Chapter Text
Penny sat back in General Ironwood's chair, her eyes wide, tears streaking her cheeks, her hands held in the air over the desk in front of her. She was trembling, crying, unsure what to do with herself. Her eyes were fixed on the camera drone's footage in front of her, and the redhead that the Voice of Confusion had just spat up. It had to be impossible. There was no way. Her eyes had to be fooling her. Winter was mistaken. Penny had to be mistaken as well. It couldn't be Pyrrha.
Could it?
She watched, still unable to move, her mind frozen, as Winter took off her coat and draped it over the redhead's shoulders. Ironwood put away his pistol and pointed to Jinn. "Take her into the academy. Winter, help me get these people back into their holding cells." Winter handed the redhead over to Jinn, and the two of them left, leaving Winter to help General Ironwood with their criminal captives. Ironwood looked to the nearest camera drone. "Penny, get a uniform for our guest."
Hearing her name, Penny jumped. It took her a moment for Ironwood's order to sink in, and when it did she forgot to answer through the drone. She set it to automatic and climbed out of the chair, running around the desk and rushing her way to the school's laundry room. There were more than enough spare uniforms, and she grabbed one that looked to be the right size, running out of the room again and heading for the academy's front door. She turned a corner and started down a long hallway, seeing the front door straight ahead of her. Jinn and what couldn't possibly be Pyrrha entered the school right in front of her. Penny was already running, but as she got closer and she became more certain of who she was seeing, she ran faster, barreling down the hall towards them.
At the door, Jinn was looking up and down her charge. She didn't understand the Voice or what it did, not entirely. She knew it could alter a person it ate, and then spit them out again. She knew that it could keep them trapped for forever or release them again. None of that explained to her how Pyrrha was here now. All she understood was that there was no doubt in her mind. This was Pyrrha Nikos. She was so taken by the situation before her eyes that she almost missed another thing that was presently happening. She turned just in time to avoid being bowled over, and Penny stopped in front of them, skidding to a halt. Pyrrha, for her part, seemed to still be out of it, but the sound of someone running towards them drew her attention up and to the shocked, crying face of Penny Polendina. Whatever was occupying her mind, keeping her silent, it all went away in that moment. Pyrrha's eyes met Penny's.
"...Penny?"
Penny nodded. "Pyrrha?"
She pushed off of Jinn, wrapping her arms around Penny. "Penny!"
"Pyrrha!" Penny couldn't even see anymore, her eyes were so wet with tears. Her friend was back.
"Penny, I'm so sorry!" Pyrrha started sobbing into Penny's shoulder, soaking it. "I never meant to hurt you!"
It struck Penny right away. That was one of the last things Pyrrha remembered. The Vytal Festival. The tournament. Using her Semblance and inadvertently tearing Penny apart. Penny squeezed her eyes shut, wrapping her hands around Pyrrha. She put a hand on her head, stroking her hair gently, trying her best to comfort her. "I know you didn't. It's okay now. I'm here." She patted Pyrrha's back with her other hand, still holding the uniform. "Also, I brought you clothes."
General Ironwood had sent a message to all active and combat ready Huntsmen and Atlas military personnel. It was time to push the Grimm back, to drive them out of the city. Ruby was almost onboard a Manta meant to take her and her team down to Mantle when all of the screens on Amity turned on. Ironwood was now addressing everyone, and through Amity the entire world would see it. She stopped to watch, at least to catch the beginning.
"Salem has been destroyed. For good. Her criminal accomplice Tyrian Callows has gone with her. The rest have been arrested and are now in custody. We will now begin the process of removing the Grimm from our city."
Ruby heard a wave of relieved shouts from all across Amity, drowning out just about any other sound. The only sound that cut through it all was Weiss shouting at her to get on board. She hopped up the ramp to join her team. Blake was still down, but Yang and Weiss were with her. Jaune, Ren, and Nora were there as well. As soon as the Manta took off and headed down to the city below, Ruby heard the sound of a call coming to her scroll. She opened it one-handed. "Go for Team RWBY."
It was Ironwood. "I need you and Jaune's team down here with me. Meet me at the front entrance of Atlas Academy."
"Yes sir." Ruby saluted with the scroll in her hand. Ironwood had never seen a salute from quite that angle before. By the time she had her scroll back down in front of her where she could see, the general had hung up. "Oh, okay." She folded her scroll up and put it in her pocket. "We're going to the school first."
Weiss turned and shouted into the cockpit. "Get us to the school." The Manta angled down as the pilot drove them towards Atlas, making a beeline for the school.
Jaune waved at Ruby to get her attention. "What's General Ironwood want?"
"He didn't say." She shrugged. "Other than he wants us to meet him at the school."
"The ancient evil that's been plaguing the entire world for thousands of years has finally been defeated once and for all and we have to go back to school the same day?" Nora complained, earning a laugh from Yang and Jaune.
Ren calmly played the straight man for Nora. "I don't think we're going to be attending class."
"Maybe he's going to grade us on how we save Mantle from the Grimm." Jaune offered.
Weiss waved off the whole idea. "I stopped caring about grades when I got my license."
"Oh, you're too good for us, I see." Yang teased.
"Don't be daft, we got our licenses at the same time."
"Hey guys, look!" Ruby called their attention to the windshield in the front of the Manta. Through the window, they could see the colossal Grimm whale pushing itself off of the edge of Atlas and turning to leave. "It's on the run!"
"Or it's just not as interested in being here anymore." Yang offered.
Nora jumped forward. "Let's make it on the run!"
Yang pumped her metal fist. "Yeah! Let's take the fight back to them!"
"Let's break its legs!"
"Nora, it's a whale. it doesn't have legs."
"Not with that attitude!"
"We're coming in for a landing." The pilot called back, looking over his shoulder and almost jumping out of his seat when he saw how close Nora had gotten. "Please sit back down."
Nora backed off, then looked around for a moment. She sidled up to Ruby, leaning in and whispering. "There are no seats in here, where does he want me to sit, the floor?"
"There's a seat right over there!" Weiss pointed frantically.
The Manta landed, and the side door opened, showing General Ironwood waiting for them just outside. Nora wasted no time in jumping out so she didn't have to be subjected to the horror of sitting still. Ren jumped out after her so that he could restrain her if need be, and the rest followed more calmly. Ruby and Jaune stepped up to the front of the group, both saluting, Jaune with a bit more accuracy to his salute, and the others lined up on either side of them.
"Reporting for duty, General." Ruby announced.
"Thank you." Ironwood took a deep breath, then paused. "You should come with me. There's something I need to tell you, and I'm... still coming to terms with it myself." He turned to walk towards the school. "The Voice was used. That's how we defeated Salem."
Ruby and Jaune looked at each other, exchanging their senses of understanding and concern. It sounded like there was more to the story than just that. Jaune looked to Ren and Nora, giving them a nod, then followed the general with his team tailing after him. Ruby jumped ahead so she could walk next to the general, with Weiss and Yang trailing close behind. There was something unsettling building in the silence, and Ruby didn't like it. The Voice had been used, and to great effect it seemed, but something went wrong. There was a cost. That had to be it.
"Sir," Ruby started. "The Voice didn't just consume Salem and Tyrian, did it?"
"No..." He sighed. It was probably better not to beat around the bush with this. "Oscar..." All of them stopped at that name. Ironwood continued on for a few steps before stopping as well. "Oscar sacrificed himself to make sure it took Salem. In the end, Ozpin didn't even show up."
They were silent. Ruby's mind was swirling with a mix of emotions, but what kept bubbling up to the top was how it seemed right, in some way, that Ozpin and Salem went together. Weiss felt sick to her stomach that Oscar, who really was just a kid, had made the ultimate sacrifice. For Yang, anger at Ozpin was coming out on top, for putting Oscar in this situation in the first place. Jaune felt his fist clenching, and he wanted to punch something, to break something, to let out the tension that was building up from everything Ozpin, and even more so Salem, had put them all through, Oscar especially. Nora just felt sad, and sought comfort in taking Ren's hand in hers. Ren gave her hand a light squeeze in return, but he couldn't decide how he felt about it all right now. None of them could find any words.
Ironwood spoke for them. "Oscar knew what he was doing, and he made the choice himself. It should have been me, if anyone was going to do it, but it's done now. He ended it. Now we have the opportunity to take back all of Remnant from the Grimm, and I'm not about to waste that chance." He started walking again. "Our fate has been guided for too long by beings we can't fully comprehend."
After another few seconds of silence, Ruby started after the general. "Yes sir. We're with you all the way." It didn't matter if they wanted to grieve or rejoice or anything else at the moment. They had monsters to slay.
Reaching the door and stepping into the school, Ironwood turned to face Jaune. "I am sorry. I feel like I'm to blame that you've lost a member of your team. If you'll allow me, I would like to try to make it up to you. I know no one can fully replace Oscar, but I hope you'll accept."
It still didn't feel real or right to Jaune. Replacing Oscar just like that? He still didn't fully feel like Oscar had really been a proper member of his team. Ozpin being in Oscar only made it weirder, but on top of it all Jaune still felt like there was an original hole in his team, and his heart, that Oscar hadn't really filled, even being Ozpin. For the year they'd been travelling together, Ruby hadn't even really felt like she was a part of his team. Jaune couldn't imagine anyone really filling that hole, and even if they tried, it seemed like he was destined to have a three-person team. "I'm sorry, sir. I don't think we're ready for that."
"I understand." Ironwood let out a sigh that said he wasn't done trying to convince Jaune. "You may change your mind when you see who I have in mind." He stepped aside, revealing Penny walking towards them. Ironwood explained. "You should keep the name Oz gave you."
Obviously, for a moment, Jaune thought he meant for Penny to join their team. Seeing her in that moment, Jaune realized that she really was just about the only person alive who might have a chance of filling that hole. Then Penny stepped aside, letting Jaune, and the rest of them, see who was with her. Jaune wasn't sure what he was looking at. His eyes had to be deceiving him, because there was no way what they were seeing was what was actually in front of him. Maybe it was Neo somehow, or Emerald was doing something. But that didn't make sense. General Ironwood wouldn't let them get away with something like that, and he certainly wasn't the sort to pull a prank, much less a tasteless one.
"Jaune?"
That was her voice. He opened his mouth, but he couldn't find the voice to say her name. The courage escaped him, like this was some dream and if he spoke he would wake up. Jaune wasn't the only one having a hard time figuring out what to do or say. Weiss had frozen in place. Yang was looking between the general and that girl who... couldn't possibly be there. It was all Ruby could do to keep from falling to her knees.
Ren felt Nora slip away from his side just a moment too late to stop her. "Nora!"
The small redheaded cannonball closed the distance and slammed into Pyrrha, hugging her full force, which didn't move Pyrrha at all. It didn't move her physically, at least, but she returned the hug, wrapping Nora up in her arms and resting her cheek on the girl's head. She closed her eyes for the hug, but after a moment they opened again, looking at Jaune. Those green eyes he remembered... he had been so sure the look of them would never fade from his mind, but now that he was seeing them he realized that his memory of her had been dulling. They were so much more vibrant than he was sure he remembered them being.
General Ironwood broke the silence. "I'm sure you all have a lot you want to talk about." Nora released Pyrrha and stepped back. All of them stood at attention, looking to Ironwood. He nodded. "But there are still Grimm in Mantle, and even some still on Atlas. I would like them all gone."
"Sir... General." Weiss finally spoke up, her eyes still stuck on Pyrrha. "What... happened?"
Ironwood reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose. "The Voice of Confusion. Oscar used it to destroy Salem. We'll have a proper memorial later. Right now, just know that the most evil being our world has ever known is gone for good, and that abomination of a Relic is how it was accomplished." He straightened up, stepping forward and moving between the students. Former students, he reminded himself. They were the most elite fighters he knew. They'd been through so much. "Salem wanted this world broken. She wanted us extinct. Now we have a chance to take our world back. All of it, and for good. The first step is to run the Grimm out of Mantle and into the sea." He paused. He remembered the court. "I think we're being watched by someone who cares about us more than we thought. Someone who thought that, perhaps, we'd sacrificed enough, and they decided to give us something back."
All eyes turned back to Pyrrha. She looked confused. "Who... is Oscar?"
"I'm sure there will be plenty of time to explain everything later." Ironwood said, blocking any answers that might have been forthcoming. "For now..." He turned to the two teams. "Ruby, get your team down to Mantle. I'm sure Robyn is down there, and she'll need all the help you can give her. Jaune, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like your team to spearhead the Atlas military forces. Take the fight to the Grimm. Scatter them to the wind." He looked back to where Penny was standing patiently. "If you wouldn't mind taking over my office for the time being, I intend to help in the fight personally. Try to get camera drones some good footage and stream it around the world. People need to see us all now, fighting together."
Penny saluted. "Yes sir! I won't let you down!"
Jaune nodded in agreement. "We'll head down after a quick stop at the armory. We need to find something appropriate for our new team member."
"That won't be necessary." Jinn's voice cut into the group as she joined them. She held up a pair of familiar black swords with silver edges and bright green lines running along their length. Pyrrha looked back to Penny, who gave her a nod. Pyrrha reached out and touched the swords. A moment later, they floated out of Jinn's hands and started spinning slowly through the air. They all watched as Pyrrha carefully manipulated them around, testing their feel. Jinn stepped back, waving someone else over to the group. It was Winter, carrying a small case over and opening it to reveal the rest of the floating array. Jinn motioned for Pyrrha to help herself. "What do you think? Will they do?"
Pyrrha paused, one of the blades stopping in front of her. She inspected it closely, then turned to Penny. "Is this okay?"
Penny shook her head, giving a small smile. "There's no one else I'd trust them with more."
"...Thank you." Pyrrha sent one of the swords over slowly, tapping the tops of all the rest with it. Then, one by one, they floated out of the case and over to Pyrrha. "Let's try this out." With a sweep of her arms, the swords flew around her all in a row, arranging themselves behind her the way they'd all seen Penny do with them time and again.
Jaune looked awestruck. "Woah..."
Penny hopped in place clapping. "You look so cool!"
Jinn gave Pyrrha a slight bow, smiling up at her. "It's wonderful to have to back."
Pyrrha was almost too absorbed in the swords, but she didn't miss Jinn's comment. She leaned over to Penny, lowering her voice. "Why is she acting like she knows me?" She glanced back at Jinn, who got the message and straightened up, patting down her uniform.
Penny leaned in, matching Pyrrha's conspiratorial tone. "Each one has a button on it to fire lasers, and a dial to adjust their power level." That wasn't at all what Pyrrha had asked, but she appreciated the information.
Pyrrha sighed, folding the array up for a moment, then approaching Jaune. He was still lost for words, but now that she was only a few feet from him, and clearly she had come up to him to say something, she didn't know what to say either. Now she was three feet away. Two feet away. She found herself fidgeting nervously. She didn't know if she should try to act nonchalant, like it was no big deal, or if she should make a joke, or maybe start crying or kiss him or if that would be too far. In the end, trying not to cry, she finally managed to look him in the eye and hold that. "I never... met Oscar. I don't know anything about him except that... he was a part of your team. If it's okay... would you mind if I... tried my best... to fill in for him."
"Pyrrha..." Slowly, unsurely, Jaune reached out and pulled her close, hugging her. "It was always your spot."
After a few more moments of the teary-eyed hug, they were jolted out of it by Nora shouting. "Yeah! Team JNPR is back together!"
Pyrrha took a deep breath, then stepped back. "You guys are going to tell me everything when we're done."
"Absolutely." Yang said. "Hey Pyrrha, check this out." She flexed her yellow metal arm. "What do you think?"
"I think it fits you." Pyrrha answered, still trying not to sound like she was on the verge of crying.
"Okay, as much as this is very interesting, and I'm not being facetious this time, we have something to do." Weiss interrupted. "Let's get moving, then. Right?"
"Right." Jaune gave a quick salute to Ironwood. Then he started for the door. "Team JNPR, let's move out."
"Y-yeah!" Ruby finally managed to fully snap out of her trance. "Team RWBY, we're going too." She sounded a bit confused still, but she had the spirit. Weiss and Yang were right with her, heading back out the door behind Jaune, and Nora trailed after them with speed.
Ren stopped next to Pyrrha, putting a hand on her shoulder. "We all missed you. We're glad you're back." Then he ran off as well.
That had been a lot of emotion to go through all at once, and Pyrrha already felt exhausted. It was time for some nice relaxing combat. Walking after the others, Pyrrha reached up behind her head and started putting her hair in a ponytail. It wouldn't be the same as her usual until she was able to get the right accessories, but she felt better with it up in combat. She stepped out into the light of day in front of the school. The others were too far ahead to hear her, and she'd moved far enough that everyone still inside couldn't hear her now. Not that it would matter. Jinn would report on it as soon as she said it out loud. She knew that. "I know you missed me. I was with you every step of the way."
Inside, Ironwood and Winter were preparing to head out as well. Penny was on her way up to the general's office, so that she could stream to the entire world through the camera drones and show everyone that Pyrrha had returned. Jinn, who was waiting patiently nearby Ironwood and Winter, suddenly perked up. "Sir? Pyrrha... knows."
Ironwood stopped. "Knows? Knows what?"
"...She was following Jaune. The entire time."
"What, as a ghost?" Winter asked, incredulous. Ironwood shot her a look that said he couldn't believe she would even suggest that.
Jinn shrugged. "Maybe... maybe not. But she was following him."