Murder Drones x RWBY

by CourageousQuacky

Murder Drones X RWBY

The Meeting

It was a cold morning in Atlas, the sky was dark as the sun set, and the wind blew with a slow chill.  The area around was devoid of life with only rocks and snow in every direction.  It was an inhospitable area to venture out into, but that’s exactly what team RWBY was there for.  They had been assigned, by General Ironwood himself, to investigate a possible sighting of an unidentified type of grim roaming the area.  Reports said the grim had fled to this location before the scouts who reported on it could get a close look at it.  And now it was up to team RWBY to track it down and kill it.

The four of them were together there, Weiss Schnee with her elemental rapier and uptight personality, Blake Belladonna with her dual blades and catlike persona, Yang Xiaolong with her explosive gauntlets and even more explosive personality, and Ruby Rose wielding her collapsible scythe/sniper rifle while shouldering the responsibility of being leader.  They were all out there together, no help was included in the mission of theirs.  In fact, the ship that dropped them off already left the area to wait for them to call it back.  It was up to them to track down the grim, subjugate it, and report back anything of note to General Ironwood.  It was a simple mission, one they had gone on many times in the past.  Despite this, Ruby was still uneasy for much of the time, as they had been searching for over an hour and found no trace of a grim.

“See anything?”, Ruby asked with little enthusiasm.

“Still nothing”, Weiss responded.  “I’m starting to wonder if those so called “scouts”’, she made air quotes with her fingers, “really knew what they were talking about when they reported the location”

Weiss was standing from atop one of her summons, a snow white insect grimm she summoned with the power of her semblance.  She had hopped on it and flew into the air in order to get a better view of the area, but there was still nothing to be found.

Ruby sighed, she didn’t want to go back to the general empty handed, but it was looking more and more like that was their only option.  They had searched the entire area and checked every possible location the grim could be hiding in, yet still found nothing.  They were only continuing the search because it was their job, they were huntresses tasked with defending the nation from the threat of grimm.  Any unusual sightings of grim in the area naturally fell to them to handle, whether they liked it or not.  They had to complete their mission in order to protect people from these kinds of threats, no one else could.

“Alright, let's figure out if there are any areas which we still have left to search”

Ruby suggested this with tiredness in her voice.  She was the leader of the team, which meant she was responsible for making sure the mission was a success.  It also meant that any mission which wasn’t completed successfully would be her fault.

“Hey, are you doing alright?”

It was Ruby’s sister, Yang.  She was standing casually next to her, with one arm on her side, looking at Ruby with slight concern.

“Yeah, I’m fine”, Ruby responded with a barely noticeable sigh.  “I just can’t help but think about the previous missions which we’ve already messed up.  We had to tell General Ironwood that we failed the last two times, and now it’s looking like this will be the third”

A silence passed between the two of them.  They both knew how bad a third report of mission failure would look to people.  Their team was already losing trust from the higher ups they answered to, any more and they could face serious consequences.

“Cmon Ruby, we’re not done yet”, Yang said in an attempt to encourage her.  “We still have some places we haven’t looked”

Ruby didn’t respond to this, she only continued staring ahead, forlorn.  Their two other team members had arrived by this point.  Now they all stood in a circle and attempted to figure out their next course of action.  It was Yang who spoke first.

“So?  Find anything?”, she asked both Weiss and Blake.

“Nothing!  Nothing at all”, Weiss said with annoyance clear in her voice.  “It’s like the entire area is empty.  There’s not even any animals around”

“You’re sure?”, Yang asked.  “There weren’t even any corpses of things grim might eat?”

“I’m sure.  There’s no life to speak of anywhere in this area”

This sent a feeling of worry through the group.  Normally in Atlas there was an assortment of winter animals roaming the area, in addition to all the grim who wander the place.  For there to be nothing visible in any direction, not even the leftover remains of what the grim ate, something must have caused it, the question was what.

“Actually, I found something”

It was Blake who spoke this time, after waiting for the others to finish like she normally does.

“I took a picture of it just before, I would’ve sent it but scroll signals are so bad out here I had to wait to show it to you all”

Blake held up her scroll for the others to see, at which concern was suddenly visible on their faces.  The picture was of a gray severed arm, one thin and elongated.  It had claws for fingers and disturbing spikes coming out of its sides.  It was clearly not human, but it didn’t seem like any type of grim arm they had seen before either.

“Where was this?”, Yang asked while fetting her brow.

“Over there”  Blake pointed behind her towards a few snowy hills.

“I found it on the ground, abandoned.  There might’ve been a cave of sorts in the distance”

“Well it’s about time!”, Weiss said with enthusiasm.  “How come you didn’t say anything earlier?”

“I wanted to know if anyone else found anything”, Blake answered while looking down, with a bit of shame in her voice.

“Well thank you, but if we found anything we would’ve said something”, Weiss said.  “Now let’s go investigate”

 

The team rushed off in the direction which Blake pointed out earlier, over the snowy hills and towards some large rocks on the right.  After a bit they found the arm Blake had shown them earlier, still on the ground and even more grotesque in person.  It was abandoned just like Blake had said it was, and seeing it up close, the team could tell that it wasn’t any ordinary kind of grim.

“Have you…   seen anything like this?”, Yang asked, looking to Ruby.

“No, this is completely strange”

Ruby responded with unsteadiness in her voice.  The sight of the arm made her incredibly uneasy, something which was visible on her face.  Normal grim disappear once they are killed, their corpses or severed limbs would fade away to black ash, leaving nothing behind.  This arm wasn’t like that.  It remained on the ground without fading, something unlike all other types of grim the team knew about.

They looked at it for a few more seconds, then Weiss broke the silence.

“Didn’t you say there was some sort of cave nearby?”, she asked while looking around.

“Yeah, over there”

Blake pointed at a tiny outcropping of rocks to the left of where Weiss was looking.  It was easy to miss, but there was a small opening behind one of the boulders.  The team headed over towards it, hoping to find answers, a clue, or maybe even the grim itself.  But when they arrived at the entrance, they noticed a strange glow coming from within the cave.  It was faint, and yellow.  Something they would’ve missed had they not been paying attention.  The rest of the cave entrance was pitch black, making nothing within visible except for that unsettling yellow glow.

They all stood there at the entrance of the cave for several seconds.  While normally they would’ve rushed in to try and subjugate whatever grim lay inside, they were more cautious this time.  The strangeness of the situation, combined with the knowledge that they weren’t dealing with any ordinary grim, made them hesitant to go inside.  The complete lack of visibility in the cave was also a big factor, as not knowing what was inside created a big risk of an ambush.

“Yang, how about you fire a shot in to create some light?”, Ruby suggested.

“Yeah, good idea”

Yang walked to face the entrance directly, then she pulled her arm back in preparation of firing off a flare from her gauntlets.  That’s when she heard it.  There was a sound coming from within the cave.  It was a faint, scratching type sound, slowly repeating itself over and over.  The others heard it as well, and listened intently in an attempt to understand what it was.  Then, just as Yang was about to go ahead with her flare, something came out of the dark entrance.

It was a hand.

A human hand this time, grabbing the floor and pulling itself towards the group.  Behind it was an attached arm, followed by the head and body of a person.  They appeared to be a soldier, dragging themselves across the floor with shaky movements.  Then, the team saw, the soldier was missing limbs.  Their right arm, along with both of their legs, were completely gone, instead leaving a trail of blood on the ground where they moved.  The soldier’s face was one of complete horror, as if they had seen death itself.  They stared at Yang with an intensity which she had never seen before.  Then the soldier attempted to speak.

It took a few moments, as their voice was almost gone.  But they managed to get out a single word.

“Run”

Suddenly the soldier was dragged back into the cave.  A strange, vine-like object had wrapped itself around their torso and pulled them back into the darkness.  The soldier screamed as this happened, but their scream was cut short, replaced by the sounds of flesh being ripped apart and eaten.  The sounds were audible, and vicious.  They made the four of them freeze in horror for a few moments, until Ruby snapped out of it.

“Yang now!”

At this, Yang remembered herself, and fired off a flare from her gauntlets into the cave.  The light it generated illuminated a portion of the cave’s walls, until it passed by a figure in the darkness.  This figure appeared almost humanoid, with an unsettling smile and yellow Xs in place of eyes.  They tilted their head to the side just enough to avoid the flare, not bothering to step out of the way.  Then the figure spoke.

“Giggle”, “You look delicious.  Frankly I’ve been so starving”

Without hesitation, the figure lunged out of the darkness towards Yang.  They moved faster than Yang was prepared for, mouth open and ready to bite, appearing mere inches in front of her before she could react.  If not for Ruby grabbing Yang with her semblance, Yang would’ve been bitten.

The figure bit down on the air where Yang was just moments ago, and they traveled through the air to land a few feet away.  They turned around, head first, with a 180 degree spin, followed by the rest of their body.  Now the team could see the figure clearly, and it was unlike anything they had ever witnessed.

The figure was, to put it simply, horrifying.  Their body was in the shape of a human, but they were covered in bloodstained clothing and open wounds.  They were wearing what appeared to be a tattered black dress, and had large black hair on their head, with a bow in the back.  On their feet were black high heels, and the way they stood made it seem like their ankles were broken.  Yet while their shape was human, the rest of them was clearly not.  They seemingly had two sets of hands, one of them being metallic.  Their skin was bloody and scraped away in countless locations.  And their limbs were at angles which made them seem like a puppet on a string.  Worse yet was their monstrous smile, permanently etched across their face just below their glowing, Xed out eyes.

The four of them ran to group up as the figure faced them after turning around.  They had weapons fully drawn and were poised for combat.  Yang was as well, while trying to steady her shaking arms.

“Come on now”, the figure spoke.  “It’s time to eat”

Suddenly, an appendage shot out of the figure’s back.  It was a large and grotesque claw, attached by multiple lengths of dead gray arms.  They swung it at the four of them with violent speeds, sending them in multiple directions as they dodged to either side.  Without hesitation, the figure went after Yang once more.  They grew long tentacles out of their back and stabbed them at her.  The first one Yang managed to punch away, but the second she barely blocked with her metal arm.  She was sent flying backwards, landing in the snow many yards away.

On the other side of the figure, Weiss and Blake had recovered and began their assault, firing off bullets and white swords which Weiss summoned.  The figure easily blocked these projectiles though, by simply whipping her tentacles around to intercept them.  At the same time, the figure turned their head 180 degrees again and held up their hand.  A symbol appeared in their hand, one glowing bright yellow in the shape of three arrows coming out of a hexagon.  They waved this symbol, while having a big smile on their face, at Weiss, creating another symbol on the giant white sword they had summoned.  Using this, the figure took control of Weiss’s summoned sword and swung it at her violently.

“Wha-!”, Weiss exclaimed in surprise.  She only barely had time to avoid it thanks to Blake pulling her out of the way.  They both fell backwards on the ground away from the sword, but the figure was too distracted to follow up.  Yang and Ruby had begun shooting projectiles at them as well, bringing their attention back around.  The figure took the summoned sword and threw it at Yang, who narrowly dodged to the side.  Unfortunately, the figure followed up their attack.  They smiled as their form shimmered, before disappearing completely.  

The four of them were left in shock for a moment, unable to understand what had happened.  But this was only for a moment.  The figure reappeared next to Yang, and lunged at her once again.  Ruby wasn’t able to intervene this time.

The figure said, “Chomp”, aloud before grabbing Yang’s arm and biting into it.  Yang was pushed to the ground, and pain coursed through her.  The force of the bite nearly cut straight through her aura, draining it at an extraordinary rate and causing her to scream out in pain.  Ruby swung at the figure with her scythe, causing it to disappear once again and reappear nearby.  She stood over Yang protectively, half looking at her in her shell shocked state, and half looking at the figure standing casually nearby.  They looked at Ruby and Yang with a creepily playful curiosity.  

“Strange”, they said.  Their head was tilted to the side with one finger on their cheek.  They stood like that for only a moment though, turning their frown back into their usual menacing smile.

“Whatever”, they stated.  “You still look good enough to eat”

At this, they held out their hand in front of them, forming the yellow symbol from before.  This time however, from their hand came a strange projection of glowing terminals, followed by the word “Null”  In their hand formed a black and yellow sphere, one which seemed to warp the space around it.  They held this sphere to the side before throwing it at Yang.  She was able to evade it, entirely thanks to Weiss summoning a pillar of ice from underneath Yang, pushing her up and out of the way.  If not for that, Yang would’ve died.

The sphere hit the ice pillar, created a giant hole in it, and continued traveling at ludicrous speeds into the distance.  It eventually came to a mountain range on the horizon, and upon hitting it, carved a hole in it so big the four of them could see it from their current locations.  A chill went down each of their spines, one accompanied by the many other chills already present from the opponent they were facing.  If they had time to articulate it, they would realize that they were way over their heads, but time was not a luxury they had.

Ruby and Yang were both launched into the air by Weiss’s ice pillar, and they followed this up by shooting a barrage of projectiles down on the figure.  It was useless, however.  The figure’s attention was now drawn back to Weiss, and they shimmered away to a place just next to her.  They appeared with a claw arm out of their back, and immediately swung it at Weiss.  She had no time to dodge it, and ended up taking the claw directly to the chest.  She was sent flying backwards, barely conscious from the impact which drained her aura over halfway in a single hit.  She hit the ground and bounced off a few times before sliding to a stop in the snow.  She lay there motionless, too dazed to get up.

“Weiss!”, Blake called out in panic.  She looked back at Weiss for just a moment as her body flew past her.  This moment was almost too much though.  The figure lunged at Blake with a grotesque appendage, which had a human hand, protruding from their back.  They tried to grab Blake, but they barely dodged with the help of their semblance, creating a clone which took the hit instead.  Blake attempted a counterattack by swinging her sword at the figure’s head.  And, to everyone’s surprise, she cut the head clean off.

The victory was short lived.

The figure reached up and grabbed their head before placing it back on their neck.  They turned it around to directly face Blake just before shimmering away again.  They reappeared directly behind Blake, arms up and mouth open like they were about to dig into a delicious feast.  They were interrupted though, by Yang coming down on top of them with a fist.  They hit the ground hard as their legs were pushed into the air by the force.  But right after they shimmered away again, this time appearing in the air.  They had grown wings, fleshy, batlike wings which they used to fly up towards Ruby.  They slashed at Ruby with a claw from their back, narrowly missing thanks to Ruby’s semblance.  But they followed this up by reaching towards the broken ice pillar with their yellow symbol, grabbing it while saying “grab”, and throwing it at Ruby as she fled.

This time Ruby couldn’t dodge.  She was hit directly and got sent flying back towards the area that Weiss landed in.  She hit the ground hard and bounced off it one time.  She slid to a halt and barely had time to gather her wits before the figure was already almost on top of her.  She fled with her semblance once again, disappearing in a burst of rose petals just before getting chomped.  The figure stood up and turned around to face Ruby.

“So, annoying”, they said, with a look of minor frustration on their face.  “Let’s fix that, shall we?”

They tilted their head while widening their smile, before shimmering away.  They reappeared mid lunge, already halfway between themselves and Ruby, who was standing on the snow a short distance away.

“N-Neckbite”, they said while in the air.

This time Ruby didn’t have time to dodge.  The figure grabbed her and bit her neck with intensive force.  Ruby screamed in pain from it, feeling her aura being drained rapidly just like Yang’s.  She was then grabbed around the waist by a tentacle before being thrown into the air.  The figure extended their wings and chased Ruby as she traveled.  They caught up, and whipped a tentacle around in a wide arc, hitting Ruby directly.  Ruby attempted to block with her scythe, yet she was still launched through the air, hitting the ground in a shower of debris.  Her aura was completely shattered, and blood started dripping from her unconscious mouth.

“Ruby!”, Yang called out.

She started rushing over to where Ruby landed, the figure was already closing in, but she was too far away to get there in time.  It was the figure who got their first.  They stood over Ruby, playfully tinkling their fingers together as if preparing for a delicious feast.  They were interrupted from this by a giant white sword which flew at them from the side.  Weiss was standing there, recovered from the hit they took earlier.  They were attempting to cover for Ruby as she lay unconscious on the ground, but their attempts only seemed to make the figure upset.

Their giant sword was easily caught in midair by the yellow symbol the figure wielded, not even requiring them to look.  They turned their head directly towards Weiss, saying “annoyed expression”  Then they turned the sword around and threw it at Weiss, who barely had time to dodge.  Weiss sidestepped the sword, looking at it as it flew past them.  The moment it left their vision, however, a tentacle appeared, heading towards their leg.  It grabbed them, and Weiss was pulled forwards until they were on the ground lying flat on their back.

The figure was there, standing over them with excitement in their eyes.  Weiss tried to attack with their rapier, but it was grabbed by a claw and tossed to the side.  Blake and Yang were still rushing over as fast as they could, they fired projectiles in an attempt to protect Weiss.  The figure simply grabbed the giant sword once again without looking, and positioned it to block their attacks.  

They leaned forwards and grabbed Weiss by the arm.  They said, “Alright, time to play, he he”  Then they started pulling with increasing force.  Weiss’s face contorted in pain as their arm was being torn out of its socket.  All the while the figure was giggling at them with their face just inches away.  Weiss attempted to get away, but couldn’t.  Her other arm was being pinned down by another hand, and her legs couldn’t break her free.  Yang and Blake were still too far away to help, and Ruby was unconscious.  Weiss’s agony continued on unabated.

It lasted for several seconds, her arm being pulled and pulled, with no way to escape.  She could feel her aura about to break, and the pain kept increasing.  The figure was in her face the whole time, giggling at her like they were pulling a prank, not an arm.  The intensity kept increasing and increasing, until finally, her aura ran out.

Rip!

Weiss’s arm was torn off by the figure.  They screamed out in pain, feeling an agony unlike anything before.  They had tears running down their face by this point.  The figure, of course, just laughed harder as they got the arm free of its socket.

“Finally”, they said, before starting to eat it in front of Weiss.  “Finally some good F*c**ng food”

They finished off the arm, before starting to rip into Weiss’s chest directly.  They grabbed it and took chunks off, blood flying everywhere.  First the ribcage, then the lungs.  They were grabbing Weiss’s flesh and eating it by the handful, one bloody bite after another.  Weiss was still alive just enough to experience it all.  She felt every piece of her own flesh being ripped off. Witnessed every gleeful bite the figure took of it.  Forced to endure it all while her body remained alive.  

The others witnessed it all as it happened.  Yang and Blake were standing nearby, watching in horror as their teammate was being eaten alive.  Ruby was lying next to them.  She had regained consciousness just soon enough to witness Weiss being ripped apart piece by piece.  The sight of it froze them all in fear.  Their bodies wouldn’t move no matter how much they wanted to.

Finally, after witnessing her body being ripped apart and her organs being eaten, Weiss’s suffering ended.  The figure reached down and grabbed her heart in their mouth.  They pulled up and snapped off the attached veins, before swallowing it whole.  They licked their lips at this and smiled.  Weiss finally died.  Perhaps suffering the worst death one could imagine.  

And it was only the beginning.

The figure stood up, and turned their head to face the others.  They said, “Delicious”, with a big smile on their face.

“Okay.  Who’s next?”

They grew a claw out of their back, before rushing at Yang with blinding speed.  Yang was unable to move, still frozen in fear from the scene she just witnessed.  They leapt into the air, ready to strike.  But just before reaching Yang, just before they slashed her with brutal efficiency, the figure was pushed back.  Their claw arm was severed and they had a confused expression on their face.

“Hands off!  No one traumatizes these weirdly colorful humans but me!”

Someone new had appeared in front of Yang, someone they didn’t recognize.

“Uzi?”, the figure responded in confusion, head tilted and smile replaced with a frown.

“Yeah it is!  Should've figured you’d make a clone of yourself Cyn!”

Yang and the others watched the scene in utter bewilderment.  Here was the figure they had just been defeated by, the one who ate their teammate with nothing they could do but watch.  The same one who seemingly had endless abilities, the one who laughed as they tore someone’s limbs off.  And now they were being talked down to by someone who showed up out of nowhere.  Who was this person?  And how did they know the figure as Cyn?  “Answers like these wouldn’t come just by standing around”, Yang thought.  But actually answers came soon after.

“You look different, Uzi”, Cyn said.

“Obviously!”, Uzi said.  “It’s been a year since I beat you.  Of course I’m going to make myself look way cooler!”

“What”, was Cyn’s only response.  They seemed almost as bewildered as Yang, Blake, and Ruby did.

They were just standing there, not attacking for once.  So Yang took the opportunity to look at this Uzi more closely.  They were a girl with long purple hair and dark gray clothes, wearing a beanie on their head.  Their eyes were multicolored, both purple, yellow, and red.  Their hands, however, looked metallic.  They looked like the hands of a robot.  In fact, it wasn’t just their hands, but both their arms and entire head.  All of the exposed “skin” they had was robot parts instead of actual skin.

Yang then did a double take.  She looked over at “Cyn” to see that she also had the same metallic hands that Uzi had.  The only difference was the extra set of hands and the bloodstained flesh that Cyn had across their body.  It gave Yang a realization.

“Wait”, Yang said.  “Are you two robots?”

Uzi turned her head.

“Uh, duh!”, she answered as if the question was completely obvious.  “What did you think we were?  Humans?”

Yang didn’t respond, as Cyn cut her off.

“Boring.  Whatever”

They extended their wings and brought out another claw from their back.  But before they could start their attack, Uzi vanished.

“What”, Cyn said.

It was the same vanishing effect that Cyn used, only Uzi was the one who used it.  They appeared to the left of Cyn, a null orb in their hand and ready to release.  Cyn turned their head towards Uzi, still with a frowning expression on their face.  But they quickly recovered, and vanished with a smile just like Uzi.  They reappeared above her and sent down three tentacles to try and stab Uzi with.  But Uzi dodged to the side, using her freshly extended wings to propel herself away.  She continued, flying into the air and circling around to attack Cyn from behind.  Cyn wasn’t phased by this though.  She once again turned her head all the way around and faced Uzi, freshly formed null in her hand.  

She extended another tentacle at Uzi in a wide arc, attempting to hit her from the side.  Uzi narrowly ducked under it and formed her own null sphere.  They both threw the spheres at each other simultaneously, resulting in a converging revolution, and ending with both flying out in separate directions.  One went far off into the distance, not hitting anything visible.  While the other zipped right by Uzi’s head, narrowly missing after she dodged as quickly as she could.  It made her show worry for the first time since appearing, something which Cyn seemed to find delightful.

They disappeared in front of Uzi.  This time not reappearing somewhere nearby but instead showing multiple copies of themselves all at once.  Uzi wasn’t expecting this tactic.  She tried to evade as best she could, disappearing and reappearing to a nearby location while flying away.  But Cyn’s reach was too far, their speed too fast.  Uzi was struck in the arm by a tentacle from above.  It pulled her back and up towards Cyn, who was waiting with mouth wide open.  

Uzi extended her wings to cut the tentacle and escape.  Cyn chased her down with a claw arm which Uzi narrowly avoided by shimmering away to the ground.  She immediately formed a null orb in her hand as she fled, and released it just in time to intercept the one Cyn threw at her.  The resulting convergence once again created a revolution of orbs that led to Uzi being hit directly in the arm.  The other projectile whizzed straight past Yang’s head, filling her with dread.

Uzi retreated back to the side of Yang and the others.  Her attitude had shifted from fully confident to one of stress and worry.  In contrast, Cyn’s attitude had shifted from confusion at the sight of Uzi and her abilities, to one of gleeful confidence like her usual attitude.  She landed on the ground and faced Uzi with a menacing smile.  She prepared to attack again, but saw something which made her stop.

Behind Uzi was a tail which curved around and faced forward.  But at the end of this tail was a strange yellow head, smiling at Cyn with a familiar expression.

“Hello me”, the tail said.

“What”, Cyn said, once again in utter bewilderment.

“Shut it!”, Uzi said as she slapped the tail swiftly with her hand.

“Ow”, the tail said, slithering back behind Uzi.

Uzi then turned to face Yang and the others.  She had a look of both concentration, and worry.

“Hey, can you guys fight?”, she asked.

Yang, Ruby, and Blake looked at each other for a moment, before giving their answer.

“Blake and I can, but Ruby can’t”, she said, gesturing with her head at Ruby, who was still on the ground with a broken aura.

“How do we win though?”, Yang asked.  “This thing didn’t die even after cutting off its head!”

“They let you cut their head off?”, Uzi responded with a raised eyebrow.  “They must really be playing around”

Uzi smiled slightly, and almost chuckled a bit.  But then she noticed the dead body nearby, and realized that it must’ve been a former friend of theirs.

“Rip out their heart and burn it in sunlight, that’s the only way”, Uzi said with a serious expression on their face.

“That’s the only way?”, Yang responded in panic.  “You’re sure?”

“Yeah.  In fact, even that may not be enough.  I had to eat Cyn’s heart in order to truly kill them”

Yang did a double take upon hearing this.  She stared at Uzi with a mix of disgust and doubt on her face.  But then Uzi’s eye briefly flashed the same yellow symbol that Cyn held.

“Shut it”, Uzi said to herself.

Yang stared for only a moment longer, then gathered her wits together.

“Alright”, she said.  “Is there anything else we should know about?”

“Yeah”, Uzi said.  “Don’t lose sight of each other”

“Why not?”

It was Blake who asked this time instead of Yang, seemingly accepting Uzi as someone to communicate with.  But Uzi didn’t reply to her question verbally.  Instead, she casted a hologram onto herself to change her appearance.  This hologram was the image of Yang, but it was altered.  Their eyes were bloody and their clothes were covered in red.  They had a black sword impaled in their chest, the same black sword which Blake wielded.  The hologram disappeared and Uzi became visible again.

“They’ll trick you.  Be careful”, Uzi said.

Yang, Blake, and Ruby had horrified expressions etched on their faces after seeing this.  But they came to their senses quickly, and moved to stand next to Uzi while facing Cyn.

“Uzi right?”, Yang asked.

“Yyyyep”, Uzi responded as she flashed a slightly crazed smile.

“If we survive this, thank you”

“Wha-, eww gross”, Uzi responded with a weirded out look on her face.  “I mean sure, whatever, bite me”

“Done yet?”

It was Cyn who interrupted this time.  They were standing in the same spot as before, head tilted to the side with a frown on their face.  It was strange of them to be so patient, instead of their usual style of holograms and aggressive attacking.  But the answer became obvious soon after.  Uzi’s tail, the one which the solver always had control over, was talking with the Cyn they were facing.  Uzi didn’t know what they were talking about, since she wasn’t paying attention to it, but she knew it couldn’t be good.

“Shut it”, Uzi said again as she slapped her tail.

“Heh”, Cyn said after seeing this.

Their expression changed back to their signature smile.  Then their form changed from a hologram to their real position.  To Uzi’s, and everyone’s, shock, Cyn had a null already in their hand about to be released.  Uzi went to form her own in an attempt to counter it.  She was barely able to intercept it in time to prevent it from hitting her directly, but the result was a null convergence just inches away from her face.

She bent backwards as fast as she could, narrowly avoiding a direct hit.  One of the null projectiles took a chunk out of the top of her head, almost knocking her offline.  She fell over backwards, but quickly got to her feet after seeing Cyn rush at them with full speed.  Blake and Yang tried firing projectiles at her once more, but they proved ineffective, merely bouncing off Cyn as they held up their yellow solver to block.  Uzi vanished with a hologram of their own, and reappeared to Cyn’s right, stabbing at them with the tip of their wings.  Cyn dodged it by bending backwards, before straightening themselves and continuing the motion, ending with a sweeping strike from one of their tentacles.

Uzi was knocked away through the air.  She hit the ground and bounced one time before extending her wings and starting to hover.  Cyn was about to give chase, but she noticed Blake coming at her from behind.  She reached her hand out, solver activated, and aimed it at a nearby boulder.  The boulder was lifted up easily, before getting thrown at Blake.  Blake dodged it narrowly with her semblance, doing a back handspring to right herself after the quick movement.  At the same time as this, Yang had launched herself through the air in preparation for a strike from above.  The strike, however, never landed.

Cyn shimmered a few feet to the side, just enough to avoid Yang’s blow.  They stood there with their arms playfully behind themselves and their head turned slightly to the side.  Their tongue was out and their eyes glowed with ill intent.  They reached out their solver towards Yang, grabbing hold of her metal arm.  Then Cyn performed a twisting motion with their hand, and created a sort of ripping apart sound at the location they were targeting.  Yang’s arm was, despite being extremely hard metal, torn to pieces by this motion.  It was twisted and broken, contorted and shattered by the effects of the solver.

Thinking quickly, Yang detached her arm and threw it to the side before Cyn could use it against her any more.  While this may have saved her from being potentially dragged towards Cyn to be eaten, it still left her with a missing arm.  Yang wasn’t phased however.  She got to her feet and assumed a defensive stance against Cyn, who was preparing to strike out again with her tentacles.  

But Blake’s sword interrupted her.

It came in from the side, spinning like a boomerang while being attached with a ribbon.  It stabbed into one of Cyn’s tentacles, interrupting and surprising her.  Then Blake pulled back as hard as she could, dragging Cyn back and swinging them around, until finally releasing them to hurtle towards some nearby boulders.  They landed with an audible crash, and a plume of smoke could be seen from their point of impact.  Blake took the time gained to rush over and regroup with Yang.

“Are you alright?!”, Blake asked.

“Yeah”, Yang answered.  “But my arm’s not”

They both took a brief look at the contorted arm on the ground nearby.  The efficiency with which it was torn apart added another worry to their increasingly long lists of problems.

“If that thing worked on people, we’d already be dead”, Yang stated in bitterness.

Just then, Uzi caught up with them.  She landed in front of them and opened her mouth to say something.  She paused though, her expression changed to one of shock as she took notice of the incoming null.  She was able to counter it, with the projectiles arcing out to the left this time, away from any people.  Cyn stood there watching, until she tilted her head to the side and disappeared, reappearing behind Uzi with a claw in position to strike.

Uzi dodged it within a hair’s breadth, doing a professional limbo impression under the motion, before righting herself and punching Cyn in the face.  Cyn flew backwards through the air, flipped once, and landed on their feet with another null already in their hand.  Uzi formed their own null and threw it to counter, but instead of throwing it, Cyn shimmered away with the null still in their hand.  They reappeared a few yards to the left, null still at the ready, and released it at Uzi.

Uzi attempted to dodge to the best of their ability.  They used their wings to propel themselves away to the side, but the null was too fast.  It tore a large hole in their wings as they tried to move away, causing them to fall on the ground and roll to a stop.  Before Uzi could get up, Cyn grabbed them with an extended hand and lifted them up by the torso.  Uzi attempted to defend with her solver, but Cyn thwarted her attempts.  They cut her hand off, before stabbing her through the back of her head with a tentacle.

The expression on her face, along with everything else, disappeared, replaced by large red letters saying “FATAL ERROR”  Uzi’s body went limp afterwards, allowing Cyn to stab her in the chest with their hand.  They pulled out a strange looking, crab-like thing out of Uzi’s chest, before dropping her lifeless body to the ground.  Cyn then held up the thing to their mouth, tilting their head up while laughing.  Their intent was to eat it, something which Yang recognized immediately.

“Blake!  Throw me!”, Yang said.

“Wha-”, Blake stammered.  “R-right, okay”

Blake realized what Yang intended, and proceeded to reach out and grab them by the arm.  She swung Yang around behind her and released them to fly through the air, straight towards Cyn.  Yang hit her target dead in the face, landing a blow on Cyn which sent them flying back into the distance.  She landed on the ground at the same time as the crab thing Cyn was trying to eat.  That thing immediately jumped into Uzi’s chest, before Uzi came alive again and started coughing up oil.  She was nearly convulsing on the ground at this point, trying to catch her breath despite the giant hole in her chest.

Yang was watching Uzi the whole time, yet her expression never shifted away from concern, there was no surprise.  She had already realized it from what she saw.  She already realized that the crab-like thing was actually Uzi, acting as some sort of living heart within her robot body.  Yang remembered Uzi mentioning something about Cyn’s core earlier, seeing the crab-like thing just now made her realize that they were one in the same.  Cyn likely had the same sort of thing in their body, the thing which leads to the only way for them to be killed.

“Uzi, you alright?”, Yang asked from over her shoulder.

Uzi managed to lift her head up, a painful expression still evident on her face.  She was looking at Yang, or rather, just past her.

“Behind you!”, Uzi managed.

Yang turned her attention back in front of her, and she saw that Cyn had already recovered.  They had a null in their hand, and released it at the group just like before.  This time, however, Uzi wasn’t prepared to counter with a null of her own.  Instead it was left to Yang to defend the group.

She thought quickly, and attempted to intercept the incoming singularity with a projectile from her gauntlet.  The two objects collided midair, causing the null to detonate early.  It created a massive sphere of destruction which swallowed everything it touched.  Its reach almost extended to Yang, who narrowly avoided it after stepping back quickly.  While Uzi, laying on the ground, had her legs swallowed up by it.

The null sphere disappeared and left behind a massive circular crater.  Yang looked into said crater, transfixed by the beautifully terrifying display of destruction she just witnessed.  She didn’t look for long though.  Cyn was approaching at high speeds, using her wings to fly through the air close to the ground.  

Yang had to think quickly once again.  She couldn’t keep defending from attacks like those, especially with one arm.  Then she thought about how Cyn tore her arm apart easily with the solver she had, and how Uzi had the same kind of solver.  This gave Yang an idea.

“Hey Uzi”, Yang said.  “Can you fix my arm?”

“Uh”, Uzi said, thinking for a moment as she lay on the ground.  “Yeah sure”

Uzi reached over towards Yang’s arm with her tri-colored solver, grabbing it and pulling it in.  She twisted her hand, changing the symbol to one which was more of a complicated circle than a hexagon with arrows.  The broken arm began twisting and contorting, this time being reassembled back into its original working state.  Once finished, Uzi moved the arm over to Yang, who grabbed it and put it on.  Yang smiled after this was done.

“Thanks”, she said, a fire in her eyes.

“Incoming!”, Blake yelled out.

Cyn had finally reached the three of them.  They struck preemptively with an extended claw hand, grabbing Yang by the head and pinning her to the ground.  Blake rushed in and severed the arm with her sword.  She dodged Cyn’s follow up strike, leaping to the side to avoid a piercing tentacle aimed at her head.  Uzi’s legs had finished repairing by then.  They got up and took a swing at Cyn with the sharp edge of their wings.  Cyn dodged to the side, and floated over with Blake in pursuit.

Blake had both her sword, and sword-sheath in either hand.  She was hacking and slashing at Cyn’s tentacles as they backed away from her.  The two of them entered a foggy area, at which Cyn disappeared in hologram style.  Blake stood on guard, and heard them reappear behind her.  She turned around and stabbed in an instant, but shock etched itself on her face.

Standing in front of her was Yang, bleeding from the chest with Blake’s sword impaling her.  She looked up at Blake weakly, pain and betrayal in her expression.  Blake was overwhelmed with a flood of emotion.  It felt to her that the world had just ended.  She looked at Yang in the eyes, tears starting to stream down her face.  It was those eyes which she admired so heavily, for the strength they embodied.  And it was those eyes which felt to her, somehow, wrong.

Suddenly, a memory flashed in Blake’s mind.  It was this exact situation, only one which wasn’t real.  Blake came to her senses not a moment too soon.  She grabbed her sword and leapt back away from Yang, narrowly avoiding being impaled by several tentacles which struck at the place she was standing just before.  Yang’s bloody form shimmered and disappeared, replaced by Cyn wearing a gleeful smile.  They laughed a few times, finding it humorous how they tricked Blake.  She backed up a bit further, and the other two joined her on either side.

“Are you okay Blake?”, Yang asked with concern on her face.

“Yeah”, they said.  “Thanks for the warning Uzi”

“Right”, Uzi said in reply.

“Look out!”

Yang called out just as a tentacle was reaching through the fog towards Uzi.  It grabbed her by the neck and pinned her to the ground.  Then, out of the fog came Cyn.  They were mid leap, soaring through the air towards Blake and Yang.  They had a claw protruding out of their back, and used it to swipe at the two of them.  They narrowly avoided it by leaping back, but Cyn followed it up immediately.  They held out their hand with the solver, starting the sequence to create a null.  This time however, instead of forming it in their hand, Cyn snapped their fingers towards the ground next to where Blake and Yang were standing, creating a small null explosion at that point.

While not the overwhelming blast that most nulls created, this explosion still knocked the two of them off their feet, creating an opening.  Cyn used this opening, not to attack Blake and Yang, but to focus more on Uzi.  In the time between getting pinned down and having Cyn focus their attention on them, Uzi had just managed to cut the tentacle with her wing.  She attempted to escape after this, but Cyn grabbed onto her wing and tore it clean off.  Then she grabbed Uzi’s arms, pinning her down and going in for a chomp.  They got mere inches away from Uzi’s chest, before being interrupted by a flying kick to the head.

They were launched backwards, away from Uzi, tumbling once in the air before landing face first on the ground.  Uzi looked up, but it wasn’t Blake or Yang which saved her.  Instead, it was the one called Ruby.  She was no longer on the ground and unable to move, instead looking full of energy and ready to fight.

“Ruby!”, Yang called out.  “Ruby you can’t be here!  Your aura was broken, remember?”

“We don’t have a choice!”, Ruby answered.  “If I don’t fight too we’ll all get killed just like Weiss!  Having an aura hardly means a thing against this thing anyway!”

Yang looked at Ruby for a brief moment.  They clearly had something on their mind, but decided to drop it.

“Yeah, alright”, they said.

Cyn had gotten up from their minor tumble.  They looked at Ruby with annoyance on their face.

“Now what?”, they said.

Ruby faced them with scythe in hand, staring with a serious glare.

“If you want to hurt my friends, you’ll have to go through me first”

Cyn stared at them blankly for a moment.

“Kay”, they said.|

 

Cyn flashed a big smile, shared by Uzi and the other three as they prepared for their final encounter.  Then they charged forward, null in hand preparing to throw, Uzi was prepared though.  Instead of countering with her own null, Uzi used a hologram to disappear along with Yang, leaving the null to sail harmlessly past them and into a distant mountain range, taking off the top of it in a wide display of destruction.

Uzi and Yang appeared right in front of Cyn.  They attempted to attack the two of them with a claw, but Uzi slashed it away with her wing.  This allowed Yang to deliver a blow directly to Cyn’s face, once again launching them back into a reverse somersault.  They brought themselves to their feet quickly, just in time to see Ruby coming in from above.  She had launched herself through the air with the sniper rifle part of her scythe, and moved around in a zig-zag pattern until finally landing in front of Cyn, ready to strike.  Cyn attempted to attack with another claw out of their back, but Ruby slashed it with the wide sweeping blade of her scythe.

She continued her assault, swinging her scythe around and around at Cyn as they threw multiple tentacles their way, all of which were slashed or deflected.  It didn’t last long however, as Cyn charged a null and flicked it onto the ground where Ruby stood.  She dodged it by leaping into the air and launching herself around to the back of Cyn.  She was attempting to continue her attack, this time from Cyn’s backside.  But Cyn wouldn’t allow it.

They twisted around to face Ruby, during which they grew another claw and extended it rapidly at Ruby.  It grabbed the blade of her scythe, and Cyn was about to rip it from her grasp, until a sword struck them in the back.  This time it was Blake’s ribbon extended sword, embedding itself in Cyn’s lower back just enough to distract them from Ruby, who used the opportunity to fire her weapon, freeing it from the grasp of the claw with a vicious slice.  Cyn attacked with multiple tentacles at once, all going for Ruby.  This forced her to retreat away to a safe distance, using her scythe once again for greater mobility.

Blake’s sword was still embedded in Cyn’s torso, and it activated, cutting a deep gash as it left her flesh.  Cyn was only phased long enough for Blake to start moving in.  They grabbed hold of a nearby boulder with their solver and threw it at the oncoming black feline, who dodged to the side without slowing down, opting instead to use her semblance for aiding in evasion.  She rushed at Cyn and started slashing with both of her blades, first the sheath, then the sword, over and over again.  Cyn was sending out multiple tentacles to try and stab Blake, but none of them reached her for several actions.  Finally Cyn made a wide sweeping motion with their tentacles, forcing Blake to leap back to avoid it.

During this time, Yang was firing off shots from her gun gauntlets, targeting Cyn, and making them spend extra time blocking them with their solver.  Then Ruby came back around for another assault of Cyn from behind, but this time they were ready.  They extended a tentacle with unusual speed, grabbing the handle of their scythe and pulling it forwards.  They ripped it out of Ruby’s hands and proceeded to grab her by the neck and pin her down.  Uzi attempted to attack by throwing a null at Cyn, but instead of countering with their own, Cyn simply grabbed it out of midair with their hand, shattering it without even looking.

They were about to dig into Ruby, looking upon her like a delectable feast.  Yang and Blake knew they had to do something, so in the little time they had, they came up with a workable idea.  Yang grabbed hold of Blake’s ribbon extended sword, then started launching herself with her gun gauntlets back and around, creating a wide arc of fire.  Once completing a full rotation, Blake released Yang to fly directly towards Cyn, traveling at an incredible speed.  They whizzed past Uzi, who was attempting to attack Cyn by grabbing hold of the nearby boulder that Cyn used against Blake.

Then they reached Cyn.

Cyn was too occupied by the delicious red feast in front of her to notice anyone but Uzi, thanks in part by Uzi helping to disguise Yang as she flew past by using a projected hologram.  Yang reached out her hand towards Cyn, just as they were about to rip into Ruby, and stabbed them in the chest.  Her hand went clean through them, and in it she held a yellow crab-like thing exactly like the one which was seen inside Uzi.

Cyn stopped moving at this point.  They looked over at Yang, then down at the arm sticking through their chest.  They had a dumbfounded expression on their face, one of bewilderment rather than surprise or pain.  Then Yang proceeded to crush the core of Cyn in her hand.  She squeezed as hard as she could, creating a squirting of blood and oil as the creature was crushed.  It squirmed and made a painful squeal, one unlike the giddy and playful Cyn.  But Yang’s attempts didn’t work, the creature remained moving and just started to regenerate, steaming just like Uzi did when she regrew her body parts.  Then Yang heard Uzi call out to her.

“Yang!”, they said.  “Throw it upwards!  Into the sunlight!”

Yang looked up for a moment, before ripping her hand out of the still unmoving chest of Cyn, core still in hand.  Oil spewed everywhere as Yang wound back her arm in preparation to throw the thing as hard as she could.  She released it into the air, and it sailed in a high arc, eventually reaching the altitude where the morning sun could be seen poking over the mountaintops.  At this point, Cyn’s core finally started to burn, and a chilling scream could be heard from its immolating flesh.  It burned up all the way, leaving nothing behind but a small singularity hovering in the air.

However, this singularity didn’t just disappear like Uzi was hoping.  It expanded in a wide range, creating a large sphere which took up most of the visible sky.  At the same time as this, Cyn’s body started moving on its own.  Its movements were slow, and heavy, as if it was simply dragging its body towards a desired destination.  It tried to grab at Yang with its hands, at which Yang started backing away from it.  She looked at the thing with a revolted expression on her face, it looked just like a zombie to her, like a walking corpse which just refused to die.

At the same time as this, Uzi started getting intense headaches from the perspective of the others.  Her expression started contorting in pain and she bent over slightly with her hand on her forehead.  The reality, however, was far darker.  Within Uzi was not just herself, but two others with her all sharing the same body.  One of them was named Doll, and they were an old enemy of Uzi’s who was eventually eaten by the Absolute Solver.  Nowadays, Doll didn’t have any ill will against Uzi, and mostly just wanted to be left alone.  The same couldn’t be said about the other one though.

The other will living inside Uzi was the Absolute Solver itself.  They had fused together into one being after Uzi was forced to heat its heart to kill it, in the same exact situation they were in no less.  And now the solver was trying to take control of Uzi, egged on by the clone of Cyn who was clinging to life solely through their connection to the solver.  The effect was Uzi starting to wince in painful concentration, as their eyes shifted between their normal multicolored state, and the pure yellow of the Absolute Solver.

Uzi tried to resist as best she could, she had a full year of practice resisting the influence of the solver after all.  But with the influence of the other solver, the Absolute Solver inside her became stronger and far more aggressive.  She was being slowly overpowered, with her eyes shifting back and forth, signifying who was in control at the time.  Uzi, then the Solver, Uzi, then the Solver, slowly shifting more predominantly to the eerie yellow that the other three people had rather quickly grown to fear.

Yang was distracted by the still animated corpse of Cyn, but both Blake and Ruby noticed what was going on with Uzi.  Ruby got up from the ground, scythe in hand, and nervously approached Uzi while calling out to her.

“Uzi?”, she said with trepidation and concern.  “Uzi what’s happening?”

Uzi didn’t manage a response at first, still struggling to maintain control over the Solver.  But for a brief moment, her eyes turned completely yellow and she held up the solver of Cyn towards Ruby, an expression reminiscent of Cyn’s creepy smiles.  It lasted just long enough for Ruby to realize what was going on, before Uzi resumed struggling for control.  She was fighting a losing battle, and she could already tell the outcome.  

Within the mind of Uzi was ghostly representations of the three wills within her.  They were color coded, purple for Uzi, red for Doll, and Yellow for the Absolute Solver.  Uzi and the solver were wrestling for control, quite literally inside the mental plane they were in.  Uzi was trying her best, but the Solver was pushing her back, forcing her to one knee while their hands were interlocked.  Doll was inside as well, trying to pull the solver away from Uzi, and having little success.|

Ruby stepped back from Uzi at the sight of her.  She realized what was happening, noticing the similarities between her and Cyn.  She held her scythe in front of her, making a defensive stance at Uzi, who seemed to her to be extremely unstable.  Then, Uzi attempted to speak amid the inner struggle for control she was locked in.

“R-run!”, she managed.

Just afterwards, the solver took full control for another period, forming the beginnings of a null in Uzi’s hand.  Ruby didn’t just stand there and watch though.  She took her scythe and stabbed Uzi in the stomach, impaling her and pinning her to the ground.  She coughed up oil and continued struggling against the overpowering will within her.  The null in her hand fizzled out and disappeared, not formed enough to maintain its shape.  Yet Uzi wasn’t safe yet, nor were the others.

Uzi kept waving her arms around frantically, grabbing at her face and the scythe pinning her to the ground.  Her face was constantly shifting colors and displays, shifting between purple and yellow in a glitchy display.  The three others stood there and watched it all unfold, not knowing what to do.  Yang was still struggling against the moving corpse of Cyn, who had grabbed onto their arm and wouldn’t let go no matter how many times they were struck.  While Ruby was trying her best to keep Uzi pinned to the ground and preventing her from breaking free.  This left Blake as the only one whose hands were free, standing right next to Ruby.

Amid the struggling, Uzi managed to get out a few more words.

“Cut it!”, they said amidst the glitching.  “Cut my head off!”

Blake and Ruby looked at each other hesitantly for a moment.  They were almost too afraid to move, but the sight of the intensifying yellow color and occasional laughs they heard from Uzi pushed them to action.  It was Blake who moved.  She took her sword and swung it at Uzi, slashing her head and decapitating her in one motion.

Immediately afterwards, Uzi stopped all motion, with a large “FATAL ERROR” message appearing on her face in bright red letters.  Her head rolled to the side as it was freed from the body it was attached to.  At the same time as this, the corpse of Cyn started to collapse in a heap.  It let go of Yang and fell to the floor as a pile of flesh.  It started melting down as if it were being submerged in acid, until all that remained was a pile of bloodstained snow.

Up above, the large sphere created by the singularity disappeared.  It shrunk just as fast as it previously grew, and floated away as a tiny orb before finally vanishing.  

The three of them on the ground stood there unmoving for several moments, unsure of what to do next as the situation seemed like it was calming down.  They looked at each other, then down to Uzi.  Uzi started to regrow her head, and when it was finished repairing itself, her eyes returned to her face in their usual multicolored look.

“Augh, my head”, Uzi said weakly.  “Is it over?”

The three of them looked at each other once more, before Yang ventured a response.

“Umm, we…”, she managed.

Uzi’s face changed to one of annoyance, dropping any notes of fear or exhaustion it had before.

“Alright”, she said to Ruby.  “You can stop stabbing me now”

Ruby looked down at her scythe for a moment, before tentatively retracting her scythe from Uzi’s stomach.  Uzi got to her feet, already regenerating the hole in her body.  She reached up with a big stretch, before relaxing back to her usual posture.  Then she flashed a giddy smile on her face, using the same expression that Yang had seen on her when she first showed up.

“Ha!  Take that Cyn!”, Uzi said while looking into the sky.  She put up two middle fingers at the same time, seemingly flipping off the air itself.  The other three, unsure of what to do, simply leaned back away from Uzi as she did this, cringing expressions showing on their faces.

“So…”, Yang started.  “It’s really over now?”

“Yeah it is!”, Uzi said.  “Well, I mean, for now.  The solver wasn’t truly defeated.  It’ll show up again somewhere, taking control of a robot somewhere and turning it into that thing you just fought”

“It what?!”, Ruby responded in surprise.  “You mean after all that it still isn’t dead?  It’ll come back?!”

“It’s body melted!”, Yang said.  “You’re sure it will come back after that?”

“Ohhh yeah…”, Uzi replied.  “You can’t kill the Absolute Solver.  Even I couldn’t”

“The Absolute Solver?”, Yang questioned.  “You mean that Cyn?”

“Ehh, it’s complicated”, Uzi replied, face cringing with the memories it brought up.  “I don’t feel like explaining it all right now”

Her demeanor by this point was entirely casual.  Despite the three of them, Blake, Ruby, and Yang, all having weapons drawn and on edge against Uzi, she wasn’t fazed.  Instead she was laid back, seemingly bored with the current situation.

“More importantly”, Uzi said while looking around.  “N should be around here somewhere.  He was supposed to follow me on my way here”

Uzi looked around the area, seeming to be searching for something flying through the air.  Then, over to her right, a figure could be seen approaching from above.  At first it looked like a person, except with wings on their back.  Then more of their features came into view.  They had the same robot face and body that Uzi and Cyn had, except with wings and a glowing tail.  They wore a sort of captain’s hat, and had a dark jacket and jeans covering their torso.  They approached the group and landed in front of them, collapsing their wings and running towards Uzi.

“Uzi!”, they shouted.  “Where did you go?  You were supposed to wait for us!”

“Yeah I know.  I was busy with the Solver”, Uzi responded with a rebellious attitude.

“You- you what!?”, he shouted in response.

“Yeah, I almost freaking died a couple of times.  But we still killed the stupid thing!”

The robot put his hands together in front of his face, taking a sharp breath inwards.  Then he grabbed Uzi by the arms and started shaking her.

“You mean you fought the Solver alone!?”, he asked her, half freaking out.  “Again, why didn’t you wait for us?”

Uzi displayed nothing but a bored expression as her body was being limply shaken back and forth.  The whole routine looked to Blake, Ruby, and Yang, like a comedy skit.  Of course, the emotions they felt prevented them from finding any of the events humorous.

“What do you mean wait?”, Yang asked questioningly.  “You mean you could’ve showed up sooner?”

“Yeah yeah”, Uzi said in response.  “I wasn’t alone N.  Besides, one of their friends was already eaten.  If I had waited any more they would’ve all died”

At this, N looked up from Uzi towards the three of them around him.

“Oh, humans!”, he said.  “Right!  I haven't introduced myself yet”

He let go of Uzi and brought his hand up for a salute.

“I’m N, It’s a pleasure to meet you”

The three of them stared at him blankly for a moment.

“Right”, Yang started.  “Likewise, I’m Yang”

“I’m Blake”, she said.  “And this is our leader, Ruby”

“Hi…”, Ruby said with little enthusiasm.

“Oh boy!”, N said.  “New friends!  Wait no, what do you mean you killed the Solver?”

N switched from an excited attitude, as if they were a dog meeting new people, back to his serious concern over Uzi.

“Yeah right”, Yang said.  “You want to explain all that now?  You seem to know everything that’s going on”

“Aughh, finnee", Uzi said with almost exaggerated annoyance.  “We ripped out their core and threw it into the sun, it burnt up.  But the Solver can’t really be killed, it’s just a program that takes control of robots and turns them into the eldritch horror robo satans you just witnessed”

“You mean…”, Yang said.  “We only fought one of the creatures under its control?”

“Yeah, Cyn.  Or at least a clone of them.  Cyn was the main host of the Solver, at least until I ate them”

“Wait what?”, Yang asked, taken aback.

Before responding herself, Uzi’s tail showed up and started speaking on their own.

“Oh yes.  Was I tasty Uzi?”, they asked with the same giddy expression that Cyn often wore.

“Shut it”, Uzi said, slapping the tail away once again.  “You were absolutely disgusting, thank you.  And now I have to live with you, even though you never shut up!”

“I see…”, Yang said, slightly disturbed.  “So… how do you two know each other?”

“Oh thats-”, N started before being cut off.

“He’s my robo boyfriend!”, Uzi said with a mix of excitement and pride.  “Though, not for long.  We’re getting married soon!  We already have the papers ready and the wedding planned”

As Uzi spoke, she carried a loving and joyous demeanor which the others hadn’t seen from her before.  She looked at N with a big smile, holding her hands together and leaning towards him.

“I, see”, Yang said flatly.  “Well…  congratulations I suppose”

“Oh yeah”, Uzi said, remembering something.  “Where’s V?  Wasn’t she supposed to come with us?”

“Oh right”, N answered, now remembering something he had meant to say earlier.  “We actually decided to have V stay with the ship while you mom comes along with us”

“Wait what?!”, Uzi said in shock.

Their entire demeanor had suddenly shifted from carefree to panicky.  They started looking in various directions to the left and right, as if searching for a potential threat.  Their voice became shaky and they were visibly afraid.

“You have a mom?”, yang asked.

“Uhh… yeah”, Uzi responded quickly.  “They uhh-  they came with us as we travelled here.  They’re nice, you’d like them.

Uzi paused her sentence and opened her eyes, an almost traumatized look was present on her face.

“She also might be the only person who’s scarier than Cyn… heh…”, Uzi said this with a weak chuckle.

N was looking at her with concern on his face.  At the same time, Yang was looking not at Uzi, but just past her.  There was a figure standing right behind her.  Uzi noticed Yang’s gaze a moment too late.|

“UZI DOORMAN!!!”, the voice behind her thundered.

Uzi felt all three of her souls leave her body.  

She was filled with a feeling of terror which not even Cyn had caused.  She turned around in an instant, only to find the towering figure of her mother in front of her.  Their arms were crossed and their eyes stared at Uzi with unparalleled wrath.

“M-mom!”, Uzi stammered.  “You- I- um- what are you-”

“YOU IDIOT!!”, she cut Uzi off.  She grabbed Uzi by the collar of her jacket and pulled her in, preventing her from escaping.

“WHAT WERE YOU THINKING FIGHTING CYN ALONE!?!  DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHY WE ALL CAME HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE?!”

Her eyes were mere inches away from Uzis, staring into her as if intending bloody murder.

“I-I wasn’t alone”, Uzi said, panicking.  Their arms were moving every which way as they spoke.  “I was with t-them”

They pointed over at Blake, Ruby, and Yang, who were staring at them, unmoving.

“Ah right”, Uzi’s mom stated as she pulled away from Uzi and straightened herself.  Without letting go of Uzi, she used her solver to pull out a pickaxe from behind her, and, with a smile, used it to slam Uzi to the ground, pinning her by the neck with force enough to crack the earth.  

She turned to face the three of them and put her hands together while closing her eyes and tilting her head.  “Thank you humans, for protecting my idiot daughter from getting herself killed”

The three of them just stared back at her, dumbfounded.  Then she turned back towards Uzi, the rage in her eyes ignited once again.  Uzi was on the floor, struggling to get free of the pickaxe pinning her down, while somehow choking despite being a robot.  She tried pulling it off manually, and using her solver on it, yet the thing wouldn’t budge no matter how much she tried.

Then her mom, with a casual wave of her solver hand, twisted the pickaxe around and hooked Uzi’s hoodie, before aggressively pulling her back up into her grasp.  She held out her other hand behind her, and, using her solver again, created a null orb in it.

“Do you want me to blast your head off before I drag you back to the ship?!”, She yelled.

“W-wait wait mom you don’t need-”, Uzi stammered before getting cut off again.

“Ah right”, Uzi’s mom said.  She closed her eyes and smiled, before closing her fist to smash the null orb like a piece of glass.  “I’m doubling your combat training”, she said with an even bigger smile.

Hearing this, Uzi was sent into an even greater panic, arms flailing about everywhere.

“Wait wait!  No- no you don’t need to do that!  I almost died three times already!  Mom please”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry.  It’s fine if you die next time, we have clones of you”, she said with a pleasant smile.  “In fact, I think I can stop going easy on you from now on”

“Wha- what do you mean easy mom?  Last time you tore all my limbs off!”

“Not negotiable!”, she said.  She pointed her finger to her side without looking, over at where N was standing.

“N!  Back to the ship!  I’m going to give a few more choice words to my daughter”

After this, she walked a few steps away and extended her wings without letting go of Uzi.

“Wait mom, I can fly back on my own-”

She flew up into the air, dragging Uzi by the collar of her hoodie.

“Aaaahhhhhhhhh!!!”, Uzi’s scream could be heard for several seconds as they flew away into the distance.

The four of them remaining there, Blake, Ruby, Yang, and N, all stood there, speechless.  The silence lasted for several seconds, during which they merely looked at each other and the fading forms of Uzi with her mom.  Finally, it was N who broke the silence.

“Sooo yeahh…”, they said.  “That’s Uzi’s mom.  They might seem harsh but they’re actually really nice”

“Heh”, It was Yang who responded.  “I kinda like her”

“Umm, will Uzi be okay?”, Ruby asked with serious concern.

“Oh yeah, don’t worry”, N said casually.  “They haven’t actually killed anyone yet”

“And that thing Uzi said about tearing all of their limbs off?”, Ruby asked tentatively.

“It’s fine, Uzi can repair herself.  It hasn’t happened too many times”, N said with a forced smile.

“Too many?  What do you me-  Actually, you know what?  I don’t want to know”, Ruby decided.

A dull silence passed between them.

“Uhh, you mentioned a ship?”, Blake asked.

“Oh yeah, our spaceship!  I’m actually the pilot”, N said proudly.

“Wait”, Yang said.  “You’re from space??”

“Yep!  We came from a few planets away.  We actually didn’t expect there to be a planet which still had living humans on it”

“Living humans?”, Yang asked again.  “Are there planets where humanity died out?”

N paused for a moment.

“Umm, well…  Yeah there are a few, maybe”, N said, sweat dripping down his hud display.

“What happened to them?”, Ruby asked.

N lifted his finger and opened his mouth, but decided not to say what he was about to say.

“It’s… not important”, he said while looking to the side and scratching the back of his head.

“Oh”, Yang said.  She had managed to guess what N was avoiding saying, using the recent events she experienced as reference points.

“Yang?”, Ruby asked.

“I’ll tell you later”, she said.

“I suppose it’s time for me to leave now”, N stated.  “I don’t want to keep them waiting for long”

“You’re leaving just like that?”, Blake asked, surprised at his casual attitude towards interplanetary travel.

“Yeah… we have the entire colony to get back to.  And I don’t want to make V upset by taking too long”
“V?  Is that Uzi’s mom?, Yang asked.

“Oh, no no”, N responded with a small chuckle.  “Uzi’s mom is Nori, you met her earlier.  V is an old friend of mine, you’d love her...  probably.  She’s a fan of cats”

“Cats?”, Yang echoed.  She, along with Ruby, turned their heads over to look at Blake.

“Oh come on”, Blake said while crossing her arms.

“Yeah.  It’s too bad we didn’t find any”, N said, as if oblivious to Ruby and Yang’s stares at Blake.  “She’s never seen a real cat before.  Or a real dog for that matter.  I love dogs!”

Ruby and Yang looked at each other for a brief period.

“We have a dog”, Yang said.

N rushed up to her with blinding speed, sparkles in their eyes.

“You have a dog?!”, they said with boundless excitement.  Their eyes shifted again to a picture of a golden retriever.  “Where?!  Can I pet him?!”

“Umm”, Yang stammered.  “He’s not here right now.  I can show you some pictures of him if you’d like”

N’s eyes sparkled with unrivaled excitement.  Yang pulled her scroll out from her back pocket, and brought up some pictures of their dog Zwei.  Upon seeing them, N started hopping up and down and quietly screaming from pure joy.  His metal wings were flapping up and down, and his tail was wagging just like an actual dog.  Then N had an idea.

“Oh right!  Here, let me-”, he said as he reached for Yang’s scroll.  He grabbed it and started typing into it, until he smiled and handed it back.

“There!”, he said triumphantly.  “I put in our phone numbers!  Now we’re friends!”

“Oh!”, Yang said in surprise.  “Uh, thanks!”

“Wait…”, Ruby said.  “Do phones work out in, like… space?”

“Oh yeah don’t worry about that”, N said casually.  “Phone signals stopped being limited by the speed of light a few centuries ago, they work at any distance nowadays”

“Uhh”, all three of them said simultaneously.  N stopped smiling and looked around between them all.

“Oh right, right”, N said to break the silence.  “Here, let me do this one last thing”

He grabbed Yang’s scroll again and put it against the side of his head.  Images of Zwei started flashing on his hud display, causing him to smile deeper and deeper with each passing moment.  When he finished, it appeared as if he was about to burst from pure excitement.  Various images of dogs showed up in place of his eyes, making it seem like he was looking through them at the same time.

“Yyyyeeeeaaaahhhh!!!!”, he screamed as he flew straight up into the air.  “Thank you!!”

 

N flew off into the distance, the same direction that Nori flew in while carrying Uzi.  This left Ruby, Blake, and Yang, all standing together alone for the first time in a while, unsure of what to do.

“So…”, Blake ventured.  “What now?”

Ruby and Yang looked at each other once more, before turning back to Blake.  They had forgotten in the craziness that had followed the battle, but now they remembered what had happened.

“We need to go back and get Weiss”, Yang said.

“Right”, Blake accepted, feeling a sudden wave of sadness wash over them.

The three of them made their way back to where Weiss’s body lay, still on the ground in the same position that she died in.  By this time the snow around her was soaked in blood.  It was a gruesome sight, one which was difficult for them to bear.  The person they used to call a teammate, a friend, was dead on the floor.  They were killed while the three of them could do nothing but watch helplessly.

“We should get her back to the base”, Yang said.  “They’ll want answers, especially Weiss’s sister”

“How”, Ruby asked.

Just then, the three of them heard a loud noise come from behind them.  It sounded like a giant fan moving towards them from the sky.  After turning around, they realized that it was an airship coming in for a landing.

They waited for the engine to turn off, before lowering the arms they raised up to block the wind.  The door of the ship opened, and out came five people, all of whom they recognized.  Four were from team ORNJ, longtime friends of theirs from their school days.  And the fifth person was Crow, Ruby and Yang’s uncle.

“Ruby!  Yang!  Are you al-”, the person stopped mid sentence.  They had noticed Weiss’s body lying on the ground, and were too horrified to continue.  The other people with them all gathered around the body, no one willing to speak for several seconds.

“What happened?”

It was Crow who broke the silence, as he was the one most used to seeing bodies.

“They were eaten”, Yang replied simply.

“What do you mean ‘they were eaten’?”, they responded.  “How?  Where’s the grim?”

“The grim is dead.  Or whatever that thing was”, they said, forlorn.

“That’s all?”, they pressed.  “You’re not going to explain what happened?”

“This isn’t the place.  Or the time”, she said.  “We need to get her back to base.  We’re all tired, we need to rest.

Crow stood silently for a moment, then looked back at Weiss’s body.

“Alright”, they said.  “Let’s go”

Carefully, they brought Weiss’s body back to the home base in Atlas.  Once that was done, the remaining three from team RWBY returned to their rooms, feeling the full weight of their exhaustion.  They talked one last time in the hallway before going off on their own.

“I can’t believe it”, Ruby said.  “I can’t believe she’s gone.  Just like that”

“It doesn’t seem surprising to me”, Yang said.  “Considering what that thing could do”

“Yang!”, Ruby burst out.  “You make it sound like you don’t even care!”

“Of course I care”, she replied.  “I just can’t afford to show it”

Ruby went silent after hearing this.  She was supposed to be the leader, yet her teammates were still covering for her.

“Let’s just go to sleep and figure it out in the morning”, Blake suggested with only defeat in her voice.

“Yeah, let’s do that”, Yang agreed.  “We’re still alive, which is a miracle considering the circumstances.  And we might’ve made a new friend”

Hearing this, Ruby managed to show the tiniest hint of a smile, something she hadn’t managed in a while.

“How are you so strong Yang?”, Ruby asked.

“Simple”, Yang responded with a smile.  “I don’t have a choice”

With that, the three of them went into their own separate rooms, intending to sleep.  Yang, however, sat down against the wall the moment her door closed.  There, she started to sob.  And she didn’t stop for the entire night.

End

• Story takes place on remnant, just before the fall of Atlas
• Winter is the winter maiden, and penny is alive and still a robot
• Cyn has very limited knowledge of RWBY characters
• MD characters are from the Unresolved timeline by hiro