Chapter 21: Remember the fallen

The group had arrived at Argus. Team RNJ and the others were in town somewhere as Ruby got off the trailer and stretched since it was a long ride.

"I wonder where the others are?" Weiss asked.

"No idea." Qrow said. "We should get into town first off." He looked over to Ruby who was carrying the relic. "We best not draw any unwanted attention while we have the relic."

Ruby nods. "Good idea."

"Didn't Jaune say something about family being here Argus?" Yang asked looking at them with a curious look.

"He did." Oscar said. "But he didn't say where, if we find Jaune and the others while in town. We could also scout out the Atlas base."

"Good thinking." Weiss said as she started to walk off.

As the group headed into town Ruby stopped at one of the store windows as she saw a white dress with a purple bow and sash and deep silt up the middle, complete with a white cap. Followed by black thigh-high socks with brown knee-high boots, this had Ruby's attention as she's never seen anything like it before.

"Ruby, come on. We can go shopping later, hopefully." Yang said looking back at her sister.

"Coming!" Ruby shouted catching up with the others.

Maria followed them as she glanced around, she did tell them about who she once was and how she used to have silver eyes. As she followed them, she began to wonder how Ruby managed to use hers.

Eventually Blake noticed RNJ, Derek and Draken, but there wasn't any trace of Vest or SODA. Blake cocked an eyebrow up looking around for them. "Hey, we made it...but uh, where's the rest?"

"They're further in town." Ren said looking at her. "We were just looking around ourselves."

~~~

After Jaune's sister Saphron found the group. She took them back to her place where they were introduced to Terra who was Saphron's wife, and Adrian who was their son. Ruby and Weiss noticed him as they broke their shells at how cute he was, Yang chuckled and shook her head a little.

"I know we just got here." Qrow said. "But I'm going to go lay down, can you all see if you can get us a way to Atlas from the base?"

"We can try." Derek said. "But I don't think they'll let us through that easily."

Weiss looked at him and then over to Qrow. "He might be right, Atlas is on lock down."

Qrow shrugs a little. "Well we still need to try. So we can warn Ironwood." He went upstairs to one of the rooms to rest up.

"I'll go with you." Draken said. "Maybe while we're out, we can find Vest and team SODA."

"Sounds like a plan." Ruby said.

Oscar nodded his head as Maria stayed at the house with Saphron and the others, what they didn't know was what RWBY, Qrow and Maria were told about Ozpin, and unable to kill Salem. The group had gotten to the gates of the Atlas base, but were soon closed out before they had a chance to explain.

"Hey! Let us in, we need to explain." Draken said shaking the metal bars of the gate.

"Don't tempt me boy." Caroline said as the old woman stood behind the gates. "I will press charges on you all."

Weiss stood there in a huff. "Do you have any idea who I am? I am Weiss Schnee, if you do that. My farther and the rest of the Schnee dust company will see that you're fired."

Caroline chuckled. "Oh? Well tough luck, you should've stayed in Atlas."

"Well we tried." Yang said. "Time to go back...at least we won't have to hear about anymore lies."

Jaune cocked an eyebrow up wondering what she meant by that, he looked over to Draken, Ren and Nora as they shrugged their shoulders. While they were heading back to the house, they didn't see any signs of Vest or team SODA.

"I wonder where they could be...they wouldn't just leave would they?" Ruby asked.

"No, Vest said she's going to stick with us until we get to Atlas. Pepper said his family is in Atlas as well, I don't think they'd just leave us without saying anything." Draken said.

~~~

"WHAT?!" Jaune shouted as he had Oscar up against the wall.

"Jaune, calm down...that's not Ozpin anymore, it's Oscar..Ozpin locked himself away." Ruby said.

Jaune dropped Oscar as he clinched his fist tightly. "We're fighting a war we can't win..Salem can't be killed, meaning Scarlet can't be killed." He turned around and walked off. "I'm going for a walk to cool off.."

"Okay." Ruby said looking at Jaune as he leaves the house. "Oscar, I know it's not your fault. Don't take it like it is, you were dragged into our problems because Ozpin reincarnated as you."

"No...it's fine." Oscar said.

Draken scoffed as he sat down. "Fantastic..."

Derek was silent as he looked at his stub, where his arm used to be. "....I swear if we run into Scarlet again, I'm going to make her pay for what she's done...after I get a new arm I mean..."

Yang looked at him. "I know that feeling, maybe there's someone at Atlas that can make you one?"

"There should be." Weiss said thinking.

Blake nods a little. "I'm sure of it, right now all we can do is wait. We need to plan on how to get to Atlas without Caroline noticing.."

"Did you say Caroline?" Maria asked. "Me and here were never on good terms. Don't worry, I may have an idea or two.."

Jaune was walking around Argus as he noticed a park, with a familiar statue. He walked into the park as he looked closer at the statue, seeing it was one of Pyrrha. His heart ached as he held back tears but couldn't, he clinched his fist and looked down at the ground.

"Lovely isn't it?" A voice spoke. "She was always helpful, and when word got out that she had died...well the people of Argus decided to make a statue in her honor."

Jaune looked up and over to where the voice came from, his eyes widen seeing a red haired woman. She looked so much like Pyrrha, but he knew deep down it wasn't her. "Y-Yeah...she helped so many people, I just wish she was still alive."

the mysterious woman looked at him as she smiled a little. "I'm sure she'd be glad knowing you've come so far."

Jaune nodded again as he closed his eyes thinking about Pyrrha. "I just miss her so much...I want to tell her how much everyone misses her." Tears rolled down his face as he felt a hand touch him.

"I know, we all do." Another voice spoke. "Hello Jaune, it's been awhile."

Jaune opened his eyes to see Deity. "D-Deity!"

Deity smiled a little bit. "Yep, in the flesh." She looked at him as she wipes away his tears. "I walked by and noticed you were standing here."

Jaune cocks an eyebrow up. "You didn't see that woman?"

Deity thinks for a moment. "Hmm, not that I can think of..anyway, why don't we sit down and talk?"

"Oh, sure." Jaune said. "I just didn't expect to see you here of all places.."

Deity sat down on a bench as Jaune sat next to her. Jaune started to explain everything that had happened, as Deity listened to what Jaune was saying. Jaune could tell there was a fire burning in Deity's eyes as he saw her anger spark.

"I see." Deity said. "So, Ozpin lied to everyone minus Vest. And to top it off, Salem and this Scarlet chick are immortal. That's fucked up, like literately. I'd help you all out, but...duty calls else where." Deity stood up as she looked at Jaune. "Tell the others I said hello, I must go now. May you and the others have a safe journey to Atlas."

Jaune nodded his head as he watched Deity walk off, he stood up as well as he decided to head back to his sisters house. He was calm and collective now, once he got back to the house everyone looked at him as Qrow was sitting on the stairs.

"Jaune, we have an idea on how to get to Atlas." Derek said.

Jaune cocks an eyebrow up. "Oh?"

Qrow nodded his head a little as he looked at him, he then looked over to Maria before looking back at the others. "We're going to steal a Atlas airship."

A/N: [I can't take credit for Draken, Vest, team SODA, or Deity all credit goes to my friends on Discord.]