Alex slowly blinked his eyes open, the light from the port window pouring into his eyes.

To Alex's own surprise, he was not in a hospital room, hooked up onto heart monitors and IV drips, but rather he was in his own room.

Blinking away his tiredness, he noticed that his limbs still felt sore, and Alex still overall felt tired, drained, even.

He craned his head over to look at the small clock and calendar to his right, 1:59 PM, November 26, 2016.

How the hell did he end up back at the Iliad?

He grabbed the blanket he was currently wrapped in and pulled it off of him, only to find somebody's arm wrapped around his chest-.

Wait, what?!

He checked his clothes, he was still wearing his armor, still cracked and broken from his scuffle that resulted in Saisho's death at his hand. His armor was still on, that was probably a good sign.

Pulling the rest of the blanket off, he revealed the person lying next to him, still quietly snoring.

The person tightened their eyes in the light before finally blinking awake.

"Y-You're still alive..?" The girl yawned, her tiredness was still apparent, but there were subtle hints of joy that sparked in her gaze.

"Yang..?" Alex drowsily blinked. What was she doing there?

"Hi, Alex!" Yang rubbed her eyes and wrapped an arm around his neck.

Alex returned the sentiment, he'd at least gave her that much before he would demand an explanation.

"Can I ask why you're in my room, sleeping under my covers?" Alex asked.

Yang suddenly jolted.

"H-Hey! I didn't mean anything like that-! You were wounded and.." She stammered in realization at what he was actually implying.

"Don't worry about it right now, you can tell me later. What happened while I was out?" Alex asked in a calmer tone than his insinuation just seconds earlier.

"O-Oh.. The hazmat crew found you and Omega in the wreckage of a Dust shop. Omega was found dead on sight, and you fell into what Locust called a 'Semi-Conscious Healing State'. I followed the hazmat crew and dragged your tired ass back to the ship." Kat explained.

"Then... None of you know, do you.?" Alex asked.

"Yeah. Qrow told Ruby and I what Omega did. Ruby's kind of an emotional wreck right now, almost as bad as Pyrrha when she found out what happened to Russell." Yang sighed.

"Did Qrow tell you that Omega just so happened to be my oldest brother?" Alex sighed.

Yang put her hand on Alex's right shoulder.

"I heard. That's why I'm here." She pulled him into a small hug.

Alex smiled, returning the favor and hugging her back.

Alex heard the door open, and the uncomfortable scuffling of hooves.

"Is this a bad time?" Vinyl averted her eyes awkwardly.

"V, this is purely platonic, trust me." Alex passive-aggressively chided.

"Okay then... I just wanted to tell the two of you something... I don't know if you're going to want to hear this, but.." Vinyl's voice trailed off.

"What's wrong? Is it Iris?" Yang asked worriedly.

"Wait, Iris?" Alex asked.

"You know how Iris merged with that robot Penny, right?" Vinyl asked.

"Wait... You mean the robot that I caught trying to kill me at Beacon?" Alex wondered.

"Yeah... Vinyl told me that the Inquisitors downloaded a virus into her systems, and if anything tried to get rid of the virus, it would delete both Penny and the Anti-Virus.." Yang clarified.

"What?!" Alex practically leaped out of the bed.

"Yeah, we've been trying to either stop the counter-virus or get Iris out of there.. So far neither seem to be working. She's in the main computer lab." Vinyl said.

Alex ran down the hall, up the three flights of stairs, and inside the main server room. Sure enough, there was the coalition hacking division, all sitting around the table working on Penny/Iris.

"Iris!" Alex called.

The robot looked up at him with a relieved expression on her face.

"Admiral, I'm glad you're here." She said, her voice seemed mechanical and badly damaged, fading a little as well.

"You're okay, right? We can get her out of this thing?" He asked, turning to the lead hacker, an Adenienite named Haytham.

"Sorry, sir. These Inquisitors knew what they were doing. We might lose her in a few minutes." Haytham sighed.

"Dammit!" Alex kicked a monitor hard.

"Admiral. Qrow told me that you might know where Kalos Prime was, Right?" She asked, the combined voices of both A.I getting weaker and weaker by the minute.

"Yeah, but f**king Saisho got all cryptic about it." Alex said.

"Hurry! It won't be long before we've been deleted, there's still time to triangulate the coordinates while you still can!" Penny/Iris pressured.

"I'm thinking!!" Alex yelled back.

"There has to be something... That riddle!! Okay, let's think... 'Follow the path to where it all began..." Alex thought.

Maybe Saisho was referring to Adenien? No, if it was, surely Locust would've told him. Right?

Scratch that, what else could it have been? Where it all began...

Provinence.

The Inquisitors are at bloody Provinence. The most obvious f**king place in the multiverse.

Now... What did Saisho say about a 'Cryptic Triptych' again..? He was obviously referring to The Bermuda Triangle, precisely where Princess Luna had suggested.

And what of the last piece of information? The Bermuda Triangle... Provinence...

The 'Dark Caravan'. Was he referring to a gateway?

"Iris! While you're still connected, is there a large city at Relative Coordinate point, or a massive amount of gateway energy?" Alex asked.

Penny/Iris stayed silent for a moment until she finally blinked.

"I'm seeing a lot of magic energy, as if the city is being protected by some kind of spell. Not nearly enough to equate to a gateway, but it's something.." Iris stated.

"So, in short, there is something there?" Alex asked.

"Yes... You've discovered Kalos Prime... Formerly known as the island nation of Mara Cylia. The birthplace of humanity. It's a spacious island, at least 3 times the size of Earth's Manhattan. The geography and weather is an perpetually changing forest, with one mountain overlooking the rest of the island" Penny/Iris explained.

"Mark the location, plot a course. We're going now." Alex commanded.

"Sir, what about the volunteers. You'll need every man you're able to get, even if some already arrived." Haytham reasoned.

"Volunteers. Already?" Alex asked.

"Mostly volunteers from the Valian evacuees, some of them came in from other universes. People also came in from Earth, Adenien, Equestria, and Vanoss's GTA V world, but others are coming in from all over the multiverse!" Haytham explained.

"Anyone else I should know about?" Alex looked at Penny/Iris.

"There's no time! Should I triangulate the coordinates now, sir?" Iris asked

"Yes. This may be your final order." Alex sighed.

"Go now, Admiral. I ask that you don't watch us die. You're already suffering, I cannot allow myself, on good conscience, to let you stay." Iris ordered.

Alex nodded, and complied with her last wish by leaving the room. He didn't look behind him, and he kept walking until he found a bench to sit on.

Alex held his head in his hands, contemplatively.

'Karis, Haunt, Cloudchaser and Flitter, and now Iris. Who else?' Alex thought sorrowfully. If what Locust told him was right, he would lose most, if not all, of the friends he met on this journey.

"So now you understand the true cost of war." Locust stalked up and sat next to him.

"I knew people would die, that was practically a given, but..." Alex sighed.

"Auklet was my best friend from the Ryder Academy in Tsai, a city of Adenien. We were battle partners for 5 years. When I had been promoted to Commander of the Ryders, I personally made him my second in command. And I'm sure you know he died with the others from that mission." Locust explained.

"And it's all my fault." Alex spat.

"That is where you're wrong. Whether purely by chance or chosen by fate, these were the cards laid out in your future, Alexander. You know that was your father's wish, do you? For us to call you by your earth name?" He asked.

"You knew my father?" Alex asked.

Locust nodded.

"A kind-hearted, courageous young man. You take a lot after him, you know." Locust laughed softly.

"And my mother?" Alex wondered.

"We were friends since our adolescent years. Your mother was always a talented and strong woman, if not a bit vain and quick to anger." Locust replied.

"Funny. You only remember the good things about a person after they've already passed." Alex moaned.

"There is something I must ask of you.. Should the war end, would you wish to return to Adenien?" Locust asked.

"I'm still thinking about that. I only wish my friends don't all die so I have to make that choice alone." Alex sighed

"You may not have to lose all of your friends. You know of the legend of the Enlightened Warrior, yes?" Locust inquired.

"Enlightened Warrior?" Alex asked in confusion.

"When the Prometheus Charge is activated, it searches the flow of time and space, searching for your very highest potential, rips their traits, and administers the power to the user, using it's own Equestrian Magical Energy to sustain the power. What you became upon it's use was your Enlightened Warrior form. And you became one rather quickly, meaning that it's point in the timeline was somewhere close to the moment you used it." Locust explained.

"What are you implying, commander?" Alex asked.

"With more training and meditation, you may very easily learn to achieve the Enlightened Warrior form again. Dark times are ahead, now closer than ever before, and you need to prepare, Alexander Walker, Man of Many Worlds." Locust nodded.

"That's my epithet, huh? 'Man of Many Worlds'?" Alex smirked.

"Yes, Admiral. I shall ask the Inheritors to train you more. Good day, Alexander." Locust shook Alex's hand, walking away.

"See you 'round, Locust." Alex replied.

Yang walked up to him, hugging from behind.

"Everything okay?" She asked.

"Fine. At least for now." Alex groaned.

"Hey, that battle isn't for at most three weeks or so." Kat said.

"Three weeks, three minutes. Do you honestly think it matters when?" Alex bitterly responded.

"Alex. Listen to me. I'm not going to tell you that everything's going to be all gumdrops and rainbows, some of us aren't going to make it back. Russell didn't make it back, neither did Penny. Yes, Pyrrha and Ruby are torn up about it, so is Rainbow Dash after losing Cloudchaser and Flitter. But if you died, would you want us curled into a ball on our beds crying our eyes out, or would you rather we make sure you didn't die for nothing?" Yang told him.

"..I think we both know the answer to that." Alex said.

"Neither do they. I'm going down to one of the training areas with Delirious, Nora, and Pinkie. If you want to make sure that no one else has to suffer because of people like your brother, meet us there."

"Fine. I'll go." Alex walked down the stairs with Yang to train for the end.

----

Raven sat down, anger and disapproval still burning fresh in her mind. Qrow, Twilight, Vinyl, Locust, Mako, and Alexander sat on a round table in one of the conference rooms to discuss what to do next.

Alex had killed his own brother in cold blood, breaking Inheritor Code in the process.

She wouldn't let such bloodlust go unpunished.

"So, we all know why we're here. Let's start off with resources. Twilight, will you begin?" Locust asked.

"Of course. Celestia and Luna have informed be that our offensive force against Kalos Prime will stand 99,000 strong. Mostly volunteers, with about 20,000 guards, 1,100 of which are already on board. In addition, we had Kronus, The Elemental Alicorn of Fire. He shall arrive on deck in about one more day." Twilight stated, going through her notes.

"Raven, Qrow?" Alex turned to the two huntsmen.

"Every huntsman and huntress available will assist us. We would have The Maidens on our side, but their hands are tied." Qrow scoffed.

"Qrow, you drunken idiot!" Raven spat, he just let everyone in the room know of Remnant's most powerful protectors, he had been sworn to secrecy!

"Raven, please." Locust tried to calm her down.

"And this isn't the first time someone broke Sacred Law in the past day either!" Raven seethed.

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" Qrow asked.

"Alex killed Omega while he had already been defeated!"

"And I had a damned good reason! That psychopath isn't any brother of mine!" Alex snapped back.

"Everyone settle down.." Twilight nervously tried to diffuse the situation.

"What your brother did was unforgivable, yes. But Inheritor law states-" Raven tried to explain.

"Forget about Inheritor Law! I'm sure The Inheritors could have survived being purged of their pesky, archaic laws aside and just killed them! If we want to put these bastards down, we need to do it for good!" Alex yelled.

"You're as psychotic as your brother with logic like that!"

"When I had to run from Task Force Crimson, do you think Winchester would've stopped as soon as he saw I was done for and just let me live? F**k no! The man would have shot me in the heart and let me bleed out! If you had just let me kill Sigma, I doubt any of this would have been as bad as it was!" Alex retorted.

"If we blindly killed everyone who did us wrong, then we are just as bad." Raven explained.

"Ozpin and the Princesses didn't order me to beat Alpha and leave him alive. My mission is to kill him. Are you telling me to disobey my orders?" Alex asked.

"Alex, you're a sociopath! You think your reasoning is good enough basis for murder, but you're sinking to their level!" Twilight amandantly agreed.

"And how would you punish me? With a pat on the back and a cookie with a stern 'don't do that anymore'? Do you two think this is a game?" Alex asked the two of them.

"As much as I hate to go against royalty, this isn't Equestria, and it isn't exactly peaceful anymore. This is war, and as much as I hate to say it, you can't properly fight in a war and still call yourself a good pony." Vinyl said.

"I'm with the princess. We don't kill soldiers who've already surrendered." Mako said.

"The only thing stopping the bad guys is the good guys. If we leave 'em alone, they'll find more ways to hurt people." Qrow explained.

"May we get back on track? What are the invasion plans?" Locust asked.

"Yeah. I'll pull up the map." Alex said, pressing a button and letting a holographic top-down view of the island pop up on the table.

"From what Iris was able to read out before she... passed.... We have a view of their defenses." Alex explained.

The top-down view ascended, revealing a mountain overlooking a large city.

"What do we have?" Alex asked.

"This bay here looks relatively safe, we could storm the beach with drop-ships and invade the city in fifteen minutes." Qrow noticed.

"There are weapons overlooking the entire island, there's nowhere to run as soon as we go." Twilight corrected.

"Then have our ships surround the island and fire from there, as well as have drop ships deploy hundreds of drop ships and aircraft, erupt the island in a sea of fire surrounding it." Mako said.

"What about the guns? We'll lose thousands!" Raven reasoned.

"With everything we have, they'll still hit the ship, Plus our defenses have been vastly limited now that Iris is gone."

"Shit. There's dozens kinetic strike satellites above the island, too." Alex spat.

"I have an idea!" Vinyl gasped.

"What?!" Alex was thunderstruck.

"Yeah! We hack into at least one of them, fire on the island before the assault, and destroy them, letting them fall to the surface before we attack!" Vinyl explained.

"Our hacking division is a skeleton crew, the inquisitors know what they're doing when it comes to hacking." Raven shook her head.

"We won't have to, my calculations state if they all fall to the island, their defenses will be crippled enough for us to take out the rest!" Twilight said.

"From there, it's just a matter of how much they planned for it." Mako sighed.

"Knowing them, it's probably not looking optimistic." Qrow shrugged.

"We could use the ship's cannons to take down the satellites." Alex nodded.

"Will we still have enough power to knock out the island's defenses?" Locust asked.

"Maybe... But the ship's sights for the cannon aren't able to look into space, we'd be firing blindly." Vinyl explained.

"And how long for the rest of the volunteer soldiers to get here? We might not have time." Alex shook his head.

"Let's see... We'll need more than one ship to get everyone to Providence. Raven, Qrow, does Remnant have more ships?" Twilight asked.

"Yes, all in command of the finest leaders in the multiverse. Four others besides ours. The Covenant, The Revelation, The Ragnarök, The Inferno, and last but not least, The Iliad." Raven said.

"Have them all meet up here. When do we depart?" Alex asked.

"I would say December 14th." Twilight said.

"One more thing, who will be on the star squadron? Alex, who'll help you kill Alpha?" Locust asked.

Alex thought for a moment before giving his answer.

"For starters, the descendants of the original Fireteam White Lotus. From there, people who are asked to join us, by us." Alex replied.

"So yourself, Kat, Team RWBY, Vanoss and his friends, and the Elements." Mako figured.

"Most likely. But hey, that's not my decision." Alex shrugged.

"And what's your squad name?" Twilight asked.

"Simple," Alex answered. "I'd say it'll be a Platoon of about 26-36. And the name'll be... 'Ascension'."

"Alright. We'll meet back in, say, a week?" Vinyl asked.

"Got you." Qrow smiled.

"Okay. God help us. God help us all." Alex stood up, walking out of the room instantly.

"I don't know what I'm going to do with that kid." Raven sighed.

"Neither do I." Twilight turned to her in agreement.

Author's Notes:

Let me clear something up before you all start commenting on how I got the Fall Maiden's condition wrong.
Keeping in mind, this is an Alternate Universe, so certain events, like Starlight's attempts to change Equestria's future, never happened on account of the events in this story, because Alex and co. suddenly appeared into those other universes and pleaded the other protagonists for help, certain events would not have transpired.

Qrow did let the Maidens' existence slip, but he purposely led Alex on because he doesn't want him to know he may very well end up fighting a losing battle. If Alex knew what Cinder and friends did to the Fall Maiden, then he would likely not even fight at all.

But then, I did let this lead to a bit more of a favorable outcome, at least for a certain character.