#Clover's used to staying awake and alert at night and sleeping a few hours during the day when he thought he could

[tendermiasma]

up again

[snowe-zolynn-rogers]

Pairings: None Yet

Word Count: 1,838 Words

Summary: With the evacuation of Mistral and Atlas successful, Cinder's attack, team RWBY and team JNR get to Vacuo.

Warnings: Food Mentions, Fighting Mention, Yelling Mention, Muteness, Disowning Mentions, Death Mentions, Dead Body Mention, Near Death Mentions, Stabbing Mention, Grieving, Abandonment(?Sorta) Mentions, let me know if I should tag anything else.

Notes: Sign Language looks like ‘this’.

Light The Beacon: Chapter 2

It was about halfway into the flight to Vacuo, May called them yelling that someone from Salem's group had invaded the airship Qrow was fighting her the best he could with the civilians onboard while May herself was taking over as the pilot.

"The only ones who can fly between planes are Ruby and Oscar." Yang announced as Hazel was already shaking Oscar awake.

"We have a situation on Qrow's ship. Salem's group has infiltrated and he can't fight them." Oscar got up, activating his semblance and jumping from the airship to fly to Qrow's airship where Qrow, in bird form, was luring Cinder away from the airship to protect the civilians onboard.

Cinder finally managed to land a hit on the crow and Qrow was suddenly falling.

Oscar was about to go get him but a flash of rose petals meant that Ruby was catching her uncle and another flurry of them meant she was back on the team's ship with him while Oscar took his turn to lure Cinder from the airships.

The fight was easy once he spotted the Grimm arm she had. He took the opportunity away from the airships to use the same feeling he had during the fight with Salem and he heard her screaming when he regained his wits on his descent to the sea.

He reactivated his aura and flew back up to the airships, Ruby's petals guiding him back to the team's airship as he watched Cinder plummet into the ocean and the splash that came with it.

Their flight went unimpeded from there, no more of Salem's allies apparently aboard the airships or those who were there were just smart enough to not do what Cinder did and risk their life.

Landing outside Vacuo wasn't anything but a grumbling mess as they got everyone off the airships and a few in the group went to meet with Theodore, the headmaster of Shade as he came to greet them on the edge of town. Ruby brought Yang and Blake.

"Hello, Sir. My name is Ruby Rose, I hope you don't mind but we've brought the people of Atlas and Mantle here temporarily because their cities were destroyed just last night." She explained.

"It should be fine. We got your message from Amity Tower and we made room for any hunters to stay in the Shade dorms while the rest can stay in the hotels of the city."

"Thank you. So much. It means a lot that you'd help on such short notice." Ruby told him.

"To be truthful, I was rounding up for an army to send to Atlas. They would've gone out this morning." He told them.

"Thankfully, it didn't come to that." Ruby smiled a bit.

"Yes, thankful. Your people look famished. When we saw your aircraft coming, we started making food for those onboard." Theodore alerted them.

"Hell yeah, I'm starving." Yang muttered. Theodore chuckled and smiled at the girl.

"Sorry, she means that she hasn't eaten since yesterday. I don't believe anyone has, to be honest." Blake shoved Yang with her elbow a bit to quiet her complaints.

"Of course. With all that horror around, it must have been difficult, no doubt. Whenever you're all ready, brunch will be at the Shade dining hall for everyone, no need to rush yourselves." Theodore smiled fondly at them and then made his way off to Shade academy, the majority of people of Atlas and Mantle following him as the teams stayed behind to recuperate.

"That was horrible." May lamented.

"I know." Emerald sighed.

"We made it, though." Hazel told the girls, patting their shoulders.

"We did. And we can be proud of ourselves. We saved both cities, guys. That's nothing to scoff at!" Ruby practically jumped for joy.

"We know it was good, Rubes, but it was bad. And it's still bad. She'll only be gone for so long. Who knows when we have to do that again. We can't just forget about her and pretend to live normal lives like we did before." Yang pensively spoke as Hazel finally got Oscar, still asleep, from the airship.

"But Yang-"

"We basically hinged everything on Oscar. We basically piled work on him when he just unlocked his semblance. He's only fifteen, Ruby! He's a child and we brought him into the forefront of a war that we can't win! He's a kid, he can't fight a war, it's not possible!" Yang snapped.

"Did you think the same thing when I was fifteen? That I was incapable?" Ruby asked, eyes glaring at her older sister.

"No, but I hoped you wouldn't take after me or mom or anyone in our family! I wanted you to be different so I never had to worry about you maybe getting killed on a bloody battlefield for a war you can't win!"

"I'm sorry I'm not what you wanted." Ruby bit and turned, walking to Shade academy.

"Yang." Blake softly whispered.

"Don't...Don't yell at me. Please. I know that was wrong of me." Yang whispered.

"I was going to say it's okay. We're all stressed. We all need a break. Maybe we can take a day to all calm down. Everything is a lot right now and I get it. So just calm down and try to talk with her later." Blake assured her.

"Okay. Thank you, Blake." Yang smiled a bit. "How's our collective adopted son?" Yang asked.

"Oscar's fine. Still sleeping, actually. We should probably wake him before we head to Shade." Hazel told them softly, trying not to wake him.

"He's been asleep for about six hours and he was asleep for about six before that, are we sure he's okay?" Penny asked.

"He's fine. The semblance just takes a lot from him." Jaune told them, boosting Oscar's aura so he could regain his aura faster.

"So his semblance really was that thing flying around?" Robyn asked.

"Yup, looks like I’ve got a new flying buddy." Qrow smiled.

"Great, new bird child. Now you’ve gotta make a nest and shove him into it." Robyn joked, elbowing Qrow.

"Marrow, you okay?" May asked as he finally came out of the aircraft.

"I'm just really tired and in pain from Harriet trying to break my ribs during the flight." He heaved, glaring at the girl still tied up even while Elm and Vine no longer were. Vine was looking over Harriet and Elm was shaking that cloaked figure.

"Alright, come on." May started leading him to Shade. "When we get there, you're eating and laying down." She muttered to him.

"I know." He mumbled as he let her lead him.

"Alright. We should all eat. We need to wake up Oscar on the way there." Weiss told them.

"Yeah, I'm starving, let's get going." Yang told her, happily swinging her arms around Blake and Weiss and beginning to walk to Shade, everyone else following.

"Oscar, wake up. We're in Vacuo." Hazel jostled him slightly.

"Hmm?" Oscar grumbled.

"We're in Vacuo. We're going to eat at Shade academy and then you can sleep more if you want." Hazel told him.

"I'm up." Oscar tried to move to get up only to find he was being carried. "Can I walk?" Oscar asked.

"You can. I suppose I can't carry you like a ragdoll constantly." Hazel smirked, setting him on the ground softly and Oscar followed after Hazel and Emerald, while Neo held a full conversation with Emerald in sign language.

'Roman loved it here. He always liked the sand.' Neo signed to Emerald.

"I suppose it is rather pretty. I can see why he liked it so much." Emerald smiled.

"Why did he go to Vale then?" Oscar asked.

'He left Vacuo after his family threw him out. He didn't have a semblance so they thought he was worthless.' Neo signed sadly.

"That's horrible." Oscar muttered.

'I know. But that's how life is. At least, after he got shunned from the Torchwick family, he travelled the world. He found me in Anima after a hunter raided the place my Master kept me.' She explained.

"So you are from Anima?" Oscar asked.

'Yes, I lived in Sayuri before my parents sold me. After that, I lived in Azami until Roman found me.' She signed, Emerald rubbing her arm as she held her against her side.

"Roman would be proud of you." Oscar smiled.

'I know he would.' Neo smiled back at him. Elm was guiding the cloaked figure to Vacuo, which made a large number of the people in the group confused because they'd all thought it was a body, not someone alive.

"Am I delusional or is that corpse walking?" Qrow asked the girls.

"Corpse? No. He was just severely injured. Marrow wanted time for him to heal and come up from the heavy sleeping medication he was sedated with on the flight and didn't want you to freak out or cry on the airship." Elm announced, pulling Qrow over to hug and showed him the cloaked figure.

"You got really lucky, huh?" If Qrow was crying hugging Clover, nobody would mention it.

"You made it." Qrow whispered in disbelief.

"I lost a lot of blood and got a pretty big scratch, but yeah, I made it. And I'm sorry for putting my orders over you." Clover hugged him back, making Qrow give a watery laugh.

"Scratch? Harbinger skewered you." Qrow sniffled, finally managing to wipe his face.

"I think of it as a scratch. Because it missed every vital organ. I guess my luck saved me in a way." Clover began leading Qrow after the group, keeping them moving toward Shade.

"Stubborn." Elm smiled, patting Clover's shoulder as she walked with Vine to keep Harriet under control.

"Can you let me go now? I get it now." Harriet asked.

"Get what, Hare?" Vine prompted.

"Don't follow the orders of a tyrant." She sighed and Vine finally took the cuffs off her.

"I'm sorry for basically going rogue." She apologized.

"It's fine, you didn't do much harm. It's been hard for you and we never actually made sure you were okay after Tortuga died. She was your sister but we all got so caught up grieving we never helped you grieve when you lost her the most." Elm explained.

"Even worse, we barely made it a week of mourning her before we practically replaced her on the team with Marrow." Clover admitted.

"We have to remember Tortuga as she was, not mourning what she is now. She will always be a part of our team. Bringing Marrow in was never replacing her. She could never be replaced." Vine assured Harriet.

"We're sorry we never took care of our own and leaving you to grieve alone, Hare." Clover brought her in to hug her.

"Thank you." She whispered, staying quiet for the rest of the walk to Shade. Oscar was happy most of his friends were getting along. he wasn't sure how long that would last, but he wanted to cherish it while he had the time.