"So… this is it." Jaune glanced at his teammates. "We just have to go through this door, kill the… incredibly powerful… Grimm-queen… thing… That should be easy, right?"

"Right." Ruby replied. "Easy." She punctuated it by taking hold of his hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

Nora couldn't help but smile. "Yeah. We got a lot to do today! After we kill her, we have our victory feast, then return as heroes, and then we make the people of Remnant bow to us and make us their new rulers!"

"… I'd settle for just leaving here." Ren replied dryly.

"I'd like to sleep in a bed. Or anywhere that isn't surrounded by Grimm."

"I want to see Patch again. I hope we can get back before fall starts." Ruby's eyes widened. "Oh, yeah, you still need to meet my dad, don't you?"

Jaune blanched. "That sounds great…"

"Eh, what's he going to do? Complain about dating a guy who helped save the world?"

Nora snapped her fingers. "That's something else we need to do!"

"What is?"

"You two! You still haven't been on an actual date, have you? "

"…She's got a point, you know." Ruby admitted. Adventuring hadn't left much time for other ventures.

"Exactly! You two need time together. You can leave all the planning to me and Ren."

"Oh, well, thanks, but…" Ruby muttered.

"-You don't have to."

"We really don't have to, Nora."

Nora was going to let out a groan, but it was cut short when the door in front of them abruptly swung open. "Oh, I assure you, none of you need worry about the future." The new figure could only be called human because there was nothing else she resembled more; Her face and proportions seemed human and she spoke with a human-sounding voice. Her skin and hair were bone white, her skin marked with massive red veins. Her eyes were black with yellow irises. Though she moved across the floor, she did not take a single step. Ruby was left wondering if she even had legs under her dress.

They moved into formation without a word. Jaune drew his sword, unfolded his shield, and crouched. Ruby and Nora took position behind Jaune, weapons ready to fire over his shoulders. Ren took the rear, ready to fire over the girls.

Salem watched them dispassionately. The cavernous space was filled with a suffocating quiet. No one wanted to make the first move. Finally, Ruby asked, "Were you listening to us the whole time?"

"I find it most interesting, to hear plans that will never come to fruition. I never grow bored of it. "

Ruby slid her foot forward ever so slightly, tapping Jaune's foot. Jaune gave a small nod. The signal given, Ruby fired off three shots in quick succession. Nora fired a grenade. As soon as the shots had been fired, a thin, wispy white wall spread out a hair in front of Jaune's shield, spreading out wide enough to cover all of them from the front.

Ruby's shots hit true, clustering together on Salem's forehead. Salem barely noticed. The grenade she did respond to: As soon as it was an arm's length away, she swatted it with her right hand and sent it into the wall. Then she raised her left hand towards them.

Ruby assumed what came forth from Salem's hand was a laser. She knew three things about it for certain: It was a glowing beam, about four inches across; It had enough energy that it was almost blinding to look at and heated the air enough to create a distorted haze; and it was fast enough that Ruby did not actually see it stretching forth. It struck Jaune's barrier, just above his shield hand where it was at its strongest. It didn't make it through the barrier.

The room was quiet again. Salem's left arm fell limply to her side.

"So, what do we do about that?" Ruby whispered to Jaune.

"I think I have an idea, actually. On three, everyone fans out. You and I go left. Ren and Nora go right. We try hitting her from afar. Ren, we need you to get in close and make sure she can't keep her hands aimed. Can you do that?"

"Yes."

"Good. Three!"

Ruby was the first to come out of cover, flinging herself into the air with her semblance. She fired down onto Salem. The shots still weren't getting much effect, but they did manage to get Salem's attention. Salem turned her. She realized her mistake all too late, as Nora launched another grenade. Salem had enough time to realize it was coming, if the look of annoyance on her face was any indication, but she wasn't able to deflect this one. She didn't even raise her hand to try. The blast left he stumbling a bit, but still not looking hurt.

Jaune, not moved far from where they'd been in formation, took a few swings in Salem's direction. He was still a good fifteen yards away, but the force of his swings still hit.

Unfortunately, all that meant that Salem began to turn to face them. Ren and Ruby where on opposite sides of Salem; if Salem turned away from Ruby, she might see Ren. Ruby immediately set about rectifying the problem. She charged forward, unfolding Crescent Rose. That got Salem's attention. As soon as she was sure Salem was looking at her, Ruby quickly flung herself backwards. A few shots at Salem helped give her momentum.

Salem's left hand twitched before she raised it towards Ruby. Ruby's heart skipped a beat. Salem let loose another blast. It might have hit Ruby, if Salem's arm hadn't suddenly jerked upwards. Ruby looked up at the ceiling, where Salem's attack had melted a hole through it.

Salem spun to see what had thrown her aim off. She quickly found herself face-to-face with Ren. Ren was entirely in his element; he entered into a series of smooth, flowing strikes with both his bladed guns and his legs. Salem fell into her own routine of blocks, dodges, and counterattacks.

The other combatants watched the deadly dance before them. Ruby kept Crescent Rose at the ready, but waited to fire. "Jaune, got anything yet?"

"She has the laser thing."

"I noticed."

"But she isn't using it much. And it's not a weak attack either. She-" Jaune cut off abruptly. "Ruby, look at what she's doing with her arm."

Ruby looked carefully at Salem's movements. Her right arm swung in quick, elegant strokes that kept most, though not all, of Ren's blows from landing on her.

Her left arm hung immobile at her side.

"She uses the laser, she burns out her arm. She needs to recover before she can use it again. Okay, so, we can work with that. "

"Uhh, Jaune?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you see what's happening to her other hand?"

"No, what's going on?"

"It's sparking."

Ren stepped forward for a hard blow to Salem's midsection. Salem dodged quickly and got behind Ren. Before he could recover, a punch from Salem sent him to the ground.

"I grow weary of this." Salem said, with more irritation than anger. She raised her right hand over her head. Nora was already charging toward Salem. Ruby took two shots at Salem, once again to little effect. The whole room seemed to be changing; heating, glowing, sparking. Then it all erupted; Lighting shooting out in every direction.

Ruby watched the storm as though it were on a muted television. The light was blindingly bright, but there was no heat or sound to any of it. The familiar, gentle pressure around her midsection and the small puff of breath on her hair told her she was safe from the storm.

Jaune's semblance produced barriers. As a rule, the further it was from his body, the less resistance it would offer anything trying to cross it. If he kept the barrier contoured to his body- or, at most, something he was holding very close- it could hold up against almost anything. It was hardly the first time they'd weathered an attack this way. Ordinarily, it was reassuring, if strange, to spend a moment with him like this. Today, Ruby simply dreaded the moment the lightning cleared.

It didn't last long. The lightning stopped flashing. All the energy still in the air filled the place with a heat haze. As soon as Jaune's barrier came down, Ruby felt like she'd stepped into an oven. Salem was smirking. Ren's Storm Flowers were melted into two lumps of metal. Ruby could barely tell they had once been guns.

She tried not to focus on what was left of Ren.

Ruby felt a familiar chill, a growing sense in her mind of… emptiness. Once again, something inside of her was just gone. Just like that night on top of the tower. But unlike then, when that sudden loss felt like a dam had burst, there was no surge of power. Pyrrha's death had, after a fashion, helped them when they needed it. Ren's didn't even have that consolation.

Salem opened her mouth to speak. She never got the chance to actually say anything, though. Nora's Semblance meant that she had no problem surviving the attack. She leapt at Salem, jumping with enough force to leave a crater in the ground. Nora was a blur of motion, bringing Magnhild down on Salem, again and again and again. Nora let out a long string of sound; a loud, wordless mixture of screaming and sobbing. Salem wasn't just on the ground. The stone under her was breaking and crumbling from the force of Nora's assault.

Another sound soon joined the cacophony; the high, sharp sound of metal deforming. Ruby had to look carefully to make out the source of it. Magnhild was starting to break under the sheer force of her assault. The head started to fragment. The parts of the firing mechanism were flung around the room. In her rage, it took Nora a moment to realize she had been reduced to striking Salem with nothing but a metal rod. The sight of her weapon broken to pieces gave Nora pause. She stared at it dumbly for a moment. Just long enough for Salem to get what remained of her left arm.

What was left of Nora fell to either side.

Salem stood, slowly. She was finally showing damage; her jaw was askew. One of her eyes had been smashed in. Her left arm was broken in several places. Her torso was crushed and misshapen in multiple ways. She couldn't even stand straight anymore. Her right arm, not as broken as her left, was also limp.

"Now. We need to attack her now." Jaune's wavering voice, far from commanding, still shook Ruby out of her stupor. Stopping wouldn't bring them back. Hesitating wouldn't make the pain any less. Crescent Rose's blade raised up as high as it would go. Ruby held it in front of herself and launched herself at Salem.

If Salem had had an aura, it was gone now. The blade went in one side of Salem and came out the other. Ruby planted one foot on Salem and kicked her to withdraw the blade. A dark sludge oozed out of the wound. She looked at Salem, broken and almost helpless. Her initial fear of Salem was gone. In that moment, Ruby understood, better than she ever had, what it meant to hate. Ruby readied the blade for a wide swing and rushed Salem once again.

Ruby glanced into Salem's eyes for just a second. Ruby felt a jolt go through her body. There was nothing holding her, no pressure keeping her from moving. But Ruby could no longer move. Her muscles stayed fixed where they had been. They wouldn't respond to any desire to move.

But if Salem had that power, why hadn't she used it against Ren?

Jaune finally reached Salem. He had no finesse to his strikes, only a desperate weariness. He hacked at Salem's left shoulder. Once, twice, thrice. Jaune's blade ran black with more of Salem's sludgy blood. Her arm was cut, was half-attached, and then had been severed completely. Jaune followed it up with a single, upward thrust into her torso. Salem let out a single wheeze before collapsing altogether.

"Ruby? Ruby?! Are you okay?"

Ruby tried telling Jaune she was alright. Tried making some gesture. She most she could get out was blinking her eyes repeatedly. It was enough to get the point across, because Jaune let out a relieved sigh.

"Come on, let's go home." His voice was quiet and hollow.

Ruby's arms started to move again, just a little bit at first. Just another moment before they could leave this awful place.

Another blast of light erupted, tearing through Jaune's torso. He had just enough time to look surprised before the light was gone from his eyes. What was left of him fell towards Ruby.

Salem was standing, once again. She flexed the fingers on her right hand. "Foolish children. You should never let your opponent know what you're really capable of."

That was it. Ruby felt the dam break, once again. She could feel the torrent of power, flowing through her. It seemed so much greater than it had before. Ruby let it out, flowing in every direction.

For some reason, right before the light swallowed her up, Salem smiled.

Ruby blinked. She was feeling upset about… what had it been, exactly? So far, her first day at Beacon wasn't going how she'd hoped, but it felt like there had been something else.

"Hey, I'm Jaune." She looked up at the blond boy from the transport, offering her his hand. Whatever it was that had been bothering her slipped away like a dream. She had some reason to be hopeful, after all.

"Ruby."

Author's Note: As some of you may know, I'm a fan of Kagerou Project/ Kagerou Daze/ Mekakucity Project/ Mekakucity Actors/ Maternity Spiral/ whatever you want to call that franchise. That, specifically Outer Science and Marie's Fictional World, inspired this story. I also wanted to do a different style of story. This one's very light on dialogue, is darker and heavier on action. How'd I do?