Work Text:
Jaune walked around throngs of students as he made his way to the table Team JNPR, Team CFVY and Team SSSN were all sitting with their lunch trays in front of them, listlessly picking at their food. He sat down at the table and set his lunch tray down. Sun was just staring at his bowl of banana pudding as if it were some strange alien concoction he wanted no parts of. Coco pushed her corn around on her plate while Nora stared at her burger as if it were made out of some kind of strange meat. Pyrrha just blew her bangs out of her face and propped her hand under her cheek and pushed her tray away. Neptune stared at his soup as if he wanted to dive into it and drown. Fox listlessly slurped on his drink while Yatsuhashi pushed around his mashed potatoes. Sage and Scarlet were also staring at their food as if it was a strange alien concoction. Ren, for quite possibly the first time in his entire life, was slumped in his chair and Velvet was face down on the table. Jaune sighed.
"Come on guys, we have to eat something." Jaune said.
"Not hungry." Pyrrha said, pushing her tray even further away from her.
"Already ate." Ren said.
"No appetite." Nora said.
"Don't feel like it." Sun sighed.
"On a diet." Coco said.
"Same. Supporting Coco." Velvet mumbled, voice muffled by the table.
"Also on a diet." Fox said.
"It's a team bonding excerise." Yatsuhashi mumbled.
"Not hungry for burgers." Neptune said.
"Me either." Sage said. Scarlet nodded. Jaune sighed and picked up his burger. He stared at it for a few minutes before sighing and dropping it back on the tray.
"Yeah, I'm not hungry either." Jaune said, thunking his head down on the table. He groaned and looked up.
"Come on guys, this isn't what Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang would have wanted! They wouldn't want us sitting here depressed and not eating our favorite foods over them." Jaune said.
"They also didn't want to be in Atlas under Ironwood's iron fist." Pyrrha grumbled. Jaune sighed.
"Yeah, I know. There's not much we can do about it, Pyrrs. They went with him. It's not like we can claim kidnapping." Jaune said. Pyrrha looked at him.
"They were forced, Jaune. You, me and everyone here at this table know that Ruby, Weiss, Yang and Blake didn't go to Atlas with Ironwood because they wanted to. He forced them. Same with Penny. She didn't want to leave either. She only left because her father made her." Pyrrha said. Nora sighed.
"I just wish that there was someone we could tell about this." Nora said. Ren scoffed.
"Who? We were made to sign NDAs, Nora. We can't tell anyone anything." Ren said.
"Still can't believe those were legally enforceable." Neptune said.
"Who're we gonna tell, Nep? Ironwood probably has people everywhere watching, just waiting for one of us to try and blow the whistle on what happened with Team RWBY." Sun said. Sage banged his head.
"This stinks! Our friends have been taken against their will to another school and there's absolutely nothing we can do about." Sage lamented. Yatsuhashi sighed.
"We need a plan. Some way to get to Atlas." Yatsuhashi said. Fox raised an eyebrow.
"And do what, Yatsu? Bust them out?" Fox asked. Yatsuhashi shrugged.
"Why not?" Scarlet raised an eyebrow.
"Dude, I just wanna make sure our friends are okay, not go to jail." Scarlet said. Coco sighed.
"Sometimes that's what friendship entails, Scar. Going to jail just to make sure your friends are being well taken care of." Coco said. Velvet looked thoughtful.
"Think Penny knows what's going on at Atlas Academy?" Velvet asked. Jaune sighed.
"Has anyone been in contact with Penny?" Jaune asked. There were multiple sighs and headphones shakes. Velvet's scroll dinged and she opened it. Her eyes widened as she saw the latest on her newsfeed.
"The Dracones game is out!" Velvet breathed. The entire table turned to look at her.
"Really?" Jaune asked. Velvet nodded and turned her scroll around so everyone could see.
"Awesome." Sun breathed. Everyone else nodded. Coco straightened up and fixed her fedora on her head.
"What do you guys say after school, we go to Vale and buy the game and play it in honor of Team RWBY and Penny?" Coco asked. There were mumbles of agreement. Sun stood up and gathered his untouched food.
"We still have three hours left to go. Come on!" Sun said. He threw his scarf around his neck.
"Scarf exit!" Sun yelled. Ren, Nora, Jaune, Pyrrha, Coco, Velvet, Yatsuhashi, Fox, Sage and Scarlet all groaned while Neptune rolled his eyes fondly. Sun had been doing that a lot lately.
Three Hours Later
Team JNPR, Team CFVY and Team SSSN were on their way to Game Snap to buy the Dracones video game. Dracones had been the most highly anticipated game in the world by the Dracones Fandom. It had been revealed a couple of weeks after the announcement that the video game had actually been in development since the final few seasons of Dracones. The entire Fandom had exploded with speculation on what the story of the game and what season it would be taking place in. Message boards blew up, polls were ran, fan art and fanfictions were made and it all became so much that Sun had had to turn off notifications for a while. They all rounded a corner and immediately froze when they saw the long line of people.
"Oh no." Jaune breathed.
"Why?" Ren groaned.
"Oh come on!" Pyrrha yelled.
"Don't these people have anything better to do!?" Coco yelled. Nora buried her face in her hands.
"Please don't tell me all those people are here for the Dracones game." Nora pleaded.
"Judging by their Dracones shirts, I'm gonna say yeah." Sage said. Nora groaned and would have sunk to the sidewalk in despair if Ren hadn't been holding her up. Velvet sighed.
"Well, I guess we get in line then." Velvet said.
"Knew I should have pre-ordered." Sun grumbled.
One Whole Hour Later
They were finally in the store. After an entire hour in the cool Autumn breeze, they had finally made it inside the store. JNPR, CFVY and SSSN practically steam rolled the causal shoppers in their rush to get to the game wall. They spotted the Dracones game, it's beautiful title practically called to them. Dracones: Realm of Shadows. Unfortunately, it was also the last one. CFVY, JNPR and SSSN all made to move toward the game when they spotted another group going for as well. The four groups glared at each other. Two more groups came over and joined in the glaring contest.
"Look, we've kinda been having a bad month. A bad three months in fact." Jaune said in a diplomatic attempt. "Would it be too much trouble to ask you guys to just let us have the game and you guys wait for the restock?" Unfortunately, the three rival groups were not in the mood for diplomacy.
"Like hell!" One girl yelled.
"I've wait three months for this!" A boy yelled.
"You'll have to fight me for that game!" Another guy yelled. Jaune sighed while CFVY, SSSN and NPR rolled their eyes.
"Seriously, guys? Is there anyway to settle this without violence?" Jaune asked, really not wanting to get into a bare knuckle free-for-all over a video game. He was a Dracones fan but to not to the extent of bashing people's heads in over it. Unlike Sun and Yang everytime someone insulted Evera. The rival groups glared. Jaune sighed.
"Violence it is then." Jaune said. Pyrrha shrugged.
"Fine by me. Can't punch in Ironwood's face, might as well go for the people looking for a fight." Pyrrha said. Everyone else nodded while Ren seriously wondered if they were about to get thrown out of a store over a game.
"Kogēki!" Sun yelled. Pyrrha, Jaune, Nora, Sage, Scarlet, Coco, Velvet, Yatsuhashi and Fox all let out battle cries as they charged into battle behind Sun leaving Neptune and Ren both alone to be the sane ones.
"How long do you think this ban will last?" Neptune asked. Ren sighed.
"Until the end of time. Or until they start losing money. Whichever comes first." Ren said. Neptune shrugged and then he too ran into battle, Ren behind him.
Ten Minutes Later
They had gotten the game. And they were also banned, but who needs details?
"I still can't believe you guys brought your weapons to the store." Ren said.
"Hey, you never know when you might run into bad guys." Sun said. Neptune blinked at him.
"They were fifteen year olds, Bae." Neptune said. Sun's face scrunched up.
"Really? They looked eighteen to me." Sun said. He then shrugged.
"So, when we get back to Beacon, we can set up in our dorm." Nora said. "I'll handle the pillows and blankets. Ren has pancake duty."
"I always do." Ren said.
"Your pancakes are so good though." Pyrrha said. Jaune nodded.
"So light and fluffy. What's your secret?" Jaune asked. Ren chuckled.
"A good chef never tells." Ren said. Jaune pouted.
"That's what Pyrrha said when i asked her how she made Cardin disappear that one time. Except it was 'A good magician never tells'." Jaune said. Coco raised an eyebrow.
"Wait a minute, wasn't that the incident that got you banned from doing magic on school grounds?" Coco asked Pyrrha. Pyrrha shook her head.
"No. That was The Great Magic Incident of May." Pyrrha said. She assumed a thousand yard stare.
"I didn't think that bunnies could multiply that fast in such a small space." Pyrrha breathed. Jaune patted her back comfortingly. Velvet shook her head.
"I told you not to get two bunnies of the opposite gender and then put them in that hat together." Velvet said. Pyrrha shuddered as she recalled the fluffy, adorable carnage that had been The Great Magic Incident of May.
"I guess Ruby and I got off scot-free then." Sun said, referring to The Great Play Incident of June. "We just need a supervisor when we work on plays together." Sun sighed as he remembered the current circumstances.
"Or rather, we needed a supervisor when we worked on plays together." Sun said, slumping as he remembered that there was no Ruby to pester now with his ideas on how to make the plays better. He kinda missed having Crescent Rose pointed at him everytime he made a suggestion for a play. Sun ideally wondered what that said about him.
"I could plan plays with you, Sun." Neptune offered. Sun assumed a thoughtful expression. On the one hand, he'd get to hang out with his boyfriend more. On the other hand, Sun knew it wouldn't be the same without Ruby. Despite their creative differences (Ruby played it too safe while Sun had extravagant, marvelous ideas, at least in Sun's "humble" opinion), they worked quite well together and it would take years to build up that kind of bond with someone else. On the other hand, at least if sets weren't made on time, Sun would have good excuse. And he would get to stare at Neptune's ass all day without the rest of the team complaining. Aw, what the heck? They always said 'Don't let your grief stop you from having new experiences'. Or something like that. Honestly, Sun's brain was kinda in the gutter at the moment after the realization that he could stare at Neptune's ass unopposed all day if Neptune was his play organizer partner. Neptune snapped his fingers in front of Sun's face. Sun was still checked out. Everyone blinked at him.
"I don't think Sun's with us anymore." Jaune said. Fox rolled his eyes.
"Was he ever?" Fox asked. Everyone nodded and shrugged. Fox had a point. They continued on in silence for a few minutes when Nora spotted something.
"Hey, what's that?" Nora asked, pointing across the street at a newspaper stand. She ran across the street, not even looking both ways like the madwoman she was. Ren shrieked and ran after her, quickly looking both ways before he crossed the street. Jaune, Pyrrha, Coco, Velvet, Yatsuhashi, Fox, Sage, Scarlet and Neptune all looked at each other and then crossed the street as well, Neptune pulling the still checked out Sun after him. Nora and Ren were both standing next to the stand. Nora was holding the newspaper and she and Ren were both staring at it, pale faced.
"What? What's wrong?" Jaune asked. Nora wordlessly handed the newspaper to him as sge and Ren continued to stare into the void. Jaune looked at the newspaper.
"Three months ago, Beacon Academy was attacked by Grimm and partially destroyed and was closed down and the students were sent home. Professor Ozpin has since reopened the school and classes have since began again." Jaune read. He paled amd passed the article to Pyrrha, not even bothering to read the rest of it. Once the article had made its rounds (and Sun came back from whatever dimension he had briefly ascended to), everyone stood, shocked.
"That's not what happened!" Coco exclaimed. Velvet nodded furiously.
"Yeah, the school was attacked but not just by Grimm! The White Fang and criminals had attacked as well. Cinder organized the whole thing!" Velvet said.
"And Ozpin's still missing." Fox said. "He couldn't have reopened the school because he wasn't here to do it." Sage scratched his head in confusion.
"Where in Remnant did the news media get that idea from?" Sage asked.
"Ironwood." Pyrrha growled. Sage, Scarlet, Sun, Neptune, Coco, Velvet, Fox and Yatsuhashi's heads whipped to look at her.
"What makes you say that?" Sun asked, confused as to why Pyrrha would have come to that conclusion. Sure, Ironwood was a jerk and had basically kidnapped their friends but surely he wouldn't have covered up the events of The Battle For Beacon. Jaune sighed.
"It's... a very long story." Jaune said. Coco raised an eyebrow and folded her arms.
"We've got time." Coco said. Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora and Ren all sighed. Why not? They already knew about Team RWBY's powers and that they were the four Maidens. They might as well tell them the full story behind everything and why they thought that Ironwood had covered up the events at Beacon.
"Fine." Ren said. "But not here. We're going back to Beacon." JNPR began the long trek to the airship pick up, CFVY and SSSN trailing behind them.
Back At Beacon, In JNPR's Dorm
"And that's why we believe that Ironwood's covered up what happened here." Pyrrha said. They were back in JNPR's dorm and Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren and Nora had just got through telling CFVY and SSSN everything. CFVY and SSSN were pale faced and teary eyed.
"Those poor, poor girls." Coco breathed. Velvet sniffled.
"And their families. They really have no idea what happened to them?" Velvet asked. Jaune nodded sadly.
"And with Team RWBY in Atlas, now they'll never know." Jaune said. Velvet wiped at her eyes as Sage jumped up and started pacing.
"That's fucked up, man!" Sage yelled. "You mean to tell me that that bastard murdered four girls and now he calls himself trying to protect our friends?!"
"Sounds like Ruby, Weiss, Yang and Blake need to be protected from him." Scarlet growled.
"What do we do?" Neptune asked. "Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang are at Atlas Academy with that psycho as their keeper! We can't just leave them there! We have to do something! They're our friends!"
"We go to a news station and tell them everything you guys just told us about Team LILI. You have the scroll, right?" Yatsuhashi asked. Ren shook his head.
"Ruby has it." Ren said. Yatsuhashi groaned.
"And she's in Atlas. Great." Yatsuhashi said. Pyrrha sighed.
"It wouldn't have mattered if she didn't. Ironwood could have easily discredited it by saying that the girls in the video are actors." Pyrrha said. Coco stood up.
"So?! We can refute that, can't we?" Coco asked. Nora shook her head.
"We can't, Co. Team LILI's been unpersoned. There's no evidence they even existed or were real girls. And we have no idea where their parents are so we can't get evidence that they were real." Nora said. Coco groaned and sat back down.
"There has to be something we can do. Weiss, Ruby, Yang and Blake are stuck with that madman. What if he decides to do to them what he did to Team LILI?" Velvet asked. Sun let out a furious cry and threw the newspaper.
"Curse you, Ironwood!" Sun yelled. He unholstered Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang and shot at the newspaper.
"From hell's heart, I shoot at thee!" Sun yelled.
"He does realise that that's not a picture of Ironwood, right?" Yatsuhashi asked. Neptune, Sage and Scarlet shook their heads.
"Just let him have his moment." Neptune said as Sun rolled around on the floor, battling the newspaper.
"Die, you accursed paper! I hereby curse thee to never again lay eyes upon the rising sun!" Sun yelled, throwing the newspaper down and jumping on it. He snatched a scrap of paper from the ground and practically strangled it as he held it up high.
"Men should be what they seem!" Sun yelled. Everyone blinked at him, very concerned for his sanity. Sun threw the scraps to the ground and kicked them. He looked up at everyone, a dead serious expression on his face.
"We need a plan." Sun said. He vaulted over the couch and began to pace.
"Our friends are in the grip of that.... bōkun! And we are not going to leave them there defenseless. So, here's the plan. We're going to transfer to Atlas Academy." Sun said. Coco raised an eyebrow at him.
"How?" Coco asked.
"I don't know yet. But once we're at Atlas, we find Team RWBY and we stick to them like white on rice. And then, when the time's right, we'll confront Ironwood and punch him in his smug face and crumple his entire empire and throw it in the wastebasket of absolute garbage right where Slayers 3 should be!" Sun yelled. Though it was the weirdest speech they had ever heard, Sun's speech had its intended effect. Everyone nodded.
"Yeah, let's do this!" Jaune yelled.
"We have friends to save!" Velvet yelled.
"Let's show Ironwood what for!" Yatsuhashi yelled.
"Hear, hear!" Sage yelled.
"We'll crush him!" Scarlet yelled.
"And throw him out just like the writers should have done with the Slayers 3 script!" Nora yelled.
"Hear, hear!" Coco yelled. Ren and Neptune watched this all unfold. While Sun's plan was good, there was just one glaringly obvious flaw with it.
"Does anyone even know how to even start the transfer process to another school?" Ren asked.
"I can just get us some fake papers." Nora said.
"I think we want everything to be legit, My Sweet." Ren informed her. Nora whined in disappointment.
"I think I can help with that." A voice said. CFVY, SSSN and JNPR whirled around. Oscar Pine was standing in the doorway of JNPR's dorm. Ren could have sworn that he closed the door behind him. Then he remembered that the door had to be slammed really hard to get it to close. It was some problem with the locks. Team JNPR had been meaning to get the door fixed but kept forgetting. Sun vaulted over the couch and glared at Oscar suspiciously.
"How can you help us?" Sun questioned, eyebrow raised. Oscar gulped. He really hadn't been prepared for this.
"I-i... look, you're just gonna have to trust me." Oscar said. Sun glared at him for ten, long tension filled minutes. Fox sighed.
"Well, what choice do we have guys?" Fox asked. "If Oscar says he can help, then we should take him up on his offer." Sun sighed.
"Fine. But if we get even an inkling that you're jerking us around, I'll bury you alive like Yang did to me, capiche?" Sun said. Oscar nodded rapidly. Sun stuck out his hand for a hand shake and Oscar took it.
"So, how are you going to help us transfer to Atlas Academy?" Pyrrha asked. JNR, CFVY and SSSN looked at Oscar, also wanting to know.
"Just leave it to me." Oscar said. He strolled out of the room.
"Well, I'm gonna start packing. I also need to tell Melody, Chris, Lyra and Skull what's happening and that they're gonna have to get ready to take a long commute to a really cold place." Sun said. He strolled out of the room, Sage, Scarlet and Neptune following him.
"We should get going too. Sun is right. Atlas is cold. We're gonna need a lot of warm clothes. Shopping trip, here I come!" Coco sang as she practically skipped to the door. Velvet, Fox and Yatsuhashi all groaned and dragged themselves after her. Jaune, Pyrrha and Ren headed to the door as well.
"You coming, Nora?" Ren asked. "We need to give Sir Bearington a heads up." Jaune shuddered.
"I really don't want a repeat of the last time we took him on an airship without prior warning." Jaune said.
"It's a miracle that guy didn't press charges." Pyrrha said. Nora nodded.
"Yeah, I'll be there in a minute." Nora said. Ren, Jaune and Pyrrha nodded and headed out the dorm. Nora took out her scroll and stared at it. She turned it on and opened her messages to the last message she had sent.
Nora: Is anyone there?
Nora sighed when she saw that there was no response. Looks like this wasn't Team RWBY's scroll number either. She crossed off the number amd sighed. Ten down, eight thousand more to go. She pulled a scrollbook out of her Noraspace and typed in the number and sent a text. She pocketed her scroll and phone and then headed out after after her team.