Chapter 9: Ruby's Second Wind
"Sa-Salem?!" Ruby was surprised to see Salem in pain once more. Salem turned her attention away from her vanishing hands.
"What did you do?" Salem gave a venomous glare," One moment I'm strangling you, then your silver eyes flash and all the Grimm here are dead!"
Salem began to regenerate her lost limbs. Within moments she regenerated her missing limbs. Salem wasn't in top condition, but could still move. She made her way to her prey.
Ruby failed to get up on her own two feet, the excruciating pain continued to flow throughout her body. Her left leg failed to respond. Her aura was working as fast as possible with the help of adrenaline. Her body was struggling to stand back up with her current injuries.
Salem stretched her hand and grabbed Ruby's throat once more. Instead of strangling, Salem threw Ruby against a concrete wall in the distance, Salem was going to slowly kill Ruby Rose in the most slow and painful way possible. As Ruby's body hit the floor, one of the pieces of the scythe went deeper into her stomach. Ruby cried out in pain. She looked at her surroundings; all around were her dead comrades and family. Despite their bodies being limp and lifeless, their auras still lingered in the area. That's when Ruby realized, this would-be her last stand.
Ruby readied herself with her remaining strength and repositioned herself in a kneeling position, preparing to get up once more. The situation was fight-or-flight, and Ruby decided to fight to the last breath. She remembered the pain she felt when her friends told her their last words for her to remember them by. Her silver eyes began to glow once more. However, this time, her entire body began to overflow with power, and the aura from her friends and family combined and aided her wounded body.
From the order, she saw everyone, each body part that was touched, was protected by a different colored aura. Her cheek stung and had blood flowing, her good shoulder felt relaxed, her body was warm, and the large scythe piece fell out, her head felt calm, her brain no longer migrated with pain, her fist felt ready to punch, her legs could move once more and her hand picked up the scythe. Lastly her heart felt ready to defeat Salem.
These are the auras of my friends and family! They're here to help me defeat Salem! She remembered what her mom said.
Salem finally arrived and stared at Ruby carefully, she cackled and the "aura" surrounding her.
"Bring it Ruby Rose, I killed your Mother, and my loyal Grimm killed all your family and friends; you'll be the last nuisance to be eliminated. "Salem grinned malevolently," Once I take you down, no one will ever be able to stop me!"
Salem's eyes were full of insanity, hatred, and evil. Ruby's eyes were calm, determined, and righteous.
Salem charged with her hands made of spikes and Ruby charged even faster with a piece of a scythe in hand. With one fell swoop, the Crimson Reaper punched Salem right on the cheek and slashed the Queen of Grimm down. The scythe cut in a vertical line from Salem's torso to her head. Her body was now in two.
"AUGHHHH" Salem gave one last shriek of agony before fading away like any other Grimm would.
Ruby had a spike piercing close to her heart. The aura of her friends could not block that one. She saw Salem die before her very eyes and gave an exhausted laugh.
"That was for everyone you took away from me." She coughed blood and fell back. After a few moments, she groggily stood back up and looked around, the stormy grey clouds hovering all around earlier turned to a clear blue sky, reminding her of the first day she entered Beacon academy.
Upon closer inspection, Ruby saw her deceased friends and family left and right, despite that she saw them while she hallucinated, she felt extremely saddened that she was the last one alive regardless.
As she walked through the academy to collect the bodies, memories poured through her and tears flowed with each moment. Each body had a name and a place in her heart.
No matter how many times she had to pick up a body and place it into a different area, more memories flowed through and the realization of what was lost repeatedly; the lives of those precious towards her to defeat Salem.
After an hour of collecting and moving bodies, she was down to a familiar yellow haired brawler.
When she reached Yang's body, her heart felt broken and stabbed. She noticed a piece of paper and photograph folded carefully and tucked inside one of Yang's many pockets.
Ruby gulped and undid the creases and saw the entire photo. It was of everyone she knew at the battle; they had taken a group picture saying, "Night before we defeat Salem. :)"
"I'll never forget you guys." She teared up, picking up the photo everyone took.
