The Execution

Qrow was dead.

Of that there was no doubt. His crumpled body lay on the ground, oozing putrid purple goo from every orifice.

Salem allowed herself a single cruel smile. In the end he had died not in battle, like a warrior, but rather of a single cut; an immortal laid low by a simple wound. Thus would all the Huntsmen fall, the rest all the sooner because of Qrow's death.

Her greatest obstacles were collapsing one by one. First Amber. Then, oh yes, then Ozpin. Now even this bird's wings had been clipped. Who of Remnant's guardians remained? Glynda? Ironwood? They were broken, unorganized, and leaderless. With Qrow gone their eyes had been blinded and their ears stopped up. Her plans could proceed with impunity.

A high-pitched whimpering squeal broke her triumphant silence. It was unbelievably annoying. But the utter hopelessness of it gave her a sadistic pleasure.

"Silence, wench!" she shouted, slamming her pale hand against the iron-barred cage behind her. The scarlet garbed figure within crumpled into the floor, tears streaming from beneath the blindfold covering her accursed silver eyes. She and her companion had been captured with simplistic ease, huddling over the body of their once-mentor in the abandoned ruins of Kuroyuri. The boy had bravely tried to defend her. A comatose bleeding body had been his reward.

Cinder still refused to come too near. Emerald had finally convinced her to enter the room after promising that the blindfold would protect her (though, in reality she hadn't known if it would). Cinder, however, had declared she would not approach the cage until the child's shining eyes had been put out. Salem knew the girl would have to die, but first she wanted Cinder to overcome her fear. Right now she was essentially useless: powerful, but broken. Salem didn't need to kill this girl, she needed Cinder to kill her.

She looked down at the pitiful child. It was so weak. And Salem despised weakness.

'Speaking of which…' As if summoned by a thought, a sniveling form limped into the room. It crouched low to the ground, doing all it could to avoid her piercing gaze.

"Why Tyrian," she said with mock kindness. "How kind of you to join us. We haven't seen much of you since, well, your mission to capture the girl failed. I even heard that a bit of you got….left behind?"

Tyrian winced, his stump of a tail writhing around behind him.

"My mistress….my Queen! I…." His excuses withered under the blaze of her stare. He was already as close to the ground as possible. He could do nothing but endure it.

"Thankfully for you," Salem continued, turning her back on her damaged lieutenant. "Your failure was not completely fruitless."

Tyrian's eyes widened. The tiniest bit of confidence, hesitant lest it be crushed yet again, returned to his demeanor. He crawled along beside the demon queen as she glided away.

"We will be executing the prisoners shortly. Go summon as many minions as you can find. We're going to make quite the spectacle of this."

Tyrian immediately turned, happy to be on his mistress' good side again. Then he stopped.

"Did I mumble, Tyrian?"

Hastily he shook his head. "Not at all, my queen. It's just...the boy."

Salem frowned. "What about the boy?"

Tyrian licked his lips nervously.

"Well, my lady I was hoping that I….that I might have him."

Salem paused. She wasn't one to reward failure. Then again, without Tyrian she wouldn't have captured Qrow. She wouldn't have claimed what Qrow had been carrying.

"He's yours," she said curtly. Then she shrugged the matter aside and left.

This was as close to a celebration as would ever happen here. Salem watched with a feeling comparable to pride the dozens of jeering faces and the legions of roaring Grimm surrounding her in the arena-like amphitheatre. Cinder stood beside her, accompanied as always by Emerald and Mercury. And, of course, there was the spectacle of the evening: Ruby Rose, chained and blindfolded, being dragged towards them by two massive Ursai.

Cinder flinched as the girl was thrown forward at their feet. She turned as if to leave, and only Emerald's calming touch and Salem's cold stare was enough to keep her.

The little girl turned her head towards the sound of Cinder's steps. She was beyond any thought of struggle. Her spirit was shattered beyond repair. Salem could feel that even her Aura was in a permanently low condition; her soul had been crushed that low.

Salem held up her arms to the crowd for silence. Human, Faunus, and Grimm alike were immediately quiet. She savored her absolute control for a brief moment.

"Let this be a warning to all that oppose us!" she shouted to the throngs of her followers. "This shall be their fate!"

She motioned to Cinder as the crowd erupted into roars and yells. The woman's coal-black bow appeared in her hands. Cinder stared at it for a moment, her eyes filled with surprise and fear, as if she was remembering the last time she had held it. Remembering what had happened to her those months ago.

At Salem's signal, Emerald pulled the blindfold from the cloaked girl's face. Cinder leapt back as the silver eyes glistened in the moonlight. A hush fell over the crowd. Both Grimm and human had seen eyes of those sort before. All knew what they meant, what they brought. All feared them.

Ruby blinked as the dirty cloth fell from her eyes. She'd been living in darkness for so long that her eyes barely remembered the taste of the light.

The beams from the shattered moon poured across her face like a cool mountain stream after the days of empty blackness. She drank up every bit of it, savoring it like it was the last moon she'd ever seen.

Because, of course, it was.

Ruby hadn't minded those few days without sight. It had let her have time alone with her grief. Losing Uncle Qrow wasn't like losing Yang, or her team, or even Pyrrha. Uncle Qrow had been her idol, her view of what she could become. In many ways, he was like a father to her. He had made her into who she was today.

Now he was gone. Just like everyone and everything else in her life. And the only words that echoed through her skull were, " You want to be a hero? Then play the part and die like every other Huntsman in history!"

That was one piece of advice she knew she'd have no problem following.

Ruby stared up at Cinder. The older woman was shaking as she drew her bow. Glowing orange shards, seemingly from thin air, formed into an obsidian-black arrow. Cinder's arm went back.

Ruby was sad. She was sad to be dying needlessly. She was sad she had let her friends down. But mostly, she was sad that she had failed. She would never make it to Haven. She would never become a true Huntress. Remnant would probably fall to Salem's plans. And there was nothing she could do about it.

Looking up, she thought about Pyrrha's death. About Penny's. About her mother's. There had to be a reason for it all. For all the suffering. All the death. Why?

"D...do you…" she croaked. "Do you believe in de…."

It was strange. She couldn't breathe for some reason. And she felt so numb. Her chest was sore. She instinctively raised her arms to feel for a bruise or bleeding, but something got in the way. It was long and thin, and whenever she tried to move it a horrible tingle shot through her entire body.

She was just about to tug at it when she heard a friendly voice calling. Was that Pyrrha? No, it was Penny! Or perhaps her mother. They merged together, all saying the same thing, all beckoning. Smiling, she took their hands. A blissful warmth spread through her whole body, and the glowing of the moon seemed to envelope her…

The golden ashes swirled away into the wind, leaving only an empty red cloak. Salem could have sworn she saw a single rose petal gliding towards the moonlight.

As the crowd erupted into screams of triumph again, Cinder fell to her her knees, shivering slightly. Her bow vanished into golden-orange light.

Emerald moved to help her up, but she shooed the girl's hand away. Then she stood, grinning maliciously. Golden fire flickered around the outsides of her eyes.

The corners of Salem's mouth raised ever so slightly.