One More Soul To The Call
Jaune left the underground chamber alongside Pyrrha. More like, she dragged him out. His mind wasn't sound. Outside this place, the end times continued. A swarm of Grimm, tearing their way through Beacon. But here, there was no noise beyond their heartbeats and their footsteps. Inside the chamber, the two combatants lingered in silence.
He was able to leave the tower on his own two feet. He pulled out of his scroll, searching for Glynda's number. His mind had clung to that as way to put up with everything that was happening: a spark of light in the darkness.
"I think I have her number." he muttered, distracted. It was true. But he couldn't find it. His fingers were shaking; he was surprised he even stand up, so that was nothing. "Where is it?"
He saw a locker which had crashed near him and was open, with nothing inside. He turned around. Pyrrha was looking at the tower, and even though she was so close to him that he could reach out and touch her, it didn't feel like that. It was adding to his unease.
"Pyrrha? What was all of that?" he didn't need answers, not now. The topic was only an excuse to hear her speaking. If he did, it would relieve him a little.
At the sound of his voice, she looked back at him. Her fathomless eyes, that didn't reflect anything, seemed like the eyes of a corpse. A chill ran down his spine.
"I..."
Her small voice was interrupted by an explosion. Jaune's ears ringed and his knees trembled. Disoriented as he was, he realized the explosion had happened nearby: the tower they had just left. In there, that woman in red used fire to propel herself up the elevator shaft. She should be in the underground chamber, fighting Ozpin.
"But… Ozpin..." he hated himself, because his voice had sounded like the one of a small child.
"There's no time." she shook her head and looked at him. The light in her eyes which had become so familiar came back, fueled by determination. That scared him more that her empty gaze from before. "Go. Get to Vale and call for help."
"What are you gonna do?" But he didn't have to voice that question, her intentions were painfully clear. She was going to follow that woman in red, which had just disposed of Ozpin, in order to stop her. She would be killed as well, as if it was nothing. "You can't. You saw how powerful she is!"
"Somebody has to do it."
Abruptly, Jaune kissed her. He could felt her body stiffening out of surprise, but she eventually accepted and returned that kiss. Before she could get her bearings and react, he pushed her inside the locker and closed the steel door. Only her surprise had allowed him to do that.
"What are you doing?"
"Being the hero." he said, his voice tinged with bitterness. He walked over to the locker and typed out coordinates. He didn't where it would take her, exactly, but it would be somewhere in Vale and that was enough. All he wanted was to get her away from the battlefield.
The steel started to bulge. Seeing she wasn't going to convince him, she was using her Semblance to try to break free. But it was too late.
"Jaune! Don't be an idiot, open the door! Somebody has to stop her."
He held her gaze through the glass of the window of the locker. Her eyes were wet.
"I'm sorry. I want you to be happy."
The locker flew away. If she had any last words for him, they were lost along with the steel in the distance.
Jaune entered the tower. With each step he took, he was sealing his fate, but he wasn't going to back down. Pyrrha had been right; somebody had to do it. Beacon didn't have a hero available, so it would have to settle for him.
He tried the nearest elevator. The doors were locked. Pyrrha would have be able to open them and move the broke elevator to them with her Semblance, but naturally, he didn't have her ability. He only had his old sword and that retractable shield, so he was forced to take the long way up. He hoped that would be enough.
On the way, he opened his Scroll to call somebody. He could have called Ruby or any other member on her team, but on impulse, he called Weiss. That they might have died crossed his mind, but he was sure they were still alive. His baseless hopes were answered when she answered the call.
"Where are you?" Weiss said. Ruby was with her.
He looked at both with a strong affection and a sweet feeling of nostalgia, the same way an old man might look at pictures of himself when he was still young. They had been part of a life which he now felt that he had dreamed.
"Inside the tower." he said. His voice reflected a calmness he didn't felt, not really. "Listen to me. I can't explain everything, but the gist is that Ozpin is dead and I'm going after the woman who killed him."
"W-what? I don't understand what are you talking about fully, but if she did that, you don't stand a chance."
"I know. But I don't plan to get killed quickly. And we can't let her get away with this." his voice shook because of the emotions churning inside him.
"Wait for us."
"I can't. Goodbye."
Before she could say anything else, find something that could break his resolve to fight, he ended the call.
An impact shook the tower. He stumbled and nearly fell, but he managed to lean against a wall. He didn't have time to wonder what had caused it.
He kept running upstairs, towards the top of the tower… what would become his grave.
He found a working elevator on the second floor, and got inside. It took him to the top of the tower. When the doors opened, he saw the woman in a red dress, near the window. Beyond the glass, there was that gigantic bat-like Grimm, which had to be clinging to the tower. Only its head was visible. She turned towards him.
"You." she smiled, mocking him.
"Yeah, me."
She advanced towards him. The click of her heels on the ground filled the room.
"I killed your headmaster." she said, gloating. "You can't even look at me without trembling. You think you have what it takes to fight to the dead?"
He gripped his sword more tightly and kept the shield raised to chest level. Pyrrha lessons flowed through his mind, giving him the courage he lacked.
"You won't get away with what you have done."
She launched a ball of fire towards him. He blocked it with his shield, but the force of the explosion upon contact made him fly back. His body hit one of the walls of the elevator. He coughed. At least, he hadn't receive damage from the blast. The shield was sturdier that he thought.
Jaune got back on his feet, moved out of the elevator and away. She was toying with him; she could have launched another blast while he was down. That arrogance was his only chance.
No. He couldn't afford to think there might be a way out of this for himself–it was easier to fight when he had nothing to lose–, it was simply a weakness he could exploit. He unearthed Pyrrha lessons from his mind. If there was an opponent he didn't stand a chance against, at least he shouldn't play to her strengths.
Throwing his fear away, he kicked the ground, launching himself towards her. More blasts of fire. He cut them down before they could reach him. One good hit, and he wasn't sure he could be able to kept fighting. The explosions were nearly enough to tear the sword from his hand, but he somehow managed to hold on to it, despite of the force and that each one heated the steel.
A blast exploded near him, launching him to the side like he was weightless. He got back up, breathing a little hard already, and charged. A stream of fire, this time. Getting a little bit more serious. He planted his feet on the ground and blocked the attack with his shield. When the flames faded, he was still standing.
Jaune laughed deliriously, half out of his mind. He could do it, after all. Buy time for the others. Make a difference.
A blast of fire hit his shield, immediately after the stream faded. He lost his grip on it. It hit the ground, clattered and turned in circles through the floor. The second blast came for him at the same speed. He managed to cut it, but not nearly enough. This time, it was a direct impact. The fire covered him like a casket. A swoosh filled his ears.
He had trouble breathing. Somehow, he was still conscious. There was some pain, but not as much as he should be feeling. He couldn't smell his flesh burning. He lifted his head and looked at the woman in red, who was staring at him.
"You have an unnatural amount of Aura." she said, with a degree of interest. "I thought that would kill you, but just that won't be enough to save you from me."
He didn't understand, but he didn't need to. He took an attack he should have died from and that was enough for him. He got back on his feet, holding the sword with both hands.
She rose into the air. Not using fire, like last time. She simply floated. Was she applying Dust in a way he wasn't aware of or, maybe, was she using the Semblance of the woman who had been inside a container in that underground chamber?
It didn't matter.
She fired at him, tired of the game she had started, not holding back now. With fire raining down on him, he ran towards his shield, using the sword to cut, block or redirect the blasts of fire. They were faster and stronger now. A lot of them hit him. He felt the flesh of his right arm start to burn. The fire faded because his Aura was still active, but he wouldn't be able to use that arm well anymore. He almost dropped the sword. He passed it to his left hand.
He gritted his teeth. He had never feel real pain, and this was too much for him. But he had to kept himself together.
When he got close enough, he threw the shield into the air and hit it with the sword, sending it spinning towards the floating woman. She intercepted it in the air with her fire and it fell to the ground, a bit black.
Still useable, but it didn't matter anymore, with his right arm in that state.
Flinging blasts of fire left and right, she was steadily tearing down the walls and the ceiling. The Grimm simply watched from its spot, which he was grateful for. If that beast intervened, he would be devoured without being able to do anything.
Jaune was doing well so far, but he had not illusions about being able to win. His efforts merely prevented a fatal blow. Sooner or later, he was going to get killed. He hadn't even been able to damage her since the start of their fight.
The woman in red flung himself at him, like a bullet, fire outlining her limbs like armor. That caught him off guard. He hadn't expected her to close the distance. When he reacted, it was too late. She hit him. Then…
The world was gone. Crimson filled it, writhing around him. The pain that surged through his body consumed him before the could. He lost consciousness. At least, he though he did.
Darkness. Jaune struggled to open his eyes. He was near the edge of the roof and his whole body throbbed. His sword had fallen besides him. He tried to grab it, as the woman in red approached. His fingers touched the handle and moved it closer to his body.
He opened his mouth to scream, but what came out was blood.
Misty images danced through his mind, like a line of ghosts. Home. Parents. Friends, the first people he could really call family. And more.
Do you believe in destiny? Jaune had seen that there had been something fundamentally wrong in her eyes–not all of it, but enough–when she asked him that question, he had just chosen to pretend things were fine.
Jaune stood up. Somehow, his legs held up his body. His intestines were hanging out of his stomach like looped sausages. He pressed one hang against the gaping wound to kept them inside, took a step forward and nearly fell. The woman in red was looking at him in the midst of a small bonfire created by her landing, curious and a little intimated.
He couldn't breathe properly. Most of his body was badly burned and it was a miracle he was able to move, let alone walk. But… the wounds were recovering. The pain seemed something coming to him from another world. Bent hanglike, a puppet of flesh and blood without its strings, he kept walking towards the enemy he had to defeat.
Is this my Semblance? He thought. Something inside of him told that was right; he felt wonderful, like he had started to live just now, heading for his death.
His steps first became faster and more firm, then he started running. The woman in red reacted, sending a rolling wave of fire to consume him.
Cinder was sure of her victory. The boy had demonstrated an unnatural amount of Aura and most people would be dead in his state, but it didn't change the outcome. He couldn't dodge this attack. He would be consumed by the flames and she would finally be rid of that annoyance.
The fire enveloped him. But, she didn't have time to celebrate.
He came out of the fire, untouched. For a crazy moment, in a stasis of horror and disbelief, she had the terrible certainty that she was going to die. She stared at him. A corpse that had just come out of his grave, approaching her with his face smeared with blood and his eyes burning.
He was smiling grotesquely.
At punching distance, he thrust his sword towards her.
The battle ended before he realized it.
He felt a stab of pain in his chest and looked down. There was an arrow buried there. He fell, on his hands and knees.
Her power must be contained in the projectile, since he could felt himself burning from the inside. He couldn't even scream. His whole self was only a white hot agony, without any trace of humanity. He scratched the ground as if that could relieve his pain. His newly discovered Semblance didn't help.
This was a fatal wound.
"Jaune!" he heard a voice that was vaguely familiar. Unconsciously, he turned towards it.
There was a girl in a black dress, wielding a scythe. He knew her and she was important to him, but he couldn't recall her name. Everything was fading. Going away. He didn't have the strength to kept his eyes open.
With his last thoughts, he said goodbye to the people he cherished and fought for.
Ruby came out to meet her, ready for the journey. The remains of her team were with her: Ren and Nora. That reminder of who she had lost, who they all had lost, hurt like a knife.
"Hey, Pyrrha." Ruby said.
"Hello, Ruby." she forced herself to answer. She was evaluating her change, it was plain to see in her eyes. she had felt strong and worked earnestly to be a paragon of virtue and glory. Now, she was unconsciously slouching a bit and she had stopped taking care of her appearance. A flame snuffed out. It had only been a few days since the fall of Beacon, but she felt like it had happened so long ago…
"You're sure you want to do this?" Ruby asked.
"No, I'm not." she admitted. "B-before, I believed destiny was a final goal, something you worked for all your life. A path that was formed by yourself. But maybe there's really a fate we can't escape for. Killing Penny, letting Cinder succeed in her goals, Jaune sacrificing himself for me… It feels like I'm spreading misery wherever I go. That I'm cursed."
A hero was a legend weaved by the hopes and dreams of the people. She was no hero and everything she believed had been pulled out by the roots.
"You can't blame yourself for that." Ruby said.
"But I can. I was the one who allowed each one of those things to happen, me, nobody else but me. I didn't do it…, but I did contribute. Is like… we are swimming upstream, until we can't and everything starts to follow its natural course."
"No." she said, and grabbed her hands, squeezing tightly. "I cannot believe that. The world isn't like what we saw that day. Just look around you. Even in a world threatened by Grimm, human's can prosper and be happy. Come with me. All of us will build a future together, and it won't be the one they want, a cold place built on the top of hatred, deceit and murder. We will show them… show that they can't get away with what they have done."
Ruby's hands were trembling. Two years younger that her, and she was the one that needed to give her strength. Pyrrha smiled bitterly.
"Yes. Let's go." Pyrrha answered, in a tender voice, full of affection.
To a future that had yet to be written.
Fin