Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Pyrrha remembered being up in the tower of Beacon Academy. There, despite Jaunes pleas, she went up to fight Cinder. She remembered kissing him just before she threw him in a locker and sent him flying off so that he'd be safe. She thought that might be the last time she'd see him, so she figured that she might as well show him how she really felt. She was right, as although she fought valiantly, she could not defeat the new Fall Maiden. She had her weapon destroyed, was shot in the heel, and just after asking the Fall Maiden if she believed in destiny, she was shot straight in the heart. There, her life ended.

At least, until now. Suddenly, she felt herself wake up, still kneeling on the ground where she died. It was like she had just woken up from a bad nightmare. But she knew it wasn't a nightmare.

She felt her chest, right where she was shot in the heart: The wound was gone, in its place a large scar on her chest, like she survived it and the wound healed. When she tried to get up, she didn't feel the pain of the arrow sticking out of her heel, so it had to have disappeared too.

As she struggled to stand up, she looked around her surroundings. It was much like how she remembered it, with Grimm absolutely everywhere and the campus of Beacon absolutely in ruins. However, she felt there was something…off. It looked like it had been in this state of ruin for close to a year, maybe even multiple years. She didn't see students anywhere, either running or fighting, and there weren't any airships in the sky or mechanical soldiers on the ground either.

When she turned around, she saw the Grimm Wyvern staring back at her, causing her to stumble onto her butt in fright. However, it was completely turned to stone and immobile without any sign of life. She just stared at it for a bit: What could have possibly done this?

But she couldn't think about that now. All she could do was focus on getting down from the tower and escaping. She got up and walked over to the elevator, pressing the call button. However, it just made a small clicking sound without her hearing any noise from the elevator itself. It was dead silent. She swore. How was she supposed to get down when the elevator wasn't working? Then she remembered: her Semblance might do the trick.

She then used her Semblance to pry the elevator doors open: the Elevator was completely still, having been in the exact position it was when she used it to come up here. She walked inside of it, carefully using her Semblance to make the Elevator lower itself.

However, halfway through her descent, she heard the wires of the elevator snap. She felt the carriage of the elevator suddenly start plummeting, and felt herself floating up in the air as it fell. With quick thinking, she stopped the elevator using her Semblance. She slammed against the floor of the elevator, making a loud grunt of pain as she did so. If it weren't for her Aura, she was sure she would've injured herself. She floated the carriage down the rest of the shaft with her Semblance, opening the doors the same way when she felt herself land and walking out

It was even worse than she thought. The campus was totally in ruins, with the holographic banners no longer functioning and several streetlights bent or destroyed. As she walked, she was attacked by several Grimm, being forced to defend herself by throwing various objects at them with her Semblance.

Eventually, she heard gunfire: members of the Vale army were trying to fend off groups of small Grimm, led by Glenda Goodwitch. Ms. Goodwitch was using her Semblance to knock the Grimm back with various pieces of fallen architecture, maintaining her usually stone-cold expression as she did so. However, while she was distracted, a Beowolf charged straight at her. In an attempt to save her teacher, she used her Semblance to pick up a fallen streetlamp and throw it at the creature, knocking it aside as it was jumping at Goodwitch.

She initially looked back in surprise at Beowolf being knocked aside, but then she looked in Pyrrha's direction: It was a look of complete and utter shock, with her mouth hanging wide open as she just starred and Pyrrha. After a minute of staring with that look on her face, she let out a quiet "Ms Nikos?"

Pyrrha nodded as she walked toward them.

"By the Gods…." Ms. Goodwitch said. "You're alive? How?"

"I don't know." Pyrrha said. "All I know is that I remember being shot in the heart before just waking up in the tower with the Wyvern statue."

Glynda Goodwitch paused for a moment, giving an uncharacteristically sentimental look at Pyrrha. She eventually said "Just so you know, Ms. Nikos, many mourned you after your passing. You fought bravely."

Pyrrha, while thankful for the kind words, was surprised by hearing them from Ms. Goodwitch. She had never seen her this emotionally open before, and it was quite the surreal experience. All she could say was "T-thank you."

"Well, now that we have the pride of Mistral back, this should be easier." Said one of the soldiers. He turned to the rest of the group. "There's a bunch of Grimm around the area. We should clear some more of them out then get out of here."

Sir yes sir." Replied the rest of the soldiers. They then got to work clearing out several more of the Grimm. The soldiers gave her a gun to help compensate for the lack of her weapons, affixed with a bayonet at the end. While less effective than Milo and Akouo, it was certainly better than nothing.

While the individual Grimm weren't particularly powerful, there were a ton of them. Pyrrha used a combination of her gun and her Semblance to fight, throwing metal objects at Grimm in addition to fighting them directly.

When the area was cleared out, the soldier that spoke to her took out his scroll. "This is Sergeant Oak. The area is clear. Requesting airship."

A voice over his scroll responded "Copy that Sergeant. Airship will be arriving ASAP.”

As they waited, Glynda explained some of what happened to Pyrrha. "You've been dead for….a long time, Ms. Nikos. A lot has happened since your passing."

"Where's my team? W-where's Jaune? Where's….everyone?" Pyrrha almost immediately asked. She had seen her friends absolutely nowhere from her walk here. She was worried that something had happened to them.

"They're all fine." Said Glynda. "But they're not in Vale at the moment. I'll be sure to tell them about this."

Pyrrha was relieved that her team was alive, but them being outside of Vale confused her. "W-where are they?"

"We'll be able to explain everything when we're safe." Said Ms. Goodwitch. "You'll have a lot to catch up on."

When the airship arrived, they got inside one at a time, either sitting down on the bench or holding one of the handles. The airship then flew away from the ruins of Beacon. As she flew away, she couldn't help but feel a certain sadness at seeing her school in such a state.

As they flew away, she quickly realized that she wasn't wearing her circlet. She had been too caught up in getting out of there to notice. She felt her hair and around her head, but it wasn't anywhere on her head. What happened to it? She didn't remember it coming off when she died. This was all very strange.

The airship then landed in Vale, which was thankfully in a better state than Beacon. They arranged for her to live in a temporary housing building for refugees. While the small apartment she got wasn't much, it was still better than nothing

The next day, while she was still adjusting, she got an unexpected visit: She heard a knocking on the door. When she opened it, Professor Oobleck and Professor Port were standing there. They both looked at her with a mix of surprise and relief.

"Ms. Nikos…." Port said. "....It's really you…."

"But…how?" Professor Oobleck asked. "Ruby saw you die. She said Cinder reduced your body to ashes!"

Pyrrha shook her head. "I don't know. I just woke up on the tower. I don't remember anything else happening before I woke up."

"Well, it doesn't matter." Port said. He put his hand on Pyrrha's shoulder. "All that matters is that you're with us again."

Oobleck nodded. "Indeed. I suppose how this happened doesn't matter all that much. Let's just be glad that it did." He shook his head. "We have a lot to catch up with you."

She then let them into her apartment, where she brewed them all coffee. They then sat down and had a discussion.

"How long have I been dead?" Pyrrha wanted to get straight to the point to understand what she missed.

"Over a year, at least." Oobleck replied. "Like we all said, it's been a long time."

Pyrrha was a bit surprised, but not much. It was better than being dead for, say, 10 to 20 years at least. She continued, saying "Alright. What are some things I should know of right off the bat?"

"Well," Port began. "We know the one behind the attack at Beacon and controlling the Grimm."

Pyrrha was surprised, but definitely happy about this revelation. "Really? That's great news! Who are they?"

"Her name is Salem." Oobleck said. "She's ancient, and extremely powerful." He looked down. "The unfortunate news is that…she's completely unkillable."

Pyrrha's happiness was immediately crushed by the last statement. If the one controlling the Grimm was unkillable, how could they ever hope to defeat her? She even gave this question to them.

Oobleck looked down, letting out a sigh. "Honestly, we don't know. But, it's not an excuse to give up."

Port nodded. "Indeed. No matter how hopeless the situation seems, giving up is never an option. If you do, it means they've already won."

While Pyrrha was still having doubts, this response did calm her nerves. They were right. Even if it seemed like they couldn't win, that doesn't mean they should give up by any means. She nodded "I guess so. I'd still rather die fighting than lie down. That's why I fought Cinder even though she was a Maiden." She said.

Port nodded. "Indeed." He put his hand on her shoulder. "In that moment, you proved that you were a true Huntress."

Pyrrha smiled. "Thank you, Mr. Port."

As Port took his hand off her shoulder, he continued by saying "Second, Atlas is no more. Ironwood went….a little crazy, and Atlas was destroyed by Salem's forces. Many were evacuated to Vacuo, but several died. Before that, Amity Colosseum was repaired and repurposed as a communication hub to replace Beacon tower. Before it went down, Ms. Rose used it to send a message across Remnant to tell everyone about Salem."

Pyrrha's eyes went wide with shock. "R-Ruby? She sent the message?"

Port nodded. "Indeed. Your friends have been up to….a lot since you were gone."

"Can you show it to me?" If Ruby sent the message, she wanted to see it.

Port nodded. "Of course." Port took out his scroll, searching through it until he found the video. He then handed it to Pyrrha.

The first surprise was how different Ruby looked. Her hair was far messier, with her bangs swept to the side. Instead of her cloak being pinned to her outfit like a cape, it was wrapped around her neck, almost like a scarf. She was also generally much more mature-looking, seeming to roughly to be the same age as her now. Besides that, she shared information that Pyrrha was already aware of, but seeing Ruby on that screen was enough of a shock on its own. She turned to the professors. "Are she and the rest of RWBY in Vacuo?"

Oobleck nodded. "Yes. They initially disappeared during the evacuation and were missing for a month, but they arrived just yesterday. Ruby and Yang's uncle told us everything. " He paused for a moment. "They wouldn't explain where they were. Rather strange of them, but no matter. They're alright, and that's all that matters."

She found it a bit strange that they weren't willing to talk about where they were all that time, but she was still happy that they came back okay. She gave a smile to Oobleck. "Thank you, Professor."

He smiled back. "Indeed."

Port had a rather hesitant, even saddened expression. "As for one last thing." He looked down with a heavy sigh. "Ozpin….is gone."

This revelation hit Pyrrha like a truck. Ozpin had told them he'd hold Cinder off while she and Jaune got out of the chamber and she didn't see him come out, so it shouldn't have surprised her as much as it did. However, it never truly dawned on her that Ozpin, their headmaster, was truly dead and gone. She remained silent for a good minute. She eventually said "I see." With a noticeable sadness in her voice.

Oobleck looked down with his own sad expression. "He died defending Beacon, like the headmaster of any school should." He shook his head. "But, there's little joy to be found in losing him regardless. He was both a great huntsman and headmaster, and his absence has been felt greatly."

They all looked down quietly, taking a moment to mourn their fallen headmaster. It was sad to know that someone as wise and experienced as Ozpin was now gone. Even if they reclaimed Beacon, they knew it would be rather difficult to replace him with someone else. However, thinking that made her wonder if they had picked anyone to take his place. “Speaking of headmasters, have they decided on who will be the new one for Beacon when they finally reclaim it?”

This seemed to put the two teachers back in a joyous mood. “Oh yes! Ms. Glynda Goodwitch will be taking over!" Professor Port said cheerfully. "She's a bit more…serious than Ozpin, but she'll make for a fine successor indeed!"

Pyrrha remembered Ms. Goodwitch finding her at the wreckage of Beacon, leading those soldiers, just yesterday. From what she heard, she was spearheading operations to reclaim Beacon. Pyrrha smiled, knowing full well that she'd make a great headmaster. "Agreed. I'll be sure to congratulate her when I get the chance.”

Peter Port laughed joyously. "That'd be rather kind of you, Ms. Nikos." They continued talking and laughing for a while, reminiscing about old times. However, they eventually had to leave. Being Huntsmen meant they had work to do, after all.

The next morning, Pyrrha was watching TV in her apartment. She was watching a news broadcast of the Vale News Network, where Lisa Lavender was standing in what looked like a ruined part of Vale. There were soldiers, but not ones in any uniform she recognized. They were wearing green armor, with winged skulls adorned on their helmets and rifles.

"This is Lisa Lavender, reporting live from the Vale News Network. Recently, there has been an attack on Southern Vale from a previously unknown threat. A large army of Orc-like creatures utilizing crude weaponry and technology, now identified as the Orks, arrived yesterday night and invaded the southern part of Vale, killing many civilians."

This news shocked Pyrrha. What the hell were "Orks"? She knew what Orcs were, having heard enough about it from her team, but she never heard the word spelled with a k instead of a c, let alone them using any technology beyond medieval swords and axes. Most importantly, she knew for a fact that nothing like Orcs existed in their real world. How did they show up all of a sudden?

Lisa continued. "However, when Vale forces were being overwhelmed, a group of humans previously unknown to Remnant calling themselves the Imperium appeared to aid them. We are currently with a Company of them aiding in humanitarian efforts." She walked up to one of the soldiers, a man wearing a trenchcoat. When the camera followed them, Pyrrha noticed that the man had striking purple eyes. "Hello Commander Augustus. What do you have to say to the people of Vale?" She held the microphone up to his mouth.

He held the microphone in his hand. "Thank you Ms. Lavender. People of Vale, I am commander Augustus of the Cadian Shock Troopers Imperial Guard Regiment. We come here to aid you in the name of the Emperor against the Orks. They are savage, numerous species of aliens that live only for fighting and war. While they are dangerous, they are far from the only threat of their kind."

Pyrrha processed this huge bombshell of information. The Orks were aliens? Who were the Cadian Shock Troopers? Who was the Emperor? Where did all of these things even come from in the first place? It was a lot to take in.

Augustus continued. "However, all of that will be revealed in due time. All that's important for you to know is that we are here to aid you. Humanity is a resilient species, and no alien menace may destroy us if we unite as one."

The other soldiers rejoiced around this statement. It was hard for Pyrrha to not feel more than a little inspired herself by it. However, it was still a lot to process for her.

Later that afternoon, when she was trying to learn more about this "Imperium" that came to aid them on the internet, she heard her doorbell ring. When she went to check who it was, Glynda Goodwitch was standing behind the door. Glynda gave her a warm smile, something Pyrrha still had trouble believing she saw on her, and said "Good Afternoon, Ms. Nikos."

Pyrrha smiled. "Afternoon, Headmaster Goodwitch."

Glynda laughed. "Thank you, Ms. Nikos. I'm guessing Port and Oobleck told you?"

Pyrrha nodded. "Indeed they did."

"Good." Glynda soon dropped her smile. "Well, it turns out that you have even more to adjust to than we initially thought. We all do."

Pyrrha also dropped her smile, a confused look coming across her face. "What do you mean?"

Glynda gave a sigh. "May I come in?"

Pyrrha nodded. "Of course. Come in."

They both sat down at the table. "Well, I'm guessing that you've seen the broadcast of that attack?"

"You mean the news report this morning?" Pyrrha nodded. "Yes. I've seen it."

Glynda continued. "Well, it turns out that some strange…event happened that caused the merging of many universes into one."

Pyrrha's eyes widened with complete and utter shock. To hear this coming from the mouth of Ms. Goodwitch made her smiling seem normal by comparison. "What!?"

"I know." Ms. Goodwitch patted her on the shoulder. "I didn't believe it when I first heard it either. It sounded like utter insanity, but there's no other explanation for what's been happening."

Pyrrha looked down. This was a complete shock to her. It sounded more like something out of one of Ruby's comic books than it did like something that would actually happen. "Were….were the Orks from another universe, then?"

Glynda nodded. "Indeed they are. So are the Imperium." She turned to her side. "Apparently, humanity exists in almost all of these universes. The Imperium has been trying to unify them."

Pyrrha processed this information. That would explain those soldiers that arrived to help. However, how did they end up on Remnant so quickly? So, she asked. “But how did they end up on Remnant specifically, then? Were they just teleported here?”

“Well, that’s the thing.” Glynda responded. “We’re not really on Remnant anymore, at least not only on Remnant.”

Pyrrha’s surprise was even more pronounced. “N-not on Remnant?! What do you mean!?” All Pyrrha could think was wondering how the hell that would even be possible. Were Vale, Vacuo, and everywhere else magically teleported somewhere else?

Glynda sighed. “I know. It’s…a lot to take in.” She continued. “From what we can tell, many worlds were seemingly merged into one giant world, including Remnant. So, we’re not just on Remnant anymore. Remnant is just one of the many worlds that was merged into this one large one.”

Pyrrha took a moment to absorb the shock of the situation. First, she came back from the dead, second, many universes have been merged into one? It seemed like the absurdities were just piling up. “By….by the Gods.”

Glynda patted her on the shoulder. “I know. It’s….insane. All of it is. I couldn’t believe it when I first heard it, and even now I’m having trouble believing it.” She continued “The world we’re standing on now has been given the name “Ego” by its people.”

Pyrrha raised an eyebrow at the strange name. “Ego? Why Ego?”

“Not sure myself.” Glynda responded. "It had something to do with an egotistical writer, from what I’ve heard.”

Pyrrha merely nodded. “I see. Thank you for telling me all of this, headmaster.”

Glynda nodded with a smile. “You’re welcome, Ms. Nikos.” She was just about to get up before she stopped herself. “Oh, and before I forget.” She took out her scroll, giving it a small tap.

Pyrrha felt her scroll buzzing. When she looked at her scroll, she saw her Beacon Student license change to that of a Vale Huntress license. She looked back as Glynda with a surprised look on her face.

Glynda maintained her smile, saying “Congratulations, Huntress.” She then got up and left Pyrrha’s apartment, saying “Have a nice rest of your day, Ms. Nikos.”

Pyrrha smiled as she left, saying “You too.” Pyrrha had yet to know what was to come when she reunited with her team.

Chapter Text

The last thing Penny remembered was fighting Cinder, trying to evacuate the citizens of Atlas. Although she fought valiantly, her aura was broken and she was knocked to the ground. When Jaune came to heal her, she told him that there was no time, and to kill her so Cinder wouldn’t get the powers of the Winter Maiden. When Jaune stabbed her, she thought of Winter. As her last words, she told Winter that she wouldn’t truly die, as she would become a part of her. She said this as a symbolic sense, before she felt herself fade into the afterlife. Turns out, that day wasn’t as final as any of them thought.

Penny woke up in the Relic Room, or at least what was left of it. The chamber was an absolute mess: Lots of rock, the crushed remains of the lift that was once used to take them down to the Vault, water streams bursting through openings. It was honestly a miracle that Penny didn't end up being submerged herself.

But the biggest shock was seeing Ironwood, lying on the ground near her. Initially, he seemed incapacitated, but he soon awoke. He lifted his head, and saw Penny. He said, with noticeable surprise in his voice "...P-Penny?"

Penny immediately scampered away on her back in fear. She knew what Ironwood tried to do, and she was afraid of him trying to get retribution on her for getting in his way.

Ironwood didn't seem angry, however, just…surprised. "...H-how?" He said. "I thought….I thought you died! You gave the Winter Maiden power to Winter…."

"I did." Replied Penny. "I-I don't know either…" She still kept her distance from him, her arms hugging her knees protectively.

Ironwood paused for a moment, unsure of what to make of the situation. His eyes then stopped on Penny's legs, an even bigger look of surprise spreading across his face. "Penny….what happened to your legs?"

Penny was initially confused, but she soon realized what he meant. She looked down at her knees, now made of smooth human skin and flesh rather than the machinery they were made of when she was a robot. "I'm….human now."

Ironwood's eyes immediately went wide when Penny said. "Did….did I hear you right?"

Penny nodded. "Yes. It's how we got rid of that virus you implanted in me."

Ironwood's face immediately drained of color, a look of guilt washing over him. However, he quickly regained his composure and continued, asking "But how did you actually do it?"

"They used the Relic of Creation." Penny replied. "They used the mechanical parts of me to create a machine body to separate those parts from the rest of me, leaving only….me."

Ironwood still had a look of disbelief on his face, clearly still not understanding how that could possibly work. He then shook his head. "I guess it is a Relic. We did use it to make Atlas fly, so I guess all that's not too big of a stretch." He said, still clearly trying to make some sense of something he viewed as insane. He then let out a sigh. "Cinder…she got the Relic."

Penny looked up with surprise. "She did?"

Ironwood nodded shamefully. "Yeah. I couldn't stop her…." He sighed. "She beat us…."

Penny looked down for a moment. Was this why the General was acting so calm all of a sudden? Did his failure give him a moment of clarity? However, that didn't matter. She decided to clarify what happened to him, saying "Not entirely." She looked back up. "We used the Relic to evacuate everyone. We created a portal network so people could escape to Vacuo."</p>

<p>Ironwood looked up, a look of hopeful surprise spreading across his face. "Really?"</p>

Penny nodded. "Yes. That's when I died and gave the power to Winter."

Ironwood gave a relieved sigh, a sad smile spreading across his face. "Good." He looked down shamefully. "You kids did something I couldn't…"

Penny, despite the awful things the general had done, couldn't help but feel some pity for him. "You did your best Gener-"

"No." Ironwood interrupted. "I…fucked everything up." He looked down. "And it was all for nothing."

Penny looked down. She wanted to comfort the General, but couldn't think of anything to say. It made her feel rather sad.

Suddenly, the General stood up. "We need to get out of here, before the room fully floods." He picked up his guns, both laying on the ground beside him, and placed them in that cannon. He carried the weapon with him, and walked over to Penny. Initially, Penny tensed up, but then he lent a hand to her. "Here, let me help you up." She took his hand and got up. "I'm guessing you don't have your Maiden abilities anymore?"

Penny didn't think about it at first, but she realized she might not have her powers anymore if she gave them to Winter. To test it, she tried to focus and make them manifest. However, she couldn't do it. She shook her head. "No, I don't."

He held out the cannon. "Then take this. You need it more than me."

Penny hesitantly took the cannon. "Th-thanks."

Ironwood nodded, then looked in the direction of the destroyed lift. "Well, that's gonna be a problem." He said. 

Penny looked around the environment, trying to see if there was anything they could use to get out. She saw that there were rocks everywhere and that there was a lot of water.  She looked over the edge of the chamber. "Maybe we could try swimming out?"

There was a long silence, as if Ironwood couldn't believe what Penny just said. After a while, he just flatly asked "What?"

"There's a lot of water down here." She looked down at the flooded chamber beneath them. "We could try swimming out beneath the chamber."

She looked back up at the General, an incredulous expression spread across his face. "Do you even know how to swim, Penny?"

Penny looked down, gaining  a nervous expression as she realized the General's point. "Oh….uh…..no."

"And I'm too heavy to swim." The General continued. "If we tried that, we wouldn't get very far. We could even drown."

Penny gave a defeated sigh, continuing to look down with a sad expression. But then, a light bulb seemed to go off in her head. "Sunk?"

"Yes." Ironwood replied. "My cybernetics are too heavy. If I tried to swim, I'd sink like a rock."

"That's just it!" Penny said with elation. "You could hold me while we sink to the bottom. It'd be faster than swimming."

Ironwood remained incredulous for a minute, but soon gave a sigh. "Alright. Not sure if it's going to work, but a bad plan is better than no plan I guess." The general walked over to the edge, standing next to Penny. "Alright. Wrap your arms around my waist, and when we jump in, put your legs up so we sink faster. Alright?"

Penny nodded. "Yes sir."

The general took a deep breath "Alright. Good. Before we jump in, make sure to take a deep breath and don't stop holding it until we reach the surface. You got that?"

Penny nodded again. "Mhmm."

Ironwood nodded. "Excellent. Now, are you ready to do it?"

Penny looked over the edge one last time. "As ready as I'll ever be."

Ironwood nodded. "Good. Now wrap your arms around my waist."

Penny walked up to him and did as he asked. She felt her heart pounding from a mix of nervousness and excitement. It was an interesting new experience for her.

"Alright. I'm going to count to three, and when I say three, we both take a deep breath and jump in. Make sure to tuck in your legs. Okay?"

Penny nodded. "Mhmm."

Ironwood nodded back. "Good." He put his arms around her. "Alright. On three. One. Two. Three!"

He and Penny jumped into the water, both taking a deep breath before landing in it. Penny did as the general instructed, tucking her legs in against his chest. The feeling of cold water was an invigorating experience for Penny, the sensation of another new experience being an incredible thrill to her.

Just as planned, The immediately began sinking to the bottom of the chamber with surprising speed. As they descended, Penny could feel the pressure building in her ears from going so deep underwater, her ears beginning to pop. While she did usually enjoy the new sensations she felt as a human, this definitely wasn't one of those.

As they got to the bottom, they could see an opening blown through it, showing the flooded dirt floor. Ironwood moved awkwardly along the floor, still carrying Penny. Eventually, after getting out from under the bottom of the chamber, Ironwood let go of Penny, letting her float upward. However, Penny still clung to his waist, not wanting to leave him behind. Ironwood had a confused expression on face, seemingly not understanding why Penny was still holding onto him, only to try pushing her off him.

But she persisted, not wanting to leave him behind to drown. She didn’t know how she would save him, but she felt in her heart that there had to be a way. In their haste, she didn’t take into account that the weight of his cybernetics also meant that he wouldn’t be able to swim up. She tried to think of something, anything she could do to save him.

Suddenly, she heard a voice. “Remove us.” the voice said. “We’re too heavy. If you remove us, you can save the general.” She didn’t know how to do that, but the voice began to instruct her. “He keeps a screwdriver in his coat. Take it out of there and pry off my shoulder plate.”

She then reached into the general's coat. He bore a bewildered expression as she did so, but she didn’t care. Eventually, she dug a screwdriver out of a pocket on the inside of his coat.

“Good. Now remove his jacket and pry off my shoulder plate. I should be easy to remove from there.” The voice said.

She didn’t have time to wrestle off his shirt, so she just tore off the General’s right sleeve, exposing his mechanical arm. With all the strength she could muster with her organic body, she managed to pry off the shoulder plate on his arm.

“Good. Now unscrew me from the socket.” The voice instructed.

Despite the General’s resistance, she climbed around to his side and spotted the bolts that kept his mechanical arm in place. She began unscrewing the limb, and when she was done, it fell off the general's body. 

“I’m not the only one. Unscrew his leg, too. That should be enough to let you carry him to the surface.” The voice said

“Yes, Penny. Come to me and unscrew me.” Another voice instructed.

She tore off the pant-leg of his right leg, exposing the machinery that comprised it.

“Unscrew the leg plate.” the other voice instructed.

She did as the voice said, finding the screws and loosening them up, exposing the hip joint of the General’s leg.

“Good. Now unscrew the joint.” The voice said.

In one final move, she did as the voice said and unscrewed his leg from his hip, causing his leg to fall to the ground. The general was now light enough that she could pull him to the surface. She wrapped her arms around his torso, and began kicking her legs to pull them both up. 

As she carried the general, she heard the two voices one last time. “Thank you, Penny, for saving our general.” The first voice said.

“Indeed.” Concurred the second voice. “Keep him safe for us.”

She let out a large gasp as she pulled them both to the surface of the water. She felt exhausted from holding her breath for so long and from pulling the general, to the point where she just couldn’t do it anymore. She felt herself beginning to pass out from exhaustion, letting go of the general as she nearly fell back under.

Before she could fall beneath the water, the general grabbed her with his remaining arm, pulling her around to his back. She wrapped her arms around his neck. He spotted a piece of floating debris, a piece of concrete that came from a destroyed building. He used his remaining arm to doggy paddle over there, flopping Penny onto the piece of debris. He intended to let her stay there while he floated away, but Penny was still intent on saving him, as she grabbed his arm before he could float away. She used the last of her strength to pull him up. She collapsed, completely exhausted. She was wet, extremely cold, and felt like she was going to pass out. 

The general took off his coat and placed it on top of Penny to keep her warm. However, he also took the time to scold her. "What were you thinking!?" He said. "Why didn't you just let yourself float to the surface? You could've died!"

"I…" Penny began, talking through exhausted breaths. "I didn't want to leave you behind…."

The General let out an irritated groan. "Goddamnit Penny. You're too nice for your own good, you know that?" He held his remaining hand to the bridge of his nose. "How did you even know how to remove my limbs?"

Penny wasn't really sure herself. The best answer she could say was "I-intuition."

"Intuition?" He repeated. "W-what do you mean "Intuition!?" How could intuition tell you where my screwdriver was? How could it tell you exactly how to remove my limbs?" He was clearly in total disbelief, incredulous at both how she managed to be so foolishly reckless and instantly knew how to remove his cybernetics.

The worst part was that Penny herself didn’t know. She had no idea where those voices came from, aside from maybe the cybernetics themselves based on the way they talked while helping her, but that would’ve been utter insanity. She just said “I-I…..I don’t know. I just….knew.”

The general bore a frustrated expression, clearly wanting to say something, but he couldn't think of anything to say. So he just let out a big, exasperated sigh. "Just….just don't do something stupid like that again. I'm not sure anyone would be happy to know you died a third time."

For a while, the piece of debris floated in the water, giving both of them a good look at the ruins of Atlas. It was sad really, seeing the once great flying city reduced to nothing more than a pile of glorified rubble.

Eventually, the piece of debris floated them near dry land, where many people were gathered, including several Atlasian soldiers. When one of the soldiers spotted the two of them floating down near them, they immediately called out "There's two more people coming down here!"

The other soldiers immediately ran out to help, grabbing ropes, hammers and large nail-like tools. They stabbed the nails into the ground and hammered them deeper into before tying one end of each of the ropes to both of them. They proceeded to tie one end of each of the ropes to the nails. One of them yelled out "Here, grab the ropes! We'll pull you to us!" Two soldiers threw out the ropes, landing on the piece of debris they were laying on. Ironwood grabbed one with his remaining hand, with Penny doing the same.

The soldiers proceeded to grab the ropes nailed to the ground, pulling them as they held on. As they got closer, they quickly saw who the people on the debris actually were. One of the soldiers called out "Ironwood! You're….You're alive!?"

"Penny is too." Ironwood replied. "We're not sure either."

As soon as they reached the land, one of the soldiers immediately grabbed him by the collar. "That's too bad. I was hoping that the crash would’ve killed you, you son of a bitch!” The soldier snarled angrily as he pulled Ironwood to the shore. Ironwood was unphased by this reaction, seemingly expecting it after all the awful things he did.

The other soldiers went over to Penny, pulling her off the piece of debris along with the cannon Ironwood gave her. She heard them speak as they helped her off. She was still shivering from the cold she felt, even with the general's coat on her. One of the soldiers carrying her noticed this, saying “She’s shivering! But…that makes no sense. She’s a robot, right?”

“Not anymore.” Ironwood replied. “She’s…human now.”

“What!?” the soldier said, beyond surprised by something that should’ve been impossible. “How the hell did you do that?”

“Doesn’t matter.” One of the other soldiers, a female, interrupted. “She could be suffering from hypothermia. We need to warm her up now!” The soldiers sat her on the ground. She felt them wrap a blanket around her body, feeling a rush of warmth as they did so. The female soldier kneeled down next to her, Penny noticing that she had a cybernetic arm. “Alright Penny, how long were you in the water?”

“W-we were in the Relic vault.” Penny said, struggling to speak as her teeth chattered from the cold. “We jumped down. I….I removed his arm and leg so he wouldn’t drown. We found a piece of debris and floated down here…”

The soldier nodded. “Sounds like you were in the water for several minutes. How are you feeling right now?”

“C-cold.” Penny replied. “C-cold and tired. The blanket helps, though."

The soldier nodded. "I see. Your legs are bare and you were in the water for several minutes. The water was very cold. We might need a doctor to look at you." She looked down at Penny's wet clothes. "We might need to get you new clothes too. It's not a good idea to wear wet clothes with hypothermia." She turned to the rest of the group. "Let's carry them to the camp!" She then picked Penny up, still wrapped in the blanket.

The small group of soldiers carried the two of them to a rather shoddy-looking makeshift camp. The female soldier brought Penny into one of the tents. There was a man in a medical coat and glasses within it, along with several cots. The soldier said "Dr. Alba, we have someone in urgent need of medical attention! She could have hypothermia." She placed Penny down on one of the cots.

Dr. Alba ran over to Penny. "Thank you, Lieutenant." He looked down at Penny. "What's your name, Young Lady?"

"P-Penny. Penny Polendina." She replied.

Dr. Alba gained a look of surprise upon hearing her name. "Polendia? Are you related to the good doctor, Pietro Polendia?"

"Y-yes." Penny said. "He's my dad…"

He nodded. "I see. What happened?"

"She was in the water for several minutes." The lieutenant said.

The doctor nodded. "I see. We need to take off her clothes."

Penny, even in her tired state, was immediately shocked to hear this statement. Why would they need to strip her? "W-what!?" She said.

"Your clothes are wet." The doctor said. "You were in extremely cold temperatures, meaning that your body temperature could be dangerously low. Wearing wet clothes only exacerbates that." He kneeled down. "Don't worry, we'll get you some dry ones. Can you sit up?"

Penny nodded, remembering what the Lieutenant said earlier. So she sat up.

Alba nodded. "Good. Let's get those clothes off you."

The Lieutenant and Alba began to help Penny take off her dress. It took a bit of time, with all the buttons and straps, but they managed it. When she was naked, they wrapped the blanket fully around her body.

The lieutenant looked at Penny. "Alright Penny, how are you feeling?"

"Better." Penny said. Surprisingly, she did indeed feel less cold now that she no longer had the wet fabric clinging to her skin.

The lieutenant patted her on the shoulder. "Good. Get some rest now. We'll get you some new clothes."

Penny nodded, but before the lieutenant left, she asked her. "What's your name?"

The lieutenant paused for a minute. She looked back at Penny with a smile. "I'm Lt. Nero."

Penny nodded with a smile. "It was wonderful to meet you, Ms. Nero."

Lt. Nero gave a small laugh. "Thanks, Kiddo. Get some rest, okay? You need it."

Penny laid down, letting her eyelids grow heavy as Lt. Nero left. For the first time in her entire life, she felt herself drift off to sleep. As she fell asleep, she thought about the one person who meant everything to her: Ruby. She was so excited to reunite with her, being able to finally do all things humans could do with her: eat, swim, dance, anything! She and Ruby would be able to do everything together now that she was human. These thoughts filled her with warmth as she finally dreamt.

When she was a machine, had created several artificial scenarios for herself to play out while she was shut down. When she told Ruby's sister, Yang about it, Yang told her that's not how real dreams worked. Turns out she was right: Although she didn't remember a huge amount, she remembered being in a peaceful meadow, birds chirping around her as she felt the grass on her bare feet. It was a wonderful feeling.

When she woke up, she felt nice and refreshed. She also noticed that she felt the fabric of clothing on her body once more despite falling asleep butt-naked. When she took the blanket off her body, she saw that she was now wearing new clothes. These were just basic clothing, much like the ones the citizens of Mantle wore rather than the white and green dresses she was used to wearing. They must have dressed her while she was asleep.

So, she got up and left the tent, seeing that the sky had gone dark. The camp was relatively small, with a handful of soldiers along with several refugees. Most of them were huddled around campfires. Penny decided to look for Lt. Nero, being the first person at the camp that she had any real connection with. It didn't take too long, as her robotic arm was unmistakable. She was sitting next to a fire with Ironwood’s cannon. Penny decided to walk over to her and sit at the fire.

When she sat down, Nero almost immediately noticed her. "Oh, Penny!" She said with a smile.

Penny smiled back. "Hello Ms. Nero!"

Nero chuckled “Looks like you’re up and about.” She picked up the cannon and held it out for Penny. “I held onto this for ya. Figured you’d want it back.”

Penny graciously took the cannon from Lt. Nero. “Thank you!” Penny said with a smile. She soon dropped that smile, looking towards where Salem’s army of Grimm had been. “The Grimm…were they brought back too, like me and Ironwood?”

The lieutenant paused for a moment. “Yes, actually. All of us were, actually. But….” she looked down. “The Grimm suddenly just….ran off.”

Penny’s eyes widened with surprise. “What? Why?”

“We…don’t know for sure.” She gave a big sigh. “Guess since Atlas was already done for, they figured they should look for bigger targets.”

Penny nodded. “I see.” She then looked down as she pondered a question she wanted to ask Nero about Ironwood.

Nero dropped her smile. “Penny? Somethin’ wrong?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.” Replied Penny. “It’s just…where’s the general?”

Nero was briefly surprised by this question, stunned into silence. After a bit, she replied “Well, he’s not a general anymore. At least, he’s not treated as one anymore by us.”

Penny nodded. She was a bit saddened, but not too surprised, considering what Ironwood had done. “But where is he?”

"We got him chained up in another tent. Most of the people here want to…you know, but we keep him on guard so no one tries that.” Nero replied. “Besides, I'd rather have him judged by a jury rather than a lynch mob."

Penny nodded, visibly saddened by Ironwood's imprisonment. Despite his crimes, she still felt sympathy for the general, possibly because he still showed humanity as they escaped. “I see.”

Nero seemed to notice Penny’s feelings, but instead of scolding her for feeling sympathy for Ironwood like she would’ve expected, she just let out a sad sigh. “Oh, Penny.” She said, "You feel bad for him, don't you?"

Penny was hesitant, afraid that expressing pity for Ironwood would get her in trouble. But she eventually gave a slow nod, confirming her feelings.

Nero looked down, not sure what to make of Penny's response. "You helped fight him….right? That's what I heard, at least." Said Nero.

Penny nodded. "He tried to arrest my friends and leave behind Mantle. I couldn't just sit by and do nothing." She looked down sadly. "But when we were escaping the relic vault….he tried to save me, even if it meant he'd die. He scolded me for saving him, but it felt like the right thing to do."

Nero let out another sigh, surprised and a little saddened that Penny still wished to save Ironwood after everything he did. "Penny…..Gods bless your soul, kid." She looked down for a moment. She suddenly got a look of realization over her face before turning back to Penny. “Speaking of Ironwood, how did you remove his cybernetics? Did your dad teach you that trick?”

Penny shook her head. “No.” She looked down, remembering Ironwood asking that same question. “I just….knew.”

Nero tilted her head. “Just knew? Like….you just magically knew how to do it?”

“Sort of.” Penny replied. “I don’t know how to explain it.”

“Try.” replied Nero. “I think I’ll understand.”

Penny looked back up at Nero. “Okay. I’ll try.” She took a breath before she explained what must have sounded like insanity. “I heard…this voice. It was telling me how to remove the arm. The weird thing is…it was almost like it was the cybernetics themselves telling me how to do it.”

Nero was clearly taken aback by this statement. Underneath her armor’s visor, Penny imagined her eyes widening. “What? Are you saying that the cybernetics told you how to remove them?”

Penny looked down. “Maybe. That’s the only way I could describe it.”

“Okay.” Nero replied, her surprise evident. That was rather strange. Suddenly, she held out her cybernetic arm. “Can you hear a voice coming from my arm?”

Penny walked over to Nero, kneeling down and holding her ear against her arm. Almost immediately, she heard a voice speak to her.

“Hello there, Penny!”

She immediately jumped back. “It talked!”

Nero looked at Penny with a shocked look on her face. “What?”

The Cybernetic arm scoffed. “Well, that’s rude. I’m not an “it.” I just spoke to you!”

Penny regained her composure upon hearing the arm speak. “Oh sorry. They talked.” She leaned in to talk to the arm. “How did you know my name?”

“Well, being around the Lieutenant all the time means I heard everything!” The arm let out a chuckle. “That, and your father gave me to her.” 

Penny looked up at Nero. “You got your arm from my dad?”

Nero was stunned into silence. Eventually, she said “...Y-yes. I lost my arm in a Grimm attack and had it replaced by him. This new arm has done me good.”

Penny contemplated this: How was she able to talk to cybernetic limbs? Could she talk to other kinds of machinery? Were all machines sentient? Why wasn't she able to do this before? Then, it clicked for her. "Is this….is this my Semblance?"

Nero thought for a moment. She said "Seems about right. Were you able to do anything like this before?"

Penny shook her head. "No. Me and Ironwood escaping was the first time that ever happened."

Nero nodded. "I see." Suddenly, a lightbulb seemed to go off in her head. "Actually, maybe we can test out your Semblance right now!" She got up. "Wait here. I'll show you when I get back."

Penny watched Nero walk off to one of the tents. She wasn't sure what Nero wanted to show her but she was interested in what it could be, especially if it meant being able to test her Semblance. When Nero came back, she was holding a strange device in her hand. Penny had never seen it before. “What’s that?” Penny asked.

“It’s a medical scanner.” Nero replied. “It…..hasn’t been working properly, but it’s delicate. We’re afraid we’ll break it if we try to fix it.” She held it out to Penny. “Would you mind taking a look?”

Penny nodded and took the scanner. When she leaned in to look at it, she could immediately hear it coughing violently.

Penny gave the scanner a concerned look. “What’s wrong?” She asked the machine.

In the middle of a coughing fit, it said “It’s…..it’s my processor!” It coughed again. “It’s scramblin’ everything else! I can’t think straight! I can’t-” It let out another violent cough.

Penny looked up at Nero. “They said it was something wrong with their processor!”

Nero gave a questioning look down at the scanner. “Huh. That explains why it’s been acting funky.” She gave a smile to Penny. “Thanks Penny. That’s saved us a lot of trouble.”

Penny nodded with a smile. “You’re welcome!”

Later that day, Penny was sitting at another fire with other refugees. It was getting dark, and Penny felt her stomach grumbling. She wasn't sure what that meant. She didn't like it.

One of the refugees seemed to notice her discomfort, giving her a questioning look. "Hey kid, you doing alright?"

Penny put her hand on her stomach. "My stomach feels weird…."

The refugee looked down for a moment before coming to a realization. "You're that robot kid that turned human, right? Have you eaten anything?"

Penny paused for a moment. She knew humans ate, but had never got to experience it for herself as a robot. She shook her head. "No."

The refugee nodded. "Ah. That explains it. You're just hungry. That's all." He turned to look at a group of soldiers a few feet from them, among them being Lt. Nero. He shouted to them. "Hey guys, you mind getting us something to eat? This kid's hungry."

Nero immediately nodded. She turned to the other soldiers. "You heard him!" They immediately hustled over to a storehouse. When they came back out, they were holding some canned foods along with a can opener and some plasticware.

One of the soldiers walked up to Penny and opened the can for her with the opener. He handed it to her along with a plastic spoon. "Here. Don't eat all at once. We've got barely enough for everyone already."

Penny nodded with a smile. "Okay." She then took a scoop of the food with her spoon: It was baked beans. When she put the beans in her mouth, she immediately felt a strange sensation. It didn't feel just like the Beans were in her mouth, but a distinct feeling she didn't know how to describe. It was….strangely satisfying. She liked it. She savored every bite she took. When she was finished, she no longer felt that grumbling in her stomach.

When nightfall came, Penny had to sleep in a large tent with other refugees. Unlike getting to sleep on that cot when she first came here, she had to make due with sleeping on the floor covered only by the blankets that were provided to them. She didn't mind, however. Getting to sleep at all as a human was a privilege as far as she was concerned.

That night, she dreamt about being with Ruby. She thought about all the things she planned to do with her: Painting their nails, trying on clothes, talking about cute boys, and all the other friendship things she wanted to do. It's all she ever wanted. She was thankful she now had the chance to thank Ruby for being such a wonderful friend.

However, those dreams were interrupted when she felt herself violently shaken awake. When her eyes opened, she saw a soldier kneeling over her, panic evident in what she could see of his face. "Hey kid, wake up!" He said. "We gotta get out of-!"

Before he could finish, a barrage of red bolts of energy tore through the walls of the tent. 

"Shit, they're here!" The soldier cried out. He aimed his rifle at the mysterious enemy and began to fire.

As he was firing away, Penny scrambled to look for the cannon. When she found it, she picked it up and aimed it in the direction the soldier was pointing in.

Suddenly, a yellow-colored blade sliced through the tent wall and they finally got a good look at one of the enemy: They were humanoid in stance, but were completely unrecognizable as anything human. They were reptilian in appearance with purple skin, green armor, and distinctive eyes that glowed with fire-like energy. The creature let out a roar, bearing its sharp teeth at them.

Penny responded by immediately firing the cannon at the creature, letting out a laser of green energy that instantly incinerated it. The creature let out one final roar as it was reduced to ash.

“By the gods.” the soldier said, letting out a small chuckle. “That thing sure is something else, isn’t it?”

Penny nodded with a smile. It was indeed quite impressive. But the victory was short-lived, as they soon heard the roars of the other creatures.

"Kid! Look out!" The soldier shoved her to the ground as more energy bolts approached them. They struck the soldier, knocking him to the ground and leaving burns on his body. Penny looked in the direction of the bolts fired at them, seeing two more of the creatures. One of them aimed the cannon mounted on their arm at her.

She scrambled to grab her cannon, however, one of the creatures ran up and kicked it away. The creature then grabbed Penny by the collar, pulling her onto her feet. It extended its energy blade and pointed it at her face, bearing a snarling expression.

In a bid to save herself, she punched the creature in the face with all the strength she could muster. When she was a robot, she was strong enough to stop a truck with her bare hands, and likely would’ve killed a human without aura if she punched them at full force. However, it only managed to stagger the creature, causing it to roar in pain. Nonetheless, it was enough to break her free of its grip. She fell back to the ground, next to the cannon. She grabbed the cannon and fired it at the creature, incinerating it in a single shot.

She then felt a burning pain hit her in the back. If it weren't for her Aura, she would've likely have severe burns. She then heard the roar of one of the creatures approaching from behind her. Almost on instinct, she turned around swinging the cannon behind her. She faced another one of the creatures, its face colliding with her cannon. It let out a roar of pain as it fell to the ground. She then swung down the cannon as hard as she possibly could on the creature's head.

Now that all the creatures were dealt with, she immediately ran over to check on the soldier. She tried to shake him awake, but he wasn't moving at all. She then took off his helmet to look at his eyes: He was a young man, around 20 or so, with brown hair and green eyes. His eyes were glazed over and empty, his mouth agape. He was dead. She went to check his I.D to get his name: His I.D read Private Peri.

She looked down sadly. Despite only knowing him for a few moments, she thought Peri seemed nice. She closed his eyes as a show of respect. However, she knew she had to leave his body as she heard continued gunfire. She grabbed the cannon and headed outside, ready for the fight ahead. 

She soon saw a small group of refugees, including children clinging to their mothers' sides, surrounded by a group of the creatures, a sadistic glint in their fiery eyes. One of the creatures let out a laugh with a deep, throaty voice before aiming the cannon on its arm at the group. Penny knew she had to act.

She instantly aimed at the group of creatures and fired the cannon at them. They all scrambled to get out of the way of the beam, with the one aiming at the refugees managing to only dodge out of the way before being hit, leading to its arm being incinerated in the blast. This gave the refugees just enough room to escape, fleeing past the group of creatures. They all suddenly looked at Penny, rage burning in their eyes as they wore viscous expressions.

They all charged at Penny, with the one with a missing arm extending the blade on its other arm and running straight at her. She aimed at the creature, but before she could fire the cannon the creature jumped at her, knocking her to the ground and causing the beam to fire upward into the sky. The creature stared down at Penny hatefully.

She tried to bolt up to get away, but the creature slammed its clawed foot on her chest, pinning her to the ground. She pounded furiously at the creature's leg, but it was of no use. It let out another laugh as it raised its blade, ready to stab Penny with it. Penny didn't want to die again, she wanted to see Ruby! She wanted to see her again. She didn't want to see this chance wasted.

Something seemed to answer her prayer, as she heard the engines of ships roaring above her. The creature took notice of the noise, stopping to look up at the sky. When Penny looked up, she saw what appeared to be a sizable fleet of airships in the sky, but these weren't anything like the ships she had seen before. They were angular like Atlesian ships, but were much more complicated in design and painted with a green color.

The creature standing atop Penny roared at its compatriots, taking its foot off her chest and running away. Penny took the chance to grab the cannon and scramble back to her feet. She felt….utterly exhausted. It was the first time she had engaged in a fight without any of her previous capabilities. She was so powerful before, but both becoming a human and losing her Maiden abilities had clearly weakened her quite severely. It felt like she had the biggest fight of her life when it likely would've been a cakewalk before.

She looked up at the sky once again: from the airships, there were strange, pod-shaped projectiles being dropped down, descending to the ground below. She didn't understand where they came from, and they certainly didn't look like anything she had seen before.

As she scanned the camp, she could see the creatures running away and retreating, seemingly alarmed at the sudden arrival of help. Refugees were running to each other, parents rejoining their young children and soldiers escorting civilians. Suddenly, several of the projectiles landed in the middle of the camp and the fronts popped off of them, revealing people wearing black armor she could not recognize from any kingdom. The figures jumped out of their pod with what appeared to be submachine guns, and began to survey the camp.

Initially, the refugees recoiled in fear at these armored figures, but they steadily seemed to calm down and let their guard down around them. Some of these figures began to examine the refugees for injuries, treating them if they were suffering from any. Whoever they were, they were here to help.

Suddenly, Penny heard a voice, a male one, behind her. "Hey kid, you doing alright?"

She turned to face the voice. It was one of the figures. She was a bit nervous, not knowing how to respond to one of these strangers, but she just said. "Oh…I'm fine." She gave him a questioning look. "Who…who are you?"

The figure offered his hand out. "I'm Corporeal Reyes of the 105th Shock Troops Division."

So they were soldiers. However, Penny did not recognize the name of that Regiment from the Atlas military, or any other military. However, she took his hand, shaking it out of politeness. "N-nice to meet you, Mr. Reyes."

He looked down at the cannon in her hands. He pointed to it with his gun. "That yours?"

Penny looked down at the cannon, having been so caught up in what was going on around her that she forgot it was there. "It was…given to me."

Reyes nodded in acknowledgement. "Hmm. Seems pretty heavy-duty for a kid like you." He then tilted his head questioningly. "So….what's your name?"

"Penny." She replied. "Penny Polendina."

"Oh." Reyes said with audible surprise. "A…uh…military leader of you Atlas folks was talking about you. Winter, I think her name was?"

Upon hearing Winter's name, Penny's eyes immediately widened with surprise. "W-Winter!? She sent you here?"

"You could say that." Replied Reyes. "She told us about this place, or….kingdom, I guess." Reyes said with noticeable confusion in his voice, seeming to not understand the term "kingdom."

But Penny didn't care about that. She was just happy Winter was here to help them. She immediately hugged Reyes with a huge smile on her face. "Thank you!"

Reyes was visibly taken aback by Penny's hug, but he didn't push her off of him, seemingly out of politeness. "Oh, uh…you're…welcome." He gave Penny a small pat on the back. "She's going to be coming down soon. I can bring you to see her if you want."

Penny let go of Reyes and nodded vigorously. "Absolutely!"

He gave a small laugh, seemingly charmed by Penny's enthusiasm. "Alright. I'll bring ya to her."

She followed Reyes to the outskirts of the camp, where smaller ships were beginning to come down to escort civilians. There were groups of soldiers bringing civilians into ships, all wearing green armor different from the armor Reyes and his compatriots wore.

She looked at Reyes questioningly. “Why aren’t they wearing your armor?”

Reyes chuckled. “Oh, this isn’t standard issue armor.” He bumped his chest plate with a closed fist. “This is only for ODST’s”

She tilted her head. “ODST?”

“Orbital Drop Shock Troops.” Reyes replied. “We normally come down from orbit, but we came down a bit closer to earth here.”

She widened her eyes, surprised to hear that they dropped from orbit. No kingdom in Remnant had the technology to do that since Dust didn’t seem to work outside of Remnant’s atmosphere. “O-orbit? Like…like you drop down from space?”

Reyes nodded “Yup. The rest of the army call us Helldivers. You have to have nerves of steel to-”A realization then seemed to come over Reyes. “Oh, right. You guys don’t have that kind of tech, do you?”

“Dust doesn’t work outside of our planet’s atmosphere.” Penny explained. “So space travel isn’t viable.”

Reyes tilted his head. “Dust? You mean your tech is powered by the stuff that you have to sweep up when it collects around your house?” He chuckled. “If we knew that could be used to power stuff, then we’ve been missing out.”

Penny shook her head. “No, it’s….” Penny thought that none of this made sense. Not only did they not seem to come from any Kingdom, but their technology didn’t seem to use Dust and they had space travel. She could only ask one question. “W-where did…all of you come from?”

“We’re the UNSC. We’re…not from your world.” Replied Reyes. 

Penny was immediately stunned into silence, taking a moment to process what Reyes just told her. After a moment of shock, she repeated "Not….from our world?"

"Yep." Reyes confirmed. "Something we're calling the Convergence merged a bunch of worlds into one big world. We're trying to connect everyone together to work through it."

Penny looked down, trying to take in the huge bombshell of information Reyes just gave her. She wasn't sure what to make of the situation. Did that have something to do with her, Ironwood, and a bunch of other people coming back to life?

Reyes seemed to notice her shock. “I know, it’s confusing. We’re actually in the same boat." He gave her a small pat on the shoulder. "Winter should be coming soon."

Eventually, a smaller ship flew down to the ground. The ship turned its back to them before landing, letting down a large door on its back. Out of the ship, several soldiers walked out, with a familiar white-haired woman following behind them. Winter seemed to be as stoic as ever when she followed the soldiers out, however, that changed when she spotted Penny.

Winter stopped dead in her tracks when her eyes landed on Penny. Her stoic demeanor completely broke as her eyes went wide with complete and utter disbelief, her mouth agape with the same emotion. "P-Penny?"

Penny gave Winter a smile. "Salutations!"

Suddenly, Winter walked up to Penny and pulled her into a tight hug. Penny could hear Winter trying to hold back tears as she held her. It was strange seeing Winter so emotional, like some kind of really weird dream.

Penny initially just stood there in shock. She didn't initially know how to react to Winter's hug, especially since she never knew Winter to be the hugging type. However, she soon returned the hug, happy to see Winter again.

After a moment of hugging Penny, Winter seemed to compose herself. She wiped the tears off her eyes, saying "apologies. I just…" Winter choked back tears. "It's…good to see you again, Penny." She pointed to the ship. "Just…wait inside the Pelican while we gather up some of the others. I'll come back soon."

Penny nodded with a smile and walked inside of the ship, sitting in one of the seats. So it was called a "Pelican?" Interesting. Why was it named after a bird?

After some time waiting, Winter came back with some familiar faces: Ironwood was being carried to the ship by a pair of soldiers, one of which Penny recognized as Nero.

As they sat down, Ironwood spoke to Winter. "Winter. It's…it's good to see you again."

Winter gave a small nod of acknowledgement, but didn't seem to pay much attention otherwise. Ironwood remained silent afterward, resigned to even his closest confidant refusing to acknowledge him.

Winter then turned to face Penny. "Your father is waiting on the ship. I'm sure he'll wish to see you."

Penny's eyes lit up. "D-dad's here!?"

Winter nodded. "Yes. He joined the expedition to search the ruins of Atlas."

Penny instantly lit up inside. After becoming human, she never had the chance to see her dad's reaction. Now that she was alive again, she had the chance to be with him as a human. They could fully be father and daughter without the worries of her being a war machine.

But before Penny could say anything else, Winter looked down fearfully. "We recently had an….attack on Vacuo."

"From Salem?" Asked Penny. She wasn't sure who else it could be.

Winter shook her head. "No. From…something else." She looked back up at Penny with a questioning look. "Did anyone tell you about the Convergence?"

Penny nodded. "Yes. Mr. Reyes told me."

"Well, they were from one of those other universes." Winter explained. "Thankfully, humanity exists in most of them and we had aid from other human factions come in to stop the threat."

“Is that…where the ODST came from?” Penny asked.

Winter nodded. “Yes. They're an elite unit of soldiers from the military known as the UNSC. They came to aid us since they were more….reasonable than some of the other options."

Penny tilted her head questioningly at Winter's last few words "Reasonable?"

"The others were a bit….fanatical, if you know what I mean." Winter shook her head. "They kept preaching about this figure called "The Emperor." They talk about him as some sort of God. However, the UNSC doesn't believe in such things."

Penny looked down to contemplate this. She had heard about religion, but never had any particular knowledge about it. Since most people on Remnant weren't particularly religious, it never really came up anyway. Now that it was brought up, she did always find the concept of Gods and worshiping them curious. She wanted to learn more. "What can you tell me about this "Emperor" they worship?"

Winter sighed. "Not much. They claim he's the God of humanity and that he "protects" them." She grunted in irritation. "I really don't get their obsession with him. It’s like some kind of cult."

Penny raised an eyebrow when Winter said that word. She had never heard it before. "Cult?"

"A group of crazy people, usually religious ones." Winter said. "They're normally pretty small, but this one…isn't." Winter shook her head. "Don't worry about it right now. All that matters is that you're back with us." Winter put her hand on Penny's shoulder. "First things first, we'll bring you to Pietro."

When the Pelican arrived on the ship, Penny was escorted by a group of soldiers, including Nero, to the engineering department of the ship. Winter walked into the room, and Penny could hear her greet her father. She then told him “We found a group of survivors. One of them was…well, hold on.” She then came back out and told Penny to come in.

As soon as she walked in, she saw her father, his eyes widening as his jaw agape as his eyes landed on Penny. Attempting to break the silence, Penny awkwardly said “H-hey Dad….”

Penny's words seemed to snap Pietro out of his shock. He immediately blinked before rubbing his eyes. “No, this can't be real. I….I thought…” He shook his head. “I can't believe I lost you again…” He began to tear up. “You never got a chance to live….”

Penny responded by walking to her father, placing a hand in his chair. She said “I'm here, Dad. I'm…I'm back.” She held out her hand for her Dad to feel hers to prove that she was really there. “I'm alive.”

Pietro hesitantly reached out to touch his daughter's hand. He held Penny's hand, feeling the soft, warm feeling of human flesh on his own instead of the metal that he made Penny's body out of. He bore a look of utter disbelief at her not only being alive, but really being human now. "How….how is this possible?"

Penny wrapped her fingers around those of her father as he held her hand. "Ruby and her team….they helped me. They used the Relic to make me human so I wouldn't be affected by the computer virus."

Pietro put his other hand on her face. "Ruby….her friends….they gave you this gift…." He began to tear up. "They saved you from them…." 

Penny began to tear up in gratitude, smiling. Indeed, Ruby and her friends gave her the greatest gift she could've asked for: the chance to live as a human. "Yes." Penny replied. "Yes they did."

Suddenly, he pulled her into a tight embrace, continuing to cry. "Oh Penny….my sweet little girl has been given back to me…"

Penny hugged her dad just as tightly back. She cried tears of joy as they embraced. She finally got to share the feeling of warmth she got from hugging with her dad, and it was an absolutely amazing feeling.

After hugging and crying for what seemed like several hours, their tears began to dry up. They let each other go, smiling as they looked at each other. Pietro put a gentle hand on Penny’s face. “You…have no idea how much we all were affected by your sacrifice.” He sniffled. “Me, Winter, Ruby….all of us.” He placed his forehead on Penny's. “I'm…so happy you get another chance.”

Penny placed her hand on Pietro’s “Me too.”

Pietro backed away, his smile fading to a concerned look. “Just…promise me that you’ll let it stick this time, alright? I…I don't think any of us want to lose you again.”

Penny nodded. “I promise.” She held out a hand with a bent pinky. “I pinky promise.”

Pietro locked pinkies with Penny to make their pinky promise official. “Good” He smiled at his daughter. “Now, you should get some rest. You must be tired. They’ll show you a place you can stay.”

Penny nodded. She hugged her dad one last time. “See you later, Dad.”

Pietro patted Penny on the back. “You too.”</p>

When she let go of her dad, She followed the soldiers out of the engineering wing and to a small room. On the bed were two sets of clothes for her: one was a simple black shirt and a green dress. The other was a simple green nightgown. Certainly much nicer-looking than the winter clothes she had to make due with at the camp. She was getting tired, so she grabbed the nightgown and went to the bathroom to change.

She looked in the mirror as she undressed, and she quickly noticed something on her chest: Where Cinder had stabbed her with her claws, there were several large white scars. She also saw a large scar where she was stabbed by Jaune. She never had the chance to get a good look at her body before, and it was strange to see scars from healed wounds after spending so long as a machine.

When she was finished getting dressed, she went back to her bed and laid down on it, ready for sleep. The bed was far more comfortable than the cot and floors she had to sleep on at the camp, making it easy for her to fall asleep.

She dreamed once more of Ruby, of what their reunion would be like and how they'd get to do friendship things. She dreamed of living a normal, simple life with her dad. She dreamed of finally getting her chance to live as a girl and no longer as a soldier for Atlas. She dreamed of all the things she could finally have now, like she finally had her happy ending. It was…. wonderful.

When she woke up, she stretched her arms out and gave a big yawn. Out of all the times she slept, this was easily the best, waking up in a comfy bed with nothing to fear or worry about. She rubbed her eyes as she felt herself waking up.

She then got up out of bed and walked back to her bathroom. When she looked around the sink, she saw a toothbrush, along with some toothpaste. So she applied the toothpaste to the brush and began brushing her teeth. It was an interesting sensation, feeling the bristles of the brush against her teeth and gums as they cleaned them of dirt and plaque. It was a strangely pleasant sensation, especially with the taste of mint in her mouth. When she spat out the toothpaste, her mouth felt nice and refreshed, the pleasant scent of mint gracing her breath. It was a nice feeling.

Soon enough, Penny heard a knocking on the door. When she went to open the door, she saw Lieutenant Nero, her prosthetic arm being unmistakable. She wasn’t wearing her helmet this time, showing that she had short black hair and brown eyes. She gave a smile. “Heya Penny.”

Penny's eye’s brightened with excitement upon seeing Nero. “Ms. Nero! What are you doing here?”

Nero chuckled upon seeing Penny's excitement. “Winter sent me to check on you and see how you're doin’.”

Penny smiled happily. “Oh, I'm doing just wonderful! The bed was so comfy!“ Penny looked down “Although…I found these….scars on my body…”

When Penny said this, a look of realization spread across Nero's face. "Ah, those were wounds from when you died, right?"

Penny nodded. "Yes.”

Nero gave a look of understanding to Penny. "I see. Almost everyone who was brought back has 'em. I have one too." Nero pointed to her stomach. “a Saybr got me good right here. Got a giant scar across my belly.”

Penny looked down in thought. This was yet another strange occurrence of the Convergence, wounds that killed someone appearing as scars as if they had survived and the wound healed.

Suddenly, Nero gained a more somber expression.“Winter also sent me to….catch you up a bit. So, uh….” Nero looked down nervously “We….found the Winter Maiden before you….”

Penny’s eyes lit up in excitement. "You found Fria!? Is she alright?"

Nero sighed "She's dead." Nero looked down morosely. "Based on medical examination, she died a few days ago of exposure."

Penny paused, her eyes widening at what Nero had just told her. All she could do was repeat "D-dead?"

Nero nodded in confirmation "She was already on her last legs when she died the first time. In the ruins of Atlas and without her Maiden abilities, she never would've lasted long." Nero responded. She shook her head. "It's still sad, though. So many got a second chance except for her."

Penny looked down sadly. She was there to comfort Fria in her final moments when she first died. But now, Fria had died alone in the cold, no one there with her as she passed on. She did not deserve to be brought back so briefly, no matter how little time she had left to live.

Seeing Penny's sadness, Nero gave a reassuring smile and pat Penny on the shoulder. “Well, if it makes you feel any better, we plan to give her a funeral. You can join if you want.”

Penny looked up, a sad but thankful smile on her face. “Okay. Thank you.” She had never been to a funeral before. From what she heard of them, they sounded like rather sad affairs. However, she still planned on going. It was the least she could do to honor Freya.

Seemingly in an attempt to move on from the sad news, Nero continued "But we did find some others, both in the ruins and around the Tundra.”

Penny perked up, looking at Nero. “Really? Who?”

Nero paused, scratching her chin with a look of recollection. “Well, the two Ace Ops who died, Clover and Vine, were among the ruins. They found refuge among the wreckage. Same with Mr. Schnee and Councilman Sleet. They're all currently recovering from severe hyperthermia.”

Penny smiled at this news. Although she hadn't known any of them very well, she was happy they were brought back, even someone like Mr. Schnee.

Nero then looked down with an unnerved expression. “They also encountered a weird Grimm. From what I heard, it looked kinda like a Beowolf, but it didn't have any eyes and its body looked like it was made of tar. It was a tough bastard, and it ran away before they could kill it.”

Penny looked down disturbed. She knew exactly what Nero was referring to: It was the intelligent Grimm that was sent to hunt her, the one that contained the Silver-eyed faunus in its core. It seemed the Convergence also brought back their enemies, even Grimm. She looked back up at Nero. “Did you find anyone else?”

Nero nodded. “Yeah. There was a burly guy named Hazel who was found out in the wilderness. Seemed like he just toughed his way through the cold. He’s in custody right now.” Nero gave a thoughtful look. “Weirdly, that scientist….Watts, I think? We didn’t find him.”

Penny’s eyes widened in both surprise and concern. She knew about Watts, especially since he hated her dad. The fact they didn’t even find his body was certainly worrying. “You….couldn’t find him

Nero nodded. “Yeah, it's like he just disappeared. We don’t have any clue where he went.”

Penny looked down, still concerned. “If he’s not there…..did he manage to escape, somehow? Is he out there somewhere?” She looked up at Nero with a pleading expression.

Nero gave a confident smile, putting her hand on Penny’s shoulder. “If he’s still around, we’ll get ‘em. No need to worry, kiddo.”

Penny smiled back. While still concerned, that at least made her feel slightly better. “Yeah. I guess.”

Nero nodded. Suddenly, a look of realization came across Nero’s face. “Oh! And before I go, Winter wanted me to give you something.” Nero held out something shiny, with a green ribbon attached to it. It looked like a military medal. "Mantle may not be around anymore, but it's a title that you carried through to the end.” Nero smiled. “And thanks to you, the people of both Mantle and Atlas live. Soon enough, we'll be able to rebuild our kingdom.”

Penny took the medal from Nero and looked at it: It was really shiny, with a silver color. It had the symbol of Atlas on the front of it, and had text reading "Protector of Mantle" above the symbol. She looked back up at Nero, smiling gratefully. “Thank you.”

Nero nodded and gave a smile. “No problem. See you around.” Nero then walked away, leaving her with her thoughts. Penny was just beyond excited to finally see Ruby again.

Chapter Text

It was a few weeks after the Convergence and everyone was just getting their bearings. The Kingdoms were all contacted by a faction known as the Imperium Secundus, led by a figure known as Roboute Guiliman. With the support of the Imperium Secundus, they were able to pick themselves up and survive. In a way, Ozpin's goal had been achieved.

So, the first decision teams RWBY and JNR made was to head to Vale, and see if it was true. From what they heard, Pyrrha was found wandering the ruins of Beacon by Glynda, and brought to stay in a building for refugees. While confused and lacking her weaponry, she was otherwise unharmed. So, they bought themselves some airship tickets and took a flight to Vale for a surprise visit, with some directions given to them by Glynda herself.

On the ship, everyone had differing reactions. Blake was largely composed, Yang was in a good mood, and Nora was bursting with excitement even by her standards. Ren was just trying to keep Nora from causing a ruckus even though he was evidently excited himself. However, Jaune was strangely solemn despite the seemingly joyous occasion.

Ruby noticed her friend acting like this, and went to talk to him. "Jaune?" She asked him. "Is everything okay?"

Jaune just tried to brush it off. "I'm fine Ruby. I just….I just need to think."

Ruby persisted, "Jaune, if something is bothering you, you can tell me." She looked into his eyes, trying to make it as clear as possible that she was serious. She saw what happened to him the Ever After, and wanted to support him when she felt like he needed it.

Seeing that she wasn't going to give up, he let out a deep sigh. "It's just….I'm just a bit scared."

Ruby was surprised. "Scared? Scared by what?"

“I'm scared that….that…" Jaune’s voice started to crack "I'm scared that this is just some dream. That none of it is real and that Pyrrha will still be gone when I wake up." He started to visibly tear up, his voice cracking even more. "And what If I changed too much from the person she knew? Will I still be Jaune to her, or just a stranger that looks like him?"

Ruby was surprised at first, but quickly understood what he meant. It was clear all his years in the Ever After had a profound effect on him. He even covered up his grayed hair using hair products before they went on the trip despite everyone insisting otherwise. Ruby looked down for a bit, but quickly gave Jaune a hug. "You're still you, Jaune. What happened to you in the Ever After didn't change that. We could tell when we met you again. She'd be proud of you and she'll still love you." She pulled away from Jaune, giving him a comforting smile. "I'm a bit scared myself that this isn't real, but even if it isn't, everyone would want us to keep moving forward regardless."

Jaune visibly eased up when he heard this. He sat on these words for a bit before smiling himself. "Thanks Ruby. That means a lot." She gave a smile back before going back to her team.

When they landed in Vale, still visibly scarred by the events of Beacon, they walked over to the temporary housing building Pyrrha was staying in based on the directions Glynda had given them. As they walked through the building, they noticed how spartan it was, with drab walls, a basic brown carpet floor, and no decorations of any kind. Based on what they saw of this place, they hoped Pyrrha would be able to find a place to stay soon so she wouldn't have to stay here anymore.

Eventually, they found the room number Glynda gave them. Jaune proceeded to knock on the door, and they soon heard Pyrrha’s familiar voice call out “coming!” They then heard footsteps run up to the door, and soon enough, there she was. Her eyes widened with surprise when she saw all seven of them standing there.

Even when they saw her in person, they still couldn't believe it. Aside from no longer having her circlet or weapons and having a scar on her chest, she was completely unchanged in her appearance. It was rather jarring, especially since everyone else was a bit older and had changed a fair bit beyond that. She was sitting in a chair and looked up to see everyone.

Tears of joy burst out of Nora's eyes as she ran up to Pyrrha and gave her friend a bear hug. Pyrrha was practically crushed by the sheer amount of force Nora put into the hug, with the wind seemingly knocked out of her.

Ren ran up, telling Nora "Alright, that's enough." He clearly didn't want to risk Nora killing Pyrrha a second time by accident.

With a defeated sigh, Nora loosened her grip Pyrrha, reluctantly letting go of her revived friend. Although by no means unhappy to see Nora again, she also seemed relieved to no longer be in her death grip, taking a breather.

Just then, Ren gave her his own, lighter hug, saying with an unusual amount of emotion in his voice "You have no idea how much everyone missed you. Please promise you won't do anything like that again. We don't want to lose you a second time."

Pyrrha was clearly rather surprised by the emotion in Ren's words, especially since he had never heard him so emotional before. But her expression soon changed to a smile as she returned the hug. "I won't." When they separated, she quickly gave hugs to all of team RWBY. They were just happy to see her alive and well again. Then her eyes turned to Jaune.

For a minute, they just stood there, staring at each other. Jaune stammered out a couple of words "Pyrrha…I…a-a lot has happened since you were gone so-" Pyrrha interrupted him by kissing him straight on the lips, wrapping her arms around him. After a second of shock, he quickly reciprocated. Everyone in the room beamed at this sight. It was a beautiful sight to behold to see them together again.

Since Team RWBY had their own visit to make in Atlas, they figured they'd just leave JNPR alone together. Ruby called out to their friends "We need to go visit Penny. Is it okay with you if we leave you guys alone together?"

Pyrrha briefly stopped to look at them, giving a warm smile. "Go ahead. It was good to see you all again. Have a nice trip." She then went back to smooching Jaune. It's pretty clear they both absolutely loved their smooching.

Ruby nodded with a smile. "Thanks. See you soon." They then left their friends with Pyrrha, heading back to the airship to head to Atlas.

When they went back on the ship, all Ruby could think about was what Jaune told her. She'd be lying if she didn't feel the same way herself, especially after her…..tea party in the Ever After. Seeing Penny die the first time hit Ruby hard, but having her die again was utterly crushing, especially since she never got the chance to fully enjoy life as a human. The worst part was having her sword thrown away by the Red Prince just because it wasn't red. Ruby still couldn't help but hate the little brat for that.

But for Ruby…it almost felt worse for her. If it were just a dream, it'd really mean Penny was gone for good this time, and Ruby hated that thought. She was given a bit of hope by seeing Jaune and Pyrrha together, but that would just make it turning out to be all a dream all the more cruel. She made a promise to herself that, if this was real, she wasn't losing Penny a third time.

They arrived at the helipad, where they saw many ships and vehicles salvaging old buildings and reconstructing new ones in place of the ones that couldn’t be fixed. From what they heard, the Imperium managed to stop the flood and drain the water with tech Remnant had never seen before. It was quite impressive.

Ruby had gotten a call from Pietro after the Imperium re-established communications, saying that Penny was in his lab, giving her the directions to go there. When they followed the directions, they found a small building with a simple sign saying “Pietro’s Cybernetics Clinic.” They had made it.

Ruby knocked on the door, and they soon heard the mechanical footsteps of Pietro’s chair. He opened the door. “Ah! You’re here!” He happily greeted them. “You have no idea how excited she’s been to see you again. Come on in!” He then stepped aside, letting them into his home.

And when they walked in, there sat Penny on one of the tables, clearly waiting for them to arrive. Her outfit was a simple black shirt with a green skirt, with only socks on her feet. She stood up, facing the group with a smile. She eyed Ruby, giving her a warm smile. She did a small salute, saying her signature greeting "Salutations!"

Tears suddenly burst out of Ruby's eyes, like her tear ducts had sprung a leak. Using her Semblance, she flew at Penny, reminiscent of when Penny did the same to her when they reunited in Atlas.

Penny was knocked to the ground, with Ruby hugging her fiercely. Penny was somewhat confused, just asking "Ruby?"

Ruby just cried more from the sheer emotion she felt. She sobbed as she buried her head in Penny's shoulder. In response, Penny lightly embraced Ruby, patting her on the back as she cried. Through her sobs, Ruby managed to get out a few words. "You….do you have….any idea….how much I missed you? How much it hurt to lose you twice?" She looked up at Penny, tears still streaming down her face.

Penny looked at Ruby with a mix of surprise, sadness, and compassion. Ruby didn't react like this when they first reunited, so it was quite the shock seeing her doing it now. However, she could tell how much she mourned her while she was gone, so she didn't say anything to avoid upsetting her. All that mattered is that they were together again.

"So please…" Ruby continued. "Please promise me you won't die again. I don't want to feel the pain of losing you for a third time, a fourth time, or any other number of times."

As Penny sat up, Ruby just clung to her waist and cried into her lap. Penny held her friend as she cried. As she stroked Ruby's hair, she said. "Don't worry Ruby. I'm here. I won't leave you again." Ruby continued to cling to Penny, almost as if she was afraid that she'd disappear if she let go. Penny hugged her as she did so, trying to assure Ruby that she wouldn't leave her. Once again, Penny enjoyed the feeling of the warmth of another person, a feeling she found comforting. Ruby felt the same, the body heat of her friend confirming that she was really there and not just a figment of her imagination.

There, they stayed for a while, just finding comfort in the presence of the other. Everyone else just let them have their moment, knowing how much it meant to them to be able to see each other again.

Gradually, Ruby's crying died down, and she got up from Penny’s lap, looking at Penny with a teary smile. Ruby could feel it just from their embrace; this wasn't an illusion, a dream or anything else. Penny was really there and alive again. Her prayer had been answered. Ruby didn't care how or why this happened. She was just incredibly grateful it did. Penny was returned to her, that's all that mattered. In that moment, she made a second promise to herself: From now on, she was going to cherish every moment she had with Penny. “Sorry” she said, sniffling a bit. “It's just….I'm so happy that you're back.”

Penny just gave Ruby a warm smile, holding her hands in her own. “It's okay. I'm happy, too. I'm….I'm glad I get to see you again and do friendship things together.”

“Yeah.” Ruby nodded in agreement. She wiped her tears and looked back up at Penny. “Paint our nails, try on clothes, talk about cute boys, anything else friends do.” Ruby put her hand on Penny’s shoulder. "We'll do it all, Penny. We'll do it together. I promise." Ruby then pulled Penny into a warm embrace. "You're gonna live for real this time."

Penny hugged Ruby back, enjoying more of the warmth between them. After they were done hugging, they stood back up together, smiling at each other.

Seeing that the two of them were done with their moment, Yang then walked up to Penny, and gave her a tight hug. “It’s good to have you back, Penny.”

Penny was initially surprised by the hug, but accepted it nonetheless, clearly enjoying the warmth she felt. Soon enough, she was hugging both Weiss and Blake the same way, much like she did when she became human.

Unfortunately, the airship was delayed due to Weather problems, so they stayed for a nice dinner with Pietro and Penny. There, they ate some instant noodles provided for them from a shipment of supplies. There, Penny got to enjoy a warm meal for the first time with her father and friends. It was absolutely delicious.

The End.