Chapter 24 – Full Circle

Jaune

It's all over.

Mistral has fallen. Haven Academy collapses from the fire that has consumed its wooden structure, plummeting down the two tower like mountains that it once stood upon, and if there were still people inside...then may god rest their souls. The Grimm remain inside, like smoke spreading through the city, killing the Grimm. They failed...they have lost the two Relics...Weiss could be dead, Scarlet and Sage are dead and Lionheart is gone, along with Oscar and Ozpin.

Palpitations of breath echo through the woodlands outside of the destroyed city as the Grimm finish is off. Jaune runs as fast as he can with his wound still bleeding. He holds Ruby in his arms, her eye bleeding onto his black jumper and his armour. His eyes are wide as he runs, his mouth agape, looking at her unconscious body in his arms. She is still alive...barely...Death's arrow has caused serious damage to the gentle rose. Jaune looks over his shoulder as he flees, seeing Death stood behind him with a horde of Grimm running behind him. Death points his sword straight at Jaune and the other three Knights form beside him, showing that they cannot die...at least not through the same methods as normal Grimm. The Grimm charge past the Knights, Beowulves howling as they charge after him. Crescent Rose was left behind at Mistral, blood drips from Ruby's hand that hangs down. Jaune refuses to leave her, running as quick as he possibly can to keep her safe. A Beowulf leaps, smashing through a dying tree as Death walks with them, killing the plant life that they walk through, the creaking screams of Trees collapsing as he passes them.

Jaune runs, seeing a burning tree before him, meaning that Fury has been here. He puts his shoulder forward so then Ruby does not hit it. His shoulder smashes through the burning tree, burning wood exploding around him as he runs, crumbling down around him as he runs, embers sitting on his shoulder. Smoke rises up from the tree as it collapses from its support being blown apart from him running into it. Jaune runs further and further with the Grimm behind him...he knows that they are behind him. He looks back at Ruby, there is so much blood...

Death continues to walk after them with the other three Knights. Fury is constantly tensing his hands into fists as he glares at them. While he runs, a spotlight shines upon him, his eyes look up to see a Bullhead hovering above him in the treeline with Red and Black colours painted upon it with golden accents also added to the metal plates. It is a Bullhead belonging to the Acolytes of Lien, following them. The Grimm are starting to catch up with them, so Jaune knows he needs to try and lose them all somehow. He turns, seeing what looks like a cave. He runs into the woods, using the trees to obscure the vision of both the Acolytes of Lien and the Grimm. He runs into the cave, vanishing into the darkness, and he continues to run, seeing that the tunnel goes deep into the ground. He looks back, seeing the glow of red from their eyes as they chase after him. The orange glow of Fury chases after them like a cloud of fire pluming behind them. He manages to get free from the cave as there is an exit, and the Grimm pile up against the thinner exit, throwing their bodies into it, cracking it as they impact it.

The Bullhead retreats when Nevermore begin to leave the remains of Mistral, scanning the forests for any survivors. Jaune stops for a couple of seconds, taking refuge behind a boulder and he sets her down, looking at her wound on her face. He stammers...he doesn't know what to do...But when he sits by her, he hears Fury roaring monstrously as he emerges from the cave, smashing it down. He looks down at her...and there is a way out of this. He looks down at the beautiful girl and he sighs. "I'm gonna lure them off...don't you dare die on me." Jaune begs. He draws Crocea Mors, standing up with brave intentions as he runs out from the rock and stares at the Grimm. "Come on!" Jaune challenges, his shield held high as he gets their attention. Death, Fear, Loss and Fury stare straight at him with their weapons at the ready and Fear smirks at him, pointing his rotten finger right at him. The horde charge straight at Jaune and he begins to run from them, luring them away from the rock where he hid Ruby. He sprints away from them, a multitude of Grimm pursuing him, the quake of their charge following after him.

He runs and runs from them. Death stands there as the Grimm that they summoned have gone after Jaune, along with the other Knights. He stands there and he looks around, he is not foolish, he noticed that he was not holding Ruby. He clenches his hand into a fist as he looks at the rock where he left her, and he slowly walks towards where she lies, blood still leaking from her torn open eye. He holds Ferrum Arctus tight and he points it straight at the rock and he charges black lightning across the blade. But then he hears voices getting closer, he turns and he snarls. He turns and vanishes from the scene, expecting Yang or someone to appear. But instead, there are Acolytes of Lien, they patrol through the woods, their rifles held high.

They are perilously close to Ruby.

Jaune sprints again, like he is caught in a time loop, but now he no longer holds Ruby, just Crocea Mors, risking his life to make sure that she is safe. He sprints as fast as he can, looking back to see the horde and Fury sprinting after him with rage. He continues on to try and lure them off. When he runs, he finds an old abandoned farm where a tree has collapsed from the Goliaths that marched through, crushing the buildings and the fences that once surrounded it. He sprints to the tree, vaulting over it and hiding behind the huge tree trunk. He sits there, resting his back against the bark as he sits there.

The Grimm are getting closer and closer.

He grabs the red sash on his hip that reminds him of his beloved Pyrrha Nikos, running his finger across the velvet as he looks at it with tearful eyes. I'll always be with you, Jaune.

He closes his eyes, hearing them getting closer. He exhales through his lips, hearing something getting near, heavy footfalls and the floor getting hotter. He opens his eyes in anger, standing up as Fury leaps straight at him with both axes raised. Jaune screams as he leaves the tree and the Grimm run over the Tree, trampling across the sash left behind, being buried under the soil as they charge after him.

He is outnumbered...

And alone...

Yang

Jaune's scream echoes nearby and she stops, she is now back on her feet, battered and bruised after Death completely eviscerated them. He is as powerful as all of them, carrying nearly all of their skills with him except for Fear and Loss' mind manipulation capabilities. That is what makes him so lethal, he has the strength of Fury, the speed of Loss and the Intelligence of Fear. Yang stops when she hears him yelling and Kassius stops with her, his eyes have returned to their initial blue state. Whatever that freak-out of his was. "Was that Jaune?" She asks him. Kassius listens carefully...there is only silence now.

"I don't know..." He says.

"We need to find Ruby." Yang says, pushing through the brush. She has no idea about her condition, which will make it far more heart-wrenching for when she finds her beloved sister in the state that she is in right now. Bleeding into the soil by a rock. Yang proceeds forward and they both look up when they see the Bullhead patrolling the skies, examining the ground to find out where she is. They stay low to avoid detection from the Acolytes as they look for her. Yang is in the same place that Jaune was in, the soil is torn up from where the Grimm charged through to get to Jaune, claws tearing up the soil as they ran. Kassius and Yang look at the soldiers as they approach the rock where she is hiding. Yang looks carefully, and from the point of view she can see from, she can see her hand there. She knows it is hers as well because of the slight catch of red from her outfit. Her eyes widen and she gasps. The soldiers somehow have not noticed her body on the floor yet, walking past the rock that Jaune hid her by.

Yang gets up and runs over to the rock, despite Kassius trying to stop her. She keeps her head low to avoid detection, she slides past the rock and she looks at her sister. Her heart sinks from horror when she sees the red blood all over her face and her missing eye from where Death shot her with his Bow and Arrow. She stammers in horror, tears beginning to well up in her eyes. Kassius runs up to her side and he stops...pausing in horror when he sees her body there with so much blood from her horrific injury. But he sees her breathing. "Yang...she's alive." He assures.

But Yang doesn't hear him.

She just looks at her baby sister on the floor who has been incredibly wounded and her eye begins to twitch, pure rage in her face as she begins to grit her white teeth together, clenching her hands into tight fists. She closes her eyes and when she opens them...

They are blood red.

The Captain of the Squad walks with his men, holding his rifle. He is the same Captain that was in the Bullhead with Cinder when they arrived at Mistral. "Spread out, when we find her, kill her." He orders to his men. They all stop when hearing her blood-fuelled rage as she howls from the rock where they are. The Captain stops and slowly looks over his shoulder at where her shrill came from. He wears black sunglasses over his eyes, looking at where she yelled.

Yang charges straight at them, her eyes glowing red and pure anger engraved on her face, Ember Celica primed and her fists clenched as she charges straight at the Mercenaries that are trying to kill her. "It's her sister!" A Mercenary yells.

"Shoot at her!" The Captain yells. One of the Mercenaries turns to face her, firing his Assault Rifle at her, holding the trigger back as he unloads a magazine at her. The bullets race at her but her fury makes her aura completely deflect the bullets. Bullets smash into the trees and she pulls her arm back as she runs at the first Mercenary, punching him straight in the head with enough force to flip a car. His neck snaps and he is thrown straight into the soil with force. Yang also fires the two shotgun bracers at her enemies as they all fire on her. Yang ducks down to avoid the shotgun of another soldier, upper cutting him with her fist and firing a blast from Ember Celica, blowing his head to smithereens. She continues to charge, shooting one in the chest as she punches him, running to the next batch.

She spins round as she avoids the swarm of bullets and as she turns, she powers up another blow, decking him so hard that it fractures his skull and kills him without even firing a round from Ember Celica. She punches down into the rifle of another mercenary, completely shattering the gun and then she shoots him in the head with one of the rockets, blowing his body up in a spray of red, some of it splattering against her outfit and face, turning her hair partially red. She decimates the mercenaries and grabs the rifles of another soldier, bringing her fist round to smash him in the leg, breaking his leg and bringing the other round into his head, firing a shotgun blast as she does it. As she charges through and wipes out the Acolytes of Lien, she is constantly screaming with anger over what has happened to her baby sister.

The Captain readies his sword as she runs at him, two soldiers standing in between her and him. The two Soldiers fire their firearms at her and she continues to charge, punching one in the chest and the shotgun blast blows a hole in his chest. She grabs the other by the head with her metal hand and pulls him as she runs, crushing his head into a tree. She finally charges at the Captain, leaping into the air with a powerful battle-cry, pulling her arm back and smashing her fist right into his head.

The impact breaks his neck and she shakes with anger, dead Mercenaries around her. She tenses up, letting out another scream of rage.

Kassius remains by Ruby's side as Yang lets out her fury on the Mercs. He has removed the armoured sleeve that he wears over his human arm and he rips the sleeve of his jacket off to wrap across her wound to stop the bleeding. He covers only one eye in case she wakes up but it is not enough for her to survive this, she needs medical attention. But it is better than leaving it open like that. He puts the armoured sleeve back and he checks her pulse, and he still feels a very faint pulse to her body.

Other Mercenaries emerge from the woods when they heard Yang going berserk on them. She sprints directly at the soldiers, knocking them all off their feet as she fights them. Kassius looks at her rage as she destroys them, and he has something similar that he has not told them about, when he cracked when seeing her get hurt. She fights and fights the soldiers...

But finally...

She manages to kill all of the Mercenaries. She stands there by the corpse of a Merc, she breathes slowly, closing her eyes, when they open, her pretty big lilac eyes look around again as she turns to her sister on the floor. She sprints back to Ruby, sliding beside her and she picks her up, pushing her black and red hair aside and she shakes her to try and wake up. "Ruby..." Yang cries as she holds her sister.

"She's alive." Kassius assures. Yang gently strokes her finger against her cheek.

"Her eye..." She sniffles, her voice cracked and broken. Kassius walks over to her side and he holds her by her chin, turning her to look him in the eyes.

"She will live." He promises as he looks into her eyes. "But we have to get her to safety, to a village preferably."

"If there are any left that the Knights haven't destroyed..." Yang sniffles.

"Well, we'll have to wait and see. I'll carry her." He offers.

"No...I've got her." Yang says, holding her gently.

"No big sister should ever have to carry their dying little sister." Kassius states, holding his arms out to carry her. Yang bursts into tears and she gives Ruby to him, looking at her constantly as her body doesn't move. Her heart may still be beating...but it is horrible for her to see Ruby like that. All because of Death and his sadistic laws and his code that he follows so truly. Kassius holds her, he is stronger than Yang is and he walks with her to get her to safety.

No one knows what happened to Jaune.

Qrow

The rest of the team are together.

Qrow carries the dying Weiss Schnee in his arms, blood pouring from the wound she suffered from Death as she tries to save Neptune, only leading to her also being injured as well. Blake has also partially recovered from her own injury, running with them as they get out. The group is made up of: Qrow, Winter, Weiss, Ren, Nora, Neptune, Blake and Sun. With Sage and Scarlet dead, and Weiss and Ruby in critical conditions, the Knights of Grimm have well and truly branded their mark upon them all. Weiss is crying out in agony from the searing hot torment that she suffers from, blood has now soaked into the sleeve of Qrow's white and grey dress shirt. Winter keeps her eyes on her little sister, making sure that she is alive still. Neptune is now being carried by Ren and Sun who hold him up by both arms, since his injuries have rendered him unable to walk completely. Blood still bleeds from the wounds in his legs.

Weiss cries out when there is a sudden jolt of pain across her body from the movement. At the moment, she is very lucky that Death's blade did not sink all the way through her and come out her back like it did to Scarlet. He only managed to push the top of the blade into her stomach, but even that is life threatening. "We need to keep moving!" Qrow hurries.

"Go where?" Sun questions as he carries his friend with the help of Ren. Nora looks around with nervous eyes, holding Magnhild tight in her grasp.

"There has to be a town that hasn't been hit. Towns have doctors, medication. Stuff that can help Weiss!" Qrow calls back to him. Blake runs, she has a makeshift bandage made from parts of Sun's shirt that is around her waist where Death cut her with his sword. She is still in pain but she can run. Blake holds Gambol Shroud in her hand along with its sheath, dual wielding them both. Sun is blocking out the loss of most of his team until he can get everyone somewhere safe. Weiss stammers in pain as she looks up at the clear night sky, the endless constellations of stars above them.

"It's beautiful..." She whispers.

Qrow looks at her.

"What?" Qrow asks her. Weiss' eyes close slowly and she passes out in his arms, and that nearly gives Winter a heart-attack.

"Weiss?" Winter says with a fearful tone. Qrow places his finger to her neck to check for a pulse.

There is one...but it is becoming pretty faint. "She's alive, I think she just passed out from the pain. That's good." Qrow says to them all.

"How is that good?" Nora questions as she keeps up with them.

"Because her body won't be using up too much energy to stay awake, it gives us more time." Qrow says. "But we need to keep up the pace."

Sun and Neptune look back at Mistral, it was also their home for quite some time as well.

Now it is nothing more than another smoking ruin.

Claimed by the Darkness.

They failed.