings will change them as people and allow them to escape their Wonderland.

Throughout the song there are lines such as getting high (from love), fantasy, and dreaming. I think this refers to Yang entering a world of fantasy, without the pressure and danger of the Grimm and Salem.

I also think it is possible that the void will throw each member of RWBY into their respective fairy tales. Blake, having conquered her fairy tale scenario in real life, may escape her mind prison easier than the others.

Additional fitting elements of a Wonderland scenario.

Mad Hatter – Neo (with her spiffy new hat)

Cheshire Cat – Blake? Or Neon… I think Blake will be a new character that breaks the fantasy (possibly by escaping her own fairy tale)

Basically, while I think BMBLB is of course a Bumbleby song… I think it specifically references Yang and Blake in Volume 9. So, I don’t think there is going to be a big bumbleby kiss at their reunion, rather I think volume 9 is going to fully explore the acceptance of their feelings for one another and Yang’s growth into a more trusting person.

EDIT: Additionally they keep repeating *could* like something is holding them back. Perhaps their insecurities? Yang afraid of losing Blake and Blake afraid of hurting Yang?

[kittyprincessofcats]

I finished RWBY Volume 5!!

Loved it!! After volume 4 was (understandably) a bit slower-paced, I didn’t expect things to get intense and serious this quickly, but I’m glad they did! I have so many thoughts I wanted to write down, so here we go:

[There will be spoilers for RWBY up to Volume 5 in this post (duh). Please don’t leave spoilers for anything after Volume 5 on this post, otherwise I will block you.]

- I have to say, I definitely liked Cinder more when she wasn’t talking. During Volume 4, I kind of started feeling bad for her on some level, but then she got better and started being her old condescending, power-hungry self and I was like… nevermind, I hate you again.

- Qrow being super drunk when he first brings Oscar home was absolutely hilarious.

- Yang is SO COOL. Have I mentioned that she’s so cool? Like wow, I wish I was that cool! The bike, the new (amazing) outfit, the way she just punched that creepy guy and walked right up to her mom’s bandit camp making demands of her – she’s so cool and I’m here for it.

- Yang and Weiss’ reunion was so sweet! 😭 I was waiting for literally any of Team RWBY’s members to reunite and that got me right in the feels! (Also, I loved the whole “Wait, your mom kidnapped me?” “Wait, you kidnapped her?” exchange - brilliant 😂.)

- Ruby’s reunion with Yang and Weiss was so sweet, too! 😭 Tears were definitely shed over reunions in this volume! And it was so nice to finally have most of Team RWBY and what’s left of Team JNPR back together and see them bond and catch up with each other 😭. Found family back together! It’s what they deserve!

- Yang being so angry at Blake for leaving makes perfect sense, imo, especially considering her own abandonment issues. And even more so considering that she lost that arm while protecting Blake. Also, I don’t think it’s reading too much into it to say that Yang and Blake’s interactions and their storyline together have had romantic undertones since volume 2. (And no, I’m not just saying that because I ship Bumbleby; it’s the other way around – I ship Bumbleby because those romantic undertones were there in the first place.) So yeah, Yang always tried to help and support Blake, lost an arm protecting her from her abusive ex, and then Blake just left – I get why Yang’s hurt and angry. And that moment where she goes from complaining about how she just wants to be there for Blake, before finally admitting “What if I needed her there for me?” - that’s a really good moment for Yang, even beyond the romantic subtext. It’s nice to see Yang admit that she also wants someone else to be there for her, that she wants to receive that same love and care in return.

- I also want to point out that it’s nice to see how far Weiss has come since volume one. She really took a level in kindness and became a lot more mature, to the point where she’s now giving Yang relationship advice. It’s really nice to see.

- Ruby’s talk with Oscar about Penny and Pyrrha really got me teary eyed.

- I wasn’t that fond of Sun at first, but he had some really great moments in this volume, so he’s starting to grow on me now. I still don’t ship him with Blake, but their friendship is sweet.

- And now, let’s talk about THE standout character of the whole volume for me: ILIA!! Holy hell, I love everything about her! You know how some characters grow on you over time, and then there are those characters that you see one episode with and they just become instant favourites? That second one was Ilia for me. I watched Blake’s character short before Volume 5 and the moment I heard her backstory she jumped right to the top of my favourite character list without question AND I started shipping her and Blake right away. (Yes, I love Bumbleby and all, but I’m a multishipper. I’m perfectly capable of equally loving two ships that contradict each other.)

- It’s just – Ilia and Blake’s dynamic got me hooked! Not to compare everything to my OTP (Catra and Adora from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power), but let me quickly make this comparison: Two girls who grew up together, were both members of a certain evil organization until one of them left it and the other didn’t, now they’re on opposing sides and have to fight each other, but they still clearly care about each other. Plus, there are confirmed romantic feelings from at least one side there. I know many people (including myself) have compared Bumbleby to Catradora before – because you’ve got one blonde jock and one catgirl – but when it comes to the dynamic and the backstory, Blake and Ilia (what’s that ship called? Catmeleon, I think?) resemble Catradora even more. And it’s just the kind of dynamic I’m weak for.

(Honestly, it’s kind of funny how predictable I am both when it comes to favourite characters and favourite ships. My sister, who got me into both She-Ra and RWBY, took one look at Catra years ago and immediately predicted that I would love her. And when she first saw Ilia, she also immediately knew she’d be one of my favourites. Basically, my sister once described my “type” of favourite characters as “troubled, cute and gay” and that pretty much sums it up.)

- Speaking of troubled, cute, and gay: I’m glad RWBY finally has some CANON LGBT representation! Hell yes for that! Honestly, I interpreted Ilia’s feelings for Blake as romantic right away, but I wondered if it was just bait or my usual tendency to see romantic undertones in any interaction between two girls. But then that “I wanted you to look at me that way” line happened and… WOW. Yes. Amazing, talented, brilliant, never been done before, showstopping, incredible. I’m 100% sold on both the ship and Ilia as a character.

(One more thing before I change topics: I try to keep these posts positive and not get into discourse too much (since I’ve heard there was (is?) a lot of discourse in the RWBY fandom – but I took just one look into the tag for Volume 5 and immediately saw people arguing that Ilia’s not good representation because she’s a villain. And I just want to quickly address why that’s nonsense, in my opinion (and before you ask, yes I am a lesbian myself): First of all, she’s not even a full-blown villain. She’s clearly shown as confused and misguided from the beginning. And her feelings for Blake are never portrayed as a negative thing. She also has a redemption literally two episodes after being revealed to be queer. And in general, I don’t think queer villains are necessarily a bad thing and I’m tired of queer characters not being allowed to be flawed. How come straight characters get to just exist, but any queer character better be a shining beacon of morality or else they’re bad representation? I agree that RWBY should introduce more queer characters to balance things out a bit, but I wouldn’t say Ilia was bad representation by herself, since she’s a character I think we’re meant to have sympathy for.

- Now I just hope that future volumes of RWBY don’t pull a Bury Your Gays and kill Ilia off... I’d really hate that. (No spoilers on this post, please!)

- The entire fight at the Belladonnas’ house had me so on edge the whole time. I thought someone (most likely one or both of Blake’s parents) was going to die any second. Basically, the ending of volume 3 burned me and now I constantly expect characters to die. I’m glad it all (mostly) turned out well!

- Blake’s speech to the Faunus might have made me a bit emotional. That was a really great moment for her.

- And then there were those final episodes… WOW. Like I said, I really didn’t expect everything to go down so quickly (or for the ending to be that happy – like I said, volume 3 burned me.)

- Jaune unlocking his semblance was nice! And I’m proud of myself for having correctly predicted that he’d have some sort of healing powers. (I was waiting for him to unlock some healing semblance back when Qrow got injured in Volume 4 – I’m glad it finally happened!)

- I was worried about Weiss for a second, then I realized there’s no way she can die since I’ve already seen pictures of her outfit in later volumes. (Plus, I’m pretty sure if a main character had died, I’d have been unable to completely avoid spoilers about it. So those 4 are pretty much the only ones I’m not that worried about.)

- Raven is a really cool and interesting character, but an awful person. (I got so angry at her when she blasted Ruby after Ruby was just so nice to her*. How dare you, lady?) I love her design, though!

[*EDIT: I just rewatched it and realized that it was Cinder who blasted Ruby, Raven just created the portal. Point still stands, tough.]

- The plot twist of who the Spring Maiden really is was EPIC. Really loved that reveal! (And I honestly didn’t see it coming.) Though I have to say, I feel really bad for Vernal, and for the previous Spring Maiden.

- The Cinder VS Raven fight was absolutely epic and just stunning to watch visually. I was wondering if we’d ever get a maiden vs maiden battle, and that scene more than delivered! And while I don’t particularly like either of them, I was definitely rooting for Raven in that fight.

- I’m not sure if Cinder really died there. If so, I’m honestly not too sad about it, but I would be disappointed because I kind of expected her to become a more interesting character later on. After Volume 4, I expected at least a bit of growth there or something that would make her more interesting. And I’m not talking about a redemption, just to be clear! I just think the potential to make her more interesting as a villain was there, and if they just killed her off it’s kind of wasted now and she stayed a very flat character until the end. But I guess we’ll see.

- Raven and Yang’s confrontation was pretty intense. I liked that Raven finally had to admit that she’s afraid and doing all of this just to protect herself, and the contrast to Yang, who is also scared but still does what she thinks is right. And the fact that Raven was willing to let Yang have the relic despite the danger that would put her in – mom of the year indeed 🙄.

- Blake and the other Faunus are the real MVPs of the battle, tbh. The fact that they just completely stopped Adam and the White Fang by sheer numbers and didn’t even give them the chance to attack anyone? God tier stuff. And when Blake’s mom came in with the police? 10/10, we stan.

- Also, Blake telling Adam she’s not there for him? Hell yes, girl! I love how she’s taking power away from her abuser by showing she isn’t doing any of this for him. Really nice.

- Yang and Blake’s reunion in the last episode was super nice. I like how there was so much attention on that reunion in particular. And while I’m glad Yang wasn’t too angry at Blake and it makes for a nice happy ending, I still hope there’s a scene next volume where Blake properly apologizes to Yang for leaving and explains her side of things. And then, they should get together and live happily ever after and have lots of kittens. I mean, what?

- And finally, all of Team RWBY is back together! And they’ll have a lot to catch each other up on. Blake doesn’t even know about the maidens, the relics and Salem yet, while the rest didn’t even know about the White Fang attack. Also, I want Blake to introduce the others to Ilia and to her parents.

I really loved this volume. Lots of action, lots of really sweet moments, lots of epic fights and cool plot twists. I find it hard to rank them, but this might have been my favourite volume yet (volume 3 was also really good, though).

[hopeaterart]

RWBY HPTR AU: Timeline

More of my embarrassingly self-indulgent AU. It tackles the timeline of events happening before the show starts. For those for who it's the first time here: most of the antagonists in the show are students at Beacon here, hence why the 63 A.G.W. point is probably a bit confusing, as well as the presence of many, many OCs. Warning: Very Ozpin-centric, especially at the beginning, because I'm insane and constructed a whole backstory for this man. If you want me to add something to the timeline, or have questions about the AU, just ask. ^^

(REFERENCE: A.G.W. stands for After Great War.)

34 A.G.W.: Ozborn Pinhead is born to con-artists living in the mountains of Vale.

45 A.G.W.: King Ozymandias Valenoa dies. On a side-note, Aura Lycoris is born.

46 A.G.W.: Ozymandias/Ozma reincarnates into Ozborn the moment he hits puberty. A few months later, Ozborn runs away from home to join a Collibet Monastery.

(REFERENCE: Collibet is branch of religion in the world of Remnant. It's followers' main belief is that life is to be enjoyed to it's fullest, and they have to help people enjoy it. Their worship is mainly centered on the God of Light.)

51 A.G.W.: Ozborn decides to enroll in Beacon for multiple reasons. He's placed in Team DSOO with Cadmium Duat, Zephyr Olympia, and Jade Sheng. He will become very close to Jade, almost like siblings. She's the one who coins the Ozpin nickname.

52 A.G.W.: Vytal festival happens in Haven. Ozborn ends up being finalist instead of his teammate through circumstances that went against his will, and ends up befriending fellow finalist from Shade Theodore Yellowstone, as well as a Faunus competitor from Haven called Leonardo Lionheart. Theodore is the winner.

53 A.G.W.: During a training mission that brought them to Solitas, Team DSOO ends up working with James Ironwood. Even if difficult to work with, Ozborn forms a tentative friendship with him, which they'll maintain through CCT communications. Ozborn also accidently ends up mentoring a first year named Glynda Goodwitch.

54 A.G.W.: Team STRQ enrolls in Beacon. Ozborn ends up being their mentor (intentionally this time) through a mentorship program at Beacon. Summer Rose is the winner of the Vytal Festival, having beaten Ironwood. After warning them that the truth isn't pretty, Ozborn comes clean about his cycle of reincarnation to Jade, STRQ, Glynda, Theodore, Lionheart and Ironwood, as well as Salem and her immortality. The only one unwilling to get involved is Taiyang Xiao Long, who can see that Ozborn absolutely does not want to be in this situation, thinks he's in way over his head and probably needs to take some distance from Huntsman business. Qrow and Raven are given their bird powers.

55 A.G.W.: Having taken Taiyang's opinion on the situation to heart, Ozborn decides to take a step back and go back in the Monastery he grew up in in order to become a Priest. Jade joins him in a show of support.

57 A.G.W.: Ozborn gets ordained, and he and Jade promptly go on a pilgrimage together with one very clear objective in mind: fuck Salem over. They find her at the end of the year, successfully lie to Salem about Ozborn's identity and fool her into thinking they want to join her side. On a side note, Gretchen Reinhart, Hazel Reinhart and Winter Schnee are all born.

58 A.G.W.: After getting out of Salem the secret to her immortality and the location of the God of Light's pool/former residence, Ozborn and Jade run away in the night in order for Ozborn to get similar immortality. Salem finds out about the betrayal, successfully kills Jade before Ozborn can go in the pool, and permanently cripples him with a magical attack that destroys his leg in a way that the pool's magic isn't able to completely fix. Ozborn still obtains immortality, permanently changing the game. He also sheds away the identity of Ozborn Pinhead, and renames himself after Jade's nickname for him.

59 A.G.W.: Ozpin comes back, and marries Taiyang, Raven Branwen and Summer Rose together. He also enrolls in Beacon as the Myth & Religion teacher.

60 A.G.W.: Desperate to get back at Ozpin after such an humiliating defeat, Salem takes a teenage Aura Lycoris under her wing.

62 A.G.W.: Aura starts the deep-undercover operation of gaining Ozpin's trust, starting by enrolling into Beacon.

63 A.G.W.: Yang Xiao Long, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladona, Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren, Arthur Watts, Tyrian Callows, Cinder Fall, Mercury Black, Emerald Sustrai, Roman Brunswick, Trivia Vanille, Ochre Wedjat, Raoul Arsenic, Wilhemia Key and Lys Rosenbed are all born. On a side-note, Ozpin and Qrow start a tentative romantic relationship at the end of the year.

65 A.G.W.: Ruby Rose is born.

66 A.G.W.: Aura graduates, and goes on a small pause in her mission in order to clean up some loose ends on Salem's part.

67 A.G.W.: Summer dies on a mission gone wrong (Unless/until we get something specific, Aura's partially responsible in my AU). Overwhelmed and disillusioned by the demise of the woman she loved, Raven abandons the rest of her family and goes back to the Branwen tribe. Both Taiyang and Qrow are left broken by this series of events, and Qrow ends up falling to alcoholism, leaving Ozpin to pick up the broken pieces of the inner circle. On a side note, both Oscar Pine and Whitley Schnee are born.

68 A.G.W.: Following a convoluted series of events that leaves Oscar orphaned for a total of maybe an hour before Ozpin adopts him, the wizard finally starts getting his shit back together, and starts formulating a plan to get back on his feet properly. On a side-note, Marcus Black steals his son's- Mercury- Semblance.

69 A.G.W.: Ozpin successfully becomes Beacon's headmaster, and promptly pulls strings to put Theodore, Lionheart and Ironwood in the same positions in their respective kingdoms. He also makes Glynda into his successor to the position. Meanwhile, Aura joins his staff as the Study Hall teacher/supervisor. Kuroyuri is destroyed by the Nuckelavee, orphaning Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie.

72 A.G.W.: Mountain Glenn is destroyed. Ozpin is able to save a few people at the last minute, including the Reinhart twins, thus inspiring Gretchen to become a Huntress. On a side note, James Ironwood becomes General, and thus Atlas' Chief of Armies, and gains a second seat on the Atlesian Council. The rest of the inner circle has mixed feelings about this, mostly negative.

73 A.G.W.: After a very long time of frustration at the Atlesian Council, Hagatha Greene snaps after a combination of her project being denied in favor of Pietro's, and being forced to work with an actual child (10 years old Arthur Watts). She's approached by Salem via Aura, and fakes her death. On a side note, the Brunswick farm is invaded by Apathy, forcing Roman to run away. He'll later stow himself away to Vale and rename himself Torchwick in order to cut ties with his past.

74 A.G.W.: Lionheart is forced to inform the Spring Maiden about what Salem can do. Overwhelmed, she runs away to the Branwen tribe. Lionheart himself latter approached by Greene, who more-or-less blackmails him into joining Salem. He calls Ozpin to know what he's supposed to do, and ends up becoming a double-agent. On a side-note, Gretchen signs up for Beacon, and Winter for Atlas in her first step to distance herself from her family.

76 A.G.W.: Gretchen is severely wounded on a training mission. Since her body was never found, it was assumed she died. Despite knowing that he'd probably be attacked on sight- and he was- Ozpin is able to provide Hazel with a bit of peace concerning the demise of his sister. Unknown to the both of them, Gretchen was actually found by Salem's circle and brought to her in order to get a new underling. On a side-note, the Spring Maiden dies and passes the power to Raven.

77 A.G.W.: Cinder and Arthur meet off-handedly while running away from Atlas for different reasons (Cinder is running from the Madame, Arthur from the military) due to sneaking on the same cargo ship. They separate after. Cinder ends up staying in Mistral, while Arthur wanders around Anima and ends up meeting Tyrian, who's part of a circus. Tyrian ends up following Arthur, who intends on getting to Vale as fast as possible. The two end up becoming fast friends after some initial frostiness. Trivia also runs away from home and meets Roman, and renames herself Neopolitan after the imaginary friend she had in her childhood.

78 A.G.W.: Cinder meets Emerald in the streets of Mistral, and the two bond over their dreams of becoming Huntresses. After Cinders remembers something Arthur told her about Beacon having a program for students like them, the two girls set off for Beacon.

79 A.G.W.: Marcus is hired to assassinate Ozpin, and fails in this task. Some time after, Cinder and Emerald, who recently got to Vale, cross path with Mercury, who's running away from his abusive father after a savage fight with him due to the man cutting off his legs. Marcus joins Salem after.

(AMBIGUOUS TIME PERIOD: Somewhere in the 70s, Aura found and started forming all the members of Team ORKL. I don't have a precise time period, but for those curious, the order she found them in was: Raoul, Lys, Ochre and Whilemia.)

80 A.G.W.: The story starts.

[wu-sisyphus-gang]

Motion Sickness Chapter 80

pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq

"How are you feeling today, Cloud?" Dr. Caulbaugh asked me. We were alone in a padded office. She had a plant in the corner that looked malnourished.

"I'm alright. Can't really complain." I responded. I stared at the tall plant.

"Oh I'm sure you could. How are you really doing? It's important."

"Fine. I suppose. Been getting into some missions lately. There are these two girls who have been taking care of me recently. Looking after me. They want to help but they're not sure how."

"Two other huntresses?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Two other friends?"

"We might be a bit more than friends. The three of us."

"I see. Aren't you a lucky man."

"Am I though?" I laughed a little. She looked away, a touch embarrassed.

"Yes I suppose it's maybe something to help balance out what all happened to you. Something good to come at me with rather than have everything bad." She worried the corner of her lip with her pen. "And everything is working out between the three of you."

"I think so. Except…" I gestured at the side of my head in a circular fashion to indicate my insanity.

"You're not crazy, Mr. Strife."

"Well then I'm right next to crazy, one rung above it on the ladder of sanity."

"You're too cognizant for it to be traditional psychosis. When a patient exhibits that they have no idea that they are showing symptoms of it. You're self aware of what is happening to you."

"Maybe…"

"But this relationship is working out well?" She asked.

"We had some stuff to iron out at first and get the air clear. We still are occasionally. But for the most part yeah." So far my relationship with Weiss and Ruby had been, well, it had been easy. The pieces falling together once Weiss and I talked a little about freshman year.

"Have you been able to have sex? Many patients report problems performing while on the sorts of medications we have you on."

I blushed a little. "So far it's been just fine."

"That's good news. That sort of endorphin rush can only help with depression. It can sort of clear your brain chemistry for a new wave of neurotransmitters."

I'd been kind of able to feel that. Like I was wiping away an old slate with the release. "I thought I had PTSD?" I asked.

She waggled a hand. "They often go together. Sort of a buy one get one free deal."

"But with my brain."

"It's a complex organ."

"I see…"

I looked over at her plant and thought of something else to talk about. We'd only just begun this meeting and I was already running low on topics.

"I've been thinking about getting a plant. You know? Something to take care of. It was Ruby's idea. One of those two girls. Something small and easy to take care of. Weiss, the other, was all onboard with it. I think they both think it'll be good for me."

"Been eyeing at my plant have you? I can never seem to keep any of them alive. What kind of therapist am I if I can't even keep a plant going and my patients need me for their brain?"

I laughed a little. A low chuckle. "That's how I figure mine would go. I can't even take care of myself and then I'm supposed to add something more to that. No way. Nah."

"Those are their names? Weiss and Ruby?"

I nodded. "I worry about them. I'm scared about the things that come through when I'm not paying attention while Mother assaults my subconscious. I feel like she's a shark, just waiting underneath the surface of my thoughts. And she'll spring out at some point I'll have no control over."

"Salem is constantly at your door then, so to speak. You keep calling her mother. Is that on purpose?"

"No. That keeps slipping through. No matter how hard I try that one comes through. It makes me worried about what else is slipping through the cracks on me," I said. "It's an accident. But one that I keep making."

"She is your mother though, in a way."

"Yeah but I hate her and I don't mean to call her that."

"Do you think of her as your mother?"

"At times. But for the most part I think of her as this foreign, nearly all powerful thing that has her hooks in my mind. She's no more my mother than the incubator I was grown in was."

"So she is kind of your mother."

"Kinda," I returned. "She called me her son, her child, that is. I think she thinks of me that way and it influences me."

"Do you think she loves you?" Tanya Caulbaugh asked.

I inhaled a shuddering breath. "Maybe? I have no idea. I've never really thought about that. I mostly just think about how much I hate her. And my father too."

"Merlot? Was it?"

"It was. I think I'm going to kill him if I ever meet him. Is that fucked up of me?"

"The desire to kill one's parents is not unheard of."

"Yeah but in my situation. With how I was made. Is that messed up for me to think about?" I cornered her.

"Probably less than it might otherwise be. If you grew up in a loving home then it would be different. How you were born matters to this. The things that happened to you are awful and unforgivable."

"That's what I thought…"

"Though I'd prefer it if you harbored fewer murderous thoughts. I know killing people comes up on the job but you shouldn't seek it out."

"I think about killing more than just him. There's this woman, Cinder Fall who killed my partner, Pyrrha Nikos. I want her to die too."

"Are you often consumed by thoughts of revenge like this? Between your father and this other woman it seems to be on your mind a great deal. There's this revenge piece that we're only just tapping into."

"Maybe… My friends want me to give it up. But the fact is that I'm one of the only people on the planet that can stop Cinder Fall before she strikes again. I won't say I'm doing it for a purely altruistic purpose but I am doing it for that at least in part. She'll kill people if I don't stop her and I'm one of the few that can."

"Who else could fight her? Instead of you?" She asked.

"I'm really not sure. Almost no one by themselves apart from me. I'm a menace now. I had to surrender myself to Atlas custody. They couldn't bring me in unless I wanted to. She's in a similar boat. She's very powerful. Very dangerous."

"I'm glad you decided to come in. The path you were on with the Marijuana was self-destructive."

"I miss it."

"You do? The Marijuana?"

"Yeah, I doubt the girls would appreciate it if I took it up again but I do miss it. I might not get kissed as much if that was the case."

"You're not going to use on me, are you?"

I shook my head. "Nah. They took my paraphernalia. The girls did. Besides, my word of honor is good. You've got nothing to worry about."

"That's good. I'll warn you right now that THC doesn't play well with some of the other drugs you're on. It can make things so, so much worse," she said.

"Hard to imagine worse than this," I pointed out.

"How have your hallucinations been?" She wondered.

"About the same. Maybe better. It's hard to say."

"Any auditory command hallucinations?"

"Yes."

"Any visual hallucinations?" She scribbled into her notes.

"Yep," I returned.

"And tactile?"

"You bet."

"How have the nightmares been, Cloud. I know that they were worse on the Asenapine but how about on this Vraylar?"

"They've been at my normal level."

"Your normal level is pretty bad." She tapped the corner of her lips with the pen.

"Yeah. Yeah it is," I confessed. I brushed a hand back through my hair. I scratched at my scalp a little. I hated my own weakness. In many ways I was just as weak as I'd been when I first showed up at Beacon.

"We'll corner that eventually. You have my word that it does get better. I've worked with a lot of PTSD cases and I've seen a lot of ones that were worse than yours. We can get you through this."

"We'll see, Doc."

"I think that's all the time we have for today, too. I want you to think about whether it's true that only you can bring the Cinder Fall to justice or if that's a complex you've come up with to justify it to yourself."

"Very well. I will."

pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq

It didn't take me much thought about Cinder Fall to see whether I was one of the only people that can bring her down. I was. Dr. Caulbaugh didn't know about the maidens. She didn't need to know about them and since it was something on a need to know basis I hadn't shared it.

"How did therapy go, Cloud?" Ruby asked me.

"It went good. Even though I didn't have time to practice my lines for it."

Weiss did that thing where she hit me disapprovingly but her fingers lingered at my chest. I loved that. I loved when she did that. It just made me want to say more things she'd disapprove with. "You're not supposed to 'practice your lines.' You're supposed to share just whatever with them."

"Would you be able to? Just go in raw like that?"

"Well…" Weiss trailed. "Your phrasing is a little… I could maybe…"

"See that's what I thought," I said. I took a bite out of an apple at that.

My stomach felt small but my doctors were insisting that I at least eat something like three meals a day so I was snacking a little rather than have a full meal. Hey, it was the thought that counted.

I reclined back on my bunk in Atlas Academy. My point proven.

Ruby plopped down on my legs in the bunk. She rubbed a hand up and down on my leg contentedly. "Are you coming with us to dinner?"

"I got my dinner right here." I twisted the apple at her.

"The doctors say-" Weiss started.

"-the doctors say a lot of things. I'm fuckin' tryin' here." I twisted the apple at her next and took another bite to prove my new point. "I figure I'll leave you to Yang and Blake. I'm tired of coming between your team. I'll give this evening over to them."

"Hey, you don't come between our team," Ruby said softly, still rubbing at my leg in a comforting fashion.

"It's not that I don't believe you Ruby. It's that I can't believe you," I returned. "'Sides I should spend some time trying to turn this needle into a feather."

"Is that what you're doing with that?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah. Why?" I asked.

"I just thought you liked to stare at it," Ruby muttered. She was adorable. I reached out and brushed some hair behind her ear and she leaned into my touch like a kitten. She fluttered her eyes closed and let out a little sigh. I leaned all the way up and gave her a quick kiss.

"Please just come to dinner. Let us worry about how Blake and Yang feel," Weiss said.

I looked away from her eyes. She was disarming me. Trying to pen me in. If I looked at her too hard I'd have to give in.

"Please." Ruby begged, her eyes still closed. "Please."

"You two could literally ask me to jump off a bridge like that and I'd have to."

"So you'll come?" Ruby wondered.

"Got no choice now, do I." I tapped Ruby twice on the leg to tell her to get up off of me and I pulled myself up and out of the bunk. "But if I fall behind and never transfigure the needle that's on you two."

"Pssh. Yeah. Okay." Weiss hit me with the sass.

My feet hit the ground and I gestured for them to lead the way. They did, holding hands while I walked behind them and cored out my apple.

It was a short walk to team RWBY'S room. Literally one door down, was all. It brought back some memories of my team JNPR, when there was a team JNPR, being right down the hall from team RWBY. It was a painful memory. It had its ups and downs to it but really it was just painful as well.

"Yang, Blake?" Ruby opened the door and popped her head in, swinging the door wide open. "We're headed to dinner. You wanna come with us?"

"Sure. Will-uh-Cloud be there?" Yang asked.

"Right here." I stepped into view and waved at Yang.

"How's it hanging, Cloud?" Yang politely followed up.

"Oh you know. The usual."

"For you that could be anything," Yang returned.

"It's a bit of everything to be honest," I said. Weiss bumped me with her elbow. "Mostly good at the moment though."

"Reminds me a bit of getting dinner with team JNPR, you know? We'll be right there," she said getting up and helping Blake up too. Blake looked less enthused but she was coming.

"Yeah, those were… good times…" I trailed and rubbed the back of my head.

"Cloud…" Weiss hissed.

"I'm literally doing my best." I whispered back.

I let them all march in front of me and I took up the distant rear. "Remember when Nora would demand that Ren make pancakes for her, she wouldn't eat the stuff they made for us on pancake mornings," Yang said. "Oh no. She had to have it Ren style."

I didn't much like to think about Ren and Nora. Maybe even less than I liked to think about Pyrrha and what could have been there. When she had kissed me she had meant it. My fault. All my fault.

Not that I was unhappy with my current situation. I walked behind my two girlfriends and their teammates and listened to them reminisce about times past with another team long dead.

"She always just liked him in that outfit, I thought," Weiss said as we made our way up to the dinning hall.

"I didn't think it was about the pancakes. Just Ren's attention," Ruby murmured. "She liked having his attention."

"And they never got the chance to… well you know. Figure the other person out fully," Blake said. "I'd like to say it was obvious what they felt, but it never came from their lips."

"We'll never know, now." I cut in. I realized my mistake when they all turned to look at me. "I mean Nora was asking me for advice on how to get with him. And he was asking me for the same thing. They just…" I killed them. "Ran out of time," I finished.  I tried to shake it off and come up with something less depressing to say.

Yang read me though.

"What about Pyrrha? We all knew that she liked you," Yang said. "You're quite the lucky guy looking at things like that."

"I never knew. Not until it was too late," I told her.

"Is there a story to that too?" Blake asked a touch sardonic.

We lined up and got our dinners. I tried to shake my somber mood off but couldn't quite manage it.

"She kissed me before she went and fought Cinder. Then she died."

"Cloud… your life sucks," Yang said as we sat at the table. It felt like there were three missing spots where I sat off to one side of the other four.

I looked at her in shock. "Um…"

"I'm not trying to make you feel bad or anything but you have to admit that your life does suck," Yang said quickly.

"I'm not sure whether to be offended or…"

"Not offended. You have to agree that your life so far has been a series of unfortunate events," Yang pointed out. "You got born, stuck at Beacon where you sucked, Pyrrha died, then Nora and Ren died."

"And it keeps coming," I agreed at last. "Doesn't seem like there's much I can do to get away from it sometimes. I mean I've had the occasional bright spot, all of Beacon was good, I think, but for the most part…" I trailed and shook my head. "What about you girls. It couldn't have all been easy for you either. Yang, you lost your arm for crying out loud."

"Yeah but I didn't kill my friends."

"Yang!" Weiss hissed.

"No, no. Weiss she's right. I fucked up."

"It wasn't your fault," Ruby said tenderly. She reached over to me but I rejected her touch for a moment. I didn't want the things she felt for me at that second. The purity burned me.

"Disagree. But that's not the point. It still happened to me. Is this really the first time we've all spent time together since Beacon fell? At least of those of us that remain?" I asked. At least of those of us I didn't let die, more like.

"Happy reunion," Blake muttered over her dinner.

"I'll cheers to that." Yang held out her glass. I clanked it with mine.

"So much has happened," Weiss said. "Even since that time Ren told us we had all grown so much. And of course you weren't there for that, Blake. I'm sure he would have told you that you had grown too."

"We've all changed. Some of us even changed our names," Blake murmured.

"Hard to imagine things will stay the same as they are now. I mean, I can't imagine working for Ironwood forever," I said. "Things are just going to keep changing."

"Hey, maybe you'll get some good changes out of this one," Yang cheered optimistically.

"Hey, I doubt it." I chuckled. "All things serious though I got Ruby and Weiss. How much better can I expect things to get for me? This is probably the high point of my life."

"You think something bad is going to happen?" Ruby asked.

"I know it will. That's how my life goes, up for a bit then down. Probably run into my sisters or something else awful and then caput."

"Well, family is just like that," Weiss said. I nodded but everybody else at the table shook their heads.

"Your two families are like that," Blake returned. "You leave my family out of this. My family is fantastic."

"Samesies," Yang threw in. "Yeah it's complicated but it's not hostile, well maybe not."

"I suppose we wouldn't know," Weiss murmured. "My father, well, don't even get me started."

"Same but for my momma." I held my glass to my lips. "She's such a bitch. You ever feel like literally every problem on the planet is your mom's fucking fault?" I took a long drink.

Yang laughed at that. "You're in my club on that one."

And Weiss gave a small giggle behind her hand. Blake smiled at me but Ruby just gave me that old worried look.

She reached out and put her palm on my thigh. A small comfort in a big world.

"Well not everyone has the mommy issues that you do. Some of us have our very own mom issues," Yang said.

I nearly spat out my drink. "What? What is it?" Ruby asked.

"I forgot to tell you all. I ran into Raven fucking Branwen when I was on the lamb with Neo checking out Merlot's laboratory in Anima."

"Well did you get her?" Yang asked her tone low and sarcastic.

"She teleported away before I could kill her. Sorry? Or not sorry. Whichever is best."

"Eh that's fine," Yang waved a hand. "She's bound to be slippery. Not sure if anyone will be able to catch her and put her down. She's a coward. She'd probably just run from you the next time you meet. If you run into her again, that is."

"I was sure to cut her nice and good for you, Yang."

"Oh is that why you did it?"

"Not really. I was sort of just pissed off at what I'd found in the lab. Needed a good target and she was just kinda there, I guess."

"Now that I get," Yang pointed at me with her glass hand. "Trust me on that one."

"Fair cop," I returned. Ruby was rubbing my thigh in a little circle and looking up at my face.

It felt good. Talking felt good. I was glad they dragged me out into this. I sighed and reclined. If only life could stay like this forever…

pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq

-WG

[alkaria]

The Wielder of the Staff

Penny isn’t going to retrieve the staff from the Winter Maiden’s Vault. She’s going to open it, either this volume or next, that much is for certain - you can’t build up to a grand finale for RWBY without all four relics ending up in play. But it won’t be Penny walking out of that vault with a relic.

One of the key themes we’ve covered, in Penny’s character as well as in the Atlas arc more broadly, is about free will and choice - who you serve, why you serve, and what you do to serve. And ultimately, though Penny undoubtedly feels a debt and a responsibility to protect Mantle and Remnant more broadly - she never wanted this. She took on the mantle of Winter Maiden not because she was groomed to, like Winter, or because she wanted it, like Cinder - she took it because she had to.

We see her struggling to come to terms with the burden she’s placed on herself because of her selflessness in the first two chapters of Volume 8, but we don’t just see that. We see Penny’s central character flaw coming to a head - that even now, her destiny is being written not by her, but by the actions of General Ironwood.

(Hm. Two characters both starting with a P that ended up in contestation for Maiden powers, with a character arc of Destiny. That bodes well.)

Crucially, Penny is going to, over the course of this volume and the next, finally have a chance to carve out her own destiny - her ideals, her wishes, and most importantly, her limits. The points at which she learns it’s okay to say no to taking on more responsibility than you can handle.

And, as a result, she’s going to say no to taking the Staff of Creation out of the Vault.

But we know the staff will come into play, so who’s going to take it? 

I don’t know whether it’s too early in the story (and brothers, we’re 8 years in at this point) to say with any certainty whether who initially claims the relic will be ultimately relevant to the finale and whatever happens to the four relics, but it’s certainly clear from the Volume 5 finale that there’s a significant portion of symbolism allotted to it - even if just to mark the emergence of a relic as an important moment with no further connotation.

When Yang emerges with the Lamp from the Vault, she is raised up above the others - figuratively as well as literally. The first wielder of the Lamp since the Great War, held up by Jinn herself.

Remember Blake’s little speech to Sun earlier in Volume 5:

“I remember getting to know Ruby and thinking, this girl is the embodiment of purity. After a while, I saw Weiss was defiance. And Yang was Strength.”

Yang claimed the relic not because she was the only one there, but because she was Strength. She had what Raven lacked, and Blake’s speech came full circle. Yang is elevated onto the central platform, in a way that only three others even experience - Raven, as the Spring Maiden, Leo, as Haven’s Headmaster, and Oscar (for fairly obvious reasons).

Now, you may wonder where I’m going with this. Salem has the Lamp; the Vault isn’t open. Even if Penny refuses to take it, what’s that got to do with what’s going on right now?

Well, the person who claimed the Relic of Knowledge? She’s on the ground. She’s separate from the events in Atlas, and she’s not going anywhere near the Staff. The symbolism in the intro couldn’t be more apparent:

Everyone else, on the other hand?

I already ruled Penny out, but everyone else here could be in contention to wield the Staff. Although, personally, I’m going to narrow it down to two:

Nora

A lot of people thought Nora was getting flags as a potential maiden last volume, from her resemblance to Fria to her possible Mantle origins to her vocal disagreement with Ironwood. It, obviously, didn’t pan out that way. But there’s still a couple things in her favour for her claiming the Staff of Creation:

“Always hoping that a lightning bolt is gonna save you from this gravity”

That’s the line from the V7 intro that perked a lot of people’s ears, and I still think it applies, possibly even more so. More than anyone, Nora represents lightning. Her main literary allusion is Thor, the Norse God of Thunder. Her semblance is powered by electricity, and her weapon generates it. In the history of Robyn calling highly amusing and accurate nicknames for our cast, Lightning Bolt could easily apply to Nora.

Gravity obviously applies to the weight of the severe situation our heroes find themselves in, but that’s not just all. It also, obviously, applies to the huge flags we’re getting that Atlas could plummet to the ground, destroying both it and Mantle and handing Salem a huge victory in her quest to ruin humanity.

That’s not guaranteed yet. If we expect volume 8 to go the way of volume 3, where there is a significant defeat for our heroes, that doesn’t automatically equal a complete and arbitrary annihilation. After all, Salem could crash Monstra into Atlas and achieve pretty much the same goal. The key thing that came out of volume 3 was that Beacon was destroyed - but not unreclaimable. There were slivers of hope, and the smaller soul remained.

And that’s where Nora could come in. She’s been a stalwart protector of the people, especially Mantle, and if she were wielding the relic, she’d definitely not want to doom them by using it - and, equally, not doom them by losing the relic. Nora was there when Neo took the lamp - she’s going to know that the same thing could happen, and so, she will save us from gravity - by using the staff to lower Atlas safely to the ground before taking it out of the vault.

Weiss

“After a while, I saw Weiss was defiance.”

This feeds more specifically into the possible theory that each relic will be claimed by a member of team RWBY. While Yang has maiden flags from Raven’s possible death, after Penny gaining the Winter powers and Ruby mastering her silver eyes, the RWBY maiden ending looks unlikely. But anyone can claim a relic.

Weiss has matured a great deal throughout the storyline of RWBY, but the ultimate character motivation for her has stayed consistent: she wants to reclaim her family’s legacy and restore it to one comparable to her grandfather’s, in opposition to the mismanagement of her parents. She is defiant towards them, to her brother and sister, towards Ruby, towards the general trend of history, and towards General Ironwood.

“NONE of this matters right now!”

”Not friends. Family.”

So why Weiss, and not Nora?

Well, going back to the theory with the relics being claimed each by one of the members of Team RWBY, Salem is their end villain:

It’s team RWBY who are together confronting Salem in Ironwood’s office, and it’s team RWBY who’ll be stood together confronting her at the very end of all this. To do that, you need the relics.

To be sure, Nora is a member of the main cast - she’ll have an end villain to face off against, just like the rest of our protagonists - but even though it seems Tyrian is shaping up to be Qrow’s, Salem is very clearly not Nora’s. Arguably, we saw in Volume 5 that Nora is the only person capable of going toe-to-toe with Hazel:

“I don’t need him to hurt. I just need him to GO DOWN.”

Nora makes sense as Hazel’s eventual final foe - his origin story is being driven to work for Salem by his grief and possessiveness over his sister, who died as a huntress-in-training. Nora lost her teammate - a huntress-in-training - precisely because of Salem. We know she’s an orphan, and homeless - she likely has lost a great deal of people to the grimm. Morally, she’s the polar opposite to Hazel - someone whose hardship and grief made her a protector of the people, rather than someone on a doomed quest for vengeance for someone who would never have wanted it.

So if we rule out Nora for that sake, why Weiss, and not Ruby or Blake? Well, for one, Weiss has far more personal investment in Atlas as a whole.

“This is my home. And I’m not giving it up without a fight.”

For Weiss’ own character arc to complete as we eventually move towards a resolution and a departure from Atlas, her family needs to survive. Jacques is fairly irrelevant, and his death would matter least - but Willow, Winter and Whitley need to survive, and the Schnee family needs to begin healing. That doesn’t square itself with Atlas falling to the ground and millions dying. But it could square itself with Atlas being lowered enough to survive without the Staff, and Salem still making off with it in order to attack Vacuo.

Weiss’ semblance also thematically fits with the relic of Creation - she has a mastery of dust, and her glyphs are used to create a range of different things. Her arc points now towards creating something new - a new future for her family, for the SDC, and for Atlas. It would make sense.

For their own relics, Ruby and Blake make more sense being involved with Vale and Vacuo. While Blake is from Menagerie, not Vacuo, the Sword of Destruction would resonate well with her character arc. It’s a symbol of how she, and the faunus, have grown - the power to destroy, but rather than used angrily and blindly like Adam would, used carefully, with great thought. As well as this, the symbolism of the sword - taking up arms and fighting, rather than running away.

And Ruby is just obviously choice. She’s the central character of the Vale arc, one of her most defining traits is determination - the choice to never give up and keep moving forward, that we’ve heard referenced more than once post-Vol 3. But, if you’re wanting a bit more in the way of arguable evidence - who’s younger than the rest of their team of four, is pure of heart, makes choices that fundamentally determine everyone’s paths, and ends up with a crown?

So that’s where I’m staking my claim. Yang, the Strong, giver of Knowledge. Weiss, the Defiant, guardian of Creation. Ruby, the Pure, defender of Choice. Blake, the ???, arbiter of Destruction.

The only thing we’re missing is what embodiment Blake actually is.

[strqyr]

Honestly, I am all for the wonderland gang getting out via Haven. It'd give them a glimpse of how Mistral and the rest of the world is doing. But also now I think they could burst through Shade's door and skip the trip to Vacuo. Honestly, either works.

"why not just use shade's door?" is definitely a question that would need to be answered, and i do think there's a possible answer to that that has to do with theodore and his allusion, dorothy.

lionheart used to be brave. ironwood had a heart. they both lost those qualities due to their fear of salem. the fact that salem has two relics already and the maiden to get the third means that the relic of destruction is the only relic that's 100% safe.

so, it could be, that due to his fear of salem, theodore is unwilling to risk opening the vault even for a good cause. so, as a dorothy, he ends up blocking a way home to our heroes.

and since the atlas vault is underwater and not doing so great in general, the beacon vault is simply out of question (as hilarious and coincidental as that would be), that leaves the haven vault as the only viable vault door to get back home.

even if its status may be a bit... questionable, as the doorway itself has disappeared, but the doorframe still exists. qrow said they need the spring maiden to seal the relic back to its vault, so i'm assuming this is just a safety measure so that a maiden can't leave a vault door open and skedaddle, leaving the relic inside unguarded.

honestly, the fact that they had cinder and neo have their chat in the vault of all places, showing the state of the door, makes me think we're going back there still. third times the charm, ya know?

(also it would be neat symbolism since this is where raven left yang last time. for it to be the place where she comes back to open the way back home for yang and the rest? transcendent.)

[noneatnonedotcom]

RWBY Earlier; Ruby is training at Beacon Academy and encounters a group of Huntsmen who learn about her relationship with Jaune and mock her for it. Ruby takes exception to that and gives them a lesson in manners.

here’s what I came up with for this. if you wanna try writing for it as well feel free. I’m always curious to see what other people do with the same premise.  everyone always has their own ideas it’s fascinating. 

either way, I hope you like it  RWBY Earlier

Chapter 2

The Lady Arc

Ruby was not so delicate a maiden that she didn’t know the truth of war. She might have specialized in fighting Grimm but she was by no means naive about what jaune did as a knight of the realm. She knew that when given the opportunity even normal men would become monsters and she knew that fighting those monsters ran the risk of becoming one of them.

Grimm were far easier to deal with.

So when jaune had come home with that bone-tired look on his face she had cared for her husband (and boy was calling him that still something that made her feel giddy). All in all, they had grown closer for it. And ruby had assured him that she would take no other than him. She loved him and had yang been around still she was sure her older sister would agree with her.

She did hope yang got back soon, her job as spring maiden had Oswald keeping her in minstrel. Which if you asked her was kinda stupid, why not have the spring maiden in vale so if something happened they had to go all the way to anima. It would only give them more time.

A paranoid part of her thought that perhaps it was Oswald trying to isolate her so she was more likely to leave her husband. The other part knew that was giving the old man far too much credit. In reality, she and her sister represented his best set of new agents. And that meant they were constantly busy

Jaune would probably help too but she and Oswald both knew that jaune wouldn’t follow orders from a man who had destroyed jaune’s way of life and had nearly left his family destitute after the great war. His ideals of democracy were great and all but ruby wasn’t really sold on the concept. Still, she and her sister were heroes just like their mother before them. She would fight Salem and her minions to the end.

Well as soon as both she and yang graduated that was. In truth, yang was being used as a diplomat to minstral purely because of her connection to lady Branwen. Even if the nobility was gone, the people remembered. Though just where the former lady had gone to after her family was betrayed by the last king of Vale was a mystery. Same with her uncle qrow. 

She missed them both dearly. But at least her mother was able to raise both her and yang together. She felt confidant that they would both be home soon from their mission.

Now if only she could get Oswald and his other agents to stop hating jaune.

Her husband hated himself enough for all of them.

It was actually a surprise though not much of one that the butcher of Anima wasn’t the only title jaune had gained from his expedition. The savior of humanity was a far more popular one. Second only to his true moniker

Sir. Jaune The Just

His actions in defeating the monsters of the faunas rights rebellions and then his actions to protect Menagerie when Atlas threatened to invade had earned him quite a bit of respect. Though Vale remained firmly against him and she had the good headmaster to thank for that.

She found it funny, everyone but the country he fought for respected jaune. But jaune was so much a patriot that he hated himself. He truly was a son of Vale.

Ruby shook the morbid thought away with a rueful smile. Jaune would recover, he was already bouncing back with only a few days of them having been back together. And his knights still loved him. In time the people of vale would love him as well and be able to see that his actions while not right morally were necessary.

Her optimism was shattered with a call of  “hey it’s the butcher’s whore! Done sucking the cock of that monster you call your man? Or maybe you came to see what a real man can do and not some coward who preys on the weak” shouted the former lordling Winchester. 

She found it somewhat ironic that the man was disparaging jaune for his actions when he himself had owned slaves not ten years ago before the practice was well and truly outlawed. Oh certainly the family might argue that they were former criminals indentured to serve but that was hollow reasoning when they only took pretty looking faunas women.

She did as she had always done and simply ignored the idiots that made up his team. Yang would have probably beaten them up. And her mom probably would have destroyed them politically but she had better things to do than waste her time. Weiss was waiting for her and they both had classes to get to.

“Walking away huh? Hey, ruby? How’s old jauney boy holding up anyways? It’s a lot harder to do anything without an army backing you up huh? I bet the coward is probably hiding back in his room crying for his little wifey to come and hold him” she truly tried to ignore the cackling of the idiots. And if Weiss asked she’d explain that she didn’t intend on being late.

But jaune would do far worse to them if he heard. It was best to settle up debts as soon as possible. She loved her husband but the man was overzealous about protecting her and her honor at times.

So that’s why when she deployed her war scythe all she did was smile.

Even as she launched Sky away with a single swing she smiled.

Even as she took a single step back before cleaving clean through Cardin’s armor with her counter strike she smiled.

And even as she chased the other two idiots down and made them bleed she smiled 

Jaune really was such a sweetheart.

Weiss looked at the slightly bloody ruby with a sigh and a smile “they’re not dead, are they? It’s bad enough we might be late for class but murder will be even harder to explain”

Ruby shook her head “no they’re fine. terrified, but fine.”

Weiss smiled politely “you would think they’d learn by now that angering a prodigy at combat is nearly as bad as angering jaune”

Ruby leaned over and mock whispered “truth be told i just think Cardin’s jealous”

Weiss raised an eyebrow “I had heard that his father had put forth a bride price for you but…”

Ruby shook her head “not of Jaune silly! Of Me!”

Weiss broke out laughing “ah I see, so he’s upset you got jaune for yourself”

Ruby nodded “jaune’s a pretty great husband, but honestly the fact that Cardin spends every waking moment thinking about him is the reason why it just wouldn’t work out.”

They walked in silence for a while before Weiss spoke up “so what’s the real reason you went so far?”

Ruby thought for a moment “you know why Cardin spends so much time thinking about jaune? Because he’s terrified of him. From a young age, jaune’s always been more powerful than Cardin. In politics, in economics, in prestige, and in charisma. The Arc family and jaune, in particular, have always been the one thing that his family didn’t dare act against.” she stopped in front of the statue to jaune’s father, the best friend of the last king of vale who had died protecting his king. “Up until now, Cardin had been able to say that he was at least physically stronger and better at combat then Cardin. Jaune’s victory proved that wrong. And the fact that he’s a hero in other continents, basically everywhere but Vale and Vacuo, it got to him.”

Weiss nodded “that doesn’t answer my question though, why did you go so far against them?” she reached out and hugged ruby “tell me the truth please”

Ruby tried to hold back tears but eventually, the dam broke “everything being said by those idiots is the things jaune says about himself” she hugged Weiss to her as hard as she could “AND IT’S NOT FAIR, JAUNE DID WHAT HE HAD TO! HE’S NOT A MONSTER WEISS AND I HATE THAT I CAN’T CONVINCE HIM OF THAT.” she fell to her knees and sobbed into her friend’s shoulder “Why should he suffer! He only did what they asked him to! The council sent him Oswald sent him! But they throw him away the second he does something that might look bad to their voters and those idiots who’ve never fought a day in their lives! So why Weiss Why my jaune!”

Weiss held her, ruby knew she didn’t have the answers but this wasn’t about answers this was about getting it out. And ruby had needed this. She hated that jaune was suffering and she couldn’t do anything to help. Some hero she was if she couldn’t even save her husband. And she cried for a while at the injustice of it clinging to Weiss like a lifeline.

Eventually, she calmed down, and still, Weiss held her in the quiet of the courtyard. Ruby sniffed bringing her head up “we’re definitely late for class”

“Those old fossils can stuff it, you’re more important”

Something about the Lady of White saying it made it funny to ruby and she laughed as her friend held her.

Not too far from where the two girls had their moment Ozma was left to ponder something. He found he couldn’t look at the statue of his old friend. Julius Arc was the previous wielder of Croceia Mors. and was the man who had died protecting him in his previous life as the last king of Vale. showing more loyalty and kindness to him than he’d experienced in all his lives.

And now he had cast away his son without even asking his side of the story.

“Have I truly fallen so far, old friend? Am I truly such a monster?” there was no response but Ozma couldn’t help but feel he’d lost the respect of the brave knight.

[masterweaverx]

So anyway I think that the heroes are going to snatch control of Atlas right out from under Salem and Ironwood’s noses. It’ll take a few episodes, but it’ll happen by V8′s end. Here’s the probably inaccurate spiffy:

Ironwood and Salem are busily playing army and being absolutely ignorant to their own and each other’s underlings thinking maybe they’re in the wrong. So while they think they are controlling the Battle For Atlas (TM), everybody else is going to be trying to save people. Emerald’s going to get to the lamp first(ish).

Emerald: JINN! I must ask you something! Jinn: For reasons related to metaknowledge I like you a lot kid, so I’ll warn you to word your question very carefully. Emerald: Well... shit, give me a minute. Jinn: Time’s frozen, I’m magic like that. Take as long as you need.

Exactly what Emerald asks is up in the air, but it’s probably either ‘what is Salem hiding’ or ‘how can Cinder be freed from Salem’ and either way Jinn will make it clear Emerald needs to get to Ruby, so Emerald shrugs cause she was totally going to jump ship from Salem anyway (woman is dancing murder, literally) and so she waltzes out to pick up Oscar and then they run into JYR.

Yang: You framed me! Emerald: Yeah but I’m good now. See? Saving kids, got the relic-- Ren: I HATH SEEN HER VIBES, AND SHE DOTH BE GOOD NOW. Yang: Wait but how do you know it’s not an illusion? Ren: YOUR VIBES DOTH PROCLAIM AFFECTION FOR THINE PARTNER, OF DEEP AND INTENSE KIND, YET YOU DOUBT YOUR VALUE TO HER-- Yang: Okay okay I believe you! Oscar: Hey I’m kinda bleeding to death can we escape already?

And as they rush out of the whale, there is DRAMA in the Schnee mansion. Ruby’s panicking over Penny, and because Penny came in hot she can’t touch her with her bare hands so she’s getting Weiss to summon up some remote gloves for Emergency Robot Surgery and totally ignoring that pain in her heart. Meanwhile Klein’s patching up Nora--

Nora’s Past: Excuse me, sir, I need to reveal myself now. You don’t mind do you? Klein: This girl is pretty badly hurt, so I do rather mind-- Nora’s Past: Not to worry, I won’t interfere in your healing and you can have a conversation that sets up a future plot point.

And Blake and May are talking about how they robbed people to save people and Blake’s kinda trying to hint maybe that the situation’s pretty bad up here without offending May who is really just this close to exploding.

May: If you can’t give me one good reason to stay I’m taking the jet down to Mantle! Whitley: Jacques has a work computer in his office, maybe you can reactivate Mantle’s heat from there? May: ...fuck it get me some cocoa.

And indeedily, it turns out that there are programs to reactivate the heating grid! And switches to flip the direction of the Mantle/Atlas chute system! And a bunch of other stuff that’ll help Mantle, and May’s getting into it when she hits THE JACKPOT. You know how Jacques got elected a councilman? And how he got some key codes for that? Well, being the brilliant genius that he is, he put those key codes on his home computer and nobody’s thought to erase them since his arrest. Which means May can spoof Atlas systems to think ONE council member is doing things!

[Interlude with Cinder going aircar shopping, surprisingly easy when the city stores are abandoned. She has a run-in with the Glass Unicorn, which does not survive. We get a close-up of her face, and she’s frustrated that this isn’t satisfying her.]

But only having one councilmember’s codes isn’t enough to do more than move some people around the subways to safer places--great and all, but won’t solve the problem. If they had more control of Atlas’s automated systems, they could maybe do something, but the only way to do that is get more councilmember control codes. Like a majority. That’s two codes, and there’s no way to--

Blake: Wait doesn’t Ironwood have two seats? May: Yeah but he’s not going to work with us. Blake: We’re already spoofing Jacques’ codes, we can spoof Ironwood’s. May: We’d have to get to the terminal in the military compound! Blake: ...or the one in Atlas Academy. I need to make a call.

Cut to team FNKI, not at all chillin’ in their dorm. They’re ticked for so many reasons, they’re antsy, Neon gets a call from Blake and listens for a bit before saying ‘hey everyone wanna go infiltrate the Headmaster’s office and save Atlas?’ And Flynt’s like ‘You know what, sure.’ And four teenagers with attitude Power Ranger their way through some very confused soldiers and then Ivori puts on his hacker glasses and says--

Ivori: Oh crap guys. Ironwood only put the Headmaster codes on this terminal. Not the military council codes. Neon: Paranoid bitch. Ivori: Also he knows we’re here now.

Meanwhile JYR and their new pals (who may or may not include Hazel and Neo, depending on how effective Oscar is at handing out redemption arcs) have a bit of a tiff over the whole ‘recruiting bad guys’ thing and Emerald’s like ‘Guys fine arrest me but I literally have all the knowledge you need and for plot reasons we need to go to the Schnee mansion now’ so Winter’s like ‘Oh shit! I hate plot in my house!’ and she checks the clock and yeah, there’s PLENTY of time to hop over before the bomb arrives and, hey, probably fugitives, so dad Ironwood can’t yell at her for this!

[Interlude with Fiona and Joanna, who start characterizing each other and mention Important Plot Details that will probably come into play in the next volume but the fandom’s all going to speculate about how it’ll come into play this volume because we’re like that.]

So back with Ruby, she’s managed to juryrig Penny back to life and there’s this big emotional moment and Ruby has a breakdown and Weiss is all ‘I’m not equipped to handle this shit but I’ll try anyway’ and Penny has a breakdown and Weiss is like ‘yeah okay, cuddles and comfort time, come here you crazy girls’ and THEN Whitley bursts through the door and shouts ‘GUYS GUYS TEAM FNKI’S ON TV AND THEY’RE SAYING SWEAR WORDS!’

Neon: I’ve come to make an announcement: James Ironwood is a bitch-ass motherfu-- Ironwood: Okay this teenage rebellion is stupid. Luckily it’ll be easy to take back control of Atlas Academy because I am always right and never miss anything. Random Intern: But Sir! Aren’t You Worried They Will Hack Atlas’s Systems? Ironwood: Allow me to exposit on how impossible that is and how they would need three council codes to make a majority that could let that happen. Camilla, in her office: YO BITCH! REMEMBER ME?!

That’s right, Camilla’s noticed this TV broadcast, put together the pieces, and as scared as she is of Ironwood she’s noticing that he’s not really doing so hot fighting Salem so, what the heck, she’s going to tell everyone that Ironwood killed Sleet and he’s a treasonous traitor and soldiers should totally turn to Robyn Hill. Because she just sent her own council codes to ALL FOUR OF THE HAPPY HUNTRESSES. Also she says this is a pre-recorded message and she probably got killed by her doorguards.

[Meanwhile, the Hound gets a smoothie. It’s plot-detail flavored.]

Ironwood rages, but it’s okay! He’s got Robyn’s scroll! So he’s got the codes, he’s still in control aaaaaand Fiona’s already changed the password. But you know this plan is totally going to fall apart without Robyn, who’s trapped in her cell, so he marches down there to kill her before she can become a problem and comes face to face with Cinder God Damn Fall.

Ironwood: Get out of the way, I need to kill that woman. Cinder, flipping him off: Fuck you, Atlas scum, I do what I want! Hardlight generator: Hey why are you reaching for me scary lady OH GOD THE PAIN I AM DEAD THE PRISONERS ARE FREE BLEGH-- Watts: Let’s get out of here while they’re fighting each other! Cinder: ...yeah, that, that was totally my plan, yeah.

So Cinder and Watts skedaddle and the soldiers are like ‘uh should we catch them’ and Ironwood’s all ‘WE MUST KILL ROBYN’ and Robyn has no idea why but she’s not going down easy and Qrow’s screaming how Ironwood’s just the worst and Jacques is cowering in a corner because everybody has guns. Realistically a whole bunch of soldiers are able to easily subdue Qrow and Robyn and Ironwood gets ready to kill them when suddenly--

Raven: Looks like I need to save your weak ass, bro. Robyn: Who’s the hottie? Qrow: A fucking bitch. Raven: Yeah, okay, but I brought Tai along so... Taiyang: Anybody want a brownie? No? Fine. Sic’ em Zwei.

Obviously the might of the War Corgi (and yeah, the Spring Maiden, sure) is enough to get Robyn and Qrow to safety, and they also snag Robyn’s scroll on the way out, and Robyn gets informed of basically everything in one long ‘thank god you’re back’ speech by May who is REALLY tired of wrangling all these teenagers and their drama, but she’s interrupted when the Ace Ops land at the Schnee mansion and bring in their drama and should they turn on Ironwood like Camilla says and Blake says some stuff about ‘did you promise the man he is or who he pretends to be’ and Penny also has lines and there’s so much yelling--

Watts: According to my notes, Penny’s at the Schnee mansion. Cinder: My orders are to deliver you to Salem. Watts: But Cinder, there’s a lot of plot at the Schnee mansion right now! I know you looove ploooooooot! Cinder: Are you trying to tempt me to do a dumb? Watts: What can I say, I’m mischievous. Cinder: ...okay, you can drive yourself right back to Salem--I mean it! Drive STRAIGHT BACK, don’t get yourself CAUGHT AGAIN, and you tell her that you ordered me out. Watts: You have my word! Watts tells Salem Cinder totally abandoned him of her own free will.

So Cinder Fall strides into the conflict and she’s all smug--right up until she sees EMERALD IS WITH RUBY and she just flips out like ‘what the shit! What the shit girl what are you doing?!’ And Emerald says ‘I’m doing this for you! Allow me to begin my melodramatic speech about--’ Cue the Hound smashing through the window with a horde of Grimm and suddenly everything is chaos nobody knows who’s on anybody’s side Penny’s being fought over by everyone and--

Penny, eyes red: THE VAULT--Aaaaargh! Ruby, watching her fly out: Oh yeah, she was hacked, right, forgot. Cinder: The Hound: The Ace Ops: JNOR: RWBY: TRQ: May: Robyn: Kids, go after her, we’ll clean up here.

Everyone RUNS OUT OF THE SCHNEE MANSION and it’s a race to get to the Vault using every method they can and Cinder’s melting the ground and getting into fights left and right and the Ace Ops are showing their true colors by getting random citizens out of the way and meanwhile the Happy Huntresses are coordinating everything in Atlas AND Mantle and it’s all chaos but it’s clear that Ironwood’s not in control and then--

in the vault--

there he is, holding Penny’s sword. And he’s picked her up and started literally banging her against the door because the vault won’t open--

Cinder: Yo, moron, you need to do it right. Cinder: *Whips out a frying pan and conks out Ruby* Cinder, sweetly: Penny, if you don’t open that door I’ll melt her booooones~!

Welp, there’s no way to solve that hostage situation, so Penny reluctantly opens the Vault of the Winter Maiden and it looks like, oh no, somebody bad is going to get the staff, when all of the sudden--

Nora: THIS is what I’m good for! Nora’s Past: Go get ‘em girl!

Nora just catapults herself into the vault, grabs the staff and--before anybody can react--gets it to land next to Mantle. And THEN the Ace Ops come in and say ‘yeah, uh, Ironwood, totally under arrest for being stupid’ and turn off the hackersword which lets Penny get Ruby away from Cinder. Cinder’s right ticked so she reaches for the staff with her Grimm hand but, in a fit of realization, Nora decides to use the staff to regenerate Cinder’s lost arm (which destroys the Grimm Arm entirely).

Cinder: Wait... what the fuck? Why’d you do THAT?! Nora: I have complicated in-character reasons but the truth is I’m setting up a plotline for you to doubt the path you’ve chosen so you’ll turn on Salem down the line. Cinder: Well now I’m feeling existential. I think I’ll go back to Salem and whine about this whole crazy day.

So anyway the volume ends with reinforcements arriving, Robyn the new leader of the Kingdom of Mantle, Ironwood locked up for being a moron, Salem just totally blindsided by the complete upset of the board, and Nora offering to regenerate Yang’s arm. Yang says no because she gave up her arm for something precious and her new arm was a gift plus it’s awesome plus her sister’s dating a robot so saying ‘I don’t like metal arms’ is kinda hypocritical.

....

And then in the stinger Cinder’s staring in a mirror and Pyrrha says ‘Hello again.’