Disclaimer: Rooster Teeth owns RWBY, not me.

The cool night air greeted Jaune as he and Pyrrha raced out of the ruined lobby of Beacon Tower. He rested his hands on his knees while he caught his breath, his partner composed as ever next to him. He pulled his Scroll out from his pocket, swiping through his contacts and muttering something about contacting Goodwitch. His mind went back to the events that transpired in the strange room where Ozpin and the black-haired intruder now fought.

"Pyrrha? What was all of that?"

Pyrrha guiltily faced him, clearly uncomfortable and nervous about the events that had played out in the subterranean vault. She remained silent as he finished looking through his contacts and switched over to call history to find Goodwitch's number on his Scroll.

"I-I..."

Whatever response she was about to give Jaune was abruptly cut off as a fiery roar reverberated out from the tower behind them. Both of them turned in shock, the intruder had clearly shown a mastery over fire while Ozpin had always kept his cards close to his chest. The implications did not bode well for the headmaster prevailing.

SKREEEEEEE!

An ear-piercing cry echoed through the night as the Dragon swooped by them, leaving an enormous trail of black liquid behind it as it landed on the side of the tower and began to climb up. Dozens of lesser Grimm began rising out of the goop and immediately charged towards their position without hesitation. Jaune tightened the grip on Crocea Mors as a swarm of Beowolves, Ursai and Creeps descended upon them. He raised his shield in preparation of the wave of Grimm surging towards them only to lower it in confusion as the armorclad form of Pyrrha stepped in front of him defensively.

"Get into the tower, Jaune."

"Wha-? Pyrrha, I can fight!" He incredulously shouted at her back.

"One of us needs to find what happened to Ozpin. You go do that, while I keep the Grimm from interfering." Her tone brooked absolutely no argument and Jaune found himself backpedaling towards Beacon Tower. He made his way up the steps as the horde of Grimm neared Pyrrha, looking back he shouted out a final thought.

"You better stay alive until I come back out!"

A raised fist was the only indication that she had heard his farewell before she was all but engulfed in a tidal wave of black and white. Jaune turned and resolutely made his way into the hazy depths of the tower. Several things were abundantly clear to him as he entered the ruined lobby. One, the smell of smoke was prevalent throughout the building as well as a smoky haze in the air, the stairwell up had been blocked by a collapsed roof and the doors to the elevator shaft had been melted open and glowed faintly. Making his way over to the twisted metal, he peered downwards and saw the remains of the car at the bottom of the shaft. Looking upwards, faint light showed where the doors at the top floor had also been melted. Thankfully, the service ladder had remained relatively whole with few rungs melted and the metal was merely warm beneath his gloves when he gripped it. Giving a small grunt, Jaune compacted his shield, sheathed the blade and began climbing the ladder upwards to whatever awaited him.

Jaune knew he was in a lot of trouble the moment he crawled out of the elevator shaft and into Ozpin's office. The woman from the vault was across the room from him, back turned as she seemingly communed with the Grimm Dragon while watching Pyrrha combat the Grimm below. A large eye rolled in its socket before focusing on him as a reverberating growl filled the tower, alerting the raven-haired woman to his arrival. She looked over her shoulder at him and a smirk spread across her face as she recognized him, clearly not feeling threatened at all by his presence. Jaune drew his sword and extended the shield, doing his best to muster courage.

"Did your partner send you up here, Jaune? Did she think that a death at my hands would be a merciful one compared to being slowly torn apart by a pack of Grimm or perhaps she thought that you might delay me long enough for the rest of your friends to evacuate the city? The most likely reason however, is that she wanted to get rid of you. After all, why would someone as strong and skilled as the great Pyrrha Nikos want to be associated with someone as weak as you? It doesn't matter why you were sent here, all you gained by coming here was death."

She turned back to the Dragon, nodding and it swooped low to the ground, spawning another massive wave of Grimm for Pyrrha to fight. The raven-haired woman refocused on him, tilting her head in a mock expression of pity.

"I know what you truly want Jaune: You want to be a hero and uphold your family legacy by saving others. You have the power to save your friends from my wrath if you so choose. You have a chance to fulfill your dream without any help from your 'partner'."

Her words resonated within Jaune against his will and conjured up an image of his friends, free and safe from the horrors that had transpired this night. He frowned and lowered his shield slightly as he pondered the meaning of her words.

"All right, what would I have to do to protect my friends?"

"Surrender yourself to me and your friends will not be harmed by me tonight."

He nearly said yes immediately, his selflessness calling for him to make the sacrifice for his friends before another part of his brained asked the question of how his friends would react if they knew what he had done. Previously happy silver eyes filled with tears as lilac orbs became blood red, pale blue turned frosty with anger and amber eyes grew guarded once again. Turquoise eyes became hurt and confused while pink eyes hardened in pain but what stopped the words from passing his lips the most was the sheer pain and betrayal that was evident in his partner's emerald gaze. He shook his head to clear it and raised his shield once more as his eyes narrowed at the crimson clad figure in front of him.

"Sacrificing myself would hurt my friends worse than you ever could."

Her smirk reemerged as she created a ball of flame in her palm and tossed it back and forth between her hands. It was soon joined by several more before they soared at him at high speed.

"Then burn anyways."

Jaune jumped out of the way of the attack before charging towards Cinder, shield held in front of him. Two more fireballs exploded against his shield before Jaune tried to tackle the woman to the ground. She merely stepped out of the way as he passed past her, swiping wildly with his sword. The floor below him morphed into an orange and black vortex and he rolled out of the way as a pillar of fire erupted next to him, the heat alone nearly unbearable even through his Aura. Whirling on Cinder, he kept his shield up defensively as she pursed her lips thoughtfully.

"Mmmmm. While your Aura is quite impressive, Jaune, all it will mean is more pain for you."

She waved her arm and a whip-like flame followed the gesture, wrapping around his leg. He grunted in pain and dropped to one knee, glaring daggers at his opponent. Pulling his leg through the fire, he sheathed the blade of Crocea Mors as a volley of fire soared towards him. Wielding the shield in both hands, he blocked most of the fireballs, although a couple slipped by his guard and scorched paths across his sleeve as well as his shoulder. Wincing at his raw arm, he drew the blade again and tentatively closed the gap between himself and Cinder. She impassively watched him draw nearer before holding out her arms as he charged her once he got within ten feet of her.

Twin blades of blackened glass formed in her hands as she dropped to the floor, allowing her to effortlessly parry Jaune's swing before striking his unprotected leg. Letting him maintain the offensive for a couple trades, she continued the pattern of parry then counter-attack. Jaune suddenly drew his blade back from a trade and clasped it with both hands before bringing it down on her head with a fierce yell. Cinder crossed her blades overhead, catching his blade between hers. They vied for control for a few seconds, Jaune attempting to cleave her head open while Cinder pushed upwards against the surprisingly powerful strike. Cinder smirked at Jaune, her sudden confidence throwing him off guard before she easily overpowered him as she unlocked the blades and throwing him off-balance. She brought a leg up and caught him square in the breastplate with a snap kick, sending him flying backwards into the wall of Ozpin's office.

The masonry around him cracked from the force of his impact and he fell to the floor. Stumbling to his feet, his growl of frustration turned into a yelp as Cinder extended both hands and a beam of fire shot towards him. Bringing his shield up, he weathered the blast before pushing into it. He walked forward, slowly building up speed as the parts of his body not covered by his shield were protected from the damage of the fire but not the heat by the Aura that he could feel draining away. He reached Cinder and turned his forward momentum into a spinning kick to the back of her knee. While ineffectual at best in terms of actually hurting her, it did stagger her enough to end the stream of fire and throw her briefly off balance. He quickly collapsed Crocea Mors and sheathed the blade before whipping behind Cinder, using the metal sheath to grab her in a choke hold.

She gasped briefly before bringing her arms up and grasping the metal against her throat. The sheath slowly began to glow like fresh forged steel, heating up to unbearable temperatures. Jaune stumbled back with a cry of pain, palms blistered and gloves burned away. A winged form was growing larger in the window and the floor beneath Jaune and Cinder cracked and rippled before finally giving way beneath them as the Grimm Dragon crashed into it, sending both him and Cinder tumbling through the air towards the floor 30 feet below them. He expanded his shield mid-air, fending off a few pieces of rubble before one caught the tip of his sword and sent it spinning from his hand.

He crashed into the floor on his side, groaning as a pale yellow glow crackled over him, signifying his drained Aura. He pushed himself to his feet, stepping forward only to collapse from the agony that jolted through him from his right leg. Gritting his teeth, Jaune discarded his shield and dragged himself towards his blade, leaving a trail of bloody handprints. He grimaced when he saw that most of the blade had been trapped under one of the gears from the office ceiling. He tugged gingerly at the hilt a couple times, frowning when he felt the immense resistance to the movements. A shadow fell over him as his blistered and bloodied hand closed firmly around the hilt of Crocea Mors. Rolling onto his back, all he could see was the silhouette of Cinder against the starry sky above them. Her eyes glowed with menacing power and a thin veneer of fire danced over her entire body. She reformed one of her glass twinblades and swung it at his face. Ignoring the pain from his hand, he yanked the hilt of Crocea Mors with all his might. A loud crack sounded as the blade snapped a foot from the hilt as he swung it desperately in an attempt to parry from his awkward position. However, as his broken blade collided with Cinder's, the glass sword seemed to shatter around Crocea Mors before reforming and continuing its path unimpeded.

Jaune screamed in agony as the side of his face was laid open to the bone by the edge of Cinder's blade. He flung his broken blade to the side and clutched at the bleeding gash, writhing on the ground in pain. His screaming was abruptly cut off as Cinder's blazing hand wrapped itself around his throat and lifted him into the air, both strangling him as well as charring his throat. He dangled from her grip, one hand still held over his face while the other pulled and twisted at her wrist, slathering it in hot blood.

"Well Jaune, you put up quite the fight. However, in the end you fell before me like so many before you. All your foolish bravery has earned is a more excruciating end for you and your friends."

Jaune's right eye opened up, blazing with hatred and defiance as he coughed the last of the air from his lungs.

"You...won't get...them."

Her other hand came up to caress the armor covering his chest, the hatred and rage in her face belied the gentle motion as she spoke softly to him.

"Just remember that you could have protected them had you surrendered."

Her grip on his throat disappeared as her other hand released a detonation against his breastplate. Jaune was blasted backwards in a cloud of shattered metal and shredded cloth, momentum only halting when he impacted the wall with a sickening crunch. Collapsing limply to the ground, he clung to consciousness as the wall crumbled on top of him. With only his head and one arm exposed, he stared forwards as darkness began to fill his sight. Centered in what remained in\\of his vision, a small red-clad figure leapt to their feet with a heart-wrenching cry. A white light filled his vision as he heard... Ruby screaming?

I guess this is the end.

Sorry everybody.

The white light faded to black as his eyes closed and he lost consciousness.

First off, a word about Prism: I've hit a bit of a creative roadblock with recent chapters so I'll be getting back to that as soon as possible once I figure out how to word the next few chapters in a way that works. I'm extremely sorry about how long it's been but hopefully I can get back into writing now that summer has come.

Anyway, I hope you guys liked the first chapter of Scar Tissue and I'll see you next chapter!