Well, it's all down to this. This is final chapter for this arc. And let me tell you, I am looking forward to this. I won't say anything else, I'll just let the chapter speak for itself. Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY or Devil May Cry.
Chapter 36: Something of an End
Ruby and Team CRDL had just reached the makeshift command center being used during the battle, where she found Weiss and Winter. "There you are Ruby," Weiss said, "Things have been getting crazy. Yang just got transported to the med bay due to a critical injury." Ruby, concerned for her sister, asked, "Is she going to be okay?" "She'll be fine," Weiss reassured her partner, "The med staff says it's not life-threatening. But we have bigger things to worry about. I trust you got the alert from Team JNPR." Ruby nodded sadly. "Yeah, we just took our biggest casualty. Poor Amber."
"Penny gathered a group of soldiers and Huntsmen and went to fight that Dragon that showed up," Weiss explained, "And Team JNPR is going to join them." "We'd better go too," Ruby noted, "The more people we have fighting, the better." As Ruby raced off with her Semblance, Weiss turned to look at her sister, who nodded. "Please be careful," Winter said, "Every new injury we get only hurts our chances of survival." Weiss nodded, before hugging her sister and then heading off after Ruby, Team FNKI right behind her.
Cinder panted as she reached the floor she had hit randomly, which turned out to be Ozpin's office. She knew an academy headmaster would be no pushover, but Ozpin fought like he knew how to handle her. 'Chalk up one more note on the list of things that could go wrong today.' She then noticed the Dragon, who locked eyes with her. "I see. Yes, you know your duty. Go, there is nothing that can stop you." Unfortunately, Cinder was quickly proven wrong when a massive laser appeared from the ground and forced the beast to back away from it as it hit, causing visible pain.
Cinder looked in shock. "Where did they get such a weapon?" She looked in the direction the laser had been fired, and spotted Penny moving after the Dragon, several others moving to clear away the lesser Grimm the Dragon summoned. Angered, Cinder used her new powers to fly to the Tower. The Dragon would be panicking because of the pain and confusion, and needed to be redirected to its goal. As she made her way, she spotted several more figures making their way to the Tower, and was reminded of what Salem had warned her of.
'Even with my newfound power, there are too many here to fight. I could probably take out three or four before getting overwhelmed. I'd better even the odds.' She mentally contacted the Dragon to spawn as many Grimm as it could while approaching the Tower. Hopefully it would distract the majority of her enemies. She then contacted Emerald. "Where are you right now?" 'Heading for the Tower with Mercury,' the thief replied, 'It's getting crazy out here, we've been hounded the whole way. I'm starting to have second thoughts about this plan.'
Cinder then thought about the two of them. In all her life, Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black were probably the closest things to friends she had ever had. And right now, this was a situation where they were in great danger. Had things been going more in line with her original plan she would send them to fight someone to keep them busy. But she couldn't risk that here. "Forget the Tower, I have it covered. You two must leave the city. Head for our safe house in Mistral. If I'm not there within a day... Assume the worst." She then cut communication.
Cinder's plan to distract anyone trying to follow her worked pretty well. Most of the group assembling at the Tower were working harder to stem the tide, helped greatly by a reinforcement of Vacuo siege weapons. Only Jaune and Pyrrha were left to follow Cinder, and Pyrrha was nervous. "I still can't believe we're doing this." "We'll be fine," Jaune said, "Ozpin was able to force her to retreat, so she can't be as tough as she thinks." He smiled at his lover. "Put it this way, would we even be in this situation if the Maidens were invincible?"
The realization of Jaune's words brought great relief to the red-headed warrior. She giggled. "That's kind of a simple way of thinking, isn't it?" Jaune shrugged. "Maybe. But sometimes victory is in a simple soul." The two shared a passionate kiss before they headed up to confront their enemy. Cinder was found in an observation room, the battle between Penny and the Dragon visible outside. Cinder noted the two warriors and frowned. "I was expecting only one opponent. And I especially didn't want to confront you, Jaune Arc. Even my power would prove useless against your Semblance."
Jaune brandished Roseus Ignis. "You should have thought about that before instigating this invasion." "Why do you even need that Maiden's power?," Pyrrha asked, "It is meant to be used to help and guide people, but I sincerely doubt you plan on doing anything of the sort." Cinder smirked. "Perceptive, aren't you? I could talk at length about my past, but it would only serve to make you hate me. And while I am more interested in being feared than loved, being hated is something I cannot tolerate."
She then got out her bow and fired off a few shots, which were blocked by her two opponents. She then switched to her blade mode and clashed with Milo and Roseus Ignis. However, while Pyrrha was currently blade-locked with Cinder, Jaune still had a free hand, and opened fire with Azure Fang, knocking Cinder back as she barely missed getting struck by the two swords. Meanwhile, Ruby had managed to break away from the fighting to head up the Tower, hoping her friends were doing alright.
The two were doing all right, to the point where Cinder tried a desperate attack using the full force of her new Maiden powers. Jaune simply got between the attack and Pyrrha and unlocked Grimmlock, his wild Semblance successfully pushing back the assault. Unfortunately, Cinder had observed Jaune's Semblance during the fight with Penny and noted a key weakness. He needed to be standing still while it was active, and while it could indefinitely hold back an attack, once it was dissipated it took a while to recover.
Cinder took advantage of this and flanked Jaune to fire another shot. However, Pyrrha manged to push Jaune out of the way. While this did put her in the line of fire, Pyrrha lucked out since the arrow was aimed for Jaune's legs. That still meant Pyrrha took a shot right in her heel. Now down on one knee, Pyrrha looked as Cinder prepped another arrow. "Looks like your destiny didn't pan out," Cinder quipped. Pyrrha just smirked. "Actually, I stopped believing in destiny months ago."
As the arrow let loose, Jaune stepped back in and unleashed his Semblance, the hemisphere of Aura keeping the arrow at bay. Cinder's powers kept the bolt from being deflected back at her, but Jaune's Semblance kept it from reaching its target, a perfect deadlock. Cinder decided to break it by launching a fire shot to break the arrow, then using her weapons properties to reform the arrow right in front of Pyrrha. It almost worked, but she had forgotten to take Jaune's danger sense into account. Right when the fire blast hit the bolt, Jaune instinctively dropped his barrier and swung around with his sword, shattering the bolt again. Cinder growled, since she could only reform each bolt once.
Jaune then charged at Cinder, who started to panic and fired off wildly in an effort to divert his charge. As this was happening, Ruby finally reached the room where the battle was taking place. She saw that the Dragon was still being fended off by Penny, and saw Pyrrha kneeling on the ground, an arrow sticking out of her heel. As Ruby went to help she saw a stray bolt strike the nearby ceiling, blasting a hole in it. One of the chunks fell near Pyrrha, causing her to put up her guard. Her shield and Aura were enough to absorb most of the impact, but it still knocked her unconscious.
From Ruby's perspective, however, she saw a dear friend go down and stop moving. Enraged, Ruby let out on ear piercing scream. It was then that something happened that surprised both Jaune and Cinder. Ruby's silver eyes seemed to glow bright, and from Jaune's perspective they seemed to grow wings for some reason. The resulting light enveloped both Cinder, and eventually the Dragon. When Jaune finally was able to open his eyes again, he saw Ruby collapse from the exhaustion of whatever she did.
He then saw the Dragon Grimm had been completely petrified for whatever reason. And finally, he saw Cinder had gotten the worst of it. She seemed to have severe burns on the left side of her face and going down her body, and her left eye was closed with blood seeping out of it. "I'm not sure what just happened," Jaune noted, "But perhaps this is karma for stealing the Fall Maiden power." His instincts told him both Ruby and Pyrrha were still in danger, and if Pyrrha was in danger that meant she was still alive, albeit out cold.
He stuck Roseus Ignis into the floor, then threw off his jacket. Cinder's eyes widened when she saw what was strapped to his back. "Crocea... Mors...," she choked out, barely able to form the words. "So you know of my family's heritage," Jaune said, "At first I was only using this as a decoration in my team's dorm, but I brought it with me during the tournament for good luck. However, I do know full well how to wield it." He grasped the hilt of the sword, causing the straps holding it in place to undo themselves. He then picked up Roseus Ignis.
Holding the steel sword blade up in front of his face, and the mechanical sword blade down just under it, he flipped the switch on Grimmlock to regain control of his Semblance. Focusing to the point where he started growling, Cinder watched in horror as his Semblance enveloped his entire upper body, manifesting as an armored warrior. As Jaune revved up Roseus Ignis, Crocea Mors began to glow in response to its master's Semblance. On that day, a legend would be born anew.
It should be noted that, for all his warrior nature, Jaune was a man who disliked killing. Sure, by now he had killed Grimm by the hundreds, but those were monsters. Killing another human was something he never thought he would be forced to do. But Cinder had become too big a threat, and crossed one-too many lines. Shifting his twin swords to a horizontal orientation, Jaune gave a final battle cry as he rushed at Cinder. Once he got close enough, he crossed his blades right as he passed the dark maiden. As Ruby came to, she saw a grizzly sight.
Cinder's body stayed standing for a while, but the sight of her head several inches off its neck was a clear indicator of what just happened. Finally, what was left of the poor woman fell backwards, her head, eyes still wide with shock, landing not far from it. From Cinder's body, the same energy radiated out from her, the manifestation of the Fall Maiden's power. It soon found its new host in Pyrrha, and as the energy permeated her, the resulting surge of power woke the young warrior up. As Pyrrha shook her head to recover from the rush, she found herself hugged by Ruby. "You're okay!," Ruby cried out, relieved, "You're okay, you're okay, you're okay!" Pyrrha smiled at Ruby, and gave her a reassuring pat on the head.
"Yes, Ruby, I'm fine. I just got knocked out, that's all." Down below, Penny had been wondering what happened to the Dragon. It was still alive, but now inert. Realizing it was still drawing Grimm toward it, Penny decided to stop worrying about what caused this and fired her massive laser at the Grimm's head, finally destroying it. As the Dragon began to dissolve, the resulting cheers from the people seeing it die made the remaining Grimm realize the battle was lost, and they quickly retreated, the stragglers getting picked off by the military and Hunstmen. On that day, the Battle of Beacon had been won by the heroes of the four kingdoms.
In the aftermath of the battle, Ruby was processing what her uncle Qrow knew of what had happened to the Dragon, and what caused Cinder to become disabled to the point that Jaune was able to defeat her. Apparently, it was all thanks to Ruby. Qrow had spoken at length about Ruby's silver eyes, which her mother also had. It was connected to a legend that spoke of a time long before the kingdoms were formed and the Hunstmen prevalent. The silver-eyed warriors of those legends were said to be born warriors, so powerful even the Grimm feared them. It was believed they were so strong, one look from them could kill a Grimm instantly.
Now Ruby had even more questions about what happened to her mother during that fateful mission, but for right now she needed to see her sister. On the way, she ran into Penny. "Hey Penny, great job dealing with that giant Grimm," she said. "Thank you," Penny replied, "We've been taking a tally of the damage. We lost some soldiers, and more than a few Knights were wrecked, but none of the students got more than a few scraps and bruises-HIC!" Ruby raised an eyebrow, causing Penny to sigh. "Okay, so Yang got a severe injury. It doesn't seem to be bothering her, though. If anything, she's as cheerful as ever. She's already gotten multiple visits from Qrow, Blake, and Rigel."
Ruby nodded, then headed for Yang's room herself. "Hey sis, you doing okay?" Yang turned to look at Ruby, then shifted around, causing Ruby to see Yang's severed arm. "Honestly, I could be worse right now." "Yeah," Ruby said, a little stunned, "You could be Cinder." Yang looked confused before realization struck. "Oh yeah, I heard about that. I never thought Jaune would get pushed that far. That reminds me, how's Pyrrha doing?" "She's resting right now," Ruby said, "She took a bad hit to her heel. All she needed for it was some healing Dust, but she still needs to keep off it overnight. Jaune's looking after her. He's a little upset by what he had to do."
"Well it was either that or let Cinder run wild with her stolen powers," Yang noted. Ruby sat down next to Yang's bed. "So, is this the worst of it?" "Kinda," Yang said, "I'm told a few soldiers lost their lives, but all in all our casualties were minimal. Meanwhile for the bad guys... Roman and Neo got arrested, most of the White Fang are either dead or arrested, save one young girl I saved during the struggle. Funny, she said she was never actually bullied for being a Faunus, she was just told by others in the small village where she grew up that Humans were the enemy. She's regretting listening to them."
That got both sisters silent for a second before Yang continued. "Anyway, Adam's in custody as well. We have Blake to thank for that one. You should have seen her, she looked so cool as she delivered that last line before knocking Adam out." "Aw man," Ruby said, disappointed, "I was busy escorting a family to the bunkers. Oh well, we all make sacrifices for the greater good. Where is she now?" "Right here," came Blake's voice from behind the sisters. Ruby turned around to see Blake and Weiss standing there. "And I gotta say, I really feel like a burden has been lifted from my shoulders."
"Yeah," Ruby agreed, "I'd imagine forcefully booting your ex out of your life will do that. You doing okay Weiss?" "Yes, thankfully," Weiss replied, "Father was reluctant, but I was able to convince him that it was perfectly safe for me to remain here in Vale. With some help from a certain someone." Yang shook her head. "How does Leo do it?" Weiss grinned. "It turns out Leonidas' Semblance has a unique ability. By focusing on a person's eyes, he can force them to experience all the pain they've ever inflicted on someone else, either directly or indirectly. It's a power even Father fears, and he fears very little."
"I've seen it in action," Blake noted, "Just five seconds of using it on Adam and the man was screaming. I stopped hating him and began to pity him instead. He used to be such a great guy, until he got blinded by his twisted view of justice." "That reminds me," Weiss interjected, hoping to change the subject, "Yang, I spoke with Winter earlier. Ironwood is having a cybernetic arm built for you in thanks for your part in this battle." "Great," Yang said, smiling, "It's kinda hard to fight with only one arm, and a little awkward to only use half of Ember Celica." The girls got a good laugh out of that, a wave of relief washing over them.
Pyrrha woke to see Jaune sitting near her bed. "Hey," she said softly, causing him to smile. "Good to see you're all right. I was worried there for a moment." "You certainly seemed desperate to keep me alive no matter what," Pyrrha noted as she sat up in her bed. Jaune rubbed the back of his head. "It's just, long before I first met you, I kinda had these nightmares. I would see you getting killed, by the same woman we fought not a few hours ago." Pyrrha turned sad. "So... Cinder really is..."
"Not something I enjoyed," Jaune said, closing his eyes sadly, "But I did what I had to do. Not just for your sake, but all of Remnant." Pyrrha reassured her lover by placing her hand on his knee. "It's for the best. I wouldn't have wanted to kill her either, but some things just need to be done. Besides..." She conjured a small tornado in her palm, showing her new powers. "Looks like becoming the Fall Maiden is my destiny after all. Oh, that reminds me. Do you remember how The Story of the Seasons ends?" Jaune nodded. "Sure. The four sisters agree to visit the old hermit once a year... Oh..."
Pyrrha nodded. "That applies to every Maiden, as a sign that they have not forgotten where their powers come from." She closed her eyes. "I feel a connection to them. Bits of memory from every Fall Maiden before me. Cinder's life... While it does not excuse her actions, it does put them into perspective. As for Amber, she had been traveling back from the place where the hermit lived when she was ambushed. What had happened to her... She was in so much pain..." Jaune joined Pyrrha on her bed and gave her a reassuring hug, which Pyrrha returned as the two simply stayed in each others arms.
The next day, Ozpin looked out from Beacon Academy. It was already undergoing repairs, but it wouldn't be long before classes could start again. Qrow had disappeared after spending some time with Winter Schnee, leaving her an apology note like always. Winter admitted it was these heartfelt notes that made her believe what she and Qrow had meant something to him, and Ozpin was willing to agree. Mercury and Emerald had disappeared, likely at Cinder's behest. Cinder's body had disappeared, though considering Tyrian's whereabouts had been unaccounted for during the battle Ozpin had a good theory about what happened to it.
The White Fang's Vale branch was all but disbanded. It would likely rise again, it's purpose was still valid after all, but without Adam it had the opportunity to redeem itself. While some of the students suffered injuries, several of them debilitating such as Yang's severed arm and Pyrrha's heel, there was no permanent damage and they would recover in time. The Dragon was destroyed, rendered inert by Ruby awakening to her power with Penny finishing it off. Both Roman and Neo were captured and being transported to Atlas to stand trial for their part in the attack. 'It's impossible to predict the long-term consequences of these events,' Ozpin thought to himself, 'But the short-term consequences are obvious... We've won this battle.'
In her hidden citadel, Salem shed a single black tear as she stood over the clear coffin of Cinder Fall. There was so much regret she had, so many things she could have done differently. She should have had the plan canceled, but she had been so sure she could get some form of victory from the entire thing. But instead, it had all gone wrong. The CCT was still active, and the kingdoms still trusted each other, more or less. There was now little chance they could get the White Fang's Grandmaster to side with them, and their agent in that group was lost to them.
Their criminal connections had dried up entirely, and the mighty Dragon meant to cause fear throughout Vale had been destroyed. Beacon still stood strong, so the relic she sought from it was further than ever from her grasp. Worst of all, Cinder was now dead. This meant the Fall Maiden power had gone to another and they had no way of tracking it, but more importantly, Salem had lost someone she saw like a daughter. The only bright side to all this was that she still had Emerald and Mercury, but they would not be returning directly for fear of being tracked.
"I saw the signs," she muttered, "But foolishly thought they meant nothing. This time, I was the arrogant one, and paid the price for it." Her three remaining followers, Watts, Tyrian, and Hazel, stood behind her. Hazel spoke first. "Perhaps it would be wise to put our plans for Haven on hold. At least until we can reevaluate our forces." Salem nodded. "Please leave. I wish to be alone for this. We will reconvene after I have finished mourning." The three men bowed before leaving. Salem gazed up to the ceiling. "You win this round, Nathan Ozpin. But I will not stop here."
To be continued...
Yes people... I SAVED PYRRHA NIKOS! You all knew it was coming. You all anticipated it. You probably weren't sure, but there it is. She's alive, Cinder's dead. All the drama, none of the trauma. This means a brand new Volume 4 arc starting next chapter. And here's where things get crazy. Now, officially this isn't a crossover, and I don't plan on changing that. But that's only because there are far too many things crossing over into RWBY. I'll be expanding on the world of Remnant as well, introducing a few original ideas based on the overall mythos. Look forward to it. Read and review.