Chapter 10: A Candle's Light

[A/N] I don't own RWBY, it belongs to Roosterteeth

-The17thScripter

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Carly mentally cringed as the energy from Cinder's attack coursed through her. While she wasn't a stranger to this sensation, she'd never taken a hit of this magnitude before. "She's mine..." Carly dropped into a fighting stance, both of her blades drawn.

The woman before her laughed; "I'm impressed, but do you have any idea what position you are now in, little girl?" Cinder chuckled again, her eyes still glowing a vibrant orange as he clothes lit up once more. Carly kept her eyes trained on her opponent, slowly beginning to step to the right, hoping Cinder would take the bait.

Cinder stepped to the left, slowly the two began to circle, like wolves growling at each other in a duel. In a flash, Cinder lashed out, releasing a torrent of flames and dust shards at her opponent. The young wolf faunus dodged, rolling to the side and letting the attack vent harmlessly behind her. She couldn't attack, not yet, her semblance was still processing all of the energy from the previous attack.

She needed to buy time, time for David to get setup with whatever it was he was planning, for the others to continue their efforts in fending off the attacking White Fang.

Time she wasn't sure she had.

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'Basically, I outlived my usefulness...' Neo signed as she sat on the edge of the examination table. 'Multiple failures were blamed on me, failure to terminate team RWBY aboard the train, failure to keep Torchwick safe...the list goes on.'

'And Cinder, her bad side is not one you want to be on. She only let me in based on my combat skill, that and Torchwick needed a body guard.' Neo sighed; 'She doesn't tolerate failure, I am lucky I escaped or I likely would have been executed...

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Liz cracked her whip just centimeters in front of the man cowering at her feet, the purple weapon laced with dust crackled with the aura of its owner. "So...I'd really like to know why you people attacked our school, you can answer that question, right?" She cooed, kneeling down to be at eye level with the man. "I mean...I'd hate to think about what would happen if you couldn't, you know?" She let out a soft but venomous chuckle, the man's eyes went wide, darting back and forth between her and her whip, which she cracked against the ground one more time, singing the dirt beneath it.

"Okay! Okay! I'll talk! I'll talk!" He half pleaded, half screamed. "We were ordered to, something about you people constantly interfering with our plans! S-s-something about sending a message, not to be trifled with anymore a-and a test!"

"There, was that so hard?" She cooed, "Now this test you mentioned, whats that all about?" Liz cracked her whip once more, dangerously close to the man's right leg, earning a shriek.

"I don't know! I swear to Oum I don't know! They don't tell us stuff like that!"

"I suppose a lower rank soldier like you wouldn't know too much." Liz sighed rising from her kneeling position. "Such a shame..." She turned to walk away, seeming to be done with the man.

The man started to let out a small sigh. "But you know...you and your buddies have killed a lot of my friends and fellow students tonight..." His sigh hitched in his throat as he heard a crack and felt something wrap around his neck.

As energy arced through his body, he screamed until his world went dark. His body fell back and hit the dirt with a dull thud as Liz retracted her whip; his mouth agape and eyes wide in silent terror.

"You have any idea what that does to a girl?"

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David watched through his rifle scope at the two combatants on the other edge of the field. With each of Cinder's attacks, the young wolf faunus seemed to pick up speed, but at the pace the two were fighting, he couldn't take his shot, not yet. "Come on, Carly..." He muttered, zeroing in and flicking a switch on the side of his rifle.

With a slight hissing noise the barrel split into four pieces, separating at the end. David began channeling his aura into the rifle, causing a spike of energy to form at the end of the barrel.

Everything went into slow motion, Carly attacked with both of her blades. The force of her attack knocking her opponent back a few yards.

A few yards was all he needed to pull the trigger, sending the spike of white energy hurtling towards its target.

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Neo and Liz walked along the board walk towards the ice cream shop in Vale, Liz humming a pleasant melody quietly to herself. The melody stopped, however, when they got close to the small shop. The shop was nestled between two larger stores and had a quaint and retro look to it, said shop also had a rather large line coming from its entrance as well. "Ah...shit..." Liz breathed, turning to look at her companion. "You mind waiting this long?"

'No wait is to long for ice cream.' Neo signed in reply, adding a sage like bow of her head for effect. Liz chuckled at her friend's actions, a slight smile crossing her face for a moment.

"Say...Neo, I know its kind of personal, but...if you don't mind me asking, what happened to your voice?" Liz paused, trying to gauge a reaction of the girl. "I mean, if you don't want to talk about it, that's fine and all..." Liz nervously chuckled.

Neo shook her head, 'No no, its fine, it happened when I was very young...I barely remember it...'

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Carly watched as the bolt of energy tore through Cinder's shoulder, sending the woman's left arm flying and leaving a glowing hole in her opponent. The woman screamed and fell to the ground. The young wolf faunus slowly approached, something seemed off, very off. The blood that was seeping out of the wound and the now detached arm was...black? And the arm started to disintegrate in a cloud of dust and ash, just like... Carly's eyes widened.

Cinder started chuckling, which slowly developed into a maniacal cackle as she lay on the ground. "You think you've won...haven't you?" The fallen woman laughed and coughed up more of the black blood. "No...no this...is just beginning..." and with those final words, the woman's aura started to build, quickly.

Carly's eyes widened and she quickly turned to run before feeling the heat of an explosion at her back, rapidly thrusting her forward and into the ground. The last thing she heard was someone shouting her name, then all went dark.

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Weiss looked around what was left of the school grounds as the sun started to rise over the mountain tops. It had been hours since the attack by the White Fang, and the Atlesian military had shown up and dealt with the remaining attacking forces. With the heat of battle over, the weight of damage and loss had started to settle in on everyone.

The heiress looked and felt like a mess, sleep had not come to her in the hours since the attack. The combat skirt she proudly wore, once white and clean, now was a tattered bloody mess covered with various patches of soot and ash. And there she stood, in front of what was once the entrance to their dormitory, now a pile of smoking rubble with white blankets laid out in various places...she'd made the mistake of looking under one of those blankets and had promptly purged her stomach because of it.

"Hey..." A voice snapped her out of her thoughts, causing her to turn around. "You okay?"

"Ruby..." The heiress started as the girl in red approached her. "I...no...no I'm not 'okay', none of it! none of its okay!" Weiss felt the girl wrap her arms around her in a hug as the heiress broke down into tears.

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Blake sat in the cafeteria, one of the few buildings to have survived the attack. The soup bowl before her long since empty, she sat, reading one of the few books she had managed to save from the dorm. Reading was her escape...she needed to not think about what had happened for a while.

Something banged into her table, snapping her back to reality. "Fuck..." She looked over to see her blonde haired partner bang into the table with her wheel chair. "These things are harder to control then they look." Yang complained, setting her now messy food tray on the table.

"I've noticed..." Blake replied cooly, closing her book and looking over her partner; "So...you get looked at by the doctors yet?"

Yang sighed, breaking off a piece of bread and dunking it in her soup. "Yeah...it ain't pretty, even with my aura doing healing work...it'll be a few months before I can move my legs again..." The brawler shrugged, swallowing a mouthful. "But hey, at least its not permeant...I hope."

"You hope?" Blake raised an eyebrow inquisitively.

"Well...there is a small chance that they won't heal properly and I'll have to come up with some clever new ways of...well everything..."

"How small a chance?"

"Eh...Fifty-fifty?"

"Yang! That's not a small chance." Blake scowled; "And how are you even here? Aren't you supposed to be in the medical center?"

"Pfft...Like I was gonna lay in a bed all day while you and the others were out here." The brawler replied after draining the rest of her soup. Her expression turned serious, "With what happened...everyone's grieving, that's not something that should be done the alone." She set her soup bowl down, looking out one of the nearby windows. "I learned that a long time ago."

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Ozpin sat at a round table inside one of the many tents that had been set up, on either side of him were Glynda and Akemi, while Ironwood and other leaders sat around the table. "Ladies and Gentlemen of the council...what has transpired here today is horrific beyond any description." The professor started, sipping from his mug; "But let me clear when I say that we will rebuild, become stronger and not let this set us back or hinder our efforts to produce the finest huntsmen and huntresses...as for the students and faculty whose lives were lost in the attack...I will see to the notification of their families, personally."

General Ironwood sighed; "Oz...we need to retaliate, they can't be allowed to get away with this."

"And we will." The man replied, taking another sip of his mug; "But, if we retaliate with an all out attack, similar to what they did to us, causing yet more bloodshed...we are no better than they, and we would dishonor the memories of those who have perished." Ozpin set his mug down on the table, folding his hands together. "Now...as for the matter of the continued education for the remaining students."

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David sat his workbench like he often did, his rifle laying before him in pieces as he cleaned it. A lone candle burned off to the side, providing a small amount of light. Power had yet to be restored to the hangars since the attack, but David didn't mind...the flickering light of the small flame was soothing in a way.

"I had a feeling you'd be here." A feminine voice called from behind him, earning a small smile from the man.

"Well...with all that's happened, its a good place to just sit and process it all, you know?" He replied as he turned to address the newcomer. "You know, for a dead girl, you sure are mobile." He teased, his face forming a light smile.

"Oh please," The young wolf faunus replied, "I was out for a half hour tops, and I wake up to find you balling like a baby."

David chuckled; "How you feeling?"

"A little singed, but nothing that won't grow back on its own..." She replied, walking up to him. "The others are all headed for the Cafeteria, some sort of announcement or something, you coming?"

David nodded, quickly re-assembling his rifle. "Yeah, give me a sec." Slinging the re-assembled rifle over his shoulder, he stood up and grabbed her by the hand. "Come on, lets go see what's in store." He smiled, leaning over and blowing out the candle.

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[A/N]

A fitting end to this story arc I think, The next chapter will actually be an epilogue of sorts. WIth Volume 3 around the corner I want to wait to continue this until I see what new content and settings I have to work with. Until then, I have some other writings I'll be posting so stay tuned for those, as for this, we are far from done with the adventures of team CNDL. Stay Tuned for Part 2: A Candle Consumed!

-The17thScripter