Cirocco ran through the grounds of Beacon, looking for Taurus. All around him, Grimm were trying to kill everyone. Students and soldiers were holding their own for the most part, but occasionally they would themselves be killed. The students didn't really need his help, so he could focus on Taurus—if he could find him.

He was frustrated. He didn't know how long he'd been searching, but Taurus was nowhere to be found. But he couldn't elude him forever. He knew that eventually he'd find Taurus and kill him.

A Beowulf took notice of him, and charged at him. It swiped at him with its claws, so he ducked, and its paw passed over him harmlessly. He then kicked the Grimm in the ribs, spun around, and stabbed it in the throat with his wrist blade. The Beowulf died instantly, and fell to the ground. He had no time for Grimm.

As he passed the cafeteria, he saw two young women staggering out. They were covered in blood from their own wounds, and one of them was even missing a hand. He thought that he remembered them as members of team RWBY, but he couldn't remember much else. Their wounds couldn't have been from Grimm—too finely cut—so it had to be from something else. He ran into the cafeteria and saw Adam Taurus standing there.

He eyed Taurus with contempt and hatred. He had hunted Taurus for half his life, and now he was right before him. Taurus had killed his father and left his sister scarred—both physically and mentally. If anyone he knew of didn't have a soul, it was Taurus.

"Get out of my way!" Taurus said. He acted like he didn't recognize Cirocco. They'd fought just before the tournament, if only briefly, until Clove had taken the fight away from him. Why didn't Taurus recognize him?

It didn't matter. Cirocco leapt straight at Taurus with a semblance infused leap. Taurus drew his blade, and Cirocco blocked with the blades on his forearm. He then channeled his hatred into his aura, and stabbed Taurus in the side with his wrist blade, his aura making the attack much stronger. Taurus yelled with pain, and staggered back. Taurus checked his wound, and then looked at Cirocco questioningly. "Who are you?"

He was only too happy to indulge him. "I am Cirocco Zaphyr, son of Jay Zaphyr—a man you murdered years ago! I am also the brother of Clove Zaphyr, who you cut a leg off, and stabbed her eye—which is the least of the damage you did to her! Her mind doesn't work right anymore, a fact you exploited when you fought less than a week ago!"

"I didn't fight her then!" Taurus said defensively. "I wasn't on any missions recently!"

While he would have argued the matter, he had better things to do than to give Taurus a break. "It doesn't matter; you've done enough to my family!"

He leapt backwards to the wall, and then leapt off it back towards Taurus. He drew his sword, and tried slashing Cirocco, but he stopped the blade, and tried stabbing his throat this time.

But a gunshot sounded between them, and since Cirocco didn't use guns, there was no doubt that Taurus had fired it. He leapt back so that he'd have a chance to access the wound. There was a scorch mark on his armor, and some minor damage, but other than that, he was fine.

He raised his arms and launched the blades off his forearms. He'd used it… actually, while he remembered that he had used this recently, he couldn't remember on whom or when exactly. It bothered him, but that insecurity could wait for later. Right now Taurus needed his attention. He deflected the blades out of the air with his sword—so much for that plan.

Cirocco went back to his original strategy, and leapt at high speeds straight at Taurus. Taurus swung his sword to intercept him, but Cirocco parried it with his left wrist blade, and stabbed with his right. The blade damaged Taurus's aura, and he grunted. A blade of any kind going that fast would hurt.

He then planted his feet on Taurus's chest, and launched himself off. Both Taurus and Cirocco were flung to the walls, but while Cirocco had experience turning himself around in midair and was able to land safely—albeit on the wall—, Taurus wasn't so lucky and smashed into the wall. The shock to his frame was probably going to immobilize him for a while.

Cirocco jumped off the wall again, and smashed into Taurus. He couldn't raise his sword in time, so Cirocco managed to land a very damaging hit. The wall gave way. It was then that he realized how much insulation, wiring, framework, plaster, and concrete that went into that wall, because half of it went up his nose for a second. They tumbled outside, making a small crater in the pavement.

Cirocco, seeing that Taurus was still dazed, jumped off him, into the sky. As he was whizzing towards the sky, he saw a Nevermore flying where he would go. As he and the Grimm intersected, he leapt off it, back down to the ground. He sped towards Taurus faster than he'd ever gone before.

As he smashed into Taurus, a huge dust cloud exploded around them. He didn't feel right. While he had expected to feel something as he took revenge, whatever he felt wasn't anything he was particularly familiar with. Then, as the dust dissipated, he realized that he was familiar with it. What he felt was pain, and what he saw was Taurus stabbing him in the gut.

Cirocco tried to fight as Taurus pushed him off of him, but he couldn't summon the strength to do it. He was tired from the battle, and the pain in his gut distracted him. Taurus stood up, and walked away from him as he was clutching his stomach. Without even a word, Taurus left him to die.

Cirocco got to his hands and knees, staring at Taurus. He would've tried going after him, but he couldn't even stand.

"Taurus!" he said, coughing up a bit of blood as he did. It felt horrible to cough it up. "Why don't you finish me?"

"You're not worth my time," Taurus said, not even slowing his walk. As he walked, he passed a person that he said something to, and kept going.

As the figure walked out of the shadows, he was surprised to see who it was. It was a young woman, a bit on the small side, with a black mark across her eyes that he didn't know if it was makeup or something else. She pulled back her hood, and he saw two pointed ears poking out of black hair with streaks of gray and white. She looked kinda like a raccoon, and was the prettiest girl he'd seen, though some people might not think so. She was probably taken.

In her hand was a strange looking weapon. It was a single-edged sword, he thought, made of a clear material that he thought looked like diamond. There was a seam in the middle of the sword from edge to edge, and a hinge connecting the two sections. It had a rubber grip on the hilt and on the second section of the sword, on the opposite side from the sharp edge. If she didn't kill him with it, he'd have so many questions about it.

"Who are you?" Cirocco asked. His head was throbbing, making it hard to think. She was probably White Fang, but something told him she wasn't.

"Your executioner," she said. Well that was disappointing.

She put her left hand on the second grip, and raised it above her head. As she was about to swing it at his head, a blast of green energy hit her. The woman was knocked back, and slammed against a wall. Cirocco looked to the source of the blast, and saw… Nuts. Clove had just rescued him.

He suddenly felt very weak, and collapsed. Clove ran up to him, and put her hand on his wound. His pain quickly subsided, but he felt a little light-headed. "That should do it," Clove said.

"Clove, as always, it's terrible to see you," Cirocco said.

"Same." He sat up. As always, her abilities had healed him. His body glove under his armor was soaked with blood. But at least he wasn't going to bleed to death.

They looked over to the White Fang woman, and she was getting back up. Before she could grab her sword, Clove pinned it with her leg. "What's your name?" Clove asked.

She sneered, and after a moment, said, "Kit."

"You don't have to fight, Kit," Clove urged. "Whatever wrongs have been committed to you, it doesn't justify killing."

"Save your preaching," Kit said, and pulled a rifle he hadn't noticed before off her back. She fired, and Clove dodged.

Cirocco jumped at her, tackling her to the ground. While his wound felt sore, it didn't hurt as much as when he was actually bleeding out. He pinned her arms down, but that didn't stop her from kicking him in his backside. He fell over, and she pulled her rifle on him. But Clove's blade at her throat stopped Kit from firing. "Give up," Clove said.

"Fine," Kit said. "But I request asylum."

Asylum? "Are you defecting?" Cirocco asked.

"Yep, and I'd like to keep that a secret for now, or else I won't make it out of this battle alive."

"Why?"

"I'll tell you that when there aren't Grimm everywhere!" And she fired her rifle at a Grimm Cirocco hadn't noticed was sneaking up on them.

"Alright."

Overhead, a giant flying Grimm circled. "Dragon!" Clove yelled.

"Technically it's a Wyvern," Cirocco corrected.

"It doesn't matter!" Clove snapped. "We need to take that thing down!" He couldn't argue with that.

I planned for this fight during the off-season over and over again, but it's a lot different than what I planned. I originally planned for Cirocco to win and leave him to bleed to death, so as to leave his fate ambiguous. I also thought this would follow a fight where Blake fought Adam (like in the show), except that I thought that Blake would win and spare Adam in the cliche' "Hero spares Villain despite their crimes" scenario, but as it turns out, she didn't get the chance to spare him. I also thought that Cirocco would grab Adam's sword out of his hand, and start using it, but again, that probably would have caused him to have his hand sliced in two as it turns out. So Cirocco loses, but he survives anyway. Fun times.