Still carrying the unconscious Emerald, Hazel and Mercury flee over the rooftops of Mistral and using the plentiful piping to make their way down the city. As they do, Mercury can hear Emerald's mumbling as he sees her slowly try to open her eyes.
Emerald: "C-Cinder..."
Mercury: "Get it together already."
Hazel: "Leave her be, Mercury. We need to keep moving."
As he said this, the large man spares a glance back towards the damaged campus before continuing his path, while carrying Emerald over his shoulders. Letting out a sigh, Mercury follows after him.
Mercury: "Salem are not going to be happy about any of this. And I certainly don't want to deal with that masked chick of hers either."
Hazel: "If you have time to talk, then you have time to find us an airship to use."
Mercury: "Ugh, fine."
__________________________________________________________________________________
On different part of the city, Adam is being dragged away by a handful of his men. He's only partially conscious, mumbling to himself quietly.
Adam: "Traitors... Blake... Y/N... I... I... hate... him..."
During this, the fleeing White Fang members struggle to get him down the mountainside.
White Fang Member #35: "What is he even mumbling about?"
White Fang Member #34: "Let's not worry about that. Focus on finding some hiding spot to lay low."
When they hit a particularly bumpy spot in the path, making Adam's mask to come loose and drop into a muddy puddle below, unbeknownst to Adam's men.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Back with Y/N and his team, they make their way to the Branwen camp via airship as Y/N just finish explaining to Blake about his "split into four beings" circumstance, how it was caused by the mastermind behind the Fall of Beacon, Salem, that his power was also split into four, and that each of him were with not only her but, the rest of their team. Blake is absorbing this information she's been given, completely baffled at what she's hearing.
Blake: "So... that explain why I saw two of you and why you only mimic my semblance."
Y/N #1: "Pretty much."
Weiss: "It's sound absurd, I know. We had similar reaction when we heard this too."
Ruby: "You get used to it."
Blake: "Okay then... still, I have to ask. Who exactly is Salem?"
Before any of them can respond, they suddenly hear distant thunder rumbling in their ears. This catches their attention as they come into view of the tribal campgrounds.
Yang: "We're here."
They gaze upon the lake's central island obscured by swirling gray clouds and flashing lightning.
Y/N: "What the hell?"
Weiss: "This is too localized to be consider natural."
The airship they're in dips down and comes to rest in the lake, doubling as a boat. On deck, the team can see the campgrounds are basically abandoned with nothing but, a few marks of debris, footprints, and tire tracks. Only two lone yurts that have been left untouched, ones that Y/N, Yang, and Weiss are already familiar with. On the other side, they discover Raven on the central island, calling down lightning from a storm again and again onto a single point in front of her. Yang watches her with heavy eyes before saying.
Yang: "Let's go."
Y/N: "Right."
On the central island, Raven is delivering as much damage as she can onto the relic of knowledge, calling in lightning and fire and ice.
Seeing that none of that works, she resorts to just bashing it endlessly with Omen, exhausting herself out more and more. The only thing she ended up destroying is the small pillar on which she placed the relic on. Her blade breaks against the relic's glass when Team RWBY+Y/N finally approach her and she turns to glare at them, though her eyes lack the normal amount of confidence she once had. Raven's been shaken and she's trying to hide it the best she can. Looking back to the undamaged relic, Raven speaks up, addressing to them.
Raven: "I don't know what you're expecting but, you're not going to get it. Turn around and go home."
Yang is the first to respond.
Yang: "You know we can't do that."
The bandit woman sucks in a breath and mutters.
Raven: "Of course you can't."
She turns to look at them, resting her hand on Omen's sheath.
Raven: "None of you can leave well enough alone, can you?"
Crossing his arms and staring at her, Y/N gives a deadpan expression as he replies.
Y/N: "What can we say. We made our choice and we're just seeing it through."
This makes Raven shoot a glare at him as she places a hand to herself.
Raven: "I'm trying to end 'all' of this! Right here and right now."
Weiss snaps back at this.
Weiss: "You think that makes any of this better? You attacked us!"
Raven quickly counters.
Raven: "None of you were supposed to be there! If you hadn't shown up, me and Vernal could have just been in and out with the relic before they even knew what hit them. You ruined my plan!"
Y/N sarcastically retorts back.
Y/N: "Oh we're sorry that we mess up a plan that we knew nothing about. We just thought that you were merely working Cinder and her group to get the relic because you're that scared of Salem. Not like your plan was any good."
Raven growls at him as Yang chimes in.
Yang: "The same plan that included killing Qrow? That included killing all of us?"
Raven's mouth shuts and she swallows down her next words. Watching cautiously, Ruby steps forward to ask.
Ruby: "What was your plan exactly, Raven?"
Raven gets a clear look at Ruby and in an instant, she recognizes her. With a scoff, Raven comments.
Raven: "Just like her, right down to the way she talks."
A warm smile threatens to grow on her face but, it doesn't win in the end as Raven answers back.
Raven: "I'm trying to break this cycle once and for all or at the very least, stagger it until it's not any of our problems anymore..."
Before she continues, Raven picks up the relic and display the lamp for them to see.
Raven: "I plan to destroy this thing and failing that..."
She curls the fingers of her free hand into a fist and punches down through the air, forcing the earth below before continuing.
Raven: "Place it in a deep hole, burying it so far down into the heart of these ruins that no soul alive will ever find it. This place wards Grimm away so both Salem and Ozpin would need to find this spot and have some way to move hundreds of feet of rock and stone to get it. Not exactly full proof, but it's clear that I need to do something to buy my tribe some time."
Listening in and watching all of this unfold before her, Blake looks back towards the empty campgrounds and genuinely asks.
Blake: "What tribe?"
Laughing bitterly, Raven sits upon the broken pillar, staring out over the empty campgrounds.
Raven: "No tribe of mine... not anymore."
The team look at her for a moment before Weiss speaks up.
Weiss: "They left you, didn't they?"
Y/N: "Not doubt that it was because of you and your so-called 'leadership'."
Rage flashes in Raven's eyes as she jumps to her feet, fuming as she yells out.
Raven: "Ungrateful! Every single one of them! I've done nothing but, ensure their survival! Protected them at every turn! And the minute I fail once, they up and leave like cowards!"
Y/N: "But you didn't just fail once. You agreed to work with Cinder and her group."
Yang chimes in once more.
Yang: "And because of that, you got Vernal killed!"
Raven glares at them and biting back.
Raven: "Don't talk like you didn't play a part in that!"
Y/N: "We're not the one making deals with Salem and giving her what she want!"
Yang: "Unlike you, we're not the one parading my daughter around as the Spring Maiden!"
Y/N: "It thanks to you that Vernal got killed by that bitch Cinder!"
Their remarks make Raven stomps the ground violently.
Raven: "Vernal made that decision herself, damn it! I've never wanted her to do that but, when she learned the truth, she promised she'd always protect me!"
The bandit woman begins to crack, falling back to her seat with her head in her hands with the occasional tears managing to escape her eyes. Angry, Raven continues to talk, still glaring at Yang and Y/N.
Raven: "What was I supposed to do? If I didn't do what they said, they would have just kept coming back. I'd always be running. My people would always be in danger. So, what other choice do I have bit to try and stop the cycle entirely. I didn't have one!"
This is when Ruby steps forward once again, her voice pleading.
Ruby: "You should have work with us. With Ozpin. The people that are trying to keep the world safe from her."
Raven just stares at Ruby in disgusted disbelief. She rubes her tears from her eyes and begins to respond back.
Raven: "Ozpin is not trying to keep the world safe. He's trying to keep it the way he likes it."
She then looks to the relic in her hand. After a moment of staring at it, Raven toss it to Yang's feet, much to Yang's and her team's surprise.
Raven: "Take it. Just... take it."
Yang stares at the relic before picking it up and cradling it gently in her fingers as Y/N asks Raven.
Y/N: "What are you going to do now?"
Smearing down her tears, Raven stands up from her spot and draws her broken sword before replying.
Raven: "I'm going to go somewhere that they'll never find me and with any luck, I'll stay one step ahead of both of them for as many years I've got left in me."
Yang: "So, you're just running away."
Pausing for a bit, Raven slash open a portal before replying.
Raven: "It's the only choice that's mine to make, Yang."
As she said this, Raven shoots another glare at Y/N, which he quickly notices.
Y/N: "Tch, not like anyone is going to stop you."
This is when Blake steps up beside Yang and speaks, addressing to Raven.
Blake: "That doesn't mean it's a good choice."
Raven closes her eyes for a bit, opening them and then responding back.
Raven: "None of them are."
And with that, the bandit woman slips through the portal, but not before glaring back at Y/N, quietly muttering to herself.
Raven: "Brainwashed pawn..."
Hearing this, Y/N just glares back at her as Raven seal the portal behind her, vanishing from sight. The team stare at the space where Raven was before turning their attention to the relic in Yang's hands. Yang turns to Ruby and hands the relic over to her.
Weiss: "What exactly does this relic do?"
Now holding it, Ruby replies back.
Ruby: "Well, we can just ask Ozpin when we get back to Mistral."
Yang: "But before that... we still have one last thing to do here."
As she said this, Yang looks back to the airship where Vernal's body on her stretcher is at. All eyes follow to where Yang is looking at as they quickly realize what she means by that. They all share a look before nodding as they get to work.
(Several Moments Later)
In one of the several islands on the lake, blanketed mostly in flowers all waving gently in the evening's breeze. In the center of it and in front of a large cherry tree, Vernal's body is laid to rest among the flowers, arms crossed, eyes closed, and her right fist still curled around Weiss's bear statue. The team stand a few feet away from her body, visibly mournful and lost in thought. After a couple moments of utter silence, Ruby turns to her team and asks.
Ruby: "Should we... say something?"
Weiss just shakes her head in response, choked with emotion, and almost about to cry again. Blake goes over to comfort Weiss as she slowly starts to quietly sob. Yang, however, does speak up softly.
Yang: "I'm sorry... I know we got off on the wrong foot and honestly... okay, it was on both of us really. But still, I... I regret how little time we had together... I wasted being petty with you, ignoring you... I wish... I wish I'd have been an actual sister to you."
And with that, Yang goes silent as Ruby turns to Y/N, who still stare at Vernal's body.
Ruby: "Y/N... you got anything to say?"
Pausing for a moment, Y/N sighs briefly before speaking up.
Y/N: "Vernal, when we first met, you were probably one of the most stubborn and annoying person I have ever met. I would blame Raven for teaching that 'might makes right' crap to you. Still, you try to be like her, you agree to go along with her plan of attacking and killing us just to get the relic. Even if you did try to warn us to not go to Haven. You got involve with your mother's plan without a second thought and this is the result..."
His team look at him with a mixture of shock and disbelief of what he's saying to Vernal.
Weiss: "Y/N, why would you say-?"
She's interrupted upon seeing his face, tears coming down his eyes and gritting his teeth as he continues.
Y/N: "You're so... s-stupid. Y-You're supposed to be t-the Spring Maiden... so... why... why the hell did it end up like this? You knew this... you warned us... and yet y-you... why did you have to die? Why... were you killed... why...?"
Upon saying this, Y/N drops to his knee, placing his hands on his face, quietly crying to himself. Blake and Ruby go to comfort him as Yang and Weiss stare at him with sadness before sharing a look with one another with Yang nodding to Weiss. Weiss nods back and draws her rapier, clicking the cylinder into place and allowing a great green glow to encompass the blade. She then stabs it into the ground, causing a lump of solid stone surround and conceal Vernal's body, creating an impromptu tomb. After that, the team stare at the stone grave for a few more minutes until Yang turns around to leave, heading back to the airship. Ruby and Blake then follow after her with Weiss and Y/N lingering the longest, still staring at the stone grave as flower petals drift through the air.
Weiss: "I'm going to miss her..."
In response, Y/N wrap his arm around Weiss's shoulder before replying.
Y/N: "I know, Weiss... I know..."
Slowly, Y/N begins to envelope her into a warm hug, much to Weiss's short surprise.
Weiss: "Y/N...?"
Y/N: "I'm so glad... you're okay, Weiss. When I saw you impaled by Cinder's spear, I... I just... I didn't know what to do but, attack her."
Glancing at him, Weiss steadily embrace the hug back.
Weiss: "It's okay, Y/N. I'm okay."
Y/N: "I know that, I just... I don't ever want to see that happen again. Ever."
Weiss look at him with a reassuring smile.
Weiss: "You won't... because we got each other's back and now... our team is back together."
Y/N pause for a bit before a small smile form on his face.
Y/N: "Yeah..."
The two continue hugging each other as more flower petals drift through the air. After that, they separate and as Weiss walks off to the airship with Y/N following after her. Only to stop in his track, giving one last look to Vernal's grave before he takes out the parting gift Vernal gave him, four knives, all bundled together by a single rope. He then turns his attention to Weiss and the others, who are on board of the airship.
Y/N: ("First Beacon... and now Haven... ugh, it's Omen Academy all over again... we may have stopped the attack on Haven and got the relic... but this doesn't feel like a victory to me... not when Salem's group, and the White Fang are still at large...")
As he continues to ponder to himself, Y/N puts away the bundle of knives in his pocket as he walks over to the airship as he recalls his friends and loved ones getting hurt and almost killed back in Haven, and to an extent, Beacon as well.
Y/N: ("The thought of any of them getting hurt, killed, or worse... n-no... I won't let this happen ever again... I... I need to do something... anything... Yang said that Cinder must've been killed by Raven... but I'll be the judge of that... I just need to think it over once we're back in Mistral...")
And with that, he finally reaches the airship and with everyone on board, the airship begins to lift off and fly back to Mistral. While his team chat with one another, Y/N is left staring at the lake's several small islands as he ponders silently on what he plans to do next in Mistral.