Author's Notes
In this chapter, I figured I'd just kickstart all the main events of the story, and the one's most people are eager for. So I hope you are all excited for the events to follow.
Hope you enjoy.
=7 days later; Menagerie=
The past week had been interesting to Jaune, especially after his encounter with Kali.
Since that day, Jaune felt increasingly awkward around the mother Faunus, something which he hadn't felt in quite some time. Additionally, Blake seemed to follow him wherever he went with almost stalker tendencies, her companion-Sun, he believed-sometimes joining her in her endeavors, every now and then bringing a snack on the journey.
For example: two days ago, Jaune went to the market area at the request of Ghira in order to get some more fish. As he walking along the path, he got the feel as if he was being watched. Stopping, Jaune discretely turned his head just the slightest margin, not enough to spook his would-be followers but enough where he can turn his eyes to the direction suspected.
Fortunately, his stalkers didn't suspect his actions and moved even closer, Jaune now able to see Blake and Sun in the shadow of the bushes. Rolling his eyes at them, Jaune simply went back on his journey and promptly ignored the two's existence.
Since then, he just ignored their stalking tendencies and went about his days. However, today was different, as he planned to leave Menagerie and find Ruby, if she had been transported to Remnant like himself.
In his gifted room, Jaune was getting himself dressed with all his clothes, just now slipping on his jacket. Jaune still didn't know how to feel about the jacket, having been so used to both wearing a hoodie and nothing at all as Godzilla. Zipping it up, Jaune looked over himself in the mirror, willing to admit he thought he looked good in his grey jacket and jeans.
Shaking that off, Jaune left his room before heading down stairs to grab something to it from the kitchen. Walking in, he caught sight of Kali at the stove cooking a lunch with Sun and Blake at the dining table. Ignoring the latter two, he went to the fridge and grabbed a slab of fish, his jagged teeth very well nearly tearing it in two when he bit down.
In silence, Jaune simply enjoyed his slab of fish, occasionally spitting out a fishbone that snuck its way into his mouth. Finishing up, Jaune grabbed a broom to sweep up the fishbones off the floor. Dumping them in then bin, Jaune grabbed a small cup and filled it up with water for a drink. Gulping down the mouthfuls, Jaune absently heard Kali talking to him.
"Why are you so dressed up?" the Belladonna matriarch questioned him, confused as to why he looked as if he was heading out somewhere. Unknown to her as of yet, she hit the nail on the head.
Looking down, he contemplated how to answer. "I'm leaving," he said simply, those around him having their eyes widen in shock and surprise.
"Wha-bu-WHY?!" Kali exclaimed, confused as to why he would be leaving. Off to the side, Blake and Sun looked over at each other, Sun with confusion whilst Blake looked alarmed, as if Jaune leaving was a bad thing.
"I just felt that I should go out and explore the world," Jaune said, looking to Kali, "Plus, I want to look for someone special to me and make sure she's okay."
Thinking over it, Kali felt it would be selfish of her to force the grey-blonde teen to stay at her home. Sighing to herself quietly, she nodded and began taking off her apron, talking while doing so, "If you're dead-set about this, then I better be able to help," before Jaune could say otherwise, Kali had already took the food off the stove and onto a plate before heading off elsewhere.
Not knowing what to say, the lizard Faunus simply stood there stupefied. Hearing some munches behind him, Jaune whirled around to see Sun munching on the lunch Kali cooked-that being a small pastry looking thing.
"What?" Sun questioned, before Jaune clasped his left hand around the monkey Faunus' neck.
"You didn't even ask if it was for you," Jaune growled out before roughly letting him go. Not bothering with everyone, Jaune went out to the back garden to enjoy the midday weather, walking past Blake who was shaking her head at Sun's stupid decisions.
=Time skip; two hours later=
True to Kali's word, she did in fact help with Jaune's decision to leave. This was evident by the fishing ship right in front of him.
Apparently, Menagerie had a trade agreement with Mistral in regards to the fishing industry. Due to begin in open waters, Menagerie had easy access to some of the largest resources of seafood on Remnant, which caught the attention of the Mistral Council. The agreement states that 20% of all fishing expeditions conducted were to be exported to Mistral, which has been met without fail.
Though that also brought up the question, "Why IS there a fishing ship?" he asked, looking to a proud looking Kali.
"Well," she started, hands placed on her hips, "Since were to have the fish exported to Mistral today, I figured we could knock out two birds with one stone." eyes closed, it was obvious Kali felt good about her idea.
And to her credit, Jaune couldn't fault it.
"Ghood to knoth," someone slurred out. Looking behind him, Jaune saw Blake and a beaten up Sun, the latter having a badly bruised and swollen cheek. After Jaune had left for the backyard, Kali walked into the kitchen and saw Sun eating the pastry. Apparently, it was intended for him (Jaune) as he missed breakfast but the ditzy monkey Faunus didn't think of this, thus earning Kali's ire as she severely punished him.
Ignoring the bruised mess that is Sun Wukong, Jaune turned back to Kali, "You didn't have to do this. Letting me stay at yours was enough," why would she go so far just for him?
Kali let out a breath, "After everything that has happened this last week, I figured I'd help you get to Mistral, where you can begin your search," she answered, smiling softly at the boy. Suddenly, she reached behind herself before pulling out a scroll, which she handed to him. Taking it, Jaune noticed that she had put in her own contact details. Looking at Kali, he was rewarded with a "In case you need help" from the matriarch.
Smiling in gratitude, Jaune tucked the scroll away before bending down to hug Kali in thanks, the woman gladly recuperating it. Pulling back, Jaune whispered to hear something that has been on his mind these last few days, "Try making love with your husband. Don't ruin what you've got," with that said, Jaune smiled to her one last time before heading towards the ship. Back with Kali, she contemplated on his words before deciding he was right.
As Jaune was boarding the ship, he heard a cough behind him. Turning around, he came face to face with a shy looking Blake, rubbing her left arm with nervousness. Steadily, Jaune became annoyed and was about to board the ship before she spoke.
"I'm sorry."
Whirling around, Jaune bored his eyes at an apologetic looking Blake, struggling to comprehend what he heard. Sorry, SORRY?! Who the fuck did she think she was?! She wants to make amends, whilst she's actually a hypocritical bitch. This was an opinion he made known.
"Go fuck yourself you hypocrite," his piece said, Jaune boarded the ship, leaving a grief stricken Blake, once again haunted by her past mistakes. Whilst it may be odd to hold a grudge for several million years, the feeling of betrayal from his team and (R)WBY had left scars on his heart and mind.
The possibility of their redemption was there for his old 'friends', but the chances of him actually forgiving them was slim to none.
Hearing the ship's horn blow, Jaune went onto the front deck, simply content with watching the waves pass by. Taking a deep breath, Jaune enjoyed the smell of seawater, his mind flashing to times where he would occasionally rest on a beach as opposed to in a trench in the depths of the ocean.
Truly, this is the best kind of peace Jaune could feel-next to being with Ruby. And for however long it takes, he won't stop looking for her. Though for the time being, he'll need to enquire where he's gonna sleep for the trip ahead.
Hours later, at night, Jaune would have dreams involving himself, Ruby, and small children with some having traits of a moth and lizard. The image making a small smile appear on his face.
That same night, Kali would show herself off to Ghira in heavily revealing lingerie before the two would rock the house in repressed lust.
=Time skip; two days later=
Truth be told, for a ship path travelling through Grimm infested waters, the two day trip was remarkably uneventful. When Jaune asked why, apparently when Blake and Sun were on their way to Menagerie they were attacked by a Sea Feilong, which they managed to defeat along side the ship's crew.
The Feilong's defeat sent an instinctual message to any of the weaker Grimm within the waters to stay away, whilst the older and more powerful Grimm simply didn't bother attacking unless there were high levels of negativity.
Unbeknownst to the old God, the Grimm within the ocean waters sensed the power within him, and the feel of it-the heat and danger-which made the creatures of Darkness weary of approaching him, let alone attempting to fight him.
Currently, Jaune was once again on the front of the ship, watching as the vessel slowly approached the docks to one of the coastal towns in Mistral. The town was metaphorically wedged into the center most portion of the continent, allowing for easier travel from the port to the center of Mistral near Haven Academy.
Seeing that the ship has stopped, Jaune didn't bother with the plank and simply jumped off the front. Landing with knees bent, his sudden stunt had people recoiling away from him. Rolling his neck, he strolled past people whilst ignoring the stares, throwing a quick wave of thanks to the ship's crew.
Looking around, the port seemed like a stereotypical seaside area, with numerous stalls serving seafood, fish bait and-of course-fishing rods. However, Jaune prefers to get the fish by hand, having done so for millions of years. Plus, there was something so exciting about catching his food by hand, which Jaune assumed was the more animalistic part of his mind.
Shaking that off, Jaune thought on his best possible options to finding Ruby, only to come to a mild problem. 'I have no idea where to start,' he realized, his face morphing into a blank expression, disregarding the twitching left eyebrow.
Slowly breathing in and out, Jaune began to plan his moves from here on. His most likely good action is to go to Haven Academy, with it being a Huntsman academy there is no doubt they would've something that may be related to Ruby in someway.
Mind made up, Jaune walked off looking for a map to get to Haven Academy, a part of him hoping he'd find Ruby along the journey.
=With Ruby=
Walking along the streets of Mistral, Ruby ignored the stares she was receiving from those around her. Instead of the lustful stares from perverts and overall creeps, the stares she was feeling were those wonder and astonishment-no doubt because of her folded up wings.
Ignoring them, Ruby looked around for any sign of Haven Academy, remembering her father's words about her sister and the rest of JNPR heading for Haven. She didn't know why completely, but all Ruby knew was that they were looking for something from Haven-perhaps a lead to the one who was responsible for the Fall of Beacon.
Turning her head side to side, Ruby for hoped for even a sign pointing towards Haven, seeing all the decorations lining the streets, a possible festival taking place or just a traditional celebration. Ignoring those, she searched before face faulting at an obvious solution; remembering the words her father said, Ruby realized she should be looking for a bar which no doubt temporarily housed her alcoholic uncle, Qrow Branwen.
'For a 60 million year old woman, my mind continues to be that of a ditzy teen,' she thought to herself, sweat-dropping at her own mistake. As she said to her father, 60 million years with mainly Jaune to talk to didn't help with her social ineptitude. However, there was one other that she got to befriend along side Jaune, 'Rest in peace Angi,' she prayed, remembering the armadillo-like Titan.
Last she recalled, Jaune had dragged his dead body back after the final confrontation against Ghidorah, which drove the three-headed dragon into the blizzard wastelands of the Arctic-South where he eventually froze. As for the body of Anguirus, Jaune had him placed at the entrance to the underground temple as a memorial to their delightful friend.
Wiping away a small tear, Ruby shook off the depressive air before looking around for a bar to search. The only issue being is that there were two possibilities for the location: either in the high end part of Mistral or the poorer end; either way, this makes her search for Qrow harder.
Walking around for the next fifteen minutes, she found no help in terms of leads regarding her uncle, slowly becoming increasingly annoyed at the situation. As she huffed in exasperation, Ruby heard a commotion to her left, turning to see a man get thrown out of a building. Looking at the man's light grey dress-shirt and black pants, she instantly knew who got kicked out.
Walking up to him, Ruby deadpanned at the obvious drunk. "I see the habit has got worse, Uncle Qrow," she stated blandly, the stubble faced Hunter looking into a face he thought gone forever.
"Summher," he slurred, his head wobbling from side-to-side due to the intoxication. Facepalming, she took in a deep breath before replying to him.
"No, but try again."
Squinting his eyes, Qrow came up with an answer, "Raven?" he guessed.
Blank faced, Ruby felt herself slowly withering away inside at his drunken stupidity. Slowly rubbing her face, Ruby-faster than most could react-backhanded her drunk uncle back into sobriety (AN: God help us if this happens for real). Blinking rapidly, the now sober Qrow stared unbelievingly at a now irate Ruby.
"I-im-impossib-ble," he stuttered, a part of him believing he finally drank himself to unconsciousness. (Un)fortunately for him, he was quite still in the realm of reality.
"Very much so," Ruby said, a 'no nonsense' tone of voice lacing her words. As for the bird-transforming Hunter, he slowly got up to his feet, barely remaining so due to the wobbly state of his legs and overall body. He slowly reached a hand forward, intending to draw her into a hug, however he grabbed his hand-preventing the hug in its entirety.
"I would have hugged you, had you not been smelling like you're on Death's doorstep," she stated, her silver eyes carrying the feeling of disappointment in the man before her. Qrow flinched at her gaze, reminded of when Summer gave that same stare back suring their Beacon days.
Like mother like daughter, he supposed.
Frowning, Qrow said the first thing on his mind, "How are you alive? Ozpin told me and Tai you were dead," he said, his posture that of a disbelieving man demanding answers to this oddity in life.
In Ruby's mind, she debated how to answer. Ever since she arrived back on Remnant all the way to now, she has come no closer to a definite answer to how she wound up back on Remnant. At best, she had some theories, but nothing concrete.
"Truthfully, I don't know," she admitted to him, "I have theories, but I am still not sure. Nonetheless, dad told me Yang was and I'm here to find her; additionally, he told me my best shot to finding her for sure was to find you," she said, Qrow sighing at her words.
'Well, it would make sense Tai sends her my way,' he thought honestly, seeing the logic and thought process of his old teammate. "But why come here? Last I heard, you had a falling out with Yang," Qrow realized, remembering how Ozpin mentioned the edge that was driven between the half-sisters.
"I did," she clarified, "But, I wanted to check on her as an acquittance-especially since Dad told me how she 'shut down', to say the least."
Sighing, Qrow swung his left arm in the universal language for 'this way'. With Ruby following him, the two walked in silence with the black-haired man taking glances at her folded up wings and Ruby feeling his stares.
"What?" she asked, feeling uncomfortable at his looks.
Qrow hummed before replying, "Just curious at when you got a species change. Was it the accident at Beacon?" he enquired, one of his eyebrows raising when asking.
"I tell you when we get to Yang and the rest. I don't feel like repeating my self." that said, Ruby simply looked around the Mistral streets, observing all the decorations and designs scattered throughout Mistral.
Qrow sighed off to the side, accepting her response with the both of them lapsing into silence for the rest of the walk. Internally, Qrow was glad to have his younger niece back, hoping for the two to get back into scythe practice like when she was younger.
As he reminisced, the two members of the Xiao-Rose-Branwen family walked in silence as they went to where Yang and the remainder of JNPR resided. Whilst it was silent between them, there was no tension in the air around them.
Some 5 to 10 minutes later, the two finally arrived at the residence the group was staying, only Qrow having left in order to drink himself stupid once more. Knocking on the door to let them he's back, Qrow opened to door to the sight of Oscar on the couch reading a standard novel, his upright and refined posture detailing Ozpin was in control.
Looking past him, Qrow barely caught the sight of Yang's blonde hair in the dining room, the man guessing that NPR were in there as well. Sending a hand signal for Ruby to remain outside 'til otherwise, Qrow cleared his throat, Ozpin looking up from the book.
"Ah, you've returned earlier than expected." the immortal wizard said, putting the book down on to the table. Shrugging, Qrow took a swig of his flask.
"Meh, figured I'd come back since I was bored." he said after drinking, a burp emanating from the alcoholic.
"You went drinking, so something must've brought you back." Ozpin deadpanned at him, instantly recognizing the behavior due to the amount of times it happened before. Whether it be a barmaid who got perved on by him or something else, the outcome was always the same: Qrow, forced sober, returning coherent but smelling of drinks.
Qrow sighed, bobbing his head side-to-side in agreement. "Yeah, got me there. But, the reason why is something worth mentioning." before he could signal Ruby to come in, Yang poked her head through the doorway.
"Oh! You were quick." she said, stepping into the room completely. After the Fall of Beacon, Yang had changed her outfit of her tight fitting top, jacket and biker shorts into something more conservative. In place of those shorts were blank pants that-while remaining tight fitting to some degree-concealed the skin of her legs from everyone around her.
As for her upper-wear, Yang still had some form of tight fitting t-shirt and jacket. However, she replaced her short-sleeve jacket for a long-sleeved variation. Around her neck was a brown and orange scarf, used to combat Mistral's chilly temperatures during the current season.
"Yeah, Oz said the same thing." Qrow said, mildly annoyed his traits were recognizable. Heaving a sigh, Qrow took one last swig of his flask before going through in shocking everyone around. "Well, glad you're here 'cause there's someone you should see." eyebrows raising, Yang and Ozpin (and Oscar) watched Qrow, interested as to who this person was.
"Alright, come on in!" he said, the person coming through the door.
Silent, Yang and Ozpin gazed at Ruby, instantly recognizing her silver eyes as well as red-tipped hair. Regardless of her new dress, boots and even the wings poking over her shoulders from her back, the two could easily recognize the once leader of Team RWBY. However, due to her more mature body, she was briefly confused for Summer Rose, showing how much of her mother Ruby inherited.
Shocked still, Yang slowly walked forward, scared that Ruby may just simply vanish right before her. Slowly walking forward, Yang watched as Ruby's impassive face not once changed as she approached, a part of the brawler's heart knowing this was to be expected, especially since Beacon.
As that happened, Qrow watched from the side as PRN (Prune) walked out from the dining room, having heard how the commotion in the next room suddenly came to a halt. Before they had a chance to ask any questions they may have had, the words died when they noticed Ruby at the door.
"Well, you look better than before from what I heard from Dad." Ruby said, her voice the same from before with a hint of maturity. Yang instantly knew she was referring to her depression episodes, days spent simply sitting on her bed while staring at the wall with dead eyes.
To calm herself, Yang took a deep breath. "How are you alive?" she asked softly, though with the knowledge of Ozpin being a constant reincarnated wizard, helped aviate some of the doubt from Yang's mind and open her up to possibilities.
Ruby shrugged, "Like I said to Dad and Uncle Qrow, I have no idea. Point is, here I am." she said, the group around her having one similar feeling...
Life just got all the more interesting.
Author's Notes
I do hope you enjoyed this chapter of KOTM, this being a kickstarter for things to come hopefully. So if you've got ideas for potentially important plot-points, now's the time to put them through either on Wattpad or my Discord (your choice which).
Also, for those keep asking when a specific story is gonna be updated, I'll just say this: I have a schedule in the latest chapter of Silent Arc (which I'll soon put somewhere more noticable), but the specific time is never concrete, so that's that.
Until next time, Redsummer out.