Back to this lovely piece! This is the second to last chapter for Mackenzie Buckle's Minty Gin OT5 fic. This will depict the aftermath of the Fall.

Enjoy!

Pyrrha would have never imagined that it was possible to endure the kind of pain she had just felt, and live to tell about it afterward. As Amber's Aura merged with hers, she could feel the other woman dying. She felt it as clearly as if she was the one losing her grip on life. She felt the Fall Maiden's fear, her desperation, the way she tried to cling to her lifeforce as it was forcibly sapped away.

One last bloodcurdling scream was ripped from Pyrrha before she went limp and the machine simmered down. Her muscles were twitching. She felt as if she had been injected with the most powerful stimulant drug in the world. She was hot. Burning. There was too much power within her. She wanted to claw at her skin until the energy leaked out and allowed her to breathe again.

She was vaguely aware of Jaune helping her out of the capsule, aware of his sobbing voice begging her to be okay. Then, she heard a cry of rage.

She looked up, vaguely recognizing Cinder before a ball of flame was launched toward them. Ozpin blocked it easily.

"Get Pyrrha out of here!" he ordered as a green Aura shield formed around him.

Jaune didn't need to be told twice. He picked Pyrrha up and bolted toward the stairs. Never take an elevator in a crisis. Never take an elevator in a crisis, he reminded himself frantically.

"Jaune…" Pyrrha groaned. Her entire body seemed to be pulsing with energy. Flashes of scenery and people she had never seen before burned against her eyelids.

"I'm here, Pyrrha," he assured her as he started up the stairs. "I'm getting you out of here."

"Ozpin…"

"He can take care of himself," Jaune cut in. His mind was racing. He still wasn't sure exactly what Ozpin had done to Pyrrha, but it had obviously not been good. I'll have to yell at him later. If we don't die. His brain was had gone into full battle mode, focusing only on the matter at hand and refusing to actually think about the fact that they may die in the next few hours.

As they neared the main level, there was an explosion from below, followed by the sound of something racing upward unnaturally fast. The elevator.

Jaune burst through the door, making a beeline toward the outside. There were scorch marks all around the elevator doors. Cinder must have escaped Ozpin. Or, she had killed him and then escaped. A pang of horror managed to pierce Jaune's shock-numbed outer shell.

"Wait," Pyrrha gasped. She could smell the smoke. More than that, she could feel Cinder. That stolen scrap of power was drawing the rest of Amber's Aura like a beacon. "She's…She's up…"

"I know," Jaune said. "Let's put you down, and I'll call Professor Goodwitch."

Pyrrha staggered to her feet as Jaune attempted to lay her down on the ground. She braced herself against a wall, taking deep breaths. The power was starting to settle within her, recognizing its new host. She was still dizzy, and her legs didn't feel like they belonged to her, but she could fight. She knew she could!

"Go," she gasped. "I can…"

"Don't even think about it!" Jaune snapped. He was already sending a message to Glynda. "You can barely walk!"

"She's angry," Pyrrha said desperately. "Something's happening. I know it!" She glanced toward the outside. If Jaune was just a little closer to that stray locker…

"Fine," Jaune said before Pyrrha could go any further with that plan. "I'll go up there."

"No!" Pyrrha insisted. "I'm going!"

They both jumped as a crash sounded from upstairs. Jaune realized there was no time to argue. "We're both going. Come on!" He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the stairwell.

As they got higher, they heard a scream. It was a voice they knew. Emerald.

Jaune's vision turned red as he ran faster.

Pyrrha felt a sudden surge as she rushed ahead. She didn't hear Jaune's dismayed cry behind her. All she felt was anger. Cinder's anger. Her own anger. She knew that Emerald was in mortal danger, and she would do anything to save her. That was all that mattered, and her new powers sensed this and focused themselves entirely on the task at hand.

She reached the top and saw the Dragon, saw a bleeding Emerald being crunched in its jaws. Her arms raised themselves instinctively. Her eyes burned with light as white-hot flames shot from her hands and at the Dragon's throat. The creature screamed, dropping its prey to the floor before leaping off the tower and flying crookedly toward Vale

Pyrrha ran over to Emerald, picking her up delicately. Blood was pouring from several bite wounds, and her body was covered with burns. Her breaths came out as weak, shaky rattles.

Jaune got to the top of the stairs, gasping when he saw his friend cradled in Pyrrha's arms. "Come on," he managed to croak. "We have to get out of here!"

They left Ozpin's office and didn't look back, not even when they caught a glimpse of their headmaster emerging from the basement, calling for them to wait.

…..

Everything was hell in the aftermath. People were being evacuated. Some had simply run off altogether, like Blake. Yang had lost an arm. Weiss had been taken away by her father. Ruby was inconsolable, spending all of her time with a small team of Atlas mechanics, who were trying to repair Penny before transporting her home.

Emerald didn't wake up until three days after the attack ended. At first, she saw only white light and thought she was dead. Then, several faces came into view.

There was Jaune, smiling down at her. The warm hand clutching hers belonged to him. Ren and Nora were on the other side. Ren's hand was on her shoulder as he filled her with a steady stream of positive emotions. He had likely been doing so to keep any nightmares at bay while Emerald fought to regain consciousness. Nora let out a choked sob when Emerald's eyes fluttered open, looked like she was about to hug her, then thought better of it.

Emerald tried to sit up, gasped as every part of her body cried out in protest, and slumped back. "Where…?"

"You're in one of the infirmaries," Jaune explained. "A bunch of refugee camps have been set up just outside of Beacon for anyone too injured to get further away."

"What happened?" Emerald asked. "I was fighting Cinder, then the Dragon…"

"Pyrrha got to you before the Dragon could finish you off," Ren explained. He hesitated before saying: "We need to get Ozpin now. He wants to ask you some questions."

Emerald forced herself into a sitting position, waving away Jaune's attempt to stop her. "I'll tell him everything I know," she said, her voice resigned.

Jaune's face darkened with sadness. "So, you were involved." He hadn't wanted to believe it. He had hoped that Cinder had perhaps done everything herself, without the knowledge of her teammates, and that Emerald was just an innocent victim.

"At first," Emerald murmured, staring at her hands so she couldn't look at the disappointment she knew was on her friends' faces. "Cinder promised that her boss could remake the world, so that people like me wouldn't ever be forced to starve on the streets again. She saved my life."

"And who is this boss?" Ozpin's voice cut in. He was just entering the room with Pyrrha. "Did she give you a name?"

Emerald nodded, focusing her attention on the headmaster. She could handle his disappointment better than Team JNPR's. "Salem. I know her name is Salem, but I don't know much else."

Ozpin nodded gravely. "I thought so." He turned to Team JNPR. "If you would like to remain here, you may."

"I want them here," Emerald said, hesitantly looking at each of them. "They deserve to know." She could see so many varying expressions that made her heart hurt: sadness for Jaune, shock and betrayal for Nora, deep disappointment for Ren, and a look of stunned heartbreak for Pyrrha.

Emerald told Ozpin about how Cinder saved her from starving to death. She told him about the recruitment of Mercury, the blackmailing of the White Fang, the attack on Amber, and the plan to take Beacon.

Pyrrha shuddered when she learned what originally should have happened with Penny. "When she fell like that, I though I had killed her," she admitted.

Emerald shook her head. "I was supposed to do an illusion that would make you tear her apart. I couldn't bring myself to do it, though. I tried to stop it. I tried making her as unthreatening as possible, so you wouldn't use your Semblance." She sighed. "Too little, too late."

She wondered if she could have done anything differently. Apparently, Mercury had been confronting Ruby when she had rushed past. If she had stopped him and Ruby had managed to warn someone, would things have been different? Or would it still have been too late?

Ozpin was nodding slowly. To Emerald's shock, his disappointment had turned to sympathy. "So, Cinder targeted two children, one of whom a starving urchin who happened to have a useful Semblance, the other an abused boy who had just been forced to kill his own father in self-defense."

Emerald gaped, then quickly shook her head. "I don't want your pity. I know what I did, what I helped cause. I deserve to be locked away." She fell back against the pillow. "You could always feed me to the Dragon, if you want."

"No!" Nora snapped, standing abruptly, her eyes blazing. "You're not getting out of this that easily! You need to help make things right!"

Ozpin nodded. "Well said, Miss Valkyrie." He placed a hand on Emerald's arm. "Older, smarter, and less desperate people than you have been used by Salem before. Still, you are responsible for your actions. As these events happened in Vale, you are now under my custody. I could imprison you, but that would do little good. If you truly wish to make up for the part you played in this, I charge you to fight against Cinder and whatever else Salem sends against us. When this is over, if you are alive and have remained fighting with us throughout this war, you will be pardoned."

Emerald was stunned, even as she felt Nora's explosive anger like a physical blow. After everything, Ozpin was offering her a second chance?

Whatever happened next, life was going to be hell, but Emerald was used to that. She probably deserved it at this point. As Nora said, death would be too easy. She needed to work for her atonement.

"I'll do whatever I can," Emerald promised. "Whatever you tell me."

"Good." Ozpin stood up. "Miss Nikos, I will need to discuss our plans to go to Mistral with you, but I'm willing to wait until Miss Rose is ready. In the meantime, try and rest as much as you can. I know this has been difficult for you." He left, leaving an awkward cloud in the room.

Emerald glanced at each of the members of Team JNPR in turn. "Go ahead," she muttered. "Let me have it. Tell me I'm an evil bitch, and that you hate me. I'm ready."

"You're not evil," Ren said immediately. The sadness and regret were plain on his face. "You were used. I should have figured it out sooner." He stood up, pacing back and forth with an agitation that was utterly new to him. "I knew how Cinder was treating you. I knew something was wrong, but I never actually asked you about it. I should have-"

"Don't you dare blame yourself," Nora snapped, her voice crackling like sparks. "Emerald made her own choices!"

"She was manipulated," Pyrrha cut in. "She was desperate and starving."

"So?" Nora asked. "I've been starving, but I never joined an evil death cult!"

"What if I hadn't found you?" Ren asked. "What if it had been someone like Cinder who took you in after Kuroyuri was destroyed?"

This caused Nora to hesitate. "I…" She shook her head. "This is just so wrong!"

Jaune stood up. "Guys, this isn't helping." He looked at Emerald. "Why did you change your mind and try to help us in the end? You never mentioned that when talking to Ozpin."

Emerald's cheeks reddened. "It was…because of you four."

There was silence, so she continued.

"You guys just had to insist on being my friends, didn't you?" She laughed a little ruefully. "I was supposed to keep an eye on you, but I couldn't even do that. I even forgot to report Ren's Semblance to Cinder when I found out about it. You kept distracting me from what I was supposed to be doing, just by being you."

She looked at each of them in turn. "No one has ever cared about me without wanting something in return before. I thought I loved Cinder, because of what she did and what she represented, but…" She trailed off, her face reddening.

"I realized what love and friendship were because of you," she murmured in a tremulous voice, turning her gaze temporarily to her hands. "Before, it was easy to think everyone at Beacon was just part of a flawed system. I could look at a crowd and see people who didn't care about people like me or Mercury. I could believe Cinder when she said that wiping them out was necessary in order to make a better world."

She looked back up at them. "But, they aren't all like that. You aren't like that. I couldn't imagine a better world being made by killing people like you. That's why I couldn't go through with it, why I tried to stop it in the end."

Tears started burning down her bruised cheeks. "When I couldn't do that, I tried to stop Cinder. I tried to stop her from going after you and Ozpin, but she did. I followed her upstairs to try and take her down, but I nearly got myself killed."

"You delayed her?" Pyrrha cut in.

"I tried," Emerald said glumly.

Jaune placed a hand on Emerald's arm. "Em, Cinder got to us literally right when we were getting Pyrrha out of the capsule. If she'd gotten there any sooner…" he trailed off with a shiver.

Emerald smiled a little, feeling a slight lightening in her chest. "I'm glad I could do something." She took a breath. "What about Penny?"

"She'll be okay," Ren said. "She went into shock when her arm was cut off, but her brain and the part that generates Aura were unharmed. She's been talking with Ruby for the past few hours."

"Ruby…" Jaune frowned. "She might be a bit hard to convince."

"I guess she hates me, huh?"

"That's an understatement," Nora muttered.

"She saw you in the stands while facing Mercury, and guessed at the truth. She blames you and Mercury for what happened to Penny," Pyrrha explained. "We'll try to explain things to her. Ruby's reasonable. She'll understand that you're better as an ally than as a prisoner."

"Thanks." Emerald swallowed before saying something she needed to say, even if her words were rejected. "I really do care about you guys. A lot. What you four have… It's something special. I had hoped to be part of it, if things had gone differently." She looked at her hands again. "I don't expect anything now. I just want you to know that I'll do everything I can to protect you."

There was a pause before Ren's cool hand touched hers. He closed his eyes, reading her emotions for a moment, then nodded. Her feelings were sincere, as were his own. "It will take time to forgive you," he said honestly. "And even longer to trust you."

"I understand," Emerald said through her tightening throat.

"But," Jaune added. "For the record, I was really starting to like you too."

Emerald suppressed a sigh. Oh, the cruel irony. Hello, life.

"So did I," Pyrrha said. Then, to everyone's surprise, she walked over to the bed, bent over, and gave Emerald a very careful, gentle hug. "I still do. And I forgive you."

Emerald gasped. "Huh?!"

"Huh is right!" Nora said. "I mean, I'm gonna need at least a month before I'm ready to think about forgiving anything! Even if I was starting to like-like her!"

Jaune, despite the situation, let out a laugh. "Like-like? Seriously, Nora? No one over the age of ten says that."

"Oh, shut up!"

Ren walked over and kissed Nora's forehead to calm her down. "We'll figure this out as we go. We can handle this. We're Huntsmen."

Pyrrha drew back from Emerald, smiling kindly at her. "Are you okay?"

"I…" Emerald wiped her face, realizing that fresh tears were falling. "You're too nice for your own good, you know."

Pyrrha shrugged. "I'm a very forgiving person."

"It's true," Jaune commented. "She forgave me almost instantly after I spent over a week being a total jerk. You know, I was actually being blackmailed at that time too! What a coincidence!"

Pyrrha frowned. "Wait, Cardin was blackmailing you? You never told me that!"

"It never came up."

"You could have told us," Nora pointed out. "I would've broken his legs for you!"

Jaune rolled his eyes. "Well, it didn't occur to me to bring it up. Are we seriously talking about Cardin right now?!"

Emerald almost couldn't believe it when she let out a laugh. The sound was weird, unfitting, and almost alien on her tongue. But it was real.

It was a start.

…..

"Hit its limbs!" Jaune's cry somehow rang out over the ghostly wail of the Geist as it swung a stone arm at the team. "Go for its face!"

Emerald leaped to the side, shooting desperately at one of the legs. She had come across awful Grimm before, but this thing was definitely taking the cake!

It didn't help that Jaune was currently without a weapon, adding to the overall anxiety of this battle. Pyrrha had been given upgraded versions of her shield and lance, and had donated the metal from her old weapons to give Jaune's sword and shield an update. Of course, a Grimm had to attack right after their trip to the blacksmith.

Ducking under a tree-formed limb, which had just been set on fire by Pyrrha, whose eyes were glowing and whose hands were still spewing flames, Emerald tried to draw the Grimm's attention, barely dodging one of its giant feet. This gave Nora and Ruby the chance to finish it off in a blur of red and pink.

Emerald let out a long breath as the thing finally went down. She looked around, trying to locate the others. Ren was okay, as was the weaponless Jaune. It took a few minutes to get Pyrrha's explosion of power under control. Several trees lost their lives in that struggle. When it ended, Emerald allowed her muscles to relax as they started the journey back to town.

Everyone was grateful for their help, which meant another night of free meals and boarding while they waited for Qrow and Ozpin to get back from their patrol. Emerald ate eagerly, silently thanking the gods for the fact that this town actually had food. It was a little hit and miss depending on the wealth of the villages they traveled through.

Nora plopped down on one side of her. "Hey," she chirped.

"Hi," Emerald replied with a smile. "Nice work on that Geist." She glanced at Ruby, who was walking by, including her in the compliment.

"Thanks." Ruby's voice was a little reserved. While she was willing to accept Emerald as one of the group, their relationship was strictly professional.

Emerald sighed inwardly. I never thought I'd miss her being cheerful and annoying towards me…

Nora patted her shoulder as Ruby walked away. "Give her time."

Emerald smiled. "I know."

"If it helps," Nora hugged her arm. "It's been more than a month. I forgave you a few days ago."

"Yeah?" Emerald rested her head on top of Nora's. "When did you decide that?"

"Hm… Somewhere between when you gave me your share of pancakes at breakfast, and when you saved Ren from that Beowolf."

Ren sat down next to Nora, smiling at Emerald as he did so. Jaune and Pyrrha waved as they followed Ruby to a different table.

Emerald watched them, her mind toying with the thought that everything might be okay after all, that everything truly could get better. Nora's warmth at her side, the growing acceptance of the others, and Ozpin's trust that Emerald would redeem herself, all melded together into something vaguely resembling hope.

It would take time to make things right, and there were still so many factors working against them. Pyrrha still didn't have control of her powers. No one knew where to find Salem. All of them were in danger, no matter where they were.

Still, they had survived another day, and Emerald was ready to fight with everything she had so that they could survive one more.

The challenge for me in this chapter was keeping the romantic aspect that was asked for while also incorporating the anger and mistrust that would realistically overshadow Emerald's interactions with JNPR after the Fall. I have a feeling that Ozpin, as someone who has fought Salem for so long, would be more forgiving than the average person toward someone who has been used by her or her underlings.

I'll see you soon with a much fluffier epilogue.

Peace out!