RWBY and JNPR's twisted lives
chapter 34
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Ruby ran to Beacon with a serious expression that seemed like a mix of her insane side and a furious girl. "Cinder! You're dead when I get my hands on you!" she saw no Grimm in sight and reached the doors and ran in, but stopped when she saw how much stuff was burning and how damaged it looked all around. She watched as every moment she spent be burned away in the fire. This was the work of that amber eyed bitch, and she was going to pay.
She looked around and spotted the stairs which still seemed stable and ran up them while aiming straight for the top. She moved around the fires to avoid getting burned until stood at the top step and made her way through the halls.
At the top of the tower, in Ozpin's office, a large amount of smoke flowed out from the elevator, masking the entrance of Cinder Fall. She confidently strode to the window across the room, a smirk on her face. As if sensing her presence, the Dragon climbed up to the top, peers at her through the window, and screeches.
"Shhhh... This is your home now." Cinder spoke softly.
The Dragon stared at her and uttered a shorter, quieter screech.
Cinder backed away from the window and held her hand out to the side, creating a fireball in her palm. The sound of sparks distracted her, and she looked over her shoulder at the elevator, her fireball dissipating. After a few moments, the sparks came to a stop, and immediately upon the elevator doors' opening, Pyrrha's spear flew towards Cinder, who casually leaned to her right to dodge with a smirk on her face. "Aw, looks like someone's playing the big hero, how cute."
The spear was soon followed by Pyrrha's shield, backed by Pyrrha herself, and Cinder put her arms up, blocking and pushing it away. While Cinder used fire to hover in the air, Pyrrha called her spear and shield back to her with polarity, staring down her opponent. Cinder gained a fiery glow around her eyes and swiped her hand through the air, attacking Pyrrha with an arc of fire. She then shot a stream of fire, which Pyrrha dived over
Six small fireballs formed in a circle behind Cinder, and she sent another streak of fire toward Pyrrha, who barely avoided it. Once again, the Maiden sent a stream of fire the young redhead's way, but this time, Pyrrha blocked it with her shield. She leaped toward Cinder, powering through the flame, and as soon as the fire stops, she spun around and slashes Cinder's arm with her spear. However, Cinder caught the blade and pulls, turning Pyrrha around. Cinder slammed her palm into Pyrrha's chest, and fire bursts forth, blasting Pyrrha away.
Pyrrha slammed into a wall and fell to her hands and knees.
"You're brave, I'll give you that little girl." remarked Cinder without losing her smirk. "But don't you know the ones who jump in head first always end up six feet under?"
"As long as I can still fight, I will continue to do so," she said with labored breath. "But I'm not the one you should be worried about." She then stood back up and faced Cinder with determination still in her eyes.
"Oh? Are you hinting to that silver eyed brat?"
"You made me a pawn in your plan in the last fight, you killed Penny, and now Ruby's after your head."
"Then let her come, it saves me the time of going after her later. And even if she makes it here, with the power of the maiden and my skills, she won't make a mark on me."
Pyrrha snorted and laughed. "You get a little bit of power, plan this whole thing, and you still think you're on top? You may how power, but that doesn't make you invincible. I can't wait to see the look on your face when when you get a good look at reality."
"Speaking of which, have a taste." Cinder propelled herself forward with flames jetting from her hands, smirking once again. She attempted to slam into Pyrrha's abdomen, but Pyrrha leapt into the air above her and wrapped her arm around Cinder's.
As Cinder slowed to a stop, Pyrrha positioned herself to place her feet on the wall behind her and pushed off, flipping herself over Cinder. She used the momentum to flip and tossed Cinder across the floor. "And you're not the only one with skills." Pyrrha stated.
Cinder landed on her front and, as she slid, she pushed off the floor to get back on her feet and performed a back-handspring. Her smirk turned into a look of slight concern upon the sight of Pyrrha charging forward to slam her shield into Cinder's abdomen and push her over. As Cinder stumbled backwards, Pyrrha hit Cinder's right hand with the blunt end of her spear, then slashed Cinder's left hand with the spear's blade. She then spun around and slashed across Cinder's abdomen and legs.
"Ah!" cried out Cinder with a hiss of pain and surprise while looking down at her cuts.
"Remember that? That's pain." the redhead smirked satisfied by the look on Cinders face. She spun around to attack again, but Cinder performed a backflip whilst kicking Pyrrha, with flames trailing behind her foot.
The kick knocked Pyrrha into the air, and Pyrrha quickly righted herself. She flipped her spear in her grip, held it back, and then tossed it towards Cinder while firing the gun mechanism.
Six fireballs appear around Cinder again, but they dissipated when Cinder backhanded the spear away. Pyrrha's shield flies towards her, and she hits it away, as well. After being momentarily distracted by the shield, Cinder returned her attention to Pyrrha and gains a look of slight surprise, then annoyance. "And that's assuming you've won little girl."
Pyrrha frowned launched herself towards Cinder and put her arms around her, tackling her. The two turn each other in mid-air, fighting to be the one on top. Upon their landing, the room filled with a white cloud. When the dust settles, Pyrrha had Cinder in a choke hold, and Cinder is barely managing to hold Pyrrha's spear away from her neck.
"This ends Cinder! You are a monster in human skin! You've caused all this chaos and pain, and I'm going to do something I wish I never had to do. End your life." spoke Pyrrha who pulled back to plunge it into the girl, but groaned as she felt another wave of pain from her abdomen which made her hesitate. 'No! Not again.'
The Dragon flew away, and Cinder's eyes begin glowing as she applied heat to the spear in her hands. Her grip tightened as she heated the spear more and more, staring over her shoulder at Pyrrha.
Upon hearing a loud screech, Cinder turned her gaze ahead and smirked, while Pyrrha gained a look of fear. As Pyrrha set her focus on the Dragon that was flying toward the tower, Cinder finally snaps the spear's melted blade into pieces. Just before the Dragon slammed its wing into the roof of Ozpin's office. Cinder elbowed Pyrrha in the abdomen and got a groan out of her. The room filled with a green glow as the windows shattered and Pyrrha goes flying across the room. Giant cogs and debris come crashing down in the office, and the structure containing the CCT's transmitter falls to the ground outside, in pieces.
This didn't go unnoticed by Ruby who stopped at a window. "Cinder." she growled, smashed the window and headed towards the structure.
Pyrrha looked and tried crawling toward hers shield while Cinder watched on from her position levitating off the floor with flame jetting from her feet.
"See? Where was that chance to end me when you had it? Now you're crawling on the ground like a worm, I think it suits you."
While looking for a way to distract Cinder, Pyrrha noticed Ozpin's collapsed metal desk. "Pardon my language but, Suck it Bitch!" She used her polarity to throw the desk at the corrupt Maiden, knocking her to the floor. Pyrrha then quickly grabbed her shield and rolled across the floor, sitting up on her knees and holding the shield up.
With a burst of flame, Cinder threw the desk off of herself and levitates in the air. "Just for that, I'm going to take my time for you to suffer."
Pyrrha rolled out of the way of two streams of fire that Cinder sent her way and attempts to block a third. However, the force of the third sent Pyrrha tumbling backward, and the floor momentarily catches fire while Pyrrha rolled to her feet. From behind the wall of flame, Pyrrha threw her shield at Cinder, who confidently backhanded it away. She then looked up in surprise to see a multitude of giant cogs floating in the air around her. Using her polarity, Pyrrha directed her shield to knock Cinder's feet from beneath her and then slammed a cog down on Cinder's abdomen to pin her to the floor. She called her shield back to her arm, then brings the cogs together into a pile on top of Cinder. However, Cinder blasted them away with a powerful burst of fire, sending them in all directions. One of the cogs flew toward Pyrrha, who raised her shield to block, in vain. The force of the impact slammed her into the remains of a wall, leaving her with only a small amount of aura left.
We now move to the airship where the group watched the battle.
"We need to do something!" Yelled Jaune in panic. "Cinder's gonna kill her!"
"We can't get too close with that Dragon circling around the tower," Winter stated. "and we don't have enough ammunition to kill it."
"But we have to save Pyrrha! She….she might be pregnant!" blurted Nora while gripping Ren's arm.
Jaune turned to her with wide eyes and a slack jaw. "WHAT!" He cried.
"Look! I see ruby!" Yelled Velvet pointing red blur zipping at the bottom of the tower.
Jaune looked at the girl to the top of the tower. "Winter! I have a plan, but you need to trust me."
"Right now, I'd even trust Qrow."
"Get closer, open fire in the Dragon with all we got left, and use you Glyphs to help Ruby get to the top."
"That's going to be tricky, but I'll try." she spoke turning the ship a little closer to head towards the building.
Cinder snickered as she walked up to Pyrrha. "I'm going to take pleasure in reducing you to ash."
Pyrrha managed a scowl and glared at Cinder while feeling her body ache and felt another painful wave come over her, making her grab her abdomen.
This made Cinder blink in confusion before a memory clicked in her head. "Of course, something's wrong with you, Baga seems to want to keep you alive."
"Now I see….how you managed this." she spoke. "You used her powers to know what would happen and make sure it went off without a hitch, right?"
"The powers of a precog are rare, so when we saw the opportunity we took it." She said before the Dragon circling over head was fired upon. Both of them turned and saw the airship firing at it with said Grimm roaring out in anger but fall back.
"Woah!" Ruby marveled.
"Ruby!" Jaune called over the speakers before Winter started forming glyphs up the side of the tower. "Use the Glyphs!"
Ruby looked up the side and grinned before running up and felt them help propel her upwards. "Thanks Ice Queen!"
Cinder growled in anger and clenched her fists. "It's just one annoying pest after another!"
Pyrrha saw Cinder turn her attention to the ship and groaned as she pushed herself up onto her feet and looked to see Jaune in the window.
"I guess I'll have to deal with them first, the crash will make a good bonfire and their bodies the tinder!" She said readying another blast.
Pyrrha gasped with wide eyes before running at her opponent. "NO! LEAVE THEM ALONE!"
Cinder reeled her hand before before Pyrrha knocked her over and her fireball went flying away and exploded away from the ship. "GRA! THAT'S IT!" Cinder yelled getting back on her feet before sending a powerful wave of fire at the red head who brought up her shield. However the impact sent her over the edge screaming.
"Pyrrha!" cried out her friends while Ruby heard and turned to see her falling and quickly used her excess momentum to turn and run where Pyrrha was falling.
Winter redirected her glyphs and helped the younger girl save the falling red head and guided the Glyphs to the top. Ruby jumped from the last one and landed in a crouching stance with Pyrrha in her arms.
"You alright there?" asked Ruby looking at Pyrrha and setting her down on her feet.
"Yes," she nodded in reply, "Thank you Ruby."
"No worries, just get somewhere safe." Ruby said as her tone grew serious as she looked at Cinder and grit her teeth. "I'll deal with this bitch."
"Ah, looks like the little psycho wants to play." smirked Cinder while Ruby and her walked a little closer and didn't drop their guard. "You know, I'm surprised someone with half a mind managed to come very close to ruining our whole operation. I dare even say if you tried earlier, we'd have failed all together. But take a look around and soak up this picture."
"I'm going to eviscerate you for what you did today, and make you watch as your insides become your outsides. But first I'm going to cut out that tongue of yours, bend you over, and shove it right up the place it really belongs"
"You're almost as sadistic as me." She said as the started circling. "I can't help but feel a small kinship."
"Well don't go begging for mercy when your limbs are tossed over the side cause I'm all out and I wanna see blood. Preferably dripping from your dismembered head."
"Then show me what you can do, Silver Eyes." she glared as the flame formed around her eyes again and flash forged daggers in her hands.
Ruby aimed her rifle behind her and fired a shot, propelling herself at Cinder who swung at her with Ruby narrowly twisting her head away while feeling the second dagger touch her cheek as she used her feet to skid to a stop and touched the spot and saw it was bleeding a little. "Okay, not bad, time to bust out something I've been working on." she said before switching out her ammo with gravity dust bullets and launched herself forward.
Cinder stood at the ready before Ruby was enveloped in a mass of petals that split into three. Cinder was surprised but kept her eye on each of them as they ran around her from all sides. They reformed back into one behind the evil maiden and Ruby hit her with a roundhouse kick. "Boom! After imaging biatch!"
Cinder fell to the right before quickly catching herself with her hands and flipped back to her feet, but it was clear she wasn't as fast as she wanted to be due to her fight with Pyrrha. "Little pest!"
'Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words won't hurt because you'll be dead!" cheered Ruby before she started opening fire at Cinder.
Said girl brought her daggers up and started knocking the bullets away while her form glowed with Amber's power. "I have the power of the fall maiden, I won't be bested by the likes of you!"
"Oh yeah? Then why don't you use it? Or maybe you can't." taunted Ruby.
"Very well then," she said forming a ball of fire in her hands. "I'll kill you just like the others did the rest of your kind!" she said before launching it at Ruby.
Ruby used her Semblance and rushed at the fireball before she was engulfed by the petals and split apart before she reappeared in front of Cinder before swinging her open palm and smacked Cinder's cheek. "Bitch slap!"
The amber eyed girl fell to the ground and snarled while Ruby walked around her.
"What do you mean the rest of my kind?" questioned Ruby who was a little curious.
Cinder huffed before smirking and started to slowly chuckle. "I'm sure Ozpin has told about the silver eyes right?" Cinder asked as she stood up.
"Yeah, how I'm the last one and how I've got kickass powers. I don't know what they are, but I don't need them now to finish you off."
"Did he also tell you what happened to them, your people?" Asked cinder as the dragon returned and clung to the tower.
"Well, no." responded Ruby who tried to keep her eye on the prize. "But that's not the important thing right now, it's chopping your head off."
"You're not the slightest bit curious to how an entire race was almost completely wiped off the face of remnant? Your race, your family." she listed off while laughing louder. "Now that's just sad."
Ruby lowered her weapon and felt her drive to kill steadily being replaced by uncertainty and curiosity as the face of her mother came into her mind. "...what happened to them?"
"They were slaughtered. Every single one of them were hunted down and killed." smirked Cinder. "And the best part? All done without any trouble because of her. My leader, Lady Salem!" she proclaimed before laughing out loud with sadistic glee.
Ruby on the other hand felt like the world had been slammed in top of her head. 'Slaughtered? All of them? Mom...her too?'
"Her loyal servants, like myself, were ordered to kill them. And that they did, without any remorse." smirked Cinder seeing Ruby's expression while she flash forged an obsidian bow behind her. "And now, the Silver Eyes, will cease to exist!" she pulled it out and forged an arrow before pulling back.
Ruby dropped Crescent Rose as she felt something inside her begin to swell more and more to the point she just couldn't contain it any further. She saw time seem to slow down as Cinder let go of the arrow with it coming straight at her chest before the thing in her rushed out as she screamed and she saw everything go white.
The last things she heard was the Dragon's earsplitting roar and Cinder's exclamation.
"WHAT!?"
Then darkness.
When she next awoke, the first thing she heard was radio static.
"Sigh, nothing." she heard the voice of her father.
She made a grumble noise and rolled a little hearing her dad.
"Just turn the damn thing off Tai, without the CCT there's no point." spoke her uncle.
She climbed out of bed and found she was in her pajamas. Her legs felt a little weak but she ignored it and pressed on.
"Communication down across the entire kingdom, no way to contact the outside world, and Ozpin is gone."
"Dad? Uncle Qrow?" she groaned walking down the stairs.
"Ruby!" they both shouted in surprise and rushed over to her.
"Where am I?" she asked rubbing her eyes. "And what happened?"
"You're back home sweetheart." her father said before he picked her up. "Your friend brought you back after you…"
"After I what?" asked Ruby seeing her dad hesitate. "Wait, Pyrrha's alright? But what about Cinder? And the others? And that massive Dragon thing?"
"Pyrrha's fine, from what we heard you saved her and her baby." said Taiyang.
"Oh well that's….wait a sec, BABY?!" cried Ruby with wide eyes and dropped jaw.
"Yeah it was quite a shock to her too." Qrow added.
Ruby looked down and was speechless. "What else happened?"
"Ruby you….the dragon, you subdued it." Qrow said. "It's not dead, but it's definitely frozen up on top of beacon tower. I was like 'Dayum!' the moment I saw it up close. You sure did a number on it kiddo."
"Froze it? Ok, now that makes no sense. I cut things up, not freeze them. That's more of Weiss' job...crap! What happened to her and the others? Is Yang okay?"
The two looked at each other wondering how to break the news to her. They lead her to the spare room where her father opened the door.
Ruby gasped with horror as she saw Yang unconscious in bed while her head was bandaged and had numerous machines hooked up to her showing her heart rate, breathing, all sorts of stuff you'd see in a hospital. Ruby felt her knees get weak again and nearly passed out.
"After that blow to the head, she fell into a coma, hard to say when or even if she'll wake up. But at least Baga Yaba was right, she didn't lose her arm."
Ruby slowly walked over before dropping to her knees and reached out to grab Yang's hand. "Yang? Come on Yang, wake up."
"Ruby, it's not that easy." Qrow said. "She has to come back to us on her own."
Ruby ignored him and squeezed Yang's hand a little. "Come on Yang, you're tougher then this. Just open your eyes."
It tore Taiyang's heart to see his daughters like this, one in a coma and the other trying to wake her up no matter how futile it was.
.
"Yang come on and open your eyes!" spoke Ruby who started tearing up while Yang didn't respond. "Wake up!"
"Ruby...just stop." Qrow said before pulling her into his arms. "She's gonna get through this."
"It's not fair!" cried Ruby with tears streaming down her cheeks as she cried into Qrow's shirt. "She's stronger than this! S-She can handle anything! It's not fair..not fair…." she trailed off while sobbing and sniffling. "...it's all because of that bitch Salem. She took mom from us and now because of her Yang is-"
"Ruby, listen." spoke Qrow. "We need to have faith Yang will come out of this when she can. She is strong, and as long as we keep calm and do our best, then I'm positive she'll make it."
"Wait...what did you say...about mom?"asked tai
Ruby turned to her dad with a frown. "Salem. That sadistic bitch Cinder told me that's her boss's name. She told me how that woman killed mom, and every other Silver Eyed person. And I bet SHE'S the one who planned all this from the fucking start!"
Her father's eyes widened before he grit his teeth and punched the wall. "Summer."
"Hello?" called Jaune from downstairs as he stood at the front door. "Mr. Xiao Long?"
"Tai, go talk to Jaune, I'll stay here for Ruby." spoke Qrow rubbing his nieces back as she stayed still.
Tai huffed and went down the steps. "Hello Jaune, I take it you're here to check up on Ruby?"
"Uh, yeah."
"Well you'll be happy to hear that she's awake but...she just learned about Yang."
"Oh...I'm so sorry." replied Jaune only imagining what the girl must be feeling like.
"Maybe you can calm her down. She's… not taking it well."
"Yeah, I figured she wouldn't." Jaune said scratching his head.
"Just head upstairs in Yang's room."
"Thank you." said Jaune before heading up and looked into the room. "Ruby?
She looked around Qrow and nodded. "Hey Jaune." she sniffled.
"So the Dragon slayer lives, that's good. Nice work with that by the way. That was some light show." he replied, trying to use praise to see if it would cheer her up. "Hard to believe you had that in you."
"Jaune, I don't know what happened, or what I did, so just stop." she spoke without any goofiness or cheerful nature. Her voice just sounded angry and hollow.
"Yeah, unfortunately Cinder got away, but from what Pyrrha said you blinded her left eye and possibly made her a mute."
That made Ruby smile a little before she gave a small chuckle which slowly started to get louder. "Hahahaha!"
Qrow and Jaune looked at her with concern as they saw her give a large grin which put them on alert.
"Is that all? Oh Jaune, when I find that bitch, I'm going to make what the witch hunts minor in comparison. And believe me when I say she will burn, and I aim to be the one to light the fuse. She said before she calmed down and looked at him. "So Pyrrha's pregnant eh? Wonder who the proud Papa is hmm?"
Jaune blushed and coughed while looking away. "Yeah well, she's resting up in a nearby hospital safe and sound, though I heard her parents are coming over and I might get sent to the morgue if her dad is the real protective type."
"You're welcome to hide here if you need to." Said Ruby. "Once I get the rest of my team we're going after Cinder."
That made Jaune look down with a frown. "Ruby...Blake and Weiss are not here, or anywhere in the kingdom."
That made her look lost. "What? But, I thought they got out alright?"
"They did….but the minute the ship landed….Blake ran off."
She blinked and shook her head. "Jaune, that must have been some other girl in black. Blake is not someone who'd go off and do that. Now what about Weiss?"
"No mistake, she booked it, and Weiss...her sister thought it best to take her back to Atlas to get her some help."
"Help for what?" Asked Ruby
"As it turns out, your friend drew blood from killing a member of the Blood Fang." spoke up Qrow. "And she….well imagine her becoming similar to the Bloody Rose, but minor. Kind of like she had a mental breakdown in the heat of battle, she even called herself Flash Freeze."
Ruby looked down hearing that and felt bad for her friend considering she was use to fighting Grimm and killing them, but another person was entirely different.
"Come on squirt, let's get you back to bed. You need to rest a little more." Qrow insisted.
"No." spoke Ruby shaking her head. "What I need is to get my stuff together and hunt down the one's who did all this.
"Absolutely not young lady." her father spoke up. "You are going to stay here where it's safe. I know you're mad, hell we all are, but this out of your league."
She crossed her arms and looked at her unconscious sister. "If I'm gonna go to sleep, I'm gonna do it beside Yang."
"Alright, but be careful of the equipment." her father and jaune walked out of the room while Ruby climbed onto the bed and made sure to be careful before laying her head against Yang's shoulder.
"Don't take it personally Ruby, he's just worried, we all are." said Qrow.
"I know, but it doesn't change the fact I'm going to make that bitch and everyone with her pay." she said while tightening her fist.
"If I find her, I'll give her your regards before I cut her head from her body. We believe Haven academy in Mistril is the next target."
"Then that's where I'm going to."
"No you need to stay here like your dad said, besides the trails a little dangerous for a half pint like you. Don't worry we'll get Cinder and her cohorts and I'll save you a front row seat to their executions." he smiled. "Who knows, you might even get to keep the heads."
Ruby smiled as he ruffled her hair.
"Sleep tight kiddo." he turned and walked out of the room.
Once the door was closed her frown returned. "I hope you wake up soon Yang."
Later that afternoon the ground was covered in fresh snow. Ruby was walking down the road while in a winter coat and earmuffs cause her dad recommended she go and see how her friends were doing. She arrived at the inn where they were staying at and gave their room door a knock. A few moments later Nora opened the door, Ruby was actually pretty surprised to find she wasn't naked or wearing a robe but the most surprising was that the room didn't reek of lovemaking.
"Ruby!" smiled Nora before pulling the girl into a hug. "It's great to see you're awake."
"Thanks Nora, how are things with you guys?"
"Well….why don't you come in?" she said and moved aside to let the younger girl in.
Ruby walked in and took a look around. "Where's everybody else?"
"Ren's in Jaune's room. He's pretty down about Pyrrha leaving. Wait here for a sec." the redhead walked to the room across the hall to fetch the boys.
"Hey Ruby, what are you doing here?" Jaune questioned popping his head out.
"How would you like to join me for a little trip?" she asked ope o g up her coat showing she had her scythe hidden under it. "I'm going to track down Cinder in Mistril and I need a team, you in?"
Meanwhile Coco stood on the cliffs on the shore looking out at Vale with a mix of anger and sorrow. Anger at all the destruction and chaos and sorrow from how they were powerless to stop it. It only got worse when she and her team got word of what happened to Yang. "Damn, why does life have to be this fucked up?"
"Because life isn't fair." someone said from behind her.
Coco turned her head and frowned facing the person. "Who are you?"
"My name is Raven Branwen." said woman introduced herself and pulled the mask from her head. "I'm here to see my daughter."
