Haven's Fate

The outside on the quad of Haven Academy...

The battle between the White Fang and the Menagerie Faunus as well as the Mistral police force continues. One of the Mistral airships shines its searchlight on three White Fang soliders.

"Cease fire, immediately!" A Mistral Policeman said, over PA.

The three try to run away, but they are stopped by a combined group of Menagerie Faunus and Mistral policemen led by Ilia Amitola. Eventually, two of the White Fang soldiers drop their weapons and hold their hands in the air to surrender when they are surrounded. The last White Fang soldier tries to fire his weapon, but it is whipped out of his hands by Lightning Lash and he is tackled and restrained to the ground by Ilia.

"Thank you." A female rabbit Faunus said, smiling.

Ilia looks at the rabbit Faunus and smiles and nods back.

Elsewhere, Blake Belladonna stands proudly with Jared Shay over Adam Taurus, who was on his knees before standing back up.

"Blake, I'm going to make you regret ever coming back..." Adam said, seething. "And I can't believe you two have similar goals in life now."

Adam looked between Blake and Jared.

"Well, a lot more police are coming, Adam." Jared said, holding Ebb and Flow. "Huntsmen too."

"Blake, you're still too afraid to face me on your own. So you brought a human with you." Adam said, chuckling evilly.

"I'm here for Haven, not you." Blake said.

Angered, Adam points Blush in front of Blake with Wilt in his left hand, while Blake draws Gambol Shroud.

"Heh, you are still afraid, and you should be. I've made powerful friends while you've been away." Adam said.

"Oh yeah?" Sun asked.

"You really think so?" Jared asked, looking at Adam. "You doing this."

Adam look to his left as Sun Wukong approaches him holding Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang in its staff form.

"Where?" Sun asked.

"Tell me, does Blake make all of her classmates fight for her?" Adam asked, pointing Wilt towards Sun and Jared.

"Nah, it's a volunteer gig." Sun said, happily.

"It really is. Like how it works for Symphogear and for Magical Girls." Jared said, smiling. "Some people fight for love and some fight for what's right. Or what they believe is right."

"Jared does have a point there, which is why he has loads of friends in the Doctor's world. We're just sayin', for someone who claims to have such great friends, there doesn't seem to be a lot of people here willing to fight for you."

Adam looks around, seeing his followers surrendering to the overwhelming numbers of forces Blake brought with her, only proving Sun's point right. A searchlight then shines down on him.

"You can try and make me regret coming here, Adam, but honestly...I've got more important things to deal with." Blake said.

Adam lets out a frustrated growl and swings his sword at Jared, but the fanboy counters his attacks by using Ebb and Flow in bow form.

"Your weapon isn't resourceful." Sun said, looking at Jared. "What can it turn into?"

"Ebb and Flow? Well, dual swords, dual pistols, and a bow and arrow." Jared said, smirking. "This took me a while to build."

Adam then blocks Blake's sword swings as she comes at him, followed up by Adam getting knocked away by Jared.

"You've gotten smarter." Blake said, looking at Jared's weapon. "Ebb and Flow? Sticking with the water theme. Judging by your clothing. And what's your pendant called?"

Adam bolts, with Sun giving chase.

"Aqours. The Nine Mermaids of the Sea."

Adam runs away into the bushes and trees while Sun continues to pursue him, but Blake calls out to him.

"Sun, wait!" Blake said, looking at Sun.

"But he's getting away! We could take him!" Sun said.

"No, we can't. He wants to lure us away so he can pick us off. We need to protect the school and the people here. Besides..." Blake said, sheathing her katana. "...now he can see what it feels like to run away."

"Yup, he does." Jared said, walking over to Blake. "We both ran away, didn't we?"

"We did. We both tried to run away from our pasts, Jared. Thank you, Sun." Blake said, smiling.

"Eh, we all need help sometimes." Sun said, smiling back. "Who helped you, Jared?"

"Oh, Torchwood, Sarah Jane Smith, and the Doctor." Jared said, sadly. "Torchwood's gone. While Sarah Jane is still defending the Earth."

Sun's attention is then drawn to Haven's Great Hall where he, Blake, and Jared see their old friends and allies fighting off their enemies.

"I think there's a few people who could use both of yours." Sun said, and he is about to run off to help finish the fight, but Blake stops him before he leaves.

"Be careful." Blake said.

"No promises." Sun said, smiling.

Sun runs off as Blake smiles at his last remark, before she too runs with Jared to finish the fight.

"Blake, it's good to know that we're on the same wavelength now." Jared said, holding Ebb and Flow.

the Great Hall...

Hazel Rainart launches fireballs from his fists with his fire-Dust enhanced arms at Weiss Schnee's summoned Queen Lancer. The Lancer dodges out of the way of the blasts. Meanwhile, the remaining members of Team JNPR fend themselves from Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai's shots.

"You guys okay?" Jaune asked.

Lie Ren coughs while Nora Valkyrie groans in exhaustion.

"Surviving..." Ren said.

"I don't know how that big guy is still standing. He recharges his Aura faster than I've ever seen!" Nora said, annoyed.

Oscar Pine watches Qrow Branwen fly in with his bird form, before transforming back into his usual self.

"He's sheer willpower." Qrow said, grunting in pain.

Oscar takes cover behind a nearby column.

"We just need to get him to his limit!" Ozpin said.

The Queen Lancer summon is then shown firing projectiles at Leonardo Lionheart, who defends himself with Stalwart. He then knocks the summon away with a flame torrent coming from his weapon. Hazel uses the opportunity to launch a combined fire and lightning attack which causes the Lancer summon to dissipate. Weiss stares in shock as her summon disappears.

Suddenly, Jared jumps in and kicks Hazel to the ground.

"Don't touch White Rose." Jared said, looking at Hazel.

Blake and Jared jumped next to Weiss and Ruby Rose.

"Are you hurt?" Blake asked, looking at Weiss.

"N...no! I just remembered you being more of the quiet one." Weiss said.

Hazel, Emerald, and Mercury slowly advance toward the four of them.

"Not today." Blake said,

Blake draws Gambol Shroud, Jared takes out Ebb and Flow, while Ruby holds up Crescent Rose.

"I fought against the Master, the Trickster, and the 456." Jared said, squeezing his dual swords. "I'm not losing here. And I won't lose anyone else."

"Alright." Weiss said, holding Myrtenaster defensively. "Well, what's the plan, Ruby?"

Ruby nods, "Jared, got anything?"

Lionheart tries to launch an attack on the silver-eyed girl, but Ruby shoots at his shoulder.

"Nope, not this time." Jared said, smiling. "It's all yours, Little Red."

Lionheart runs out of the room through the doors behind him in fear.

"You've gotta be kidding me..." Mercury said, watching Lionheart run away.

Hazel lets out a fearsome roar, while Emerald and Mercury just watch him.

Ruby calls out their team attack, "Checkmate!"

"And follow it with Shadow of Time!" Jared said, looking back at Blake. "Blake, you'll catch on quickly. As to what this team attack does."

Blake, Weiss, and Jared run forward, followed closely behind by Ruby.

The vault...

Yang Xiao Long faces Raven Branwen.

"I warned you, Yang. I gave you every opportunity to walk away from Qrow and Oz. So you can believe me when I say this wasn't personal." Raven said.

"You opened the vault." Yang said, glaring at Raven.

"Thanks to the chaos you and your friends caused upstairs. I knew you could handle it. You're my daughter after all."

"Qrow, Oz, and Jared told me how the Maiden powers are transferred. The girl you found...she would've had to have trusted you if you were in her final thoughts - cared about you a lot."

"I'm sure they told you plenty, and you just sat and obeyed."

"No, I'm starting to ask questions like you said. So tell me...what happened to the last Spring Maiden? Did she die in battle? Was it sickness?"

"What does it matter to you?"

"I can already see the answer. It's all over your face. How could you?!" Yang exclaimed, her eyes widening.

"She was scared when we found her! Weak. No matter how much training I put her through, she never learned! She wasn't cut out for this world! And with those powers, she would've been hunted her entire life! What I did..."

"'Wasn't personal.'" Yang said, quoting her mother.

"It was mercy!" Raven said, angrily.

"Which is it, mom? Are you merciful, or are you a survivor? Did you let me walk into that trap because you knew I could handle it, or because it meant you could get what you wanted?!"

"It's not that simple. You don't know me, you don't know what I've been through, the choices I've had to make!"

"You're right. I don't know you. I only know the Raven dad told me about. She was troubled, and complicated, but she fought for what she believed in, whether it was her team or her tribe! Did you kill her too?"

Raven eyes widen and looks away, before turning back to face her daughter again.

"I've stared death in the face over and over again!" Raven said, and in her anger, her Maiden powers activate. "And every time I've spat in that face and survived, because I'm strong enough to do what others won't!"

"Oh, shut up! You don't know the first thing about strength! You turn your back on people, you run away when things get too hard, you put others in harm's way instead of yourself!" Yang said, as she balls her hand into a fist, shaking. "You might be powerful, but that doesn't make you strong."

"Who do you think you are, lecturing me?! Standing there, shaking like a scared little girl?!" Raven exclaimed, enraged.

"Yeah, I'm scared. But I'm still standing here!" Yang said, while she begins approaching Raven. "I'm not like you, I won't run, which is why you're going to give me the Relic."

"And why would I..."

"Because you're afraid of Salem! And if you thought having Maiden powers put a target on your back, imagine what she'll do when she finds out you have a Relic." Yang said, and Raven turns away, seething. "She'll come after you with everything she has." Raven's expression then turns solemn. "Or she can come after me." Her mother's eyes widen when she hears her daughter say that, before turning back to her. "And I'll be standing there, waiting for her."

After a tense moment, Raven deactivates her Maiden powers.

"You don't want to do this, Yang." Raven said, somberly.

"Nope. But I'm gonna do it anyway." Yang said, walking forward, bumping her mother out of the way as she passes her.

Raven looks down before turning to see her daughter approach the Relic chamber. A tear drips from Raven's eye.

"I..." Raven said, holding her arm as tears well up in her eyes. "I'm sorry..."

Tears well up in Yang's eyes as well, "Yeah...me too."

Yang then hears the sound of one of Raven's portals as well as the sound of flapping wings from behind her. She looks behind her and sees a black feather fall gently to the ground. Yang then proceeds forward and enters the Relic chamber. She approaches the Relic of Knowledge - an ornate, gold and cyan lamp - as it rests on the stone pedestal. Yang grabs the Relic by its handle, and small, indistinct whispers can be heard when near it. Tears then stream from Yang's eyes, before she falls to her knees as she breaks down crying.

Haven Academy...

Lionheart bursts into his office and runs behind his desk, frantically opening drawers trying to look for something. Suddenly, he hears ominous clicking noises, and looks up to notice a Seer floating menacingly in front of his desk. A familiar voice comes from it.

"And where might you be going?" Salem asked.

"Uh, your grace!" Lionheart said, stammering, and he is nervously chuckling. "I was just looking for something."

"Leonardo, do you have something you wish to tell me?"

Lionheart doesn't say anything for a bit, before telling Salem his response, "It was Cinder! She altered the plan! Huntsmen showed up here! Qrow! Several students, one with the Silver Eyes! The White Fang attack, it was stopped!"

"I don't know that they'll be able to recover the Relic..." Lionheart said, stammering, before figuring out what to say next. "Your grace, I can still be of assistance!! If I leave now, I...I can avoid the authorities and come find you, I'll do whatever it takes!" He pauses for a moment to think. "Your grace?"

Out of options, Lionheart aims his weapon at the Seer, but it uses one of its tentacles to knock it off his wrist. Lionheart tries to run, but the Seer wraps one of its tentacles around Lionheart's ankle, causing him to trip and fall.

"Please, ma'am! I'll do anything! I can still be useful!" Lionheart said, begging pathetically.

The Seer aims its sharp tentacles at Lionheart. He tries to crawl away, but more tentacles wrap around his body.

"Please! PLEEEAAASE!" Lionheart said, terrified.

Despite his pleas, Lionheart is dragged towards the Seer. He got stabbed in the chest.

"Please..." Lionheart said, weakly.

Lionheart has his dying breath and there was another stab on his chest.

the Land of Darkness...

The dark queen herself stares at the Seer in front of her on the table, leaning her head on her hand in disappointment.

"Coward..." Salem said.

Haven Academy...

Oscar is defending an exhausted Qrow while Ruby and her friends hold off their opponents, who are all exhausted as well.

"Two minutes until the operational limit is reached." Aqours said, coming out of Jared's necklace. "And your Aura is at 40%"

"Right." Jared said, holding Ebb and Flow in dual pistols form. "I need a break after today."

"That's enough! Just give up." Ruby said.

Mercury snarls and yells in frustration, slamming his fist into the ground.

"It's not over! Cinder will come back, she'll have the Relic, and she'll stop all of you! She won't let us down." Emerald said.

The platform leading to the vault is heard coming back up. Everyone stares as Yang comes back up with the Relic of Knowledge in her hand. Emerald looks in surprise as Cinder didn't come back up. All of Yang's friends look up to her and smile.

"Yang..." Ruby said, smiling.

Hazel seethes while tears stream from Emerald's eyes. Yang smiles back down to her friends and shares a brief glance with Blake and Jared, who looks down for a bit before looking back up to her.

"She did it..." Jared said, sadly. "The Relic of Knowledge. The outcome I remembered all those years ago is mostly the same. Even with my presence."

Emerald falls to her knees and begins to sob. Mercury and Hazel slowly back away.

"Emerald, get up, we need to go." Mercury said, and Emerald shakes her head and remains stationary. "Emerald!"

Emerald looks around as her breathing gets frantic. She holds her head and lets out a loud scream, activating her Semblance. Suddenly, the room turns dark as black smoke rises from the ground nearby. From it, a giant effigy of Salem, limbs bent and deformed, towers above everyone in the room. The giant Salem opens her eyes, and lets out an ear-piercing scream as it swoops down over everyone. The room goes pitch black for a second.

"Okay, I never liked horror or thrillers." Jared said, grabbing Ruby's hand. "This is why I hate jump scares."

Afterwards, everything returns to normal, Ruby shakes in fear as she comes to terms with what she had just witnessed.

"Me too." Ruby said, as Jared squeezed her hand. "Thanks."

Everyone in the room is still present, with the exception of Emerald, Mercury and Hazel, who have disappeared.

"Wha...what was that?" Blake asked.

"An illusion. But an accurate one. That...was Salem." Ozpin said.

"And I thought the Daleks knew how to make an entrance back in the Spring of 2009." Jared said, a terrified look on his face. "That was just as scary."

Outside Haven Academy...

Hazel is seen running and carrying an unconscious Emerald over his shoulder, with Mercury following not too far behind him. Up in the tree branches, Adam watches his allies run, before he too leaves.

Haven Academy...

Blake sighs in relief now that the battle is over, before she hears the sounds of her parents and Sun run into the great hall. The Belladonnas share a hug together while Sun looks on.

"The police rounded up the remaining White Fang members. Haven is safe." Kali said.

"Unfortunately, it appears that Adam escaped." Ghira said.

They all look down.

"It's okay." Ilia said, walking into the building. "He was the only one to escape tonight. Those in the White Fang that followed him? Won't support a leader that abandons his people. He won't have their help after this. He'll have no one at all. And the White Fang will be left divided."

"We've been fighting amongst ourselves for too long. Perhaps it's time for a new brotherhood. A new family for Faunus truly working towards a better world." Ghira said.

"And they'll need a new leader." Kali said.

Ghira nods in acknowledgement. Sun peeks behind Ghira and notices his old friends from Beacon, waving to them. He then wraps his tail around Blake to turn her around and have her see her old friends too. She slowly walks towards them nervously while Sun and her parents smile. Yang walks down the stairs and hands the Relic to her uncle.

"What happened?" Qrow asked.

"I don't know exactly. When I got down there, Cinder was gone, and Vernal was dead." Yang said.

"And Raven?"

"Gone."

"Well, we're all glad you're still here, firecracker." Qrow said, placing an assuring hand on her shoulder.

Suddenly, Ruby groans and falls to her knees.

"Operational limit has been reached." Aqours said, and Jared falls down to his knees too. "Time to recharge. Ten minutes. Aura level is at forty percent."

"Forty." Jared said, sadly. "That was way too much fighting for one day, Little Red, Ice Queen."

Weiss catches Ruby and Jared, "Are the both of you okay?"

"I feel like I should be asking you guys." Ruby said, sighing.

The three look up to see Blake approaching them.

"Not so good. I had the most interesting couple of months." Jared said, laughing a little.

Yang walks over and drops to her sister and Jared's side, "I know you did. We did too."

"So Blake, what're you doing here?" Ruby asked, looking at Blake.

"I...I was gonna ask you four the same thing." Blake said.

Ruby, Weiss, Yang, and Jared share glances with each other.

"That's...a looooong story." Ruby said.

"Especially after the Fall of Beacon. I've been through a lot. Since the last time we met." Jared said, rubbing the back of his head. "And it's been jammed back into three years. Roughly."

"Well...I'm not going anywhere. Jared, you can explain your stories to me all you want. Yang, Ruby, Weiss, you can too." Blake said.

"That's all that matters." Ruby said, giggling. "That we're all here together. Right?"

Ruby looks to Yang as she says that. Blake briefly looks away with a sorrowful expression on her face.

Yang looks up at her and smiles, "Yeah."

Blake looks back over to them and smiles. Weiss offers a hand out to her, and the cat Faunus eagerly joins in to Team RWBY and their fanboy's first group hug after a long time of being apart.

"Jared, was the last time you really saw us all together at the Fall of Beacon?" Blake asked.

"Yes. It was! There was a Year that Never Was. The Earth got invaded a lot by aliens in 2009. The Doctor regenerated into a man wearing a bow tie. He's literally the spinning image of Ruby." Jared said, grabbing Ruby's hand. "Oh, and I met a woman named Amelia Pond."

"That name sounds like it came out of a fairy tale. That's what we were to you, I suppose."

"You were. But now you've been real. All of you. For a long time. A part of my life."

The four girls and their fanboy embrace each other while their friends look on smiling.

Qrow, still holding the Relic, then approaches a panting Oscar, who is kneeling on the ground, "I don't know how, but we did it, Oz. You okay?"

"I'm alright." Oscar said.

"Kid?" Qrow asked.

"He's resting. Too much energy fighting."

"Hey, don't strain yourself!"

"No! He had...a message..." Oscar said, taking a few more pants. "We must...get the lamp to...Atlas."

Oscar groans and falls, but Qrow catches him. He lays the exhausted farm boy on the ground and looks over as Team RWBY and Jared finishes their embrace.

"Guys, this is where my foreknowledge as to what's to come here ends. In terms of what will happen here. At Remnant." Jared said, looking at Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang. "From this day forward, I'll, I'll be going in blind. And I'm scared."

"What do you know?" Weiss asked.

Qrow then stands back up, and looks to the Relic he holds in his hand.

"Only adventures involving the Doctor. When he's in his Eleventh and Twelfth incarnations. Bow tie and eyebrows. And before those two with big ears and Sandshoes. They were the Ninth and Tenth Doctors." Jared said. "I also had knowledge about Torchwood and Sarah Jane's Adventures too."

The lamp is glowing brightly as the indistinct whispers are heard again. Qrow sighs.

"In other words, we're screwed. After us reuniting after so long." Yang said. "I wish you could have told us sooner."

The Xiao Long-Rose Family Home on Patch...

Taiyang Xiao Long is seen tending to his garden. He hears the sound of flapping bird feathers and notices a falling black feather. Taiyang sighs.