Author's Note: Well, looks like I'm on a roll! Three oneshots and an update to my story, this being the fourth oneshot for the few days I've been posting. This hints at White Rose (even if I don't ship it), so even if you don't like that shipping the White Rose isn't heavy at all. I'm also really thankful for the favourites and reviews and follows on my previous oneshot that I may or may not continue. Hope you like this one!
Disclaimer: Roosterteeth owns RWBY. I am not part of Roosterteeth. I don't own Solitaire either.
Weiss and Yang were in the RWBY dorm waiting for Blake and Ruby to return from the library. The two girls were looking for some books for leisure reading, as they had read all the books in their dorm. The remaining girls were playing games on their Scrolls.
"Darn! I shouldn't have put that King there!" Weiss grumbled as she played Solitaire.
The fire alarm suddenly blared throughout the school.
"Students of Beacon, this is not a drill!" Ozpin's voice was heard from the speakers.
"Was that the fire alarm?!" Yang shouted in panic, rolling off her bed and falling to the floor.
"Of course it is, you dunce! We have to get to safety!" Weiss exclaimed, her heart racing as she helped Yang get up.
"How? That's a long drop!" Yang panicked, running over to the window, opening it and sticking her head out.
Weiss grabbed Myrtenaster and went to the window. She flicked her wrist upwards and pointed her rapier out the window in a downwards diagonal direction. Glyphs in a staircase formation appeared, leading to the ground below.
"Go, go, go!" Weiss shouted, pointing at her glyphs. They could hear the fire licking their door, wanting to eat them alive.
Yang jumped on the first glyph and descended them, making it to the ground safely. Weiss followed right behind her, the glyphs disappearing after she got off each one.
There was a large crowd where they were, consisting of most of the residents of Beacon. Team JNPR, Ruby and Blake were nowhere to be seen.
"Guys?" Yang asked no one in particular, looking for her friends and her sister.
"Yang! Snow Angel!" The girls saw Jaune and Nora sprinting to them. "You're here!"
"Yes, we are," Weiss sighed in relief before looking at them in confusion. "Where's the rest of your team?"
"Ren and Pyrrha were at the library, last I remember," Jaune panted. "We can't find them anywhere. What about Ruby and Blake?"
"Same as you," Yang sighed in worry before looking alarmed. "Ruby! Didn't she and Blake go to the library too? They might still be in there! We have to get them!"
"I don't think that's a good idea," Nora's shoulders slumped, a rare, deep frown on her face. "Beacon's on fire, and it's spreading really fast."
The four looked at the burning school. It appeared to be consumed in flames.
The fire had started in the library when someone thought it was funny to light one of the textbooks on fire. It spread quickly, almost in the blink of an eye and whole library and the parts of Beacon near it were ablaze.
Ruby and Blake were trying to get out of there as fast as possible. The windows were blocked, and so was the door closest to them. They has to make it to the other side of the room without getting injured too badly, or dying.
The girls got on all fours and crawled, coughing a little. They were doing as fine as they could be until they saw Pyrrha underneath a slightly burning bookshelf, wheezing in pain. The spartan was trying to pull herself out from under it to no avail.
"Ruby! Blake!" Pyrrha called them weakly, reaching her hand out to them. "Help..."
Blake and Ruby rushed to help her, the Faunus trying to lift the bookshelf while ruby tried pulling Pyrrha out.
"Ow, ow, ow! My leg!" Pyrrha cried in pain.
"What about it?" Ruby asked, concern written all over her face.
"I think it's broken..." Pyrrha wheezed, tears stinging her eyes.
"I can't lift it on my own!" Blake grunted.
"You can do it, Blake!" Ruby encouraged her, flames starting to burn her cape. She noticed this and gasped. "Hurry!" She cried desperately.
Blake's face contorted in effort, beads of sweat rolling down her face. She gave a big push and the bookshelf was lifted seemingly effortlessly. She looked to her right. "Ren?!"
Ruby grabbed Pyrrha by the waist and pulled her away from where she once was, standing her on one foot. Pyrrha leaned on her, her arm draped around Ruby's shoulders. Blake and Ren dropped the bookshelf.
"Get Pyrrha out of here, Ruby!" Blake commanded, pointing to the only exit nearby, coughing. "We'll follow you." She said between coughs.
"But if I use my Semblance, the fire's gonna get bigger!" Ruby argued.
"Just go! We'll be fine," Ren assured her.
"...Alright. Just... Get out of here too," Ruby choked on tears. She sprinted away and out of the library, a sobbing Pyrrha in her arms.
The firefighters arrived at Beacon. There were six trucks of them, most fighting the fire and a few going inside to find anyone still inside. An ambulance also arrived in case there were any casualties.
"Are you sure you can't find her?" Yang was arguing with a firefighter about her sister. "Have you even searched all of Beacon?"
"We searched what we could," the firefighter informed her.
"What about the library?" Yang demanded.
"The fire is too large for us," the firefighter said. "If we go in right now, we'll be burned alive."
"I don't care! You have to find her!" Yang clenched her fists.
When Yang got fed up, she saw Ruby walking towards her.
"Ruby!" Yang shouted in happiness, crushing her sister in a hug. She glared at the firefighter before focusing on Ruby. "You're alive!"
"Yang..." Ruby gasped for air. "Crushing..."
"Oops," Yang let go of Ruby, holding her at arms length. "I was so worried about you!"
"Where's Pyrrha?" Jaune asked Ruby desperately. "Is she okay?"
"Blake and I found her under a burning bookshelf," Ruby explained. "Ren helped us get her out. Pyrrha broke her leg, so I brought her to the ambulance so they could get her to a hospital." Jaune sighed in relief.
"What about Ren?" Nora asked Ruby worriedly.
"He and Blake said they'd follow me out here," Ruby frowned in confusion. "Wait, why aren't they here?!"
The flames did get bigger, as Ruby had feared they would. Because of this, parts of the ceiling started falling and smoke covered the room in a thick cloud. The scene was so bad that Ren had to make a shield around him and Blake with his Aura.
The exit wasn't tok far away from them, but as they went on, more and more debris hit the shield, causing Ren's Aura to deplete rapidly. Ren was exhausted and the shield was shattered by debris. Blake tried to save them by making shadow clones of her to take the hits and avoid the debris altogether, but she wasn't fast enough. An arched beam fell from the ceiling and crushed Blake and Ren.
The five friends outside heard the screams from where they were standing.
"Ren!" Nora cried in sorrow, dropping to her knees. She looked at the sky, sobbing. "Why?!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, dragging out the word.
Yang felt like her heart broke in half and was thrown in a wood chipper. She and Ren never really spoke, yet she missed him already. But Blake was her partner and one of her best friends. She just died and Yang wasn't there to save her from her demise. She stormed up to the firefighter she had argued with before.
"Why couldn't you save them?! Why?!" Yang shouted in pure rage, tears streaming from her red eyes.
Ruby didn't have the heart to stop Yang from screaming, as she was coping with the loss herself. She let Weiss and Jaune handle it.
"This is all my fault..." Ruby whispered ruefully, putting her face in her hands, tears leaking from her eyes. "I shouldn't have left them to die. I should have gone back for them..."
Yang was pried away from the poor firefighter and she sobbed in Jaune's arms. Weiss went to comfort Ruby.
"Ruby, it's not your fault," Weiss sighed, laying a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "You had to get Pyrrha out of there. You saved her life."
"I could have saved theirs too!" Ruby exclaimed, looking up at Weiss with regret in her eyes. "If I'd just gone back to the library-"
"You would have died!" Weiss took her hand off her shoulder and clenched her fists. Ruby was taken aback by her outburst. "You would've been crushed of burned alive! We need you! I need you! You're my partner, our leader!" Weiss put a hand to her chest.
"..." Ruby was at a loss for words.
"Do you know what would happen if you died too?!" Weiss choked back tears. "We would all be more devastated than we are right now!"
Ruby was guilt-ridden. She cried on Weiss's shoulder.
"I can't help but feel it's my fault..." Ruby sobbed, holding Weiss tightly.
"It's not," Weiss assured her.