Gary had completely lost it.

Everything he had ever built up was being released. Anger. Sorrow. Hatred. Loneliness.
And everything was being put to use by the Hope Dust, which manufactured all of those evil feelings into weapons. The staff began to change shape, into a halberd, blades replaced by multiple chainsaws, using drills as the blades, and the bottom half of the staff covered in shotguns and gatling guns. He took menacing steps towards Cinder, who was slowly walking backwards, feeling something she hadn't felt in a long time.

Fear.

She slashed at him, but Gary didn't even flinch as the blades slashed straight through his chest,
which stiched itself back together, muscles convulsing and forming knots, skin growing over it.
"What ARE you?!" Cinder was getting nervous now, inbuing her blades with fire, slashing at Gary, who was regenerating after each hit. He grabbed a blade. "I'm a monster. Get used to it." He threw cinder into a warehouse, where he opened fire.

This was no longer a battle of good and evil.
Gary was shattered. Broken. A broken man has nothing to lose.

This was a battle between darkness and evil, one feasting on the other.
Cinder was bleeding heavily, but managed to focus the Faith Dust into healing, before being impaled by the multiple chainsaw blades, blood flying everywhere and forming large puddles on the ground while Cinder was screaming. "The good part is, you can regenerate too!
Meaning I can cause so, so much more pain to you. Do you like it? Do you like the monster that YOU created? Karma is a bitch, isn't it?"
Gary was saying, swinging her around, still impaled, creating a shallow puddle of the red liquid and bathing him in it. Gary stopped for a moment, letting Cinder regain her balance and letting her stand, before pulling down on the staff, breaking Cinder's legs in half, which quickly grew back into place. "Interesting."
Gary then proceeded to do the same, over and over, Cinder's screaming growing weaker each time. When she was out of breath, Gary pulled her off of the staff, her body going limp right afterwards. "...What have I done...? No one...Deserves this..." Gary pulled her body up. "You're right. Not any one person. But a soulless person. Like you.
You made a peaceful Archangel turn himself into a miserable, miserable person, all because you took the lives of the only people keeping him sane. Now, all I ask for you, is to go die. But I will make it as painful as possible."
Gary shoved the staff into Cinder again. "ARGH! STOP!" Cinder got enraged as well, her eyes turning completely white, a red aura appearing around her, and she pulled herself off of the staff. "You want to make me feel your pain? Then we do it my way." Cinder set her blades on fire and 4 spectral, red wings came out of her back. "Perks of killing the last Archangel."

The two began a spectacle of a fight, the staff constantly changing into more brutal forms, both of them regenerating after each attack, but losing blood. After about 10 minutes of slashing, ripping, shooting, blasting, and punching, the 2 realized that the entire dock was covered in blood. Not a single spot without their own blood. Once they both realized this, their eyes both went to normal, Cinder's wings disappeared, Gary's folded back in, and they both fainted due to blood loss.

When he woke up, he couldn't move. His bones were clearly out of place, as he couldn't feel most of the parts. When he looked down, he saw X-rays next to him. Nearly all of his bones were broken, some sticking out of his skin.
Gary saw these X-rays, and immediately felt pain. "Argh." he muttered, as his jaw was also out of place. He realized that all of the spots where he felt pain were from when Cinder slashed him. All of the wounds that he had supposedly regenerated came back. He also looked at pictures which revealed a shining heart. "So that's where you put it, mom."

Mai knocked Gary out with a swift chop to the left of his neck. She was close to throwing up as she cut open a cavity into his chest, stabbing the Hope Dust crystal into it. The cavity closed itself, which made Mai sigh with relief. She turned around to find a black blade slashing into her stomach, making her fall. "Goodbye, Mai." Said Cinder, as she plunged the blade through Mai's forehead.

Gary heard some arguing outside. "We're the friends who found him a place to live! To come out of his depression! Now why the fuck can't we go in?!" A doctor talked to them in a steady voice. "Calm down. He's not even conscious right now. Judging by his injuries, he may only have a few days to live." He heard the sound of Rhea bursting into tears. No, no, no. Gary was thinking to himself. This is wrong. My friends don't deserve to lose me. They don't deserve anything bad. Gary focused on these thoughts, and the staff suddenly came crashing through the window, landing into Gary's hand, covered in Gauss. Gary grabbed the staff with his fingers, which was an extremely painful ordeal, and he focused those thoughts upon it.
He suddenly felt every bone pop and snap back into place,
his skin growing at an abnormally fast pace. He managed to get up and remove the Gauss around him. He heard Ruby crying, as well. "He's going to die?" Gary walked outside of his room. "Not if I can help it." The doctor looked baffled, Rhea had a genuine smile on her face, hugging Gary, and Ruby followed shortafter,
planting a kiss on his cheek. Yochi and Argentina were still unconscious, so they decided to walk to Beacon themselves.

"So, how did you guys get saved? Didn't you get flung into the water?"
Ruby looked a little worried, twiddling her fingers. "Well... Ozpin realized something was up and thought that a submarine was enough to see what was happening at the docks. He managed to catch everyone who dropped into the water, and applied emergency care to us, and you. Without him, your head would have to be carried around. When we surfaced, both you and Cinder suddenly seemed to...Explode? In blood,
that is. We saw your head fly off and Rhea was bawling like crazy, hugging your body like some freak. Ozpin managed to sew it back on,
and he explained why you didn't like him so much."

Rhea decided to talk. "So...Uh... You were incredibly brutal. Like. Incredibly. I've never seen you like that before. Are you okay?"
Gary wondered to himself that question, as well. But he wasn't okay.
He was forever shattered with the memories of his friends being impaled by Cinder. "I'm...I'm fine." Rhea put her hand on his shoulder. "We're alive, Gary. We're here. We aren't dead. Be happy that you at least could see us live our lives out." Gary realized how lucky that he was that Ozpin was there, but he didn't like oweing favors, especially to people like Ozpin."I know.
But...I don't think I can recover from...That. It's all been inside of me Rhea, and I just exhausted all of it. Everything that filled my heart, the void, it's...Stopped. I'm not sure what to do with my heart now."

Ruby started sweating, and she grabbed Gary and kissed him. "You fill your heart back up again. Gotta lose some to earn some, right?" Gary was blushing and sweating.
"Heh..Y-..Yeah..." Ruby hugged him. "Good boy."
Ruby's mind was troubled, however. Would she end up like Gary? Would the loneliness in her heart stop if she let it out at a single person, as well? Or would she end up killing everyone in her wake?
"Ruby?" Asked Gary. "Are you alright?" Ruby shook her head. "Fine, I'm...Fine." But she wasn't fine, either.
The images of Gary. The images of the chainsaws shredding through regenerating skin, the look of despair on Cinder's face, the two facing off in combat that would normally kill a human with every single blow the two dished out. Ruby wondered if it was really worth it to release all of her pain. Gary wasn't taking it any better. He caused Cinder much damage, mentally and physically, and to think that he could do that to someone, made him realize why Ozpin was so against him, why everyone was against him. It made him realize that he might have been a murderer if no one pushed him away. His beliefs were wrong. The world lead him on the right path, forcing him off of the bad, no matter the cost.

The 3 made it to Beacon, and Rhea yawned. "I'm going to go get some sleep. Catch you lovebirds later." Ruby and Gary looked at each other, blushing.
"So..Uh..." they both said.

They had a really awkward time together, which they mainly spent walking around Beacon. Until they made it back to the entrance, Ruby asked a question. "Do..Do you like me? If so... Why?" Gary answered the question as truthfully as he could.
"I do like you Ruby. A lot. Surprisingly. Usually, when I think I like someone, I see if I can push away the thoughts of love. You're the first person that I just couldn't do that to. I also realized that you were alone. You lost your parents, like me, and you obviously lost them at a younger age. That's the same thing as having memories of them. Because if you lose them at a young age, you won't remember any times with them. But if you have memories of them,
you'll realize how much the world changes, how alone you are, when they aren't around anymore. Lonely people find a way to other lonely people. And then...They can try to help themselves. You are so much stronger than I am, Ruby. You can hide everything. I can't I always show how frustrated and angry I am, and you are always so cheerful, so bright...It brought me towards you." Ruby looked flattered,speechless, because everything he said was what she wanted to get out for years to people, to tell them that she was alone, and that no one truly loved her. Gary had satisfied her. She and Gary sat on the bench in front of the doors, and they both leaned their heads in at once, kissing each other. "Oh god." They both said.

"I have no idea how to handle a relationship." they both also said.

"Did I ever tell you I have a thing for girls with red highlights?"

Ozpin was sitting in his office, rewatching the camera images of Gary and Cinder's battle. He was analyzing both of their moves, how they fought when they were in their enraged forms, sipping coffee the entire time. "So, this is what you have been hiding from us, Archangel." He sent a message to Qrow, and in the message was this.

Subject: Falling Angel

Qrow, the Archangel's true power has been analyzed by me personally. Should worse come to worse, I'll send you another message. The next message I send will be blank. It will mean that we commence Operation: Falling Angel. You know the drill.

Author's Notes: Wow. First volume of RWBY finished! This is the final story chapter for now, until RWBY volume 2 gets released. I'm going to be uploading an interlude chapter any time this month about the Vytal Festival and the teams doing goofy interactions with each other. Until then, this is the end. P.S. 100 VIEWS HOLY SHIT