Chapter 2: I Fight for You
A/N: Hi everyone. Here is chapter 2 of the story. I had possible titles for this one but more or less there pretty much the same. This chapter covers the battle between Cinder and Jaune.
Disclaimer: RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth.
At the bottom of the tower
Ruby and Weiss were still fighting the against the Grimm that had prevented them from getting to the tower. Every time they defeat a few, more kept on appearing towards them.
"At this rate, we won't make it in time," said Weiss as she stabbed a Beowolf in the chest. "Pretty soon they'll be too many of them and we won't be able to make it back to the docks."
"We got to keep on trying," Ruby replied. "We have to give ourselves a window to make a break towards the tower."
"And how do you plan to get up there? Chances are that the tower a filled with more Grimm and not to mention the possibility that the elevators are destroyed after that giant Grimm crash into the tower."
"You forget I still have a plan. We just need to kill a few more Grimm to do so."
"We better hurry then. They'll overrun the school if we don't hurry."
"Pyrrha hang in there. We're coming," Ruby said to herself as she used Crescent Rose to decapitate an Ursa.
At the top of the tower
"I remember you," said Cinder as she chuckled and walked towards Jaune.
"You're that boy that was easily pushed back in the basement. In fact, my comrades said that you are the one who struggled in combat classes. I am shocked that someone like you manage to get into Beacon, let alone survive all this time. You were lucky that you partner up with her. She must have saved you countless times and now here you are trying to be her knight in shiny armor." She laughed and signal the Grimm Dragon to fly away from the tower.
"I'm surprised you manage to get up here without dying. You are weak. In fact, you are nothing special. You are not that impressive."
"And what of It!" Jaune yelled. "I may not be strong as you are but I am going to stop you and save Pyrrha no matter what."
Jaune looked over to her beloved and thought "She can't move. That arrow is in her ankle and from the look of it, her aura is almost gone. I can't carry her and fight this woman off at the same time. Dammit all! I have to hold her off until Ruby and Weiss show up. Who knows how long that will be? Get up here fast you two."
Jaune prepared Crocea Mors in both forms as Cinder made the first move. Cinder was confident that she decided in her mind not to use the full extent of the maiden powers unless she had to. Using her dust, she formed a number of glass shards and fired them towards him. Jaune easily blocked all of them using his shield. Cinder then charged towards and used her dust again to form two blades. Her main weapon were blades that can combine together to form a bow. Jaune used his sword to block the attack. A fury of sword clashes followed between the two.
The two continued this clashes, trying to get the upper hand on the other. The two weapons clashed again only this time for a longer period of time. Jaune got close to Cinder were they made eye contact towards each other. Cinder smirked and jumped backward. As she was in the air, she combined her weapon to make the bow and fired three arrows towards Jaune. Two of them hit his shield while the third narrowly passed above Jaune's head.
"That was too close. I have to be careful."
Cinder fired more arrows towards Jaune. All Jaune could do is blocked them with his shield. He ran around in circles while blocking each arrow with his shield. He charged towards Cinder and jump to strike her with his sword. Cinder jumped back and kicked Jaune in the face when he landed and then in the stomach. The force of the second kick pushed Jaune back but his aura protected him from suffering any major damage. Cinder then charged in again using her blades, but luckily Jaune blocked it again with his sword. He pushed her blades upwards, creating a brief opening for his attack. He used his shield to swing two strong side to side blows towards Cinder's face. He delivered a third hit from the front. The third hit knocked Cinder down for a brief moment.
Before she could get back up, Jaune charged in and deliver an attack with his sword. Cinder had little time to react. She reached for one of her blades to counter Jaune attack. The force of the attack kept Cinder towards the ground. Both her and Jaune her in a blade struggle with Jaune getting the upper hand. Given her position, Cinder was losing the struggle but was still determine to fight on.
"I can't believe it." Pyrrha was thinking as she watched Jaune fight. "He is holding his own against her. He's using everything that I taught him. But he still has to hit her some more to have a chance to escape. If it wasn't for this arrow, I could help him. I can't even move. I feel useless just sitting here. I can't even use my semblance because my aura is low. I have to put my faith in Jaune. I have to hope my love can do it."
Jaune's sword was inching closer and closer towards Cinder face. As it did, she kicked Jaune in the stomach in an attempt to push him back. The kick did hurt Jaune but it did not push him back. She then laid out her right hand away the blade. The move was risky as all the support to keep Jaune away from her was all on her left hand. When she did Jaune got dangerously close to her eye and then towards the neck.
"Had enough?" Jaune said with confidence.
Cinder chuckled. With her right hand free, she formed a glass shard. Jaune noticed the glass shard in her hand. She pointed it towards Jaune's face. At that moment Jaune jumped off her before she could throw the glass shard. Cinder stood up and began to form a flurry of glass shards. She began to throw them towards Jaune. Despite blocking a number of them with his shield, some of the shards had made minor contact with his body, giving Jaune minor cuts in his arms and legs.
Cinder jumped after finishing her barrage of glass shard to form her bow and was preparing another arrow to fire. Jaune noticed what she was doing and charged straight at her, hoping to disrupt the process before she could fire the arrow. However, Cinder had enough time to fire it. Jaune attempted to dodge it as he ran towards it. Jaune thought he moved enough to where the arrow would miss, however, the arrow made a cut on the right side of his abdomen. Despite that, he still charged towards Cinder. He attempted to stab her with his sword. Cinder was shocked when he was able to dodge the arrow at such close range. Cinder couldn't react in time and Jaune swung his swords to the side. The attack made contact her left abdomen. She barely managed to dodge his attack but the sword had made a noticeable cut on her left side of her body.
She screamed in pain. Jaune prepared another attack with his sword. This time, he used a downward swing and the blade made contact with her left shoulder towards a part of her chest. She screamed again. Normally her aura would have protected her from receiving serious damage to her body. In this case, however, she was careless and Jaune gave every bit of strength he had with his attacks. Jaune then followed a fury of sword attacks, giving her cuts across her body, legs, and arms. Despite the number of cuts, none of them were deep enough to cause serious bleeding. Cinder could only scream in pain. She was unable to move from her position.
After giving her a number of cuts, Jaune prepared his left arm while finishing his sword attacks to deliver a powerful combo attack with both his sword and shield. With all of his power, Jaune hit Cinder with both his sword and then the shield. The sword made contact with her Cinder's chest and after he pulled the sword, Jaune hit her with his shield. Cinder went flying towards the rubble near the edge of the tower. Jaune assumed that his combined attack would be enough to put her down for good, or at least put her down long enough for them to escape.
When he was sure that she wasn't getting up, Jaune rushed towards Pyrrha.
"Jaune. I can't believe it."
"There's no time. Those attacks got her but she could get up at any moment and that Grimm could come back. We have to go."
Jaune slowly removed the arrow in Pyrrha's heel as she screamed in pain with each movement. The arrow was finally out of her, however, she still couldn't move.
"Jaune. I'm amazed." Pyrrha said as Jaune was helping her up. "You have changed. You learn so much. However, I feel that she isn't dead."
"Why do you say that?"
"That power that she has can be transferred to any young woman that she has on her mind. If she had died, she could have probably transfer it to one of her comrades and that person could come after us. From what we saw, we could have seen the power fly upwards by now."
"By the way, what was that power that she got? Were you going to receive those power if she didn't show up?"
"Yes," Pyrrha said as she looked down. "But I would not have been the same. I would have been a different person if I'd obtain them."
As Jaune got Pyrrha up on her feet, he gave her a long kiss on the lips. Jaune wanted her to know his feelings towards her. For both of them, the kiss felt like an eternity that they wanted to last.
"Pyrrha. I love you and I'm sorry I didn't notice it before. I should notice it early."
"Jaune! I… can't believe… it!" Pyrrha was struggling to find the words. "Jaune… don't worry. It's better to know what we feel instead of not knowing. Not knowing whether a person feels the same way can hurt, especially if something happened to them. I am grateful that you came back. How did you get here anyway? That locker was set towards Vale."
"It's a long story but for now, we have to find a way down. Can you use your semblance?"
"I'm afraid not. My aura is almost gone and I can barely use it."
"Damn. Think Jaune think. Come on, we'll head towards the elevator shaft. You can get on my back while I climb down."
"Jaune are sure? Won't it be hard for you to carry me all the way down?"
"Ruby and Weiss are down there but we can't wait for them." Jaune was panicking as he was out of options. Pyrrha was getting ready to jump on Jaune's back when he heard a loud screech.
"Jaune the Giant Grimm is heading this way!"
"Damn it! Pyrrha get on my back!" Before she could, the floor began to shake. "What's going on?"
Before they could move any further, a fire pillar emerged from the rubble. Cinder had used the maiden's power to burn the rubble and she was beyond enraged.
"THAT'S IT!" Cinder said in a furious rage. "I WILL NOT LET SOMEONE LIKE YOU GET THE BEST OF ME! TIME FOR YOU TO DIE" As she finished speaking, she summoned another fire pillar.
Using her powers, she threw two fireballs towards the couple. Jaune pushed Pyrrha away to take the attack. He barely had enough time to transform his shield from sheath mode. Jaune blocked both of the fireballs but the second one pushed him back.
"Dammit All!" Jaune thought in his mind. "She's using those powers. And now that I made her bleed all over her body, she is enraged. I don't know whether I can handle any more of her fireballs."
He looked over towards Pyrrha and said "Pyrrha! You have to get out of here!"
"I am not… leaving you behind!" Pyrrha was still struggling with the pain in her heel
"Don't worry about me! Just go!"
At the bottom of the tower
"That enough," said Ruby. "Now's our chance. Weiss go ahead and do it"
"Got it," Weiss replied as she summoned a number of Glyphs similar to the time when they defeated the Nevermore back in the Emerald Forest. "Go Ruby! I'll be fine down here. Come back safe!" Ruby used her Semblance to obtain speed needed to jump up the side of the tower. Using the Glyphs, she made her way towards the top. However, since she was heading upwards, it was difficult for her to use her Semblance.
"I'm coming Pyrrha. Just hang in there!"
At the top of the tower.
Cinder kept throwing fireballs towards Jaune as he dodged or blocked each one that came his way. Jaune, however, couldn't keep this up for long and he had no chance of an attack at this point. All he could do was defend as best he can and hoped that both Ruby and Weiss showed up to get Pyrrha to safety.
"I'm getting tired of this!" Cinder said in anger. Cinder prepare to use her power to blast Jaune with her flamethrower, similar to the one used on Ozpin back in the basement.
"Jaune get out of there!" Pyrrha screamed as Cinder unleashed her power.
Using all of his strength, Jaune raised his shield and attempted to block her attack. He was able to hold on for a bit but with each second his strength to hold back the fire was fading. Cinder stopped her attack for a brief moment to summon three glass shards. She hailed them upwards and continue her flame attack. Jaune didn't notice that she stopped and continued to use his shield. As he blocked her attack with everything he had, the three glass shards came downwards. One hit his left arm, his shield arm. Another hit his right leg which supported his stance. The third and final glass shard hit his left hand to where he was holding his shield. The pain was ten times more effective as all of his power was used to block the fire. The shards had done their job. Jaune was unable to block the fire any longer and took a direct hit. He was pushed all the ways towards the rubble near the edge of the tower.
"JAUNEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Pyrrha screamed at the top of her lungs.
Jaune laid there. He could barely move his body. The attack depleted almost all of his aura and damaged all of his body. His left arm and his right leg received the most damage thanks to the glass shards. He struggled to open his eyes. When he did, Cinder threw a fireball at him. The attack caused more damage to his body and he coughed up blood from his mouth. That attack made sure that Jaune would not be able to move.
Pyrrha could not believe her eyes. The love of her life was dying right in front of her eyes. "Jaune! You have to get up. Please!" Tears began to come out of her eyes as she was struggling to stand. "Jaune!"
Cinder walked up towards Jaune and prepare her bow to fire her arrow only, this time, Jaune could not block it.
"It has been fun but you must die." Cinder said. "Take pleasure in knowing that you are one of the few people that made me this angry. I promise you that I won't let it happen again." Jaune struggle to open his eyes as he saw the bow and arrow.
"This is it," Jaune said in his mind. "I guess… this is the end… I'm sorry mom, dad, my sisters, Ren, Nora, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang… and especially to you Pyrrha." As he was imagining all the people he would miss, Pyrrha used the remaining of her strength to run towards Jaune.
Cinder released the arrow from the bow. Jaune was ready. For him, the arrow was moving slower than normal speed but he knew he couldn't dodge it. He closed his eyes and prepared for his death.
"JAUNEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
…
For what felt like a moment, Jaune opened his eyes again. Only this time he was not dead. In fact, he wished he had not open them at all.
"What… PYRRHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Standing in front of him was Pyrrha with the arrow going through her heart. She looked back at him with tears coming from her eyes. As she gasped for air she said her final words,
"JAUNE… I WILL… ALWAYS… LOVE YOU!"
At the same moment, Ruby had finally made it to the top, only to witness that fateful moment. Cinder walked up toward her and using her powers turned Pyrrha into ashes. Jaune could not believe it. His eyes widened to what he just witness. All that remained of Pyrrha was her crown. She was gone.
"No. PYRRHAAAA!"
Ruby watched in horror of what occurred and yelled out her name.
"PYRRHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
When she did, a strong light emerged from her eyes. Cinder could not believe it what was going on. The entire top floor shined in a silver light that illuminated everywhere. The Grimm Dragon arrived but was caught by the light.
At the bottom, the Grimm all reacted to the light and went away from the tower.
"RUBY! PYRRHA!" Weiss saw the light from her position. Before she could move forward, Qrow appeared and ran as fast as he can towards the tower.
"Get to the docks now!"
"But Ruby and Pyrrha!"
"Don't worry I going towards them. Just go now before the Grimm return." Weiss comply and headed back to the docks.
Qrow reached the top and saw both Ruby and Jaune unconscious. He looked around but saw neither Cinder nor Pyrrha. He also saw the Grimm Dragon frozen in its place. He wanted to examine some more but knew that the priority was getting both Ruby and Jaune out of there. He picked both of them up and was getting ready to make his escape when he saw a familiar item. He grabbed it and put it in his back pocket and headed down with both Ruby and Jaune.
"So she has that power." Qrow said as he made it back towards the bottom and ran back towards the docks.
"Just what the hell happened up there?"
A/N: This was a lengthy chapter. Jaune could have probably held his own against Cinder without the maiden powers. That being said, I felt that Cinder would have held back if she fought Jaune at that moment, considering that they didn't consider him as a treat. As for the outcome, I felt that it was necessary for Jaune to be there at the moment when Pyrrha died so he can become a stronger person. The next chapter is the aftermath that will deal mostly with team RWBY. See you all next time.
