The Price of Vengeance

Sorrow…

Hatred…

Rage…

Pain… these feelings racked his mind and body as Cinder's glass spear traveled through the air. Time had seemed to slow as he saw the glass spear materialize out of thin air. He tried to scream for Wiess to look out but, the words lodged in his throat as the tip pierced through her back. The world surrounding Jaune suddenly grew dark as he saw his friend's body hit the floor, causing all the other fights seem to freeze. He couldn't hear a sound, his body felt as heavy as lead, every wound he sustained throbs in unison and his soul silently screamed throughout his body. Cinder turned on her heel and sauntered over to where the wounded huntress lye, all eyes in the room moving … waiting for any movement at all from Wiess. Bending over the body of the injured girl, Cinder smiled wickedly at how brutal the wound was.

What looked like a simple, clean puncture was only a façade, the spear had shattered her left ribcage causing splinters of bone shotgun throughout her lungs and heart and shredding the surrounding tissue like tissue paper. Cinder reached her hand down, grasped the platinum white blood-soaked ponytail of the former heiress and lifted just slightly to see the look of terror on her face. A faint moan escaped her lips followed by the sound of strained breathing echoing around the now silent antechamber. Wiess was like a puppy, a poor lacerated near-death puppy in Cinder's hand; the thought of killing her so easily amused the fall maiden to the point of chuckling as a small glass knife formed in her opposite hand. Raising the small blade all the world slowed to a crawl; both sides could only stare as the fall maiden rose, lifting high for all to see, the severed head of Wiess Schnee.

Nora was the first to fall to her knees, tears streaming down her face as a single word left her lips in agony "NO!". Ren rushed to her side cradling his weeping love in his arms, his eyes glaring with the fire of a thousand suns straight into Cinder's unchanging smile. Suddenly from the far side of the room came a loud ear shattering roar. Yang charged head long into the assailant, flames streaming down her hair and across her raised fist ready to smash Cinder into a fine red mist. Before she could reach her however, Mercury used the momentary lapse in Yang's sight to step in front and deliver a power strike to her head sending her flying into a column, knocking her out. Quickly rising, with all his remaining strength, Jaune scrambled forward.

The pain in his body had tripled to the point of him nearly blacking out but, the massive amount of rage he got from watching his former crush be decapitated, sent him over the edge. Grabbing his sword (Crocea Mors), from the ground at a full sprint sent a lightning bolt throughout his right arm. With a look of annoyance, Cinder dropped Wiess's head with a thud cleanly sidestepped the overhead strike from the animosity filled teenager. The impact from the strike had caused the blade to become trapped in the crater leaving the boy frantically trying to pry it out. Just as the weapon was freed from its stone prison, Jaune swung with a backhanded strike meant to hit Cinder right in her smug face. Unfortunately, his blow went wide causing his whole chest to be left exposed to a swift kick from the high heel of the fall maiden. BAM! The force of the kick sent Crocea clattering across the ground, and left the young hunter clutching his chest with heavy breathes before falling to his knees, the intensity of his pain reaching an unbearable level.

Walking over to the fallen warrior's sword in a leisurely manner Cinder picked it up with one hand and began to test its balance in her hand. It's weight in her hand was close to that of a 15-pound hammer but there seemed to something odd about the way it handled, in the boys hand it looked as if it had a will of its own and had guided every movement he had made up to that point. In her experienced and powerful hands however, the blade obeyed every swing and thrust as its edge cut through the air. Taking a moment to stare into the reflection of the blade she marveled at how magnificent a weapon it was. As she gazed in she saw the reflection of its current owner, weak, wounded, and a thought entered her mind. Without even a second thought she moved across the room to Jaune who was still bent over in pain; using tip of the sword she raised his head ever so slightly, to gaze into his storm blue eyes. Fear had replaced the anger that ounce resided there, but the spark of defiance was still visible, openly burning with a passion. In one quick movement Crocea Mors was raised, pointed straight toward the sky, and came crashing down to remnant with the force of an nuclear explosion. The blade came to rest in its new sheath, a place that ounce held the ideals of right and wrong, its principles strengthened by the armor provided by a warrior of old and protected by an aura that contained so much potential. As the life left Jaune's body all he could see was the face of Cinder smiling in absolute satisfaction with the deed that she had committed. His vision blurred, the final breathes in his lungs leaving with a sigh as a wave of serenity washed over his soul.

But something felt wrong, the wave of peace that had surrounded his soul soon changed into a feeling of dread.

Too be continued …