Chapter 10: A Bloody Battle
Simone stood in the arena sparring with Pyrrha and her team. She restrained her self to a more manageable level for her friends. Simone blocks a thrust from Pyrrha using her old parasol. All the while she flicks all of the shots fired at her by Ren. Nora comes flying in with a downward swing. Simone hops out of the way and swings around kicking both Pyrrha and Nora off at the wall. They both smack into it disoriented as Simone quickly run's up to Jaune and knocks him flat on her back.
Then she nail's Ren with a few spikes from her parasol's spike gun. "Alright that is enough Simone. We have time for one more match. Do we have any volunteer's?" She asks as some guy with gray hair. "Ah Mercury who would you like to spar with?" She asks after looking at her scroll real quick. He looks to think about it then points down at Simone. "I am sorry but she was just in a match perhaps you sh-" Glenda was about to say when Simone cut her off.
"It is alright I do not mind." She said standing in the arena. Before long Mercury was standing there not far from her. "Begin." Glenda said prompting Mercury to immediately fire off blasts of fire. Simone simply blocked them with her parasol open. He then started circling around firing a few more as he went. Then Simone rushed up to him as he was reloading. She was holding back even more now. Just as she was about to swing her parasol Mercury suddenly hit her in the side with a heavy kick.
"Not bad for a human." Simone said catching his leg and using it to throw him to the other side of the arena. He slowly got up as Simone quickly got over to him. He attempted to block her punch but was thrown back into the wall. The impact knocked the wind from his lungs. "We can stop here if you like. No one will think any less of you." Simone said taking a step back. "This match is over." Glenda declared as Simone vanished in a blur and appeared over with Ruby.
Simone was again in a arena but this time it was for the tournament. "And let the match begin!" Simone just stood there blocking and deflecting any attack that came her way. 'Something is not quite right...' She thought as she swatted away whoever it was that was attempting to fight her. That was when suddenly she felt something strange. Suddenly she saw her opponent offering up there neck. "Something is not right..." She thought to herself as she felt a bizarre kind of fatigue.
Suddenly she felt the sting of a fist smashing into her face. "Well I guess I should pay more attention to what is happening in front of me." Simone says turning to look her opponent in the face. She then blocks another punch from her and sends her flying back with a knee to the gut. Ruby beats the girl on the hover board. The last two apparently knocked out already.
When she got out of the arena she sat down and touched her face. "Hey are you alright Simone?" Yang asks as Ruby comes over. "Yeah I should be. All my power just takes it's toll on my body. That is all." She said sounding exhausted. "And suppressing all of that power so as to guarantee I don't hurt anyone or cause an uproar also takes it's toll on my body." She said getting up and pulling her hood up.
Ruby comes up to her and gives her a hug. "Come on let's go and rest." She said softly in her sweet voice. "Yeah lets do that. Not like I have much to do for the rest of the day." Simone said as she left the arena with her team.
Out front of Beacon Simone saw a guy with a scythe briefly fight with an Atlesian officer. After the fight Ruby rand up to him and started hanging from his arm. It seemed they knew each other really well. "Oh right Simone this is my uncle Qrow! Qrow this is Simone! Me and her are kinda going out." Ruby said sounding a bit embarrassed. "Oh is that so? Well it is nice to meet you then Simone." He said holding a hand out. Simone shook his hand carefully.
"You shake my like like you are afraid of crushing my hand." He said giving Simone and odd look. "Indeed I would prefer not to crush anyone's hand by accident." Simone said nodding her head slightly. "Oh? Is that likely to happen?" He asks sounding a bit skeptical. "Yes as I can bend steel with my bare hand it is entirely possible. Which is why I do not typically offer to shake hands." Simone said like it was all perfectly normal. But Qrow just stared clearly not sure what to say.
"Well you see she is kinda sorta a vampire... And so am I now technically..." Ruby said nervously as Simone watched his face closely. "I promise that I only turned her because I had no other choice. She had become... Injured rescuing me. I turned her as it was the only way to save her." Simone said sadness leaking into her every word. "That is certainly a lot to take in..." Qrow says looking deep in thought. Clearly having some conflicting feeling's about all of it.
"Simone is a good person... She is looking to usher in a new era for vampires. One where they help the rest of the world. She is gonna gather them up and make them into a force for good in the world." Ruby said sounding excited, proud and happy. "I guess I don't have a choice but to accept her then. Why don't we go and catch up in private?" Qrow said giving Ruby a smile. Simone bowed to them quickly. "I shall leave you two to catch up I have some business to attend to." Simone said gating away.
"Violet what is your report?" Simone asked as she was staring at the map spread across the table. They were in the 'war room' planning some things out. "My lady I have found that the white fang are preparing for something massive. It should be happening right around arrival day..." Violet said crouched in the corner wearing her shadow cloak. "That is very unfortunate... But I guess that is to be expected." Simone said as she stood up straight and stretched.
"Alright Veetor your job will be to make sure they arrive as late as possible. If the white fang make there move around that day thing's will be difficult if the dark vampires show up. We cant deal with both at the same time." Simone said getting a nod from Veetor. "And Violet I would like you to keep an eye on my friends. Keep out of sight and don't draw attention to yourself. You must be incognito." Simone said causing Violet to tilt her head.
"Uh not to question you or anything but I don't do well during the day..." Violet said nervously. "That is not an issue I have a... Gift of sort for you." Simone said stepping over to Violet. She then placed her hand on Violet's head and focused on the energy in the both of them. Suddenly Violet gasped and pulled her mask off. "Now you can walk in light without problem. Can I trust you for this task?" Simone asked leaning over the table slightly. "Of course my lady." Violet said before quickly leaving.
Simone breathed a sigh of relief before coughing up a bit of blood. 'That was not a very smart thing to do... Taking her weakness' weaken's you further.' "I am aware Astroya... But I need to make sure they are as safe as possible. When all of this happen's I wont be able to protect them. I will be lucky if I can even prevent things from turning into complete chaos." Simone said before coughing up some blood again.
"So who is gonna head on to singles when we win the doubles?" Simone asked earning weird looks from her team. "Shouldn't you do it?" Yang asked as Simone sighed. "If all of you would like me to then I guess it would be fine." Simone said earning nods from her team. "Alright I shall win this tournament." Simone said before heading out into the arena with Yang. There opponent's are a strange cat faunas on skates and a guy playing a instrument.
As soon as the fight start's Yang and the cat end up fighting as Simone lazily fires spikes at the guy. He starts playing as suddenly the spikes are being thrown all over. Simone blocks one with her parasol. "Neat trick you have there knocking my projectiles around." Simone says sarcastically. "Are you just trying to be an ass or something?" He asks looking a bit annoyed. Simone just sighs and rushes him suddenly rolling to the side when he starts playing. She narrowly evades his knock back wave.
He then separates into a bunch of duplicates all trying to box Simone in. She just jabs the bladed tip of her parasol into the ground and slowly steps forward using spikes made of shadows on the bottom of her boots. He starts to panic as they back up. Simone just keeps stepping forward. He keeps intensifying the blast but the continual blasts seem to be taking there tolls on him and his duplicates. Before long he has to stop and Simone rushes in and launches him straight off the arena.
Simone quickly vacates the arena as there victory is announced. She then proceed's to vomit blood. "Dammit all." She says as Yang comes up behind her and puts a hand on her back. "Hey maybe I should do the solo's after all? You don't seem to be doing very well. You should really rest up. Oh my god is that blood? When did you start vomiting blood?" Yang asked looking and sounding incredibly worried. "I am fine. My body has already healed the internal bleeding caused by my unruly power." Simone said sounding horrible. "I will catch with you and the rest later... Don't say anything to Ruby please it will just worry her unnecessarily." Simone said stumbling away as Yang just watches.
Simone stands in the arena with Mercury in front of her. She was leaning rather heavily on her parasol. Mercury was smirking like he was amused by something. "Let the match begin!" The announcer's said. Simone starts sprinting straight at Mercury when her vision suddenly starts to blur. "Having some trouble there?" Mercury asks as he comes in and kicks Simone in the face. She reels back but last second twists around smacking him in the side with her parasol.
Simone breaths as her vision continues to fade into nothingness. But she suddenly start's seeing things in the darkness. She ignores a blast she see's and roll's her eyes when she feel's nothing. Then she focusing on a nagging feeling at the edge of her mind. She knew someone was trying to mess with her head. However best as she could tell it was supposed to be visual. Simone scoffed and rejected the mental connection with a burst of telepathic energy. A moment later a girl screamed as she collapsed to the ground.
Simone then grabs Mercury by the foot and swings him around throwing him a good 20 feet away. She started to clumsily rush towards Mercury as he got to his feet. She then blocked more blasts when a light bomb landed at her feet. It blew up in a burst of incredibly intense light. Simone recoiled back tripping on a rock. She landed on her back with her hood falling to reveal her slightly burned face. People started to freak out as realization dawned. "There is a vampire in the arena!" Some shouted as they all started to get up, some leaving immediately.
Simone heard a cacophony of boots and metal. She was certain Ironwoods soldiers and robots were the source. "Keep your hands where they are and no sudden movement's!" One of the men said with authority. Simone groaned as she slid her weapon away from her. Then she was hefted up by a couple of atlesian knights. They hauled her into a holding cell of sorts. "If you try anything that cell is equipped with anti vampire fail safes." The same man said clearly not concerned.
Ruby stood in the war room of Simone's palace. "What the are we gonna do?" She asked as she looked to her friends and Simone's highest ranking allies. "Lady Ruby She is being held captive till they can make a public execution happen... I believe this will be happening around when the tournament is coming to an end." Violet said as Veetor looked to be deep in thought. "Perhaps we should simply carry on as normal for now? She should be able to escape at any moment. She is likely just biding her time till she can do so without causing more trouble." Veetor said looking to everyone.
Yang looked incredibly nervous as she stood up and walked over to the big map table. "The thing is her power's were going a bit out of control. She was in rough shape. I mean you all saw how she was acting in that fight right? She was definitely not doing well." Yang said looking down at the map. "I could feel something has been off since the incident with the train..." Ruby said bloody tears in her eyes.
"Do not worry Lady Ruby we will make sure she returns safely." Violet said as she looked over at Veetor. "I will work with Violet to rescue her. All of you though should get back before people start to think things are amiss." Veetor said as he looked over the map.
Simone sat in the cell focusing on reigning in her power. She had already been in there for a couple of days. That was when something unexpected happened. All of the nearby security received calls about panic in the stands. Some kinda broadcast had caused an uproar apparently. Simone stood up and walked over to the special plastic door. When she heard something about grimm in the city Simone punched the door out.
She started to walk through the corridors as security personal ran around. She used her senses to avoid being seen as she felt her way around. She was still blind as a result of the poison she was exposed to. "We need to get the civilians evacuated immediately!" One of the higher ranked security personnel said. Simone found her way to the shuttles but instead of taking one she looked to the sky with her blinded eyes.
She could feel the griffon's and nevermore everywhere. She gated back to the school where white fang were dropping off grimm. She sped into one of there bullheads as it neared the ground. She hit it with enough force to knock it to the ground mangled like a car wrapped around a tree. Simone then proceeded to sprint around smashing white fang bullheads and wrecking any troops and grimm already on the ground.
That was when Ironwood's troops started dropping in all over the place. Simone avoided them as they battled white fang and grimm all over beacon. Until the atlesian knights and paladins suddenly turned on the other Atlas troops. Simone had a bad feeling something horrible was happening below her feet in the school. But she kept moving about occasionally tripping as she navigated the school blind.
The ground started to shake as something emerged from within the nearby mountain. Simone barely managed to prevent herself from falling to the ground. She could feel something massive coming toward the school. But she could also feel something strange and powerful in the school itself. She sped to the front of the school with all the speed she could muster. When she arrived her friends and some of the other contestant's were fighting with some of the remaining white fang.
However Pyrrha, Jaune, Yang, Blake and Ruby were missing. "Hey are you okay?" Velvet asked as she moved over to Simone. "Where are Ruby, Yang and Blake? Shouldn't they be with you?" Simone asked sounding frantic as Velvet noticed the pale clouded appearance of Simone's eyes. "Simone... What happened to your eye's?" She asked staring in shock at Simone. Simone though seemed to sense something all the way at the edge of her senses.
And with that she vanished as a copy appeared to aid her friends. She burst into the cafeteria were a red haired man was about to kill Yang. Simone charged at him with incredible speed but he turned the blade on her just barely in time. The blade went straight through her aura and cut into her flesh burning her across her chest. Simone recoiled back and fell to the ground. The man moved in to strike her down but shadow tendrils flew out of no where.
The man just barely dodged all but the last one which snuck in from below. It threw him off his feet and did a number on his aura. Simone climbed to her feet and stared at the man her face fierce. Before the man could say anything more Simone launched a swarm and shadow tendril's at him. He did his best to dodge and block them but they came from to many directions simultaneously. He was battered by them till Simone could feel the massive monster and the strange power both meeting at the top of the tower. "I don't have time for you... Count yourself lucky." Simone said speeding away before he could even move a muscle.
Simone gated to Ozpin's office. She nearly got hit by a blast of heat as someone was flinging fire around. She could tell Pyrrha was there fighting full force but she seemed to be losing. Simone took a deep breath and enveloped the area with darkness. However the fire woman made a large ball of fire and burned away the shadow's. Simone though had made 4 doppelgangers that now surrounded the woman with the original.
They all projected there aura's into intense beam's of energy. The woman though blocked them with flames as she weaved flames around. Then the flames surged into the Simone's one at a time. The real Simone was the only one who managed to avoid the flame blast. The other's crumbled apart having been burned to a crisp. Simone was breathing heavily clearly exhausted. That was when the giant monster moved in and attempted to eat Simone.
Instead Simone created a very large Aura spear and leapt up stabbing the monster in the face. The spear did not get very far into the bone plating on the monster's face. The monstrous Grimm threw Simone from it's head with a quick shake. Then Simone allowed the spear to burst forcing the dragon back. At the same time she made shadow tendrils swarm at the mystery woman. "I will burn you to a crisp for meddling." The woman said glaring at Simone.
The woman burned the tendril's away with a wave of flames. Pyrrha came in and flung a large gear at the woman forcing her to dodge. "I will teach you not to mess with those important to me." Simone said before appearing behind the woman punching her in the back. The woman flew across the room till she regained control and floated up in the air by the power residing in her aura. "I don't know what this power you hold is but I severely doubt that it will be enough to defeat me." Simone said as she appeared behind the woman again. Seemingly just standing on nothing.
"What how did you get behind me?" The woman said blasting fire at Simone as she turned around. Simone appeared all around the room each one staring at the woman intently. "Cinder was your name was it not?" Simone asked as the woman blasted away at the illusion's. "You see this is far from the first time we have met. We met on that roof before the school year. We met when you infiltrated beacon. And then we met again when you broke into the control tower. You are not nearly as smart as you thought." Simone said as she pulled a chunk of lightning dust crystal from a shadow gate.
As she held it power surged into her core from the dust. The dust lost it's color slowly till it was devoid of color and energy. Then Simone let the now red energy arc up into Cinder. Cinder narrowly manages to avoid the energy and form a bow and arrow. Then Cinder launches a volley of arrows at Simone most of them shattering on her aura. But some pierce through with the help of fire. Simone growls at Cinder as she pulls arrows out of her shoulder's, legs and gut.
"You don't handle flames very well do you?" Cinder asked grinning down at Simone. That was when the dragon suddenly came in for a bite again. Simone appeared on it's head with a big blade made of aura. She went to it's neck and started to hack away at the monster's neck causing it to screech as it's neck is cut. Before long the dragons head is severed and the grimm is dying. Simone then practically fly's into Cinder blade first.
Cinder's aura begin's to fail as Simone jams her blade of aura into Cinder with such force it is breaking apart. But by the time Cinder'a aura has failed Simone is left with a empty hand. And so Simone presses her hand into Cinder's chest. Then as the power in Cinder starts to go into Simone they both become engulfed in flames. Simone screams out as Cinder dies and her own soul is being burned by the power inside her.
Pyrrha catches Simone as she fall's and tries to put out the flames. But then Simone places her hand on Pyrrha's shoulder and starts to release the burning power into her. As the last of the power leaves Simone she collapses in Pyrrha's arms as Ruby comes running in as fast as she can. "What happened to her?" Ruby asks her eyes filling with bloody tears. Pyrrha though is experiencing a strange surge of power as the maidens power's are now residing in her.
"I do not know... She stole the power of the lady we were fighting and then burst into flames. But then she transferred some of them power to me..." Pyrrha said looking to be in rough shape. But Simone was in far worse shape being burned all over. Ruby grabs her and lift's her up. "We need to hurry and get help..." Ruby said as they then left the wrecked tower.
The End