For those of you who saw the other posts I've made, I finally talked to my doctor and got help for my depression. I'm on medication, and I'm a month clean of suicidal actions. I've relapsed a few times with self harm, but I'm trying to stop. It's been a hard month, but I'm still here. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. Here's to getting better. (:

Now then, onto the chapter I've been hyping up so much. Let's see if you think it was worth the wait.

Chapter 10: Sacrifice and Redemption

"Any news?" Emerald asked, the fear in her voice painfully evident. It was the afternoon after Neo visited her parents, and while it was a nice break from what had being going on, it wasn't an escape.

Team RWBY, JNPR, NEMP, and CFVY were all gathered outside of Ozpin's office. It'd been so long since their teammates, their friends, had been kidnapped, and they were desperate to hear some good news about the ongoing investigation. The three present team leaders had gone up to ask for an update, and as they returned, their anxious teammates jumped to their feet and stared with hopeful eyes.

Ruby sighed and shook her head, "They're gonna continue the search for another week, but after that, Professor Ozpin said that the police won't be able to keep it going. After that, all we can hope for is that the military finds Cinder, and that our friends are with her."

The news was devastating to hear, turning everyone's optimistic faces to exactly the opposite. None of them had expected good news, but they'd been dreading exactly this. Even though it was inevitable it would happen eventually, that didn't mean they were prepared to accept it.

"Then it's on us," Yang said, looking around her. "We're gonna find our friends and rescue them ourselves. Who's with me?"

"I'm in," Velvet agreed, giving her bag a light pat. The consensus of the group seemed to be the same, but one of them spoke up as the voice of reason.

"How?" Weiss asked. "We have no leads, no direction, nothing. I want to get them back as much as the rest of you, but this isn't the time to be irrational."

The heiress received a few angry glares, but she was still right. Tensions had been high lately, and it was incredible that nobody had done anything irrational up to this point. Team CFVY decided this was a good point to leave and headed out, leaving the remaining three teams to fight it out.

"Well what do you expect us to do?" Pyrrha demanded, throwing her arms up in frustration.

She was normally very level-headed, but these last few weeks had taken their toll on her. It'd gone as far as her and Emerald getting into a fight while Neo was visiting her parents, and the resentment still lingered today. Emerald's constant defense of Mercury had pushed her over the edge. Jaune quickly moved to her side and started to rub her shoulders to soothe her, but the question on everyone's minds was out now.

Neo sighed, "I agree with both of you. I agree that we shouldn't just sit around and hope something turns up, but what can we do?"

"Something! Anything!" Emerald exclaimed. "It's been weeks! Can you imagine what Cinder's been doing to them for that long? I'll turn this entire fucking kingdom upside down if I have to, but I'm gonna find them!"

"And Mercury?" Ren asked in his normal, neutral voice.

"I'm gonna demand an answer from him, but I'm still not ruling out the possibility that he wasn't acting on his own free will. I know you all doubt him, but-"

"Oh shut up," Pyrrha growled, starting to lose her cool. "He's a backstabbing traitor. You're the only one who refuses to accept it."

"HEY! Don't talk about him like that!" Emerald yelled back, taking a step toward Pyrrha.

Pyrrha scowled and clenched her fists, "Or what, bitch?"

Emerald screamed and lunged, as did Pyrrha, but neither one of them made contact before someone intervened.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Weiss yelled as she made glyphs to freeze both attacking girls up to the waist. "What's fighting amongst ourselves gonna solve, huh? Pyrrha, we don't know that Mercury betrayed us. Emerald, I know you want to defend him, but ease back a little. Can we all please try to calm down?"

Neo nodded in agreement, "I think we all need some time to unwind. I say that couples should have quiet date nights tonight, and then tomorrow, we'll reconvene at lunch and make a plan for how to find our friends. Sound good?"

Emerald and Pyrrha had spent that entire time trying to claw themselves free from their icy prisons, and they begrudgingly nodded as Neo finished. Weiss released them both, and after exchanging a quick, angry glance, the two girls hugged to make up. They all paired off with their respective partners, ready to go with Neo's idea, but there was one slight problem.

"What about Ren?" Jaune asked. He was the only one present whose partner wasn't.

Ren shrugged, "I'm happy to spend the day doing some quiet meditating. I could really use it."

"Then it's settled," Yang smiled, taking Emerald's hand. "Oh, and no more fighting? Please?"

"She started it," Emerald grumbled under her breath.

Neo rolled her eyes, "And we're finishing it. The next people in a fight are cleaning all three dorm rooms top to bottom. Is that enough of an incentive to behave?"

"I will if she will," Pyrrha replied, earning an angry glare from Jaune. "Alright, alright. I'll behave. Sorry I called you a bitch, Emerald..."

"And I'm sorry that you are one," the green-haired girl said with a smug grin. "Kidding, kidding. I forgive you, and I'm sorry I jumped at you."

"DATE TIME!" Yang exclaimed as Pyrrha went to say something in response, and pulled Emerald off and away from the group. "See you guys tomorrow!"

Weiss smiled and shook her head as the two disappeared out of sight, "We have the weirdest friends... Alright, let's get going. Neo, what do you want to do today?"

"Umm... Get ice cream?" Neo innocently suggested as she and her girlfriend started walking away. "Maybe a burrito or something, too?"

"We just had lunch! How can you still be hungry?"

Neo giggled and put her hand on her large stomach, "I'm eating for three, remember? I'm always hungry."

"Fair enough," Weiss laughed, and gave a warm smile as she held Neo's hand.

The girls got on an airship into town and took their time walking between a few different places for Neo to eat. She got her ice cream, her burrito, a jar of sweet pickles and some licorice from the grocery store, and finished it all off with a funnel cake. Weiss did her best to not laugh the entire time, but she couldn't hide her amusement. Neo's pregnancy cravings were comical for someone as tiny as her.

"That hit the spot," Neo smiled as she and Weiss sat down on a bench for a short break. She leant her head on Weiss' shoulder for a moment, then suddenly sat up and let out a booming burp. She turned bright red as she shyly turned to Weiss, who was clutching her sides from how hard she was laughing. "Umm... Oops. Excuse me."
Weiss took a moment to compose herself, then looked back at Neo with a grin, "I love you so much."

"Even when I'm loud and gross and annoying?"

"Especially then," Weiss answered, planting a soft kiss on her girlfriend's cheek. "So what should we do now? That is, assuming you've finally had enough to eat."

Neo stuck her tongue out, "Yes, I'm done eating. For now. We could go to that arcade a few blocks down the road. Grab dinner afterwards and then maybe go for a walk?"

"That sounds lovely. Although, if I remember correctly, you and I never settled our bet from the last time we were at the arcade."

"I guess we didn't," Neo smirked, standing up. "Time to show you who's queen of the claw machine."

The girls raced to the arcade as fast as Neo's stomach would allow her, and after Weiss turned fifty Lien into quarters for them to use, they both ran to the claw machines to see who would be the first to win. Neo took the victory after only a few minutes, and added insult to injury by winning two prizes in one grab; a plushie kitten and fox. Weiss huffed and pouted, but her attitude turned around when Neo gave her the fox.

They spent the rest of the afternoon going around the arcade and playing just about every game they had, earning a very considerable number of tickets. They brought them all to the prize counter and were told they had almost forty-five thousand tickets to spend, which they exchanged for a few more stuffed animals and about twenty cheap, assorted toys and candies.

As the winner for the claw machine bet, Neo chose where they'd be eating dinner, and went with a local restaurant famous for its chicken wings and hot sauces. They both ordered wings, but Weiss was much less adventurous with her level of spice. She went with a very mild, honey barbecue, while Neo decided to push her limits and ordered the hottest sauce they had on the menu. As it turned out, eating a dozen wings with that sauce was actually a challenge, and she was given a waiver to sign before they put the order in so she couldn't sue them if the sauce sent her to the hospital.

"You're insane," Weiss said as their food was brought out. "This is gonna be another date night that ends with one of us in the emergency room."

Neo grinned and picked up one of her wings, "Well, it's not gonna be me. Besides, how hot can they be?"

Neo ate her words the moment the wing touched her lips and tongue, instantly sweating and turning red. She finished the wing and swallowed, coughing a little and having to finish her entire glass of water to stop the burning. She was panting when she looked over to see Weiss' face and, as expected, she wore an amused smile.

"Too hot for you?" the heiress toyingly asked. "You can always have some of mine if you want."

"You wish, princess," Neo replied with a stubborn glare, and tore into her next wing.

Several glasses of milk later, Neo finished her twelfth wing and was given a t-shirt for completing the challenge, as well as getting a stunned stare from Weiss. Her mouth, lips, and throat were on fire, but she'd finished her food, and that was all that mattered.

"You're still nuts," Weiss commented as they left the restaurant and and started their walk. "You're going to dearly regret that the next time you go to the bathroom."

It had gotten dark out now, and the girls were walking down a section of the street that wasn't particularly well lit. There weren't many people out, but neither of them seemed to notice.

"True, but I still did it when you thought I couldn't. Totally worth it."

"You're a goofball."

"But I'm yoooour goofball," Neo sang, nuzzling up against Weiss' arm. "And you wouldn't have it any other way, right?"

The heiress rolled her eyes, "You're absolutely my goofball. Forever and ev-"

Weiss suddenly stopped walking and held out her arm to stop Neo as well. Her eyes narrowed, fixating on a spot about twenty yards ahead and to the left. Neo opened her mouth to ask what was wrong, but was stopped before she had the chance. Weiss' hand very slowly moved toward the hilt of her sword, and in one swift, fluid motion, she drew the blade and formed a yellow glyph on the ground where she'd been staring.

Light pulsed from the rune, revealing a boy in dark clothes from within the shadows. Neo only had a split second to look at him before he dashed back into the darkness and disappeared again, but she could instantly tell who he was. The robotic arm, leg, and eye were too distinct to miss.

"It's Tusk," Neo gasped, taking a step closer to Weiss.

The heiress nodded, scanning their surroundings for any sign of the boy, "Can you fight?"

"Not well, but I can try if I have to. I think we should run."

'Five o'clock!' Beo suddenly shouted.

Neo swiftly open her parasol and moved it to block the direction she'd been given, just in time to shield Weiss from a hail of bullets. Both girls spun around to see Tusk appear from the darkness and charge toward them. Weiss raised her rapier and dashed forward to meet him.

"You'd try to kill a pregnant woman?" Weiss furiously asked as her blade met with Tusk's katana.

The boy smirked, disengaging and leaping back, "Not at all. We need her alive. You're the one that we don't need."

"Need me alive for what?" Neo asked, confused.

"You'll see soon enough," Tusk chucked, raising his sword. "Gimme a minute to kill your girlfriend and I'll-"

Weiss didn't wait for him to finish, and made a massive glyph behind her. From the blue rune, a giant, armoured soldier stepped out and raised its greatsword, ready to strike. Tusk flinched back, taken completely by surprise, and now it was Weiss' turn to grin.

"Whoa," Neo said in awe. "Since when did have you been able to fully summon that?"

The heiress continued to smirk, "I've been practicing. Now, Tusk, I've got a message for you to take back to Cinder; If you want to take anyone else, especially Neo, you'll have to go through me."

The summoned armour lifted its sword and brought it down in a huge sec to where Tusk was standing. The boy rolled out of the way and got back to his feet to fight back, but he could see that it wasn't going to be as easy as expected. He very quickly weighed his options, then turned and ran, fading into the shadows.

"Keep your eyes open," Neo said as she watched the boy run. "He'll probably be back."

Weiss shook her head and dismissed her summon, "Doubtful. It looked like he was only prepared for an ambush. We should go back to Beacon, though. Fast."

Neo was inclined to agree, but she still had every intention of watching her back along the way. As she turned to start walking, her gaze passed over something where Tusk had last been standing, and it made her gasp.

"His scroll," she said, pointing to the device on the ground. She ran over and picked it up, and brought her hand to her cover her mouth when she went to open it.

"What's wrong?" Weiss asked, moving to Neo's side so she could see the screen as well. She also gasped when she saw that the background was a selfie of Mercury and Scarlet.

"It's Mercury's..." Neo whispered. "Shit, what's his password? It's something to do with- OH! Duh."

She typed Scarlet's name in, and the scroll unlocked and opened to Mercury's text messages. Specifically, it opened to his and Neo's conversions, with a half-finished message that he hadn't sent.

"Come quick," Weiss read out loud. "We need help."

Neo's eyes grew wide, "Oh my God... Weiss, do you know what this means? Mercury might not have betrayed us after all. He was trying to call me for help! They must've found out before he could send it."

"We need to get back to Beacon. Now," Weiss repeated, even more urgently than before. Neo made no argument, and the girls starting sprinting back to campus.

"I still think it's a trap," Pyrrha sighed. Neo and Weiss had gathered their teams in team RWBY's room to show them they found and explain what had happened, and it came across with mixed feelings from everyone.

Yang shook her head, "I doubt it. It doesn't sound like Tusk had any intention other than to leave with Neo. The question is why?"

"Revenge?" Neo shrugged. "Blackmail? Torture? All of the above? Regardless, we need to figure out where Mercury was when he was typing this. Is there any way to find out?"

"Yes and no," Ren answered. "Scrolls have a frequent location feature that tracks every time you use location services. If he has it enabled, we'll probably be able to see where we was when he turned his scroll back on."

He picked up the scroll and started tapping to the settings pages until he arrived at what he'd been talking about, and opened up a map that showed a bunch of purple dots where Mercury had had his scroll. Most of them were pretty unassuming; campus, various places around the city, but there were a few outliers. Scrolling through them in a list view, one stuck out above all others, which was a single point that was far outside of the city.

"Mountain Glenn?" Ruby asked. "The abandoned city we found Roman and the train under?"

Weiss' eyes narrowed, "I shouldn't be surprised. Look at this; if you zoom in, the point is at the entrance of a warehouse that's built into one of the surrounding mountains. If they'd had their operation going out of there before, it wouldn't surprise me if they had others in the area as well. I'd bet you anything that's where our friends are, and probably where Roman and Cinder are as well."

"Well what're we waiting for?" Emerald asked. "Let's go! We need to-"

"Slow down!" Jaune interrupted. "We can't just go running in there, especially you. You're under watch, remember?"

"So what? We should go to Ozpin right now and tell him what we found! We can go with the police and get everyone out!"

Penny shook her head, "You know it won't be that simple. Whatever we do has to be stealthy. If police or military get sent in, we're just putting everyone in even more danger."

"Agreed," Pyrrha added. "If we're really going to go there, we need a small team. I think I should be on it."

"Me too," Ruby nodded. "Ren, you're pretty stealthy. I think... Yang? We'll need a contingency plan if things go wrong."

Her sister grinned, "I'm down with that. So it's me, you, Pyrrha, and Ren. Y-R-P-R... Ooo, I've got it! Team RYPR! Reaper! I love it!"

"I still think I should go," Emerald huffed, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, well, you'll just get us busted. When do you guys think we should head out?"

"Now," Ren replied. "We can use the cover of night to help us get in and out undetected."

Pyrrha checked the time on her scroll, "It's almost nine o'clock. How do you propose we get there?"

"Steal a ship?" Yang suggested. "No, no, we'd definitely get caught... I can take one person on Bumblebee if the other two have something they can use."

Weiss chuckled, "I can just rent you guys a car if you want. Here, I'll just do that. Do me a favour and make sure it doesn't get destroyed."

"Make it a minivan," Ruby instructed. "We'll have eight people on the way back."

"Got it. I put it under Yang's name at the rental car place by the airport. Be safe, guys."

Team RYPR gathered their weapons and supplies and hugged everyone goodbye, then hurried out of the dorm to pick up their car. The rest of the group sat quietly for a moment, trying to figure out what to do with themselves until their friends got back. They knew they'd be able to text them until they arrived in Mountain Glenn, but the waiting was going to be torturous.

'You're really gonna stay behind?' Beo asked, laughing because she already knew what Neo was planning.

Neo grinned, 'You know I'm not.'

"I need some air," Neo said, walking to the door.

Weiss stood up and started to follow her, "Do you want me to come with you?"

"No, I just wanna clear my head. I'll be back in a little bit."

"Be safe," Emerald smiled. "Pick me up a soda on your way back?"

"'People like Grapes', right?" Neo asked, getting a nod in response. "You got it."

She walked into the hallway and closed the door, then took off running to catch up with the four that had already left. She stayed far enough behind them that they wouldn't notice her, and used her semblance to teleport onto the airship with them without being seen. She did the same when they landed and followed them to the rental car, and used her semblance again to teleport into the trunk. She poked her head up over the back seats as everyone got in and smiled to herself.

'Weiss is gonna murder me,' she thought, looking down at her scroll to see if she had any new messages. Thankfully, she didn't.

'Without a doubt,' Beo giggled. 'But hey, when's that ever stopped you?'

Yang sped off toward the highway and floored it once they were on the open road. It wasn't the most pleasant ride for Neo, but she'd rode in much worse conditions before. It wasn't long before Weiss texted her to see what was taking so long, and not much longer to realise what Neo had done. There wasn't much Weiss could do now to stop her, and it wasn't until team RYPR pulled off the highway and got out to walk the rest of the way that they found out about their stowaway.

"ARE YOU INSANE?" Yang screamed after Neo opened the trunk and showed herself. "You could've been hurt! You could get us caught! And how the fuck is a pregnant girl stealthy in any way, shape, or form? What were you thinking?"

"Just wait in the van," Pyrrha sighed. "We'll be back before too long."

Neo shook her head, "Not happening. I'm coming with you. My illusions and teleporting will be super useful."

"I hate you," Yang groaned, putting her head in her hands. "Just... Just be careful, okay? I'm not taking responsibility if something happens to you."

It was about an hour trek from the highway to Mountain Glenn, but the terrain was mostly flat. Moving through such a heavily forested area at night was scary, and the sounds of Grimm seemed to come from every direction, but somehow they didn't encounter any. It seemed almost too good to be true, which brought everyone's guard up even more as they neared the abandoned city.

"There it is," Pyrrha breathed as the ruins came into view.

Ruby sighed, "I really hoped I wouldn't have to come back here. It's such a sad place..."

"Focus. Look, you can see the facility over in the mountain there. We're really close."

The light of the full moon was just enough to see by as the traversed the rocky mountain slope that led up to the warehouse. The building didn't particularly stand out from the others, but the closer they got, the more they could see that it wasn't as abandoned as it seemed. All of the windows were in perfect condition, none of the cracks in the walls seemed to be anywhere that would make them unsound, and there was a very faint glow of light that was visible through certain windows.

"Let's get to the roof," Neo suggested. "There were skylights when we looked on the map earlier. I bet that'd be an easy way inside."

They made their way up the mountain a little further to where the roof was built into it, and carefully moved to the large windows. Black paper had been plastered over them from the inside, but there were tiny gaps where light could show through. Yang pressed her ear to the glass and confirmed that there was noise coming from inside, and Neo felt a sudden twinge of both joy and fear. If their friends were still alive, this is where they'd be.

"What's the plan?" she asked. "Do you think we can crack the window to get a good look inside?"

"Allow me," Pyrrha replied as she held out her hand. A black glow surrounded her fingertips, and the metal of the frame silently peeled away from the hinge. She very carefully lifted the window up just enough out of the frame and shifted it about an inch to the side so they could peer past it.

"Oh my God..." Neo gasped as she laid eyes on the inside of the building. Hundreds of shipping crates of dust, weapons, and so much more lined the open area, with White Fang guards walking around and moving crates and standing watch. Several doors led deeper into the mountain, each with a sign above that she guessed was a label, but she was too far to read them. "We need to get closer."

Yang nodded, "Neo, can you teleport us onto the rafters? Do it one by one."

Neo agreed and very carefully teleported each member of the group inside. She was exhausted afterwards, but they were one step closer to freeing their friends. That was the easy part, though, and what would come next would be much trickier. The crept along in the shadowed part of the scaffolding until they were overlooking the doors had spotted.

"We've got three options," Ren whispered, squinting to read the signs. "Laboratory, holdings cells, and-"

"Holding cells," Ruby interrupted. "How do we get down there?"

"I have an idea," Pyrrha ventured.

She held out her arm again to use her semblance, this time targeting one of the fire alarms on the opposite side of the open room. She forced the lever down and set off the alarm, making all the guards below them run to the front doors to see what was going on. The doors to the holdings cells and other areas opened as White Fang members ran out, and once they had stopped, the group quickly climbed down and dashed toward the holding cells.

The hallway wasn't totally clear, though, and they met three guards running directly toward them on their way. The guards were taken completely by surprise and the group pounced on them, and were knocked out and hidden before continuing. The alarm turned off soon after, but that didn't matter as they rounded a corner and found themselves in a large room full of prison cells made of iron bars. Neo's eyes lit up as they fixated on four people in one cell on her right.

"GUYS!" she exclaimed, running to the cell door.

Blake, Nora, Coco, and Mercury all looked up, and never before had Neo seen such a look of happiness and relief on any of their faces. None of them appeared to be seriously hurt, but they were all wearing a sort of metal collar around their necks. There was something else, though; three of them had dust crystals implanted in their skin. Blake had purple crystals in her upper arms, Coco had red ones in her forearms, and Nora had yellow ones in her shoulders.

"YOU FOUND US!" Blake exclaimed, excitedly jumping to her feet. "How?"

Pyrrha used her semblance to tear the bars away and free the four captives, and they all came together into a tight group hug. Neo smiled, "We found Mercury's scroll. Tusk dropped it after he tried to ambush me and Weiss, and we saw the message he tried to send. Ren did something with location services to find this place."

"Speaking of Mercury," Yang interjected, turning her attention to the silver-haired boy. "What the fuck happened?"

Mercury sighed as the group hug came apart, "The night that Tusk and Lexy came to kidnap these guys, I tried to stop them. Convince them it wasn't a good time to do it, whatever. The thing is-"

"You're a really shitty liar?" Ruby asked with a smirk.

"Bingo. They kinda figured out I was a spy and forced me to help them kidnap the others. I didn't want to, believe me. I tried my hardest to stop them, but I wasn't in any shape to fight them both after sparring all evening."

Coco rolled her eyes, "He also hasn't stopped apologising since we got in here. Fucking annoying if you ask me. How long has it been?"

"Almost four weeks," Yang answered. Her face fell when she noticed the dust infused into her friends, and put out her hand to touch the area surround Blake's implant. "What the fuck did they do to you? And what are these collars?"

"Dust experimentation," Blake growled. "They implanted whole dust crystals into our bodies. You know how some people put dust in tattoos to use it that way? Cinder wanted to see what infusing the entire thing would do. Spoiler alert; it's jack shit. The crystals didn't do anything at all."

"The collars stop us from using our semblances," Nora continued. "Whenever we try to use them, we get shocked."

Ren looked confused, "But doesn't that fuel your semblance?"

"I thought it would, but it doesn't. I don't know how they work, but it doesn't power me up when it shocks me. It fucking HURTS! Oh, and don't even get me STARTED on what having dust crystals stabbed into me felt like."

"Wouldn't know," Mercury chuckled. "Cinder decided to give my legs an upgrade instead of infusing me." He lifted his pant leg to reveal much sleeker robotic legs than he'd had previously, both of which seemed to be glowing with a faint white light.

"Lucky fuck," Coco grumbled.

"Well well," a familiar voice suddenly spoke up from the doorway, and the group turned in horror to see Roman Torchwick walking toward them, along with two dozen guards. "What have we here? Looks like we didn't need to go through the trouble of capturing you at all, Neo. You just walked right into our hands. Gotta love it when your work does itself."

Neo glared at him, "Why do you want to kidnap me so badly? I'm pregnant, it's not like I'm any use to you."

Roman grinned, "That's where you're wrong. Guards, get them all in collars and back in their cells. I'm gonna give Cinder a call and let her know that she can pull Lexy and Tusk back."

"Not happening," Pyrrha scowled. She whipped her arms around and sent the iron bars from the cells flying into the White Fang men, knocking them all off their feet. "RUN!"

The group took off down the hallway, but they met heavy resistance along the way. "Protect Neo!" Ruby called out, having the rest of them form a circle around the girl. "Whatever they want her for so badly, they're not gonna get her!"

They fought their way out of the hallway and into the open front of the warehouse, but were stopped in their tracks when they found five Atlesian paladins waiting for them. They held their barrier around Neo, weapons at the ready, but they were clearly outmatched. More guards poured in to surround them, and all methods of escape seemed cut off.

"A good effort, I'll give you that," Roman cackled as he came up behind them. "You're not gonna get out of here, though. You broke into a storehouse full of weapons and army tech. Did you honestly think you'd just be able to walk out the front door when you were done?"

Neo shrugged, "Well, we were kinda hoping."

"And ideas?" Coco whispered.

"We need to get to the main control room," Mercury said as some of the guards closed in. "The laboratory is powered by a huge dust generator. Super unstable. If we turn off the right release vents, we'll turn this place into a crater. It's the door to our right."

Ruby nodded, "We move as one. Ready? GO!"

The group suddenly sprinted toward the control room doors, knocking guards out of the way the paladins opened fire. Neo used her parasol to block as much as she could while Pyrrha used her shield and semblance to do the same. Once they were in the tunnel, Pyrrha brought down the metal ceiling and collapse the entrance and buy them some time. There were other ways to the control rooms, but this would at least give them a head start. They started moving again, but realised that only eight of them were running.

"G-Guys..." Mercury's pained voice came from a few yards back. He was clutching his side and his stomach, and his hands were covered in blood. "I-I think they got me..."

"MERCURY!" Neo screamed as she ran back to him, everyone else following behind her. "Holy shit, no no no! How bad is it?"

"I-I think two rounds g-got through my aura. Holy f-fuck this hurts..."

"We need to move," Ren said in a worried voice. "Can you walk?"

Yang shook her head and helped the boy to his feet, leaning him on her shoulder, "We'll get you patched up when we reach the control room. C'mon, we can't stop here."

They slowly made their way down the hallway, leaving a trail of red droplets behind them. Neo couldn't believe her eyes as she watched Mercury in so much pain, blood covering his shirt, pants, hands, and some coming from the corner of his mouth. As strong as he was, she had a sinking feeling about how bad his wounds were.

They reached the control room and Pyrrha used her semblance to seal the doors from the inside. It wasn't permanent, but it would give them enough time to go through with Mercury's plan. Yang say Mercury up against the wall, and Ruby started tearing off pieces of her cloak to cover up the bullet holes and put pressure on them. Meanwhile, Blake and Ren worked on the computer and started shutting down the exhaust vents. Errors and warnings flashed across the screen, and they watched as the indicators for core temperature, integrity, and containment field exceeded their safe limits.

"It's started," Ren called out. "The whole system is overloading. Shouldn't be long bef-"

A massive explosion suddenly erupted from a pipe above them, sending shrapnel flying everywhere and flooding the room with steam. Pyrrha used her semblance once again to seal it, and it took a few moments for the dense fog to dissipate. "Ren?" she asked, seeing him lying on the floor below where the pipe had burst. "REN!"

"Son of a bitch..." Ren moaned as Pyrrha helped him back to his feet. There was a huge cut along his forehead that was pouring blood down onto his face, and he wobbled as he tried to maintain his balance. Ruby ripped another part of her cloak to bandage him, but he was very clearly concussed.

"We have to go," Pyrrha said with a shaky voice.

"Mercury isn't gonna be able to walk," Yang said from beside the wounded boy. "We're gonna need to carry him. Can we seal this room after we leave so that people can't reopen the exhaust?"

Pyrrha shook her head, "I need to save my energy to get us out. I don't have enough left in me to seal this room any better."

"Then how do we keep them out?" Nora asked, starting to sound scared.

"Get ou- out of here," Mercury spoke up, wincing. "You're n-not gonna be able to get m-me out. I'll make sure n-no one can stop the meltdown."

Pyrrha shook her head, "Absolutely not. We're not leaving you behind. We can-"

"N-No, you can't! Someone will g-get here before we can escape. Someone needs to- to stay behind. Might as well be m-me."

"There has to be another way," Blake insisted, but the worry in her voice and in her eyes showed that she didn't believe her words.

Mercury gave a pained smile, "Guys, i-it's okay. I'm ready. I love you guys, a-all of you. Make sure Emerald h-hears that, too."

Neo felt tears running down her cheeks, but she knew that there wasn't another way to get out and still destroy the facility; not with the time they had, at least. She pulled out her scroll and called Mercury's, setting them both to speaker and putting his in his hand. "We'll be with you until the end," she choked out.

"You'd b-better be. Now go!"

The group shared a few hesitant and worried looks, but there wasn't enough time to argue or have a better goodbye. They sprinted from the room, all looking back to watch Mercury wave as they rounded a corner. Neo was in tears, doing her best not to collapse to her knees. Her entire body felt numb, knowing that she'd just seen her closest friend for the last time.

'He's braver than we give him credit for,' Beo mumbled, the sadness evident in her voice.

Pyrrha blasted the doors to the outside open with her semblance, and the group continued to run until they were on a tall hill about three hundred yards from the facility. They took a moment to collect themselves and catch their breath before Neo set her scroll down in the middle of them.

"Merc?" she nervously asked. "You still there?"

He chuckled, "Yeah, I'm s-still here. Did you m-make it out okay?" His voice had grown much weaker than when they'd left him.

Coco nodded, "We're all good. Hey... I'm sorry about all the stuff I said while we were in there. I didn't mean it."

"R-Relax, I deserved it. I'm s-sorry about all of this. It's funny, Coco w-wasn't supposed to be here. They wanted Yatsuh-hashi, but you were just in th-the wrong place at the w-wrong time."

"How're you holding up?" Blake asked, sniffling as she tried not to cry.

"I-I've been better," Mercury said with a pained laugh. "On the b-bright side, I- FUCK!" The sound of gunfire filled the air for a few seconds, twelve shots in total, followed by complete silence.

"MERCURY?" Neo shrieked, not getting a reply. "MERCURY! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?"

"We need to get to him," Pyrrha said, reaching for her sword and shield.

"How?" Yang asked. "There's no way we can get there in time."

Ruby gasped, a determined look coming over her, "You can't, but I can." She disappeared in a cloud of rose petals that flew off toward the facility, vanishing through the outer doors before anyone had a chance to speak.

"RUBY! NO!" Yang screamed, but it was far too late for her sister to hear.

The sounds of gunshots suddenly came through Neo's scroll, along with the distinct sounds of Crescent Rose being swung. The combat died down after a moment, being replaced by a terrifying quiet that last for what felt like an eternity.

"Guys?" Ruby asked, and they all let out a sigh of relief.

"We're here, sis," Yang said as tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Guys, Mercury isn't responsive... I think he might be... He might be-"

"Ruby, please get out of there," Nora begged. "You still have time!"

The redhead sighed, "I can't. More people could come, and we don't know how long it'll be before the reactor blows."

"Then try-" Ren began, but was cut off as a piercing siren came through the phone.

"Core breached..." Ruby said, most likely reading it off of a display screen in the room. "Yang, I love you. I love you so much. Tell dad-"

The call turned to static as the facility erupted in a massive fireball. The shockwave passed over the group as they looked on, watching the flames turn to billowing plumes of smoke. Shrapnel and pieces of rubble slowly started to rain down around them, but they didn't care. Yang and Neo both fell to their knees, staring in horror at the blackened crater.

"No..." Yang said in a whisper. "No... No no no NO! RUBY!" She collapsed onto her side, curling up in a ball and sobbing uncontrollably.

Blake moved to her partner's side to try to comfort her, but she wasn't faring any better. "Wh-What now?" she asked, holding Yang close.

"We need to get back to Beacon," Nora insisted, although she looked torn having to say it. "Ren needs a doctor."

Yang shook her head, "I can't... I can't leave... I can't leave Ruby..."

"It's no use," Ren sighed. "She's-"

"Then let's look for her," Neo interrupted, standing back up and looking around the group. "Yang and I will search for Ruby and Mercury. I'm not leaving here without either them or proof that they... yeah. Blake, can you stay with us? The rest of you need to get Ren to a hospital."

Blake nodded, and the rest of the group did as well. They very carefully helped Ren to his feet and started toward a more open section of forest while Pyrrha called for an emergency airship. Blake and Neo helped Yang to her feet and started back toward where the facility had stood, scanning the ground as they walked for any sign of their friends.

"As much as I want to have hope," Blake hesitantly began. "I don't think the chances of them surviving are very high."

Neo gave a weak nod, "I know. That doesn't mean I won't hold out that they did."

"Agreed," Yang added. "I won't abandon my sister."

Beo sighed, 'The odds of them surviving a blast like that are so low...'

'I know,' Neo replied. 'I just... I have a feeling that they're still alive. They have to be...'

Remember when Mercury and Ruby nearly stayed behind in the Shadowfang canyon? Foreshadowing. (; So what do you guys think; did they survive? I guess we'll find out next chapter. Be sure to follow, favourite, and review, check out my profile if you wanna help support me, and I'll see you guys next time!