So, after I had watched the Volume 3 finale, I could only have imagined what Ruby or especially Jaune would do to Cinder if given the chance in a future episode. It's honestly unpredictable what's actually ever going to happen when the time comes, but my head-canon eventually evolved into this one random day and I just had to type it out.
I stand here between Ruby and Jaune as we gaze at Cinder, who is down on her knees after our long and arduous battle. Even while still possessing the power of the Fall Maiden; it wasn't enough for her to beat us.
"So it's finally come down to this, huh Virgil?" Cinder says as she raises her head.
"Cinder, enough is enough, you've lost…so why don't you just give it up?" I reply.
"You of all people should know that's not in my nature…you can beat me down all you like but as long as I still breathe, I will keep fighting." Cinder says with an angry glare.
She's more than right, the Cinder that I know, well…knew actually, wouldn't exactly back down that easily, of all the things that changed about her, that certainly hasn't at all.
"It ends here and now, Cinder." Ruby speaks up. "Everything you and your friends have done to the people of Remnant, to my sister, to my friends, to Penny, and to Pyrrha…it all ends today!" She shouts with a tear in her eye.
Jaune says nothing; he just stands there glaring angrily at Cinder, tightening the grip on the hilt of his sword; with nothing but thoughts of hatred for her, knowing what she had done to Pyrrha.
"All of this could have been so much more different…" Cinder suddenly says causing me to turn my head. "It all could have been different if you simply just understood what I envisioned for us back then; you wouldn't be in this position right now, being forced to fight the one who used to be your best friend."
"Everything that you envisioned was wrong, Cinder!" I shout angrily. "What did anyone do to deserve any of this?! The Grimm attack at the tournament, the blood of innocents and hunters spilt, all of this for what?!" I take a quick moment to catch my breath. "All of this, all of this darkness over Remnant having been orchestrated to take the power of the Fall Maiden, a sacred power that was never even yours to begin with?!"
"It's a power unlike any other, Virgil, the amount of possibilities—" Cinder says as I interject.
"But it wasn't enough; here you are now on your knees in front of the three of us at our mercy. Just because you had this power, doesn't mean you had all of the strength to wield it at its fullest, you merely got this far just because it was powerful." I say to her.
"It was much more than you thought that you could handle, the flames only kept getting hotter and hotter and then you just burnt out because it started to overwhelm you, you just couldn't handle any more of it. This power is a sacred birthright that you and your friends have tainted, it never belonged to you to begin with and it never will, Cinder!"
Cinder doesn't break her stride through my entire statement, just staying still with that same glare towards us. "It's all what destiny had in store." She immediately replies to me.
"You believe in that?" Ruby questions.
"She always has, ever since I've known her, she believed in destiny. I honestly never understood why though." I tell Ruby.
"You want to know a little something? Back on that day, Pyrrha had asked me that same exact question." "She had asked me if I had believed in destiny…right before I torched her." Cinder says recalling every detail of that moment.
Jaune steps forward raising his sword up but I raise my arm and shake my head to not do it, I understand why he wants her dead, but I can't allow it.
"What's the matter Virgil? Want to save the honor of killing me yourself?"
"It didn't have to be like this, Cinder, I was your best friend…and you just left me to die! Why can't everything be like it used to?!" I shout wanting those days back.
"The Cinder that you knew is gone, Virgil, the minute you laid eyes on me for the first time in a long time…you should have known that it was a whole different person. I'm not the person that I used to be, and if you think that it's going to change…"
Her words hurt more than they should, knowing that the friend that I had known for years was no longer in that body was soul wrenching, that it had to come to all of this mindless slaughter.
"Virgil, your eyes…" Ruby says to me, she must've seen that they were beginning to water slightly.
"So is it going to be you then, Red? Are you going to be the one to cut me down, is that it?" Cinder questions.
"As much as all of us would like to, neither of us are going to; when all is said and done, we're taking you back to Vale with us and you're going to atone for your crimes." Ruby says back to her.
"Then we're going to go back to return to having normal lives at Beacon and live out the rest of our days with better times ahead of us!"
"Better times…that's what you all think is going to happen, huh?" Cinder says towards Ruby. "You think that you're going to live out your lives with better times if you make it out of here alive? As if, Remnant will never at all be the same whether you win or lose, this entire world will live in fear, scarred, and divided amongst one another!" "Nothing will ever be the same again! You may have gotten your sister a cybernetic arm, reunited your whole team, rebuilt that robot girl anew, and somehow have taken down Wyvern!" Cinder then pauses for a moment. "However…the lives that were lost here can never be reclaimed, remember? Pyrrha is now nothing but ashes in the winds of Remnant, and you will never. Get. Her. Back." "Doesn't it hurt knowing that there will be nothing that you or anyone else could ever do to bring her back?" She concludes.
I hear a blood curdling scream and before I know it, Jaune has completely snapped.
"Jaune!" I scream to him.
In what seemed like a flash, he pierces Crocea Mors right into Cinder.
"Now…do you believe in destiny?" Jaune says to her before he removes his sword from her torso.
Jaune walks away, his eyes wide and body shaking in anger as I run towards Cinder before she collapses onto the ground.
"Cinder you fool…you had so many chances and you squandered them…and now look at where we're at." I say to her.
"I'm just glad…that it wasn't you…" She says with a low voice.
"Wait, just what do you mean by that?!" I say questioning her statement.
"I may have become a whole new person, but I always remember the good times that we had, Virgil." "Now…I know for sure that you could never kill your best friend, I haven't felt like this in a long time…it actually feels…pretty nice…" Cinder says with her dying breath.
I close her eyes and lay her down, may you rest well, Cinder…you may have committed unforgivable actions, but you were still my best friend, nothing will ever change our history. Jaune is still walking in the opposite direction and Ruby comes to my side.
"Virgil…what Cinder said about destiny…do…do you believe in destiny?" Ruby asks me.
"I've never believed in that drivel...what happens in life being predetermined, we may not have the power to change every last thing in the world. But there are some things that we can change for the better, no matter what anyone says about fate or destiny." I reply to her.
"Everything's changing so much around me…I don't even know what to think anymore, what am I fighting for?! What are you fighting for?!" Ruby shouts with self-doubt.
I take Ruby's hand into mine and I calm her down before I answer.
"Ruby, when we make it through all of this…I'll tell you." I interlock our pinkies. "That's a promise."
Ruby smiles brightly and nods to me.
"Now come on, Jaune's already ahead of us, and we've got a long way to go."
We walk towards our destination, somewhat aware that we're still holding hands, but I shouldn't be pressed on that for too long.
Salem, I don't know who the hell you are or who you think you are, but every one of us are coming for you, and you are going to regret the day that you crossed me, my friends, and the world that I want to protect!