[ → White Rose ← ]

"Red Vs Blue"

Sequel // Chapter 3

October 4, 1718

Captain Jondalar of the Atlas Naval Fleet

Ship Name : Ifrit

I cannot begin to explain the end of my journey on this ship. I have failed to keep track of all the days on this ship log of mine due to the blazing fact my hands had gotten quite full from the strange arrival of two women. The lads won't budge whenever I tell them they still might be angels. They laugh at me and pat me on the shoulder. I hope to find the secret of these two amazing women one day. And maybe then, perhaps I shall be able to reveal the truth of what they really are. An angel? Or a devil?

I'd certainly like to believe they're angels. Afterall, the red angel, Rosie, managed to sight the Atlas Seaport. I'm writing this awfully fast and my handwriting is downright sloppy. I apologize to anyone who may be reading this, but I am nothing but excited to get back home to my family.

But I am ever gracious for these two ladies. If fate didn't allow us to cross paths, how on earth would I ever learn that dust was so valuable and capable? Or that my ship could be upgraded to even more mind boggling things? Rosie herself is the best fighter I've ever laid my old dusty eyes on. I caught a glimpse of the two sparring on deck a few days ago. They were nothing like I've ever seen! Truly remarkable! Legendary even!

Oh! My Queen! I cannot wait to meet and honor the new Queen of Atlas!

I've also promised to help the two angels search for their daughter Ember. I can only pray everything will go well. But if not, why, I am certainly equipped for another adventure.

-- Jondalar Zelandonii

X X X

The Ifrit crew could hardly wait as their smiles grew wider and wider at the approach of their home. They had been gone for too long and they were unsure of whether the rumored Peace Treaty between Atlas and Vacuo were true. Their time at sea had been a lonely one and they had been detached from the world. Jondalar put on his best clothes and waited patiently at the front of his ship. He had kept track of the date and felt guilty for missing his daughter's 6th birthday.

Rosie and Jessica stayed beside Jondalar for the most part. They couldn't imagine what Atlas would have been like 300 years ago considering the Atlas in their future was the most technologically advanced in the entire world of Remnant. Jessica secretly wondered if there were any of her Jung ancestors from this time period. It was possible, but unlikely.

However, as the crew approached the great Atlas Seaport, they felt something wearily wrong.

Other than their own ship, there were only two ships docked. Considering the Seaport's great vast and size, this was a rather rare case. The sailors that normally crowded the decks were gone and the entire seaport was filled with a deathly silence. The crew's smiles faded as they noticed something was incredibly wrong.

"Dock it up lads."

"Aye, Cap'n." They saluted and lowered a board to the deck.

Jessica, noticing the crew's sudden change in behavior, spoke up. "You don't seem happy."

"I can't begin to tell you how loud and rowdy this place ought to be usually. Never in my life have I seen this place so quiet and dead. Somethin' wrong but I can't quite grip my hands on it. This is the main Atlas Seaport and for the first time, I can count the ships I see with one hand!" He scratched his chin where his old shaven beard use to be. "I wonder, God almighty, what could be wrong?"

"Worst case scenario, Vacuo won. Though I don't remember reading that in the history textbooks.." Rosie mumbled under her breath. "Gosh, I wish I paid more attention to history class." Rosie looked at her wife hoping for any valid explanation.

Jessica countered. "You know, Professor Port wasn't exactly the best teacher. I could only remember distant facts and irrelevant things. If I had known this was the year we were going to, I may have done some research." Once the ship sailed to a stop, Jondalar commanded his crew to guard the ship in case something were to happen. He took the couple with him, arming them to the teeth, and warning them to keep their guards up at all times.

"I suppose this isn't quite the best time to introduce you two to the Great Kingdom of Atlas." Jondalar commented noticing the eerie dead streets. Not a single soul in sight. All the vendors and houses were shut tight with windows closed and breaths held in silence. "Normally this street would be busy with vendors yelling for ya. Golly, what could have happened?"

Jessica tightened her grip on her short sword. "You don't suppose the Grimm took over..do you?"

"By the Divines, I sure hope they didn't."

The two hoped for some fresh air once they had docked, but the streets stunk of spoiled food and a mixture of other nasty things. Something reeked of a burning scent and in a distance, smoke was visible. The crew looked at each other in silent agreement before rushing off to the smoke. Rosie made it there first, her speed faster than history, and she paused to take the scene in.

The dirty gray streets were colored with red paint -- no. Now that Rosie got a better look, it wasn't paint. It was warm paint harvested from the very people lying cold on the floor. Civilians, innocent ones Rosie guessed, were massacred in one huge crowd. The smoke was not fire, but it was the ignition from the rifles the murderers used.

They wore long, bright red coats that hid their necks and stopped just below the knee. Some of them wore masks, wishing to hide their identity. At the sight of Rosie, they took aim, but some hesitated to shoot.

"Stop your guns, men!" Jondalar yelled finally catching up. Jessica zipped to her wife's side, taking her hand trying to find comfort. "I order you to freeze!"

"Jondalar?" A voice echoed from the crowd. People stepped aside to allow a blonde, very beautiful, woman escape the crowd. "Jondalar? Oh, it's you!" She rushed to Jondalar's side with her arms out.

The time traveling couple then learned of the woman's identity as Jondalar's wife, Ayla. They held each other for a long time, very tightly, Rosie guessed. She could see Ayla gasping for breath under Jondalar's crushing embrace.

"Ayla, what's going on?" Jondalar frowned at the hostility he felt around the red clothed murderers. "Why are you here with them? Who are they?"

"Jondalar--"

"Why if it isn't Cap'n Jondalar!" One shouted with a jolly laugh. As he walked, the crew behind him followed. Jessica did not like his character one bit, and whispered Rosie to be on her guard. "Another big traitor to the Kingdom!" One of the red coats attempted to pull Ayla back into their crowd, but Jondalar stood in front of her, guarded and ready.

"Traitor?" barked the confused captain. He pointed with his sword at the gruesome scene in front of him. "You dare call me a traitor? You killed those men! Did you not?!"

"Aye, I did." smirked the offending red coat. "But it was all for sweet revenge against the vicious Queen. Did ya hear? The blue coats, loyal scumbags like you, shot a crowd of fifty last Sunday morning. Apparently they were ordered by the Queen. Pathetic. How dare she. That devil deserves no royal title, why, her appearance was nothing but witchcraft!" He held his hand out, bucking his sword to the side. "We shall burn the Queen down! I invite you to join us -- the rightful side in this bloody civil war."

"Civil war?" gasped Jondalar. "What civil war? Why, I've just arrived. I know nothing of what goes on."

"You oughta ask that wife of yours. What the Queen has done. And who was in that crowd that Sunday morning." At that statement, Ayla burst out in tears, angry in mourning. She said it in a quick statement before sobbing wildly on the streets.

"They shot our daughter, Jondalar. They killed her. They killed her, Jondalar." She looked up with pleading red eyes. "We have to kill the Queen. We have to. She took everything from us, Jondalar, please."

"This is all but a mighty joke, is it?" cautioned Jondalar. The leader of the Red Coats allowed this emotional moment to order his attack on Jondalar and his men. He dashed and with a mighty heave, jumped aiming his heavy ax to the broken Captain.

Rosie burst into a whirlwind of roses, appearing next to Jondalar, kicking him on the knee resulting in his lame fall as she swung her sword up in one epic swift motion, blocking the ax and dismantling the shocked red coat. She did not mean to kill him, but her kick was mighty in power it broke past through his ribs and hit a vital organ. His body flew a couple feet away, shocking his crowd and agitating the rest of them.

"WITCHES! JUST LIKE THE QUEEN!!" The crowd raised their lame weapons as they approached and screamed. "ATTACK!!"

Civilians who were hiding in their homes, came out brandishing weapons of all sorts. There were more than two hundred, Rosie couldn't quite tell. She dashed to the closest rooftop trying to get a better vantage point, but had to escape the bullets of their rusty old rifles. Some fought with bows, ripping her cape in some places.

Jessica was overwhelmed with the crowd, but they stood no chance. In an attempt to demoralize them, she used her semblance, summoning an ice knight who fought for her, easily wiping out more than a quarter of the crowd. She winced however and fell on one knee as an archer took a true shot to her thigh.

Jondalar barely escaped himself. He swiped his wife off the floor and dashed away. All three were separated and the quiet Kingdom began to erupt.

Rosie wished she had her scythe. With that big weapon of hers, this battle would have been long over. But she found herself sprinting through the dirty alleyways, escaping gunfire and arrows from all directions. Everyone was an enemy. Even a child tried to grab onto her coat and dig into her back with a crude knife.

Rocketing through the air, Jessica lost control of herself for a small second causing her to crash into a house below. Luckily, the house was empty and her aura protected her from any actual damage. She took a moment to rip the arrow off her thigh, biting her lip in doing so, before searching the house in a hurry for makeshift bandages. Her aura could heal her, but she decided to save it to fight the Kingdom.

She tried to speed her way down the wooden stairs but tripped due to the uneven steps, crashing onto the floor with a loud thud.

"Durc! Is that you, son?" A frail old voice spoke. "Durc?" Jessica paused, watching a very old and weak woman walk through the doorway. Apparently, she was blind. The abnormal gray in her eyes were evidence of that. The futuristic woman attempted to keep quiet by laying still on the floor when the woman burst into tears.

"Durc..please say something."

Jessica bit her lip, wondering to knock the woman unconscious or dash away.

"Durc, I had a dream that you were the Queen's Knight, like what you always wanted to be. I bartered for a portrait of the queen, for you." The woman pointed at a corner of the room. Jessica turned her eye and was stunned to see the portrait.

"Ah, if only I could see how beautiful the Queen is. I've heard stories about her." Jessica ignored the woman's remarks and stood up, pretending to be Durc, or whoever she was looking for. Marching over to the painting hung at the wall by the door, Jessica was confused, relieved, and terrified.

"This..this is the Queen?" spoke Jessica softly. The woman was surprised and immediately shouted, "You're not Durc, are you?"

"No, I'm uh, I'm one of Durc's knight..friends..thing.." Jessica stumbled with her words, but took the portrait off the wall and handed it to the woman.

"I see. May I have your name?"

"Later." Jessica replied in a hurry. "You said this was the Queen? On this portrait?"

"Why, yes. That's what my husband told me. He's not here right now, however, would you like a cup of t-" Jessica ran out of the house without looking back. She needed to find Rosie. She needed to tell her what she just saw. Who the Queen really was.

The Kingdom was in shatters trying to search the three of them. Jessica caught a glimpse of her wife jumping from rooftop to rooftop, but she was rather far away. She decided to take the empty alleyways, though she was lost within a minute. By fate, she bumped into Jondalar whose wife followed him. He stopped and skidded, then dashed to Jessica's side before shoving her into a house.

"This is not what I expected." muttered Jessica who closed all the windows and stood by the door.

"Quite frankly, I did not expect this either." A crowd dashed by their location and they stood still and quiet while waiting for them to pass. Jondalar whispered, holding his wife's hand dearly. "Jessica, ah, I knew the Gods sent you for some reason. I need your help."

"I need yours too." replied Jessica in a hushed voice. "I need to find the Queen."

"Well, that's jolly fine. I see we're on the same boat. I know where the Queen is and I'll take you to her. Your side of the deal done, then you will help me murder the Queen."

Jessica nearly dropped her weapon at Jondalar's plan. She yelled as loud as she could in their quiet environment. "What?! How dare you! We will do no such thing!"

"What's this now? On the Queen's side are you?" In the dark, Jessica couldn't see Jondalar's very upsetting frown. "Have you forgotten who saved you from the ocean!"

"But why would you kill the Queen?!"

"She killed my daughter! My only daughter! She ordered her knights to open fire to an innocent crowd on Sunday morning. An innocent crowd that my daughter was in! I refuse to work for any dirty Queen like that!"

"I can't let you do that Jondalar." Jessica got into position, warning the captain that this was a fight. "Not to the Queen, no."

"Are you..challenging me to a fight?" The Captain backed off, pulling his wife behind his back.

"I can't let you kill the Queen. If that means killing you, then, I have no problem with that." In panic, the Captain opened the door screaming for help. Within seconds, everyone turned their attention to the white-haired woman escaping to the street.

"I see." Jondalar said wiping the blood off his pistol. "So you're just like the Queen. Have you heard? Apparently the Queen is a witch. She has the power to control the Grimm outside the walls. Why, legends say she walked through the Kingdom sitting on a beowulf.

"You're stupid. You're all stupid." Jessica wished she could explain the term time traveling to the crowd. How they were caught in an unfortunate accident and how all they wanted was their daughter back, as much as Jondalar wished for his too.

Jondalar's entire focus was trained on Jessica. He knew this would be no easy feat as defeating pirates were. Jessica and Rosie were definitely from a whole different world..

The air growled as Jessica sliced through it. Jondalar burst into motion as well, just the faintest moment after Jessica did, but a look of shock was plastered across his face. As Jessica expected, Jondalar's initial move was to shoot his pistol. Pointing her fingers at his arm, she concentrated her glyph to flick his arm into a sharp motion, disarming his gun as she continued to charge full speed ahead.

Jessica twisted her body in a swift act before bringing her sword into a piercing attack. She was surprised, or rather, devastated, that she hit a different target.

Her sword was deeply buried in the torso of Jondalar's wife, Ayla. She pulled back and hopped away, avoiding the strikes from all sides as the crowd attempted to surround her.

Rosie ran at a blinding speed, slowing down her perception of time. She saw Jessica fighting off the crowd. She saw Jondalar cradling his bloody wife on the floor. She saw the regretful face on Jessica's face. Into rose pedals and suddenly beside her wife, she fought off the remainder of the willing warriors attempting to hurt Jessica. After realizing they were far more superior, the few scattered and ran away, leaving Jondalar, Ayla, Rosie, and Jessica.

"I cannot best you." Jondalar said, barely audible to the couple's ears. "It's been revealed now." He looked up with tearful lifeless eyes. "My crew was right. You are no angels. You're devils." After his wife stopped breathing, he loaded his pistol, but did not aim it at the two.

Instead, he positioned it at his head and before Jessica could stop him, he pulled the trigger.

The two shuddered as the gunshot echoed throughout the empty square. Jessica stared before turning around to prevent herself from getting sick. But no sickness came out, only tears.

"R-Rosie.."

Rosie said nothing, but tried her best to calm her wife's heart as she closed the distance between them. She was sure the people wouldn't hunt them for the time being, but to be on the safe side, Rosie swept Jessica off her feet, carrying her bridal style before disappearing into the forest-like area just outside the Kingdom walls.

Jessica had not stopped sobbing and Rosie understood. She carried the girl on her lap, allowing her warm tears to wet her bloody, ruined cloak that belonged to the man they just killed. Rosie didn't quite understand why Jessica killed him, but she was patient enough to wait for Jessica to explain.

With a tired and strained voice, Jessica said. "H-He wanted to kill the Q-Q-Queen." Rosie placed her hand behind Jessica's back, rubbing it up and down in an attempt to further calm the girl. "Bu-but. I couldn't allow that..Not the Queen..no.."

Rosie couldn't quite understand. What was so special about the Queen?

"R-Rosie.." she cried out.

"Yes?"

"I found our daughter."

That got Rosie's attention. She pushed herself back, just enough to see Jessica's face. "Ember? Where is she?"

"Rosie.." The tall trees above them blocked off most of the sun's attempt to shine on their bodies. The faint outlines of the green leaves covered Jessica's face as she revealed, "The Queen is our daughter."

"The Queen is Ember."

X X X

(A/N)

Before I start, I would first like to point out that Monty Oum, the creator of RWBY and many other epic shows, had passed away a while back. Without RWBY, this story wouldn't exist. I really looked up to him and I can't do anything to honor him but dedicate this story to him. R.I.P man.

I know it's kind of wrong to write Jondalar's death in the same chapter, and I apologize, but the story goes on. His death was kind of based off the scene in The Last of Us (Sorry for spoilers) where Henry shoots himself in regret for killing his brother. Really powerful scene.

"Why did Jondalar kill himself?" Jondalar just had his daughter and wife murdered. At that massive grief, honestly, who would want to live after that? He knows how skilled Jessica and Rosie are and understands he can't defeat them in battle. Instead, he takes his own life.

"Authornim..I thought this was going to be a happy sequel :c"

SINCE WHEN DID I EVER WRITE ANYTHING HAPPY GO LOWER UR STANDARDS U TINY LITTLE CACTUS

I apologize for the rushed update. Hadn't updated in a while so I wanted to update before school started. Work has also been taking up a good portion of my time zzzz

Anyways Yes! That's why I put so much detail on the Queen and why she was mentioned so much. The Queen is Ember, their daughter.

More explained in the next chapter. Gotta update Free Runner now. Zzzz Don't forget to listen to the song up above. It suits the chapter - at least in my opinion.

Also, if all goes planned, the sequel should end the very next chapter. Remember in the Foreword when I said this story was called Sleepwalking? It will all be explained in the next chapter.

Any guesses?

Enjoy some pictures of Adventurer Rosie. (All thanks to ailtern)
 

Thank you. I love you.

Goodbye.

R.I.P Monty Oum