Fate's of the Trade

Chaoter 6, Episode 7: The Grimm Reaper

In the Vault under Haven Academy, the sound of a weapon clanging is heard. Neopolitan stares at the door that once guarded the Relic of Knowledge; the door itself is now a stone wall since the Relic has been taken out.

Cinder: Now you understand.

Cinder Fall is sitting on a boulder, flicking her dagger and changing its form.

Cinder: I've got to get the Relic before it can be secured in Atlas. It's the only way that Salem...*sighs before she finishes* It's the only way we can accomplish our goal.

Neo looks back at Cinder.

Cinder: You're not the only one who wants Ruby dead. But unfortunately, Salem does not feel the same way...

Neo places her umbrella on her shoulder and walks toward Cinder.

Cinder: I've been...instructed not to kill her...*melts her dagger in her hand* But you...You have no such orders. You can do as you please.

Cinder's dagger disintegrates and she stands up to walk towards Neo.

Cinder: Help me get to Atlas, help me find her...and the rest is up to you.

Neo ponders Cinder's words for a moment before smiling at her and holding her hand out. Cinder takes Neo's hand with her own, sealing the deal with a handshake.

Wind is heard howling. In a mountainous region, a lone, cloaked feminine figure with a skull mask concealing her face crosses a rickety bridge. Halfway across the bridge, she hears the screech of a Nevermore. She turns to her left to see the Nevermore appear from the fog, and she draws her weapons - a pair of sickles.

The young Maria Calavera backflips off the bridge just as the Nevermore rams through it, splitting the bridge in half. She throws one of her sickles at one of the Nevermore's wing and uses the gravity Dust imbued in it to pull herself back up, while also dragging the Nevermore down. She grabs her other sickle on her way back up, getting above the Nevermore, and uses the recoil of her weapon to spin and grapple onto the Nevermore. She then throws one of her sickles to a mountain, pulling the Nevermore with it. The Nevermore crashes into the mountainside, losing its balance, before crash landing to the ground. Maria's other sickle is called back and lands on the ground in front of it.

Maria takes out the sickle from the Nevermore's wing, catching her breath. She looks over to the Nevermore's head, whose eyes stare back at her, causing her to gasp. The Nevermore tries to snap its beak at Maria, forcing her off. It swipes at her, knocking Maria back and forcing her to drop her sickle. The Nevermore charges forward, but Maria's eyes glow brightly, engulfing the area around her. She stands back up and notices the Nevermore petrified in midair, before dropping down and crumbling. Maria walks over to her sickle to pick it up, using the gravity Dust to call her other sickle back to her.

Back in the present day...

Maria: But I wasn't...I went into hiding soon after.

The now elderly Maria is seen finishing her story to Team RWBY, Shadow's Group, The two brothers, Qrow Branwen, and Oscar Pine, who all have wide-eyed expressions.