Time for the rematch of the century (I'm exaggerating). But I still think that this is going to be pretty good. Anyways, let's get this finale started.
A quick disclaimer, I am going to be using normal RWBY fight logic in the upcoming battle.
"Pyrrha, wake up!" Jaune cried.
"It happened as soon as the Grimm was killed." Ren said.
"What do you think is happening?" Nora asked.
Pyrrha and Cinder rushed at each other within their merged mind. Their mentalities were ready to kill each other. Cinder and Pyrrha's blades clashed.
"We've already been through this once before." Cinder said, "Why not just get it over with and die?"
"Destiny has given me a second chance, I don't plan on wasting it." Pyrrha said.
"The funny thing about destiny, it can change so quickly." Cinder said.
Cinder and Pyrrha pushed on each other and shoved the other back. The moment the blades stopped touching, the area they were fighting in suddenly became Professor Ozpin's office on the top of Beacon tower.
"Ah...what a fitting place for you to be put down." Cinder said.
Pyrrha changed her sword into a gun and fired at Cinder. Cinder thrust her hand forward, launching a fireball that incinerated Pyrrha's bullets. Pyrrha pulled her shield off of her back and blocked the fireball. As soon as Pyrrha got up to continue her attack, Cinder flew at her using her maiden powers. Pyrrha threw her shield and it missed Cinder. Pyrrha jumped up to avoid Cinder and used her Semblance to yank the shield back, knocking Cinder down. Pyrrha dropped down as she swung her sword, but it was blocked as Cinder created another pair of glass swords. Cinder pushed Pyrrha back, sending her into the air. Cinder went to blast Pyrrha with a stream of fire, Pyrrha blocked it with her shield, but the force of the flames pushed her back and sent her flying across the room and into a wall.
"Hnm..." Pyrrha moaned as she got up.
"What? Are you tired already?" Cinder asked.
"No. But I will never stop until I've saved my friends from you." Pyrrha said.
"Then you are going to be left disappointed." Cinder said.
Cinder switched to her bow and launched a wave of arrows at Pyrrha. Pyrrha transformed her sword into a javelin and spun it around, blocking the arrows. Pyrrha then went to rush at Cinder. Pyrrha threw her javelin and shield to the sides and used her Semblance to guide them towards Cinder. Cinder pushed her hands out and launched blasts of fire that knocked the weapons down; however, this left her open to Pyrrha, who jumped up and kicked Cinder in the gut, knocking her back. As Cinder got back up, Pyrrha brought her weapons back to her. Cinder then created her own spear and charged at Pyrrha. Pyrrha swung her sword at Cinder, but she blocked it with her own weapon. Cinder then pushed Pyrrha's weapon back and then kicked Pyrrha over, blasting her with a fireball midair. The blast sent Pyrrha flying through the air and through the window of the office. Pyrrha fell for a bit until she landed on the demolished Beacon Tower.
"Well, well, well, this is seeming awfully familiar." Cinder said as she floated down to the tower.
Pyrrha got up and threw her spear directly at Cinder. Cinder backhanded the weapon, but Pyrrha used her Semblance to bring it back towards her. Cinder saw the weapon coming back and went to attack it, but Pyrrha caused it to go down and trip Cinder, catching her by surprise. Pyrrha then rushed towards Cinder and rammed into her with her shield. Cinder regained her balance in midair and sent a swarm of fireballs down onto the tower. Pyrrha raised her shield to block the fireballs as they rained down around her. Pyrrha got up once the onslaught ended and saw Cinder coming back over to the tower. Pyrrha threw her shield at Cinder again. Cinder had had enough of Pyrrha's defense and shot a fireball that sent it falling off the tower. Cinder then rushed at Pyrrha and created her two glass swords. Pyrrha used her javelin to block the swords, but Cinder spun around, roundhouse kicking Pyrrha in the face and sending her back and causing her to drop her javelin.
"I think that will be quite enough." Cinder said as she grabbed Pyrrha's javelin.
Cinder superheated the metal and broke the javelin apart, just like she did to Pyrrha's sword in Canon.
"Now that you're defenseless, I believe it is time we ended this charade." Cinder said.
Cinder launched a stream of fire at Pyrrha that sent her flying and pushed her against the wall. The endless wave of fire pushed against Pyrrha, severely depleting her Aura.
"Why did we have to go through with this again?" Cinder asked, "You could have just made this easier on everyone if you would just stay dead."
Cinder stopped her barrage to let the weakened Pyrrha drop to the ground.
"So...how does it feel? To know that you were given a second chance, yet you completely wasted it." Cinder asked.
"I believe that destiny gave me this second chance for a reason." Pyrrha said.
Cinder made her bow and arrow again, aiming it at Pyrrha.
"This time, I will make sure that you stay dead." Cinder said.
Pyrrha thought back on the time she was given with this second chance, and then she remembered something. Cinder's not the only Fall Maiden in here.
"Goodbye." Cinder said.
Cinder was about to release her arrows, but a sudden burst of fire came from Pyrrha and sent her back. Cinder got up, only to see that Pyrrha had fire surrounding her eyes and that she was floating.
"It's time to end this." Pyrrha said, "Once and for all."
Pyrrha and Cinder rushed at each other with fire blazing. Cinder swung her arm forward in an attempt to blast Pyrrha, but she countered it by launching herself backwards. The sudden retreat caught Cinder off-guard. Pyrrha put her hands back and launched herself at Cinder, kicking her down. Cinder got up, only to be blasted by a barrage of fireballs from Pyrrha.
"H...how are you so...strong?" Cinder asked, "I have been the Fall Maiden far longer, I have used these powers longer, I beat you before."
"Unlike you, I have friends. Friends who helped me, believed in me, aided me in my training. They are my strength and the reason I beat you. You treat everyone like a tool that you can simply dispose of once they've served their purpose." Pyrrha said.
Pyrrha walked over to Cinder and created a fireball in her hand.
"A part of me wishes it didn't have to be this way." Pyrrha said.
Cinder looked up as Pyrrha threw the fireball at her.
Pyrrha slowly stirred awake. She opened her eyes and looked around, seeing that she was in a room in Mistral. Jaune sitting on a chair next to her and Ruby was in the nearby bed.
"Jj...Jaune." Pyrrha said.
Jaune looked over at Pyrrha, she still had the body of Cinder, but something was different. Her eyes were now green, like those of Pyrrha's old body.
"Pyrrha..." Jaune said, smiling.
Jaune hugged his friend tightly, embracing her.
"Is it over?" Jaune asked.
"Yes." Pyrrha replied, "Cinder's gone."
"Good." Jaune said.
"Jaune...I-." Pyrrha said, suddenly being cut off as Jaune kissed her on the lips.
As Jaune kissed Pyrrha, she returned it. Ren and Nora almost walked in at one point, but decided to let the two lovebirds be. Shortly after Jaune and Pyrrha stopped their kiss, Qrow came walking in.
"Hey." Qrow said, "How're you holding up?"
"I'm doing good." Pyrrha said, "Thanks for asking."
"I'm sorry about not believing you." Qrow said, "Although, I hope me not killing Cinder in that last battle is enough to make things up to you."
"Thank you." Pyrrha said, "Did you come to see Ruby?"
"Yeah." Qrow said, "And to apologize to you, but I guess that's done."
"Okay then." Pyrrha said, "We'll let you be."
Jaune and Pyrrha got up and left the room so Qrow could take care of Ruby.
(Pyrrha's thoughts will be in italics)
Pyrrha followed Jaune through the hall of the house the group was staying in.
Destiny works in strange ways. For some, it can be something as simple as being there for someone, while for others it could be a call to arms. For us, it was both.
Jaune went down the stairs to the living room area as Pyrrha followed.
I have always believed in destiny. But I had never believed that it would give me a second chance.
Jaune and Pyrrha sat down on the couch in the living area, Pyrrha rested her head on Jaune's shoulder.
I had thought that my destiny laid on the top of Beacon tower, but I guess it had a different plan in mind.
Nora and Ren came walking down the stairs and saw Jaune and Pyrrha.
There are so many stories where some brave hero decides to give their life to save the day. And because of their sacrifice, the good guys win, the survivors all cheer, and everyone lives happily ever after.
Ren and Nora joined with Jaune and Pyrrha, all of them sharing a moment.
But the hero...never gets to see that ending. They'll never know if their sacrifice actually made a difference.
Qrow sat next to Ruby, watching as she woke up.
They'll never know if the day was really saved. In the end, they just have to have faith.
Shortly after, the complete Team JNPR came into the room and joined Ruby and Qrow.
But, because of some miracle, I was given a second chance and was able to see whether or not my sacrifice made a difference. And it did, but not the one I had hoped for. So, with this second chance, I will fix things. I believe destiny gave me this chance so that I could keep moving forward.
Team JNPR, Ruby, and Qrow spent the day together, unaware of the looming danger in the city.
In Headmaster Lionheart's office, Watts was meeting with the headmaster.
"Thank you for inviting me in." Watts said, "Now, we have an urgent matter to discuss. Do you remember a student you gave the alias to? Well, I need you to bring her to me, she has been quite...an annoyance."
Well that was Volume 1 of Ashes of a Friend. I hope you enjoyed it. This was a blast to write. So...about Cinder, yeah...she's gone. I will not be writing the next Volume of the story until I can get my hands on a DVD copy of Volume 5 of the Canon series. I know I can just watch the episodes online, but I like to save data.
Parts of Pyrrha's speech in her head are from Church's final speech at the end of RVB Season 13 (which I do not watch, I just heard the speech and thought it was perfect) and from Monty's famous quote: "Keep moving forward".
I hope you all have a great day.
But before I outro this Season, I'll give you guys the rewritten version of the Volume 5 preview.
Qrow sat down in one of the local Mistral bars.
"Excuse me?" Oscar Pine asked as he walked up behind Qrow.
"You know, I don't think they allow kids in here, pipsqueak." Qrow said as he turned his stool towards Oscar.
"Shut up, I'm getting there." Oscar said, appearing to talk to himself.
Qrow gave Oscar a weird look.
"Umm...I'm supposed to tell you...I'd like my cane back." Oscar said.
Qrow realized that Ozpin was a part of Oscar and got up.
"It's good to see you again, Oz." Qrow said, throwing the cane to Oscar, "I guess you're not the only one to come back from the grave recently."
Oscar gave Qrow a strange look.
Powerhouse out.