Chapter Ten: Blood of My Blood

Ruins of Beacon, Adjacent to Courtyard

She heard quiet, gasping breaths. It was a terrible sound, of the desperate struggle to take in oxygen and survive a terrible wound. Each breath could be the last, and each moment made that possibility all the more likely. Yet it did not last, for that horrible squelching would eventually be replaced by something more coherent and defiant.

And ultimately, a greater contribution to the end.

"Do you believe in destiny?" Not everyone could meet their end with such grace and dignity.

Or manage to stifle their killer's hand and fill them with doubt. "Yes."

Ruby.

And then she heard it, the air rushing past her head as she landed on the new, broken roof. She turned her attention to the sight of her friend, even wounded and forced to kneel, facing death without fear.

But still death. Death right in front of her that she could not stop.

"PYRRHA!"

Ruby!

Ruby was finally startled awake, Nora shaking her shoulders. She glanced up at her friend, Ren already awake beside her. She glanced around at the muddy, shattered ground she lay upon, and felt the splatter of rain still pouring down on her head.

"What happened?" Ruby wondered, feeling sore and fatigued, and as though she'd run headlong into a wall.

"You and the crazy Grimm lady had a disagreement," Nora answered. "I thought you made some good points, but she had a really strong closing argument."

Ruby looked around them. "What happened to Jaune?"

"Taken, apparently, as our enemy had planned," Ren explained. "Most likely she has placed herself somewhere inside Beacon, so as not to be buffeted by the storm."

"If it even bothers her at all," Nora dryly added.

Ruby gathered her bearings while Nora and Ren moved her out from under the omnipresent rain to under one of the crumbling walls of the courtyard. It didn't keep them completely dry, but at least rain wasn't splattering in her face while she tried to think.

"What should we do?" Ren inquired.

"Rescue him, obviously," Nora answered immediately.

"Normally, I'd agree, but the number of Grimm in the vicinity makes that… problematic," Ren argued.

"Ruby could run in really fast and get him out," Nora suggested.

"We'd have to find his location first, and even then he'd be too heavy for Ruby to carry," Ren reminded her.

Nora came up with some alternative plan, but Ruby was no longer listening. She was drifting backwards, lost in memory…

You might even have been a failure the first day we met, but you can't be one now. You know why? Because it's not just about you anymore. You've got a team now, Jaune. We both do. And if we fail, well, we'll just bring them down with us.

Jaune had been happy to defer to her and let her lead his teammates in their mission into Mistral, but it was taking time to come around to ordering Nora and Ren. Not because they didn't respect her or because they had difficulty working with her, but out of habit of following Jaune and affection for their lost friend.

The same friend who'd been the onus for this mission returning them to Vale. They still had no idea if she was tied in some way to the magnetic disturbances, but now they had more pressing matters. Before they hadn't known if their friend was in danger; now another definitely was.

Ruby had thought seeing a friend die would be the worst experience of her life. But the uncertainty… the not knowing another friend's fate gave the same churn in her stomach, the same icy cold in her heart. Jaune was her best friend outside her team, and she would not lose him.

"We'll never get through that many Grimm in a straight fight," Ruby finally interceded in her teammates' argument. "We need to make an opening so I can move in and find him."

"What if he's injured?" Ren inquired. "How will you get him back out?"

"If I can't move him, I'll contact your Scrolls and tell you we're staying put," Ruby answered simply. "And then you disengage and fall back, all the way back to the Safe Zone if you have to."

It went against her advice to put her teammates in danger without sharing in it herself. It wasn't unusual for her to rush headlong in with only 2/3rds of a plan figured out. "After you draw the Grimm's attention, I'll move in," Ruby explained. "And then you fall back and don't you dare let yourselves get hurt."

"A strategic withdraw would be the wisest course," Ren agreed. "Our ammunition is already running low."

Nora smirked, hoisting Magnhild. "Fortunately, hammers don't run out of ammo."

"And grenades?" Ren asked.

Nora looked sheepishly away. "Could use more…"

"Just get their attention, that's all you need to do," Ruby told them. "Please, guys… don't push your luck. There's way too many of them, even for you, Nora."

"Well, okay, since you asked nicely, I'll just destroy half of them before we retreat," Nora agreed, regaining her enthusiasm.

"I will ensure she withdraws in a timely fashion," Ren promised.

It wasn't ideal, putting her teammates in danger. But only Ruby could move quickly enough to go unnoticed by the horde. Sometimes hard decisions didn't mean self-sacrifice; sometimes it meant you had to count on others to take care of themselves and play out their assigned roles.

They'd been united with the goal of rescuing their friend, despite running headlong into deadly weather and an army of monsters to do so.

Some things never changed.

Vale Safe Zone Border

"Boss, should we batten the hatches?" one of Junior's subordinates shouted to be heard over the raging wind.

It would be a sound strategy, to better set up their defenses to ride out the storm, but Junior's attention was instead on the soldiers and Atlesian knights fighting the oncoming Grimm at their border checkpoint. The Grimm were falling in truckloads, but were gradually whittling down the resistance.

And seeing as Atlas just sent their warships outside the Safe Zone, they had no aerial support and probably couldn't count on any incoming reinforcements. Maybe the line would hold, and maybe things would work out fine, but that hadn't been Junior's experience.

And Merlot and his waif friend controlled the Grimm like puppets. Beating a bunch of wild animals wasn't too difficult, except when they came in numbers. Beating a coordinated attack force required an even better coordinated attack force, and maybe the freaks squatting in Beacon could make the Grimm into one, while maintaining their numbers advantage.

"Protect the twins," Junior replied as he stepped out onto the street. "Get our six best guns up on the rooftops and tell them to target the Grimm."

"Boss?" his minion inquired.

"You have trouble hearing me?" Junior asked. "Don't make me come back there and repeat myself."

His subordinate needed no more prompting and issued the orders. Junior walked towards the checkpoint, watching an Ursa push over the line and crush one of the AKs.

It wasn't his wisest course of action. He could've hunkered down and waited for things to play out: that would've been the logical course. But for whatever reason, he didn't think the Grimm would let up, and since he'd opted to stay in town, he'd have to protect his turf.

"Step back, civilian!" one of the Atlas soldiers shouted while firing into the horde. The same soldier panicked when a Griffon pounced over the line and he fired blind, until Junior interceded and punched the Grimm out of the way.

"You look like you could use all the help you can get," Junior dryly observed. "You really care about where it comes from?"

Junior went after the Ursa that had broken through the line, driving it to the pavement with a series of punches. The Atlas soldiers gradually lost interest in trying to dissuade him from helping, especially once his men added additional volleys of gunfire to complement their own.

He was a gangster. Normally, he'd be focused on self-interest, and never lift a finger to help uphold order. But the Grimm wouldn't care who was in their path, and he somehow doubted the people pulling their strings would care that he'd been supplying them with Dust to build up whatever the heck they were planning in the first place.

For now, two of his friends were injured and he had nowhere to take them to. So he'd hold the Grimm back, and maybe hold out hope a group of dumb, meddling kids could throw a spanner in the evil works and bail him out.

It was hard to think of worse plans, but hey, it'd happened once before…

Ruins of Beacon, the Tower

Jaune had been tapping his sword hilt on the floor while he waited for his captors to play their hand. Regen's every step had left deep cracks in the floor with her weight, so each time he tapped his hilt he heard the rock groan and creak. It helped pass the seconds while he anticipated something much less pleasant.

Then, of course, Regen had gone on her rant and Merlot had left to work on his minerals. All that remained now was for Regen to fulfill her promise and kill him.

Yet she was idle now, waiting beside the frozen Grimm dragon. She had stepped up from the desk to examine the patch of flesh unaffected by the silver cocoon, and had just waited for several long moments.

"You waiting for your doc buddy?" Jaune asked, making conversation.

Regen didn't deign to reply, only staring at the Grimm dragon.

Jaune was not looking forward to Merlot's return. His words had reminded Jaune that this entire expedition had been a fool's errand: that Pyrrha really was gone, and her use of her powers had just been a fading echo the bad guys had been able to benefit from. He'd led his friends into danger for her sake, and it had been for nothing.

And whatever he'd sacrificed for, they were not safe. Not if Regen carried out her insane plan to completion. No one would be safe. And the only hunter on hand to stop her… was him. The failure, the captive, the fool.

He kept tapping his sword on the rock, passing the seconds away. His efforts were only distracted when a particularly intense bolt of lightning drew his attention, as Grimm were sent flying from the force of impact far below. In that impact he saw a brief flash of pink…

Regen tensed up, raising her hands to cover her ears. "The brats again…" she snarled. "Your friends are persistent."

"They can be, yeah," Jaune agreed, resuming his steady tapping.

"As I told you- easily remedied," Regen assured him, as she concentrated. Several Grimm on the ground broke from the horde to intercede, moving after the pink blur on the ground, only to then have to fend off a green blur fighting alongside their first target.

"Not so easily," Jaune mused, whimsical at the sight, burying his concern and trusting there was a plan in place for the clumsy rescue attempt.

Jaune's tapping was again interrupted when Merlot returned, holding a syringe filled with green liquid. "It is done. Open the portal."

Regen turned her attention to the frozen Grimm dragon and drove her hand into the patch of living flesh. "Blood of my blood," Regen spoke, "Show me the heart of Remnant…"

Some dark, liquid-esque material poured out from the flesh, pooling around Regen's bare feet. Merlot pressed buttons on his scroll, and an explosion of Dust above their heads triggered the magnetic pull of the four anchors in the cyclone eye. Regen withdrew her arm and flung the dark blood skyward, letting it be drawn into the magnetic field and then pulled in four directions, widening the circle, strengthening the portal…

The dark blood swirled between the four points until it too, took the form of a cyclone: a storm within a storm. Regen smiled. "… and I will bring light to you, at last, blood of my blood. Merlot, it is time."

Merlot leveled the syringe and stepped forward. Jaune finally stopped tapping and stood up.

"Hang on, Doc," Jaune requested. "Something I gotta' say first."

"Something inconsequential, no doubt," Merlot muttered.

Regen didn't even bother to look at him. "If you're eager to meet your end, I assure you, it's very near."

"Maybe," Jaune admitted. "But see, I wanted to bring up this point. I surrendered to you when you promised you'd let my friends live."

"And?" Regen wondered, sounding almost bored by his inquiry.

"Well, an Arc never goes back on his word," Jaune told her, "until someone goes back on theirs' first. Whatever you think you're doing, I won't let you hurt them."

"What you promise is immaterial," Regen assured him in her monotone. "You can't stop me. You never could."

Jaune leveled his sword at Regen. "Well, there's one way to find out."

Regen scoffed and finally turned to face him. "Well, by all means, see your rebellion through."

"Gladly," Jaune answered, placing his foot forward and assuming proper form. He'd been practicing this technique, and now he needed to get it right.

Fortunately, Regen had done most of the work for him. Jaune slashed the empty air twice in succession, unleashing bursts of air pressure.

If Regen was affected by the attacks at all, she didn't bother to flinch. "Is there a point to this?"

"Yeah… this," Jaune replied, finishing with his third swing, focusing the arc of his attack in a downward motion, leaving a deep scar from the air burst in the rock and steel of the tower, rather than in the madwoman in front of him.

And as he expected, the rock and steel creaked and groaned, and with a new wound in its frame after being repeatedly abused by magnetic pulls and the unusually strong footsteps of its occupant… the tower began to crumble even more.

Regen looked down, as the floor beneath her feet began to give way. "You-" She glanced back up at Jaune, only for the rock beneath her feet to give way, as she fell amongst the rubble towards the ground.

"What-" Merlot began, before Jaune moved to attack him… only to fall after Regen, the ground giving way. He dug Crocea Mors into the side of the tower to slow his descent as he followed her.

Ruby had been waiting to move in, and once Ren and Nora got the Grimm's attention, she'd begun her sprint, only to see Jaune and Regen falling from the tower. Jaune was moving slower with his blade sliding through the tower exterior, while Regen was in free-fall.

Her friend and her enemy's locations were confirmed. She moved in to intercept.

Regen struck the ground with the force of a small meteor, leaving a crater five feet deep and destroying several members of the Grimm horde from the force of her impact. Worse still, she'd actually felt damage from the fall, and when she dragged herself up, she felt a very rare sensation: warmth. Blood, fresh and her own, ran over her forehead and down her eye, muddying her vision.

Emotions she'd suppressed were rising to the surface. Rage radiated through her body, and the Grimm nearby were drawn to it, her anger becoming theirs'.

At least until Jaune finished his slow fall and landed before her, and the Grimm saw the massive source of Aura. Then they were angry and hungry.

"You… have severely inconvenienced me," Regen growled at him, emotions breaking through her calm façade. "I hope this bravado was worth it."

Jaune smiled as he readied his shield. "I'll take being an inconvenience over being Grimm food any day."

Regen heard the Grimm whispering. A meal had leapt into their midst, and more and more of them were beginning to notice. And the ones she was directing after this boy's comrades were dividing her attention. The number of voices in her head was growing, and she was right at the precipice of achieving her goal.

"Well, you surpassed my expectations," Regen admitted. "You can be both."

Regen stepped out of the crater, knowing that even with his sword he wouldn't overcome her density. If she could quickly wear him down, there'd still be time to ascend before the voices of the horde became overwhelming, and once Merlot gave her the serum, she'd say the word and her work would be done.

Regen reached to swing her fist at him, only for a scythe to move in the path of her attack, diverting the force of impact.

The silver-eyed warrior…

"You're both in a hurry to die," Regen dryly observed, unable to contain all of her fury. The nearby young Grimm moved to join her, more voices whispering in her ear.

"In a hurry to stop you, maybe," Ruby replied. "You know, just as an alternative."

The situation had become more complicated, but Regen was still confident she could defeat them both without their other two allies. "Well, by all means…"

Ruby prepared to attack, when Jaune reached to brush her shoulder with his shield. "That doctor Merlot is at the top of the tower. You have to get up there and put a stop to him."

"What? You think I'm just going to leave you here?" Ruby asked.

"I would've still been up there if I hadn't lost my footing," Jaune told her. "We have to close down that portal they've made."

Ruby looked up at the black blood swirling in the cyclone eye, but quickly looked back at Jaune. "No way am I leaving you here."

"I'm the one she wants," Jaune assured his friend. "Listen, I can't give you all the details, but this thing they're doing is really bad and really big. If we don't stop them, we won't be the only ones they hurt."

Ruby recalled seeing the dark blood summon Grimm during the Battle of Beacon. And whatever it was Jaune had heard, there was no reason to doubt him.

"All right, then," Ruby reluctantly agreed. "I'll be back in a flash."

"No need to rush on my account," Jaune told her, putting on a confident smile. "At least she hasn't knocked me out yet."

Ruby ignored the remark and dashed away, running into the tower. Jaune returned his attention to Regen and the growing mass of Grimm at her back.

"I hope you enjoyed your last day in the sunlight," Regen told him, blood dribbling past her eye and down her cheek. "Things are about to get very dark."