Author's Note: My god, a chapter underneath 10,000 words? Incredible.
There's a character who does some fighting in this chapter, whose weapon we have seen in the show, but it has not been named. I took the liberty of naming it, as well as fleshing out how it operates, just a little bit. Consider it as much of an OC as I'm willing to commit to, outside of myself in the AN's. I'm never letting that review go.
Speaking of that absolute banger of a roast I featured as last week's comment of the week, I really did frame it. I took out a picture of me with my family to put up a hate-review/roast from my fanfic. If that doesn't scream "mentally stable" then I don't know what does. If you want to see my frame job, we've got a picture of it pinned over on the Discord:
discord (dot) ( the letter gee ) ( the letter gee ) (slash) YzqBkXR
That was a good segway, huh?
Speaking of segways, let's see who dies this week. Enjoy.
Chapter 52: "I used to think that the characters Spruce Willis played were all exaggerated stereotypes. Now that I've seen the General in person, I'm beginning to think that they might have actually based those characters on a watered-down version of General Ironwood." – Neptune Vasilias, who would not shut up about the topic, to the dismay of his teammates, who were there with him the whole time
Ozpin's POV
The elevator ride down to the Vault was excruciatingly slow, or at least felt like it. It has been a long time since I've had anything major backfire in my face—Summer's death or the disappearance of the Spring Maiden coming to mind as the most recent, and the latter falls more on Leonardo's shoulders than mine. But the last time that I let this many things backfire all at once?
Well, you would have to go back to before the current kingdoms were organized, at least. Likely even further.
Letting Atlas run the Festival has backfired. Their machines have gone rogue and are firing on the innocents they're designed to protect.
Using Ms. Nikos to get to Mr. Arc has backfired. Now, I have a half-Maiden on a leash, and can't guarantee that she's going to be content to stay that way, if she survives.
Everything regarding Mr. Arc has backfired now. For all the comparisons to Qrow, he turned out to be Raven in more than just figurative ways, and that cost me dearly. He even refused to turn on Salem's agents, deciding it better to shut his mouth and take his chances.
All of Vale was suffering those mistakes right now, and this damned elevator is going so slow that things might get significantly worse.
I shook any thoughts free from my mind and gripped the handle of my cane tighter, trying to clear my head and focus on the task at hand. There would be plenty of time to dwell over my recent failures after this, especially if this night forces me into a reincarnation—which may very well depend on how late I am getting to the Vault.
With only a few seconds remaining on the ride down, I closed my eyes, concentrating on whatever magic I still have. I had to reach deep inside to find it, and latching onto it made me feel weak and feeble, a reminder of just how old I was getting, and I don't mean this current body—though that was another thing. The magic was there, though, springing to life and invigorating me.
The elevator door chimed and my eyes snapped open, my body surging with the energy I had just tapped into.
Three people were fifty feet down the hallway from me. I recognized two, Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos. The scene was a bad one; Pyrrha was slumped down against one of the pillars and was wounded, and her partner was mostly turned away from her. The third person I did not recognize, but I did not need to know her name to figure out that she was Amber's attacker.
All three of them looked my way with different amounts of shock and panic, and I was already rocketing towards them when the unknown woman slashed Pyrrha's neck, a panic to her motions as she realized that she would want all of Amber's power to take me on and was willing to risk Pyrrha's powers going elsewhere.
"No!" Jaune Arc cried out suddenly, snapping out of a stupor at the sight of his partner's throat being slit. He dropped the girl's weapons from his arms and drew his Arc's sword into a swing at the woman, which she blocked on a blade she summoned into her hand. Whatever truce there had been between them before was certainly gone now, and she had not been caught off-guard by his attack.
She could not block his attack and avoid mine simultaneously, and I shot towards this woman at an unnatural speed, leading with the tip of my cane and building up a fireball around me that bristled with magical energy. Her eyes went wide as she realized this and she braced herself as best she could, trying to throw up something in front of her with her powers to absorb the blow. It was a futile attempt and I crashed into her violently, pushing even more power into the point of contact, which sent her flying down the hallway, bouncing and skidding across the floor for almost a hundred yards.
"Mr. Arc—" I growled, turning around to confront the man, only to find him already on his knees by his partner, trying desperately to undo the damage done.
"I'm so sorry, Pyrrha," his voice choked out quietly to the girl, who herself was gasping for breath as panic and fear overtook her face. His hands glowed as they applied pressure to the cut in her neck. "This was a mistake."
"Mr. Arc!" I yelled, getting the boy to at least turn his head enough to see me. "Can you save her?"
"I… I don't know. M-Maybe. The cut wasn't clean, and she only cut through one side of her neck, but—"
"But what?!" I yelled impatiently, keeping my eyes downrange and locked onto the woman who was picking herself off the ground.
"I'm almost out of Aura," he replied meekly. "I…I won't be able to fix it all. It…it won't be enough."
An arrow whizzed through the air at us. Mr. Arc pulled his shield up and made sure to shield Pyrrha and himself with it. The arrow struck dead-center in the shield, it obviously having been intended to finish the job on the half-Maiden.
"Get her out of here!" I yelled as our attacker began running towards us. "I'll hold her off."
"You're just going to send her with me, after all I've done?"
"Lesser of two evils, Mr. Arc," I replied gruffly, making it clear that we were by no means on friendly terms. "The sooner she dies, the sooner her attacker recovers the other half of her powers, so get her out of here." It didn't matter if he did save her, only that he prolong her death.
Realization dawned over the boy, and he scooped Pyrrha into his arms, taking care not to disturb the knife protruding from her chest. I did not miss the fact that it was his knife, but even with that as it is, him getting her out of here was the best of a pool of suboptimal options. His Semblance still caused her Aura to shine around her neck, but it was clear that she was still bleeding there faster than she could afford to—and she could hardly breathe, if at all. With her secured, he sprinted for the elevator, leaving behind the girl's weapons.
"No!" the assailant screamed, trying to rocket past me by riding a wave of flames propelling her. My cane caught her in the gut and I absorbed the energy she had been riding, knocking her back far enough to allow Mr. Arc to make it aboard the elevator.
She summoned a bow and began desperately firing arrows past me, and I knocked the first few away with my cane, preventing them from finding their mark, much to her frustration. By the time she finally got one past me, the elevator doors had closed, and her prey had escaped.
The woman seethed, glaring at me as her shoulders rose and fell.
"You're going to regret that."
"I'm going to regret a lot of things about tonight," I answered back, putting on a calm façade. "We'll see where that ranks once the dust settles."
The woman morphed her bow into two swords and held them down at her sides, ready for me to make a move at any moment, but content to wait as long as I was. The longer things dragged on for, the greater chance that Ms. Nikos would bleed out, and while it wasn't guaranteed that Amber's remaining powers would seek out their other half, it was plausible.
"I don't believe we've met, miss…?"
"Fall," the woman replied, hesitating for a moment as she decided that engaging me here would at least buy her more time. Surely, I would find her name out eventually, so using it to buy more time her was reasonable enough. "Cinder Fall."
"Ms. Fall?" I repeated with a patronizing chuckle. "Subtle. Did you come up with that yourself, or did your master designate it to you?"
She bristled at my insult, her patience very clearly running thin. At least I am not the only one whose plans seem to have run awry. Perhaps Qrow's Semblance has been putting in significant overtime.
"Are you just going to stand there the whole time, or are you going to attack me?!"
"Impatient, are we?"
"The longer you wait, the better chance there is that Pyrrha will die and I'll get her powers," Ms. Fall replied, sounding like she was trying to convince herself to be patient. "Do you really think you have enough power remaining to kill a Maiden?"
"No," I answered, keeping my tone simple, "I doubt that I do. As it stands, even a fight with half of a Maiden is more of a coin flip than I'd like to admit." In all likelihood, it was probably an even fight. Our magics were probably at the same level, and she had the advantage of a youthful body while I had the advantage of skill and experience. It could go either way. "That's why I'm hedging my bets."
Her eyes narrowed at that, a healthy dose of skepticism and suspicion in them.
"Explain."
"Look around you," I called out with a smirk. "You at least were effective in destroying Vale. If Beacon falls, this Vault will become a tomb… our tomb. And both of our powers will seek out new hosts..." Her eyes widened as she caught on, which may have caused my smirk to deepen just a bit. "But only you will truly die here."
Ironwood's POV
Ozpin's line went dead as he rushed off to the Vault in the hopes of saving our current best chance to take down the Alpha Wyvern and save what remains of Vale. Even if by some miraculous series of events Ozpin is able to save his Maiden, a single Maiden against a beast such as that was no guarantee.
"Qrow, can you make it to Amity? We need to take out the White Fang here as soon as possible."
"You want me to fly through an army of Nevermores?"
"Grimm don't target animals. You'll be fine."
"Grimm don't go out of their way to target animals, but I'm not sure I want to test that theory," Qrow retorted. "Fine, I'll get there as soon as I can."
"Good. I'll be busy in the meantime," I replied, hanging up the call.
The Grimm Wyvern had bypassed Amity Arena and gone after the heart of Vale instead, which presented an opportunity for this whole mess to be resolved. Outside of magic, the only thing with enough firepower to hurt that thing would be the Atlas fleet, or what remained of it. Even just my flagship possessed the firepower to turn this fight, and regaining my ship would also allow me to figure out who had hijacked control of my machines and shut them down. To take back my ship, I would need bullheads to assault it, and to free up bullheads, I would need to finish Amity's evacuation. Or start it.
That the Wyvern had passed by Amity in favor of Vale spoke of the dire straits aboard the coliseum: there simply weren't enough survivors left to generate as much fear as Vale proper. The damned White Fang was determined to make the most of this attack, and not only had they bombed the stands and killed hundreds, but they had been waiting at the exits, greeting the fleeing civilians with either gunfire or wild Grimm they had released onto Amity.
The coliseum had been a warzone ever since. The exterior shields had failed when Nevermores and Griffons overwhelmed the system—that, or the Fang's control over my systems also extended to Amity and they had simply shut them down. Not even the White Fang exposed themselves out in the open there, and currently Oobleck and Port were posting up and keeping the skies distracted. That left everyone else in a bloody, chaotic skirmish for the several different self-contained or sheltered levels of Amity.
Conveniently, it put them all in my way.
I had already cleared the press-box level by the time the Wyvern had announced its presence, and once I was off the scroll with Ozpin, I could double-down on taking back this arena. The upper-most level wasn't highly populated by either White Fang or students—only bodies. The fighting had all made its way down to the lower levels, likely because of one side retreating, and all that was left now were a few students tending to their wounded or White Fang doing the same. Any thoughts of taking mercy on those Fang were washed away by the countless lifeless bodies of civilians that you had to step over just to reach them; the bastards had preyed on innocent lives, and found no quarter from me.
A level below that and things became more involved. This ring was half-empty, and the other half was occupied by a standoff between students and a small squad of White Fang gunners. The Fang were trying to overrun a defensive stand by the students—some of whom didn't even have a proper weapon with them—behind which a small crowd of civilians were taking shelter. The students were losing ground fast, as the White Fang bastards had come prepared for an assault and simply had more means at their disposal.
I made sure to reverse that trend, jumping directly into the fray and cutting a massive hole into their assault. Falkemond slipped free of its holster cleanly, the hand-cannon humming to life and linking with my cybernetic arm, letting me know that it was loaded to capacity. Ten high-caliber rounds plus three anti-armor piercers that would shatter the arm of a non-Aura user, scattered throughout the magazine at random so as to be unpredictable to opponents.
Not that I needed to keep such grunts guessing. There were six of them, five if you discount the one unlucky enough to be pistol-whipped as I drew Falkemond. The next one I fired point-blank into his chest, the first shot ringing in our ears with a massive bang as the first round came out as one of the enhanced rounds. He had Aura but the shot knocked him back on his back and bought enough time for my personal guard to jump in at both of my flanks, taking two of the remaining four targets.
The last two left to me shared a look before charging in at me, as if that was somehow a good idea. One pulled up to fire at me with a dust rifle and the other charged in with a polearm, slashing it at my head. I switched my gun to my left hand and swatted the weapon aside with my robotic one, firing four rounds point blank into this man's Aura from my hip as I did so. I stepped in and caught the man's arm by the bicep with my robotic hand, before stepping up and behind him and dislocating the joint with a sickening pop and a snap, forcing his torso to face his buddy and his arm to go behind his body with me. He let out a painful scream and his buddy held his fire now that he didn't have an angle, and that was the last mistake either of them would make. Falkemond put a round through my hostage's chest now that he wasn't engaging his Aura and the blood spray out the other side blinded and distracted the other one long enough that the next round fired split his forehead wide open. The Aura in my left arm tingled as the enhanced round's recoil hit me.
"Students," I called out, turning back around to address them and I reloaded, popping out the side-loading dust canister and inserting a new one. "What's the situation down here like?"
"That's the last of them on this level," a blond boy with a staff responded. I recognized him as one of the finalists in the tournament, and absently noted that he seemed to have no confliction about fighting the White Fang despite his obvious Faunus features. "We tried to get most of the survivors to the lower levels, but the Fang was determined to go after them!"
"Then let's hope the other students held out as well as you have." I looked over the small group of about ten civilians, not content to leave them unguarded should any more Fang reveal themselves here. There were four students total, only two of which even had proper weapons, and I kicked the fallen White Fang grunts' weapons over towards the other two. "Two of you stay here and protect them. The two of you who are in best shape to fight, on me."
As expected, the two with proper weapons fell in with me, as did my two personal guards. We made a beeline for the stairwell.
"What are your names?"
"I'm Sun. That's Neptune."
"General Ironwood."
"We know. What's with the whole 'evil robots' thing?" the one called Neptune asked as we made our way down the stairs.
"What he means is—"
"He's fine," I waved off, though the gruffness of my voice likely undercut that statement. "I've somehow been entirely locked out of my own systems. The only way to shut down any Paladins or Knights remaining requires me to get to my flagship, which means we need to take back this arena fast. Eyes up," I called out as we burst out the stairwell into a scene of pure chaos.
Amity's self-contained levels got wider the further down you went, and this was the first level that looked like an actual battlefield. Bodies were scattered everywhere, and not limited to just civilians anymore. The fighting was bogged down and it was clear that this skirmish was taking its toll, and instead of scattered fighters there were scattered pockets of two or three Fang members taking on a student or two at a time.
"What do we do?"
"Divide and conquer," I answered immediately. "Save someone, overwhelm the Fang together, and then do it again."
"What makes you so certain that the five of us can change this whole battle?" Neptune's voice asked, apprehension clear in it.
I drew my weapon and emptied six rounds into two Fang members who had pinned down a student, killing one outright and knocking the other to the ground, allowing the student to knock him out easily. Following that, I drew my arm up and brought it back down behind the back of Sun, firing out from behind him at a different skirmish off to our side; the first round that came out was an enhanced one, piercing through the standing Aura of a Fang member and putting a hole in the side of his head. The next two shots pinged off the wrists of two more Fang members who had been backing down another student with the now-deceased assailant, which forced them to drop their weapons in surprise. The student's eyes lit up now that her attackers were unarmed and she surged forwards, and my next two shots hit the knees of the Fang members and caused them to stumble.
None of those last shots were enhanced, meaning the last two rounds in the mag were.
Off in the distance, two students were trying to handle an Ursa that was there—for some reason—and a White Fang pikeman was sneaking up behind them. After taking a moment to line up the shot, the man slumped to the ground limply as the enhanced round pierced through his neck, severing his spinal cord as it tore through. The blood spatter surprised the two students and made them take their eyes off the Ursa to look back behind them, and when the Ursa reared up to attack them, my last round found the soft underbelly of its chin, shooting all the way through its head.
I turned back and gave this Neptune kid an annoyed look and I dumped out the spent dust cartridge and slammed a new one into Falkemond.
"Oh," he mumbled, as he looked around to find that thirteen bullets had just unpinned two students, put down six Fang, and destroyed a Grimm—a nine-combatant shift in our favor.
Blake's POV
This was all a nightmare specifically tailored to torment me. I had run from Adam and the White Fang because I was terrified by what he was turning into, that he was becoming a monster who wanted to hurt people. Not only was I right, but he took it so far that he was here, attacking innocent people in Vale and killing indiscriminately. I ran away because Adam was becoming something I couldn't bring myself to support, but he became so evil that he came back to haunt me, throwing all my decisions in my face. If I had stayed, could I have stopped this, or slowed Adam down, or at least limited the damage? All of this was because of Adam, and no one could have stopped Adam from going down this path.
Except for me.
I failed to stop Adam then, and I did so again now, though not for lack of trying.
"Why must you hurt me so, Blake?" Adam asked, his mask hiding his eyes as he looked down at me, Wilt held lazily at his side now that I was disarmed, beaten, and Auraless.
"You're a monster, Adam," I spat out, my voice wavering slightly.
"Humans use that word to describe their fears," Adam responded, unaffected by the term at all, holding his blade up against the underside of my chin to force me to look at him, "and it has been made painfully clear to me that they fear the Faunus. I am a monster, one that all of humanity will dread. What matters is that the Faunus will call me their deliverance…"
"Adam!" Ilia yelled, bursting through the stairwell and running over to where we were. "It's time to leave. They've rallied behind Ironwood and control all the other levels. We need to get out while we can."
Adam pulled Wilt back and sheathed it, leaving me on the ground and turning towards Ilia—another friend I let go down this path who has come back to haunt me. His eyes scanned over what remained of his forces now, a couple dozen uniformed White Fang gathered around, setting the last of their dust charges. With how many White Fang there had been in the upper levels, Adam had to have brought everyone loyal to him here, which meant that if they didn't escape now, there would be nothing left of his movement. If I could stop him now, no one else would die.
"So be it. The world has been put on notice." Adam pulled Wilt out once more, turning back to me. "One thing remains to be done, though."
"L-Leave her, Adam," Ilia called out weakly, grabbing his arm. "She should have to watch us fix the world…"
The look Adam gave Ilia told us both that he knew that wasn't Ilia's reason to let me live, which forced Ilia to blush slightly and drop her head in shame.
"Very well. You must suffer before you can die for your betrayal, Blake."
Adam sheathed his weapon and began walking towards the edge of the level, where a few Bullheads were waiting to evacuate the White Fang. Ilia shot me a look mixed between longing and sorrow, before turning and walking after him.
"Coward," I spat out at Adam, which was just enough to get him to stop in place for a moment. "Who's running away now?"
Ilia turned back towards me wide-eyed, shocked by my apparent death wish. Adam did not deign to turn around and face me, but stared off into the distance stiffly.
"Don't try to compare me to you, Blake."
"You're right. I came back to face you. You get one word that a human who is capable of standing against you is coming, and you tuck your tail between your legs and let your men die so you can escape."
I could almost hear Adam scowl. He turned around, his hand falling to Wilt's handle as he slowly walked back over to me.
"I know what you're trying to do, Blake. The opinions of traitors mean nothing to me."
"It's not just going to be my opinion," I answered back, staring him down hard. "You brought all of your might against humanity, and all you could do was kill defenseless civilians before Atlas cut you down. Do you think this is a victory?"
Adam's scowl deepened, and he remained silent as he made it to my spot on the ground.
"You've crippled Vale. Congratulations. Now there isn't anything left of your forces to show for it," I continued, doing whatever I could to needle him where it would matter most. I could hear noises in the stairwells and knew that it wouldn't be long before everyone had fought their way down here, so I just needed to keep him fixated on me a little longer. "You attacked with everything you had, and you couldn't even take over this arena. Ironwood, a human, is showing the world that he's better than you…"
"Enough!" Adam screamed, drawing Wilt and slicing across my stomach. The wound wasn't deep and was more of a large scratch, but it stung. Adam placed his boot on the wound and pressed down, pointing his sword inches from my face. My own blood dripped off the edge onto my chest.
The sound of gunfire erupted nearby, a sign that help was finally coming. Adam ignored this, locked onto me and seething too hard to care about anything else.
"You're just scared of a human," I choked out defiantly. Adam took exception to this and jammed Wilt down into my stomach with an aggravated yell, before kicking me away with his foot, making sure to aim for my new wound.
I clutched my side and my breathing came out ragged, but I could breathe, so Adam probably hadn't meant to kill me just yet. I tried my best to crawl away with the hand I wasn't clutching my stomach with, but Adam's footsteps followed me effortlessly. He kicked me in the side again before stepping down on my stomach, pinning my arm there.
"You deserve this, B—" Adam was cut off as a bullet caught the flat of his blade, knocking it away from where it had been pointed at my head. Adam whipped around, only to find that general Ironwood had emerged from the stairwell, flanked by several students, including Ruby, Weiss, Sun, and even Yang. Even more were pouring out of the other stairwells now, and the White Fang was beginning to be surrounded.
"If that isn't the perfect image of what happened here tonight, I don't know what is," General Ironwood called out upon seeing Adam trampling me underfoot, his sword still dripping with my blood.
Adam's eyes shifted towards me from underneath his mask ever so slightly, before they settled back down on the general. He saw the moment as his chance to prove me wrong, and there was no way his ego would let him leave that challenge unanswered.
"What happened here tonight is the first step towards a better world," Adam retorted, kicking off me and sheathing Wilt before turning to face down Ironwood.
"Yes, I heard you earlier. I haven't heard quite that much bullshit in one speech since I left Atlas," the general spat back, walking forward into the space between Adam's remaining forces and the ring of students surrounding them. "Tell me, what is it that you think you accomplished when you murdered thousands of innocent civilians?"
"Innocent," Adam spat the word back. "There are no innocent humans. Only complicit ones."
"And what of the Faunus you killed tonight?" the general yelled back, his voice escalating. All fighting between the two sides had stopped now, their eyes on their leaders. Somewhere behind Ironwood, someone was recording the events with their scroll. "Hundreds of those people you attacked were Faunus, and that's nothing to speak of the White Fang you've sacrificed."
"Sacrifices have to be made in any war. They died so that their brothers and sisters might see the weakness of humanity, and finally rise up to kill their oppressors."
"No, they died to feed your ego," the general spat back, his voice a combination of contempt and disgust. Ironwood drew his gun and pointed it out at Adam. "This ends here, Taurus."
Adam's lips curled into a smile and his hand fell to Wilt.
"I couldn't agree more."
Adam charged the distance remaining between them, and the general fired on him as he did so. Adam grinned, taking care to either dodge the shots or absorb them with his blade and his Semblance, but Ironwood seemed to have recognized this. He had been present at the arena earlier during Adam's opening attack, and he might have deduced some of Adam's Semblance during his fight with Penny. Ironwood's hand dropped down and he fired two rounds into the concrete ground, spewing rubble and dust up in Adam's face, obscuring the two men's vision of each other. Ironwood fired blindly into the dust, keeping Adam from being able to see the shots coming so that he could block them.
Frustrated, Adam pulled up short and let out the energy he had built up in a wave sent towards Ironwood, who ducked forward under the attack. Adam stepped in to engage, though now without the advantage of his charge's momentum or his Semblance's energy. Wilt tore free of Blush once more, slashing at Ironwood's chest, but the man was more agile than anyone his size should be, leaning back to allow the blade to pass by and hip-firing his pistol as he did so. Adam brought his blade back to slice the bullet away and the general switched his gun to his left hand, grabbing it by the barrel to use it as a club.
His anger clearly mounting, Adam unleashed a fury of attacks, leading each one with Wilt and firing rounds out of Blush to try to force Ironwood into choosing which source of damage he wanted to tank. Adam was able to finally force the man into committing towards dodging to the side to avoid taking a round from Wilt to the chest, which left him unable to reach his left up across his body to catch the blade with his pistol.
Adam snarled, but that expression wiped itself off his face as Ironwood reached out and caught the blade in his right hand, the blow not causing his arm to waver in the slightest. For good measure, the general made sure to wipe the snarl off Adam's face by clubbing him with his pistol, yanking Wilt from Adam's hands with his right arm as he did so. Adam staggered a step and Ironwood threw Wilt down to the ground before bringing that right arm up and delivering a devastating punch into Adam's chest, sending him skidding backwards for several yards.
"Tell me again, Taurus," Ironwood called out with righteous fury in his booming voice, as he stooped down to pick up Wilt and examine it. "What was it you said when you killed Ms. Polendina? I believe you said you would show the world who determines good and evil, and who controls life and death. The only right I can think of for you to determine this is that you were the one holding the sword." Ironwood held Wilt up to make a point, before snapping the blade over his knee and letting the shards fall to the ground.
Adam tried to back away as he realized this was going to end badly for him, but was cut off by Mr. Branwen, who had somehow gotten into the middle of the White Fang's ranks unseen. None of the Fang tried to help Adam, though, as everyone's eyes were watching the exchange too nervously to do anything.
"You're not a revolutionary. You're delusional. You're a child with a sword, who thinks that makes him a king." Ironwood began walking forward slowly, loading new rounds into his pistol in a deliberate manner. "You were willing to kill anyone who didn't agree with your new world order, and egotistical enough to believe that you were right to do so, and that you actually could do so. So tell me, do you feel superior anymore?"
Adam's fists clenched at his side in rage, but without Wilt, everyone here knew that he wasn't going to win this fight. Even with the blade, he was outnumbered, outgunned, and outclassed.
Adam charged forwards once more and the general mirrored him, the two fighting with their guns as clubs now. Adam pulled up short as Ironwood was larger and would have barreled over him had they collided, and Ironwood put his momentum into a right hook. Adam ducked behind it and used Blush to parry the blow away, but was staggered by the sheer force behind the blow and was unable to capitalize. Ironwood's arm snapped back with unnatural speed, catching Adam's cheek with his elbow along the way. Ironwood's other arm fired his pistol into Adam's stomach twice, the second bullet coming out noticeably louder and forcing Adam to buckle backwards. His Aura shimmered and nearly cracked, only barely holding itself together.
Ironwood stepped in and jabbed the barrel of his gun into Adam's gut, pulling the trigger and shattering what remained of Adam's Aura altogether, before rearing back and delivering a right cross to Adam's face that shattered Adam's mask and sent him sprawling onto his hands and knees.
"Blow it all!" Adam screamed to his assembled White Fang. "Detonate everything!"
None of them even moved.
"What are you doing?! I said detonate everything!"
"They heard you," Mr. Branwen's voice mocked. He held up what looked like a detonator, shaking it at Adam tauntingly. "Something tells me they're finally hearing you."
"Adam Taurus, you are under arrest for terrorism, mass murder, and crimes against all of humanity, Faunus included. Surrender peacefully, or—"
"Fuck you!"
Ironwood's gun fired again, the powerful round going straight through the 'D' of the SDC brand on Adam's left eye, blowing a hole the size of an apple out the other side.
"—or don't." Ironwood took a moment to inspect the body, making sure he was dead, before turning to the crowd of White Fang. "Who here purports to be Taurus' second in command?"
The crowd was silent, until finally, Ilia stepped forward, her head bowed in shame.
"Me."
Ironwood's gun pointed at Ilia as soon as the words got out of her mouth.
"I accept your unconditional surrender," Ironwood stated, daring Ilia to challenge it. She did not. No one did.
Raven's POV
"What's our plan?" Yang asked impatiently.
"Shhhh," I hissed in reply, keeping my eyes closed and my hand on my weapon's hilt. My Semblance was on the cusp of activating, allowing me to feel all of my connections and get a loose sense of where they were. Yang's portal obviously led only a few feet away, and there were five portals all roughly the same distance away, presumably in Vale. This wasn't an exact science, but I could focus in on those five and determine how far they were from each other.
Tai and Summer's connections were close by, which meant that Tai was on Patch. Summer's final resting place wasn't something that could move, after all, and my portal for her had been locked onto that cliffside for years at this point. It was weird, and it didn't make sense that I would still have a connection, but… well, it's not anything to waste time dwelling on now.
Qrow, Jaune, and Ozpin were all clustered separately from Tai and Summer, which made sense: they should all be at Beacon, or at least in Vale. Focusing in closer told me that Ozpin and Jaune were close by, with Jaune slowly moving away from Ozpin. Qrow was off on his own, moving away from them both at what felt like the speed of flight.
"Get ready," I grumbled to Yang, focusing in on Qrow. "I'm sending you to distract Qrow."
"What? Why?"
"Because if I have to beat back Ozpin to get Jaune, I can't afford Qrow showing up to interfere," I cut back, focusing on the rate that the distance between Qrow and Ozpin changed.
There. He stopped moving. I drew my blade and cut open a portal.
Yang tried to walk forward into it, but I held her back with one arm, silently motioning for her to wait a moment. Sure enough, once Qrow recognized my portal was there, he fired into it at me. I caught the bullet on my blade, before turning to Yang.
"Say something," I whispered, low enough for only Yang to hear. "He thinks I'm showing up to attack him."
"Uncle Qrow?" Yang called out nervously.
"Yang?!"
I nodded to Yang, nudging her to go through the portal. There were distant sounds of gunfire and fighting off in the distance in the portal, but given what was going on in Vale, that didn't really narrow down where Qrow was at.
"Yang—" I called out, getting her to stop just before walking through. "When I pick you back up, it's going to be final. If you have anyone you need to talk to before then…"
Yang's eyes met mine, understanding shining there and she nodded solemnly. She couldn't bring herself to say thank you, but she needn't have.
She strode forward through the portal and I shut it behind her, sheathing my sword and focusing on my links once more.
"Vernal," I called out, knowing that the girl was still watching from the side of the tent. She was the only one who would refuse to be dismissed so easily.
"Hmm?"
"Go prep the medical tent."
"You sure?"
I took a deep breath, steadying myself. "One way or another, someone is about to get hurt. I'd prefer it not be us, but…"
"Play it safe. Got it," Vernal called out, not needing me to finish that statement. "Bring him home, boss."
The sound of the tent flap being softly shifted to the side told me that I was alone. It was now or never. I steeled myself for whatever I was about to have to do, enjoying these last few moments where I wasn't a member of Ozpin's games. After tonight, holding on to things was going to be a lot more difficult, especially if I had to pry Jaune out of Ozpin's claws by force.
I focused on my Semblance. Jaune was a few hundred yards away from Ozpin, a few hundred yards above Ozpin. He had escaped the Vault, then, somehow, and Ozpin was still down there. Now would be my best chance.
I cut the portal to Jaune open, stepping out cautiously, my hand ready to redraw my blade on a moment's notice.
That turned out to be unnecessary. We were in the lobby of Ozpin's tower, and there was no one else here. Outside, the distant signs of a war being waged could be seen, but for the moment, it was just me and Jaune, and the girl he was crying over in his arms.
She was in rough shape, her torso stained in a dangerous amount of blood. There was a gash in her neck that was partially closed and a dagger still sticking out of her ribs, and she fought to keep her eyes open. It was a losing fight, though, and Jaune did what he could to put pressure on her wounds. It was clear from the tears in his eyes and his own struggles to breath evenly that he had done all he could, and knew that it wasn't going to be enough.
I walked up to him slowly, going out of my way to stand directly in front of him and make my presence known. He hadn't seen me and only looked up as the sound of my boots on the hard floor finally distracted him. His eyes went wide in shock, then fear, then despair.
"No. No, R-Raven, I swear, I—" Jaune panicked as he saw me and figured out what my presence meant. He dropped his head, giving up on begging altogether. "I-I'm sorry. I… I failed. I thought that I was better than you…" he trailed off, bowing his head in shame and defeat. He had been broken, and it…it hurt to see. "Whatever you're going to do to me, just do it, but please—" he forced himself to look up at me, meeting my eyes with desperation welling up behind his tears, "—help me save her first. She doesn't have to die too."
I… I had no words. I was stunned by the fact that Jaune thought I was here to kill him. It was eye-opening to how different we saw each other, to just how blind we both had been. I had always assumed that, deep down, on some level, Jaune knew that the Tribe was his family—that I was his family. Twisted, flawed, violent, and with no shortage of vices, but that was the way we liked it; that was what family was for us. But now, Jaune only saw someone here to kill him, and I was left second-guessing a lot of things I had assumed.
Jaune took my silence as a bad sign, likely that I was angry with him and was refusing his request.
"She—she can be useful, Raven! You could use her," he blurted out desperately. His best chance of getting through to me—at least as far as he could see—was offering me a tool to be used. "S-She's got half of Amber's powers. She's Ozpin's Maiden. You could have another Maiden!"
"I don't…need another Maiden," I mumbled softly before I even realized what I was saying. Ozpin and Qrow already had more than enough reason to come after me, and all adding another Maiden would do is make me an even bigger target to Salem.
Jaune's eyes went wide at my words. He started shaking, even.
"P-Please, don't do this to her. I'll do anything, Raven. What do you want from me!?" Jaune screamed hysterically, new tears falling from his eyes as his voice cracked. "I don't have anything left to give! I don't have anything! You already have Yang, and there's nothing I can give you that you're not going to take from me anyways!"
Jaune's outburst burnt out as quickly as it had come on, leaving him crying as he held onto the girl in his arms. It was all he had left, and even that was quickly fading.
"Please…"
"What happened to her, Jaune?" I called out, finally stirring myself out of my stupor. Jaune looked up at me confused. "Who did this to her? Who attacked her?"
Jaune wasn't thinking straight and couldn't figure out why I was asking. If I was going to help him, I needed to know who was coming for her so that I could prepare if they showed back up.
Jaune flinched inwards on himself at my question, bowing his head further in shame and going silent.
"Jaune!" I yelled. "Who did this?!"
"I did. Okay?! This is my fault!" Jaune went into hysterics again, though this time it was obvious that his rage and hatred wasn't aimed at me. "She hurt me, and I thought she should die for it. Are you proud of me now?! I'm just as bad as you, and it took me murdering my partner to see that. I get it now, okay!?" Jaune screamed with every last bit of energy he had left, before finally breaking all the way down.
He fell into sobbing uncontrollably as he dropped his head down one last time.
"I deserve everything you're going to do to me, but please, please don't make her die for my mistakes."
"You stupid kid," I choked out, struggling to keep my own breathing even and struggling to watch Jaune in so much pain of his own making. This was not a feeling I was accustomed to, and one that I never thought I'd really have to go through, not since leaving STRQ behind. "You really are an idiot, you know that?"
"I know," he choked out in shame. "Believe me, that has been made clear to me tonight."
I walked forward and knelt down in front of him, not that he even noticed in the state he was in. Not until I reached out and squeeze his arm.
"What do you need me to do?"
Jaune looked up, shock shining through his tears, slowly replaced by a glimmer of hope.
"Y-Your Aura," he sputtered out. "I'm out. I need to use yours. All you have to do is supply it," Jaune mumbled out as best he could through his difficulty breathing and his disbelief that this was even happening.
"How do I do that?"
I felt the connection to Jaune's Semblance, making clear by the gut-wrenching wash of fucked-up emotions like despair, self-hatred, helplessness, regret, and guilt that flooded over me.
"Just flex your Aura. I-I can do the rest."
I engaged my Aura like I would to block damage and Jaune's connection took hold, locking into my Aura and slowly drawing from it. His hands began to shine and the girl's Aura began to glow a dark gray color.
Sealing those wounds wouldn't be enough. Even if they closed up, she was at risk of drowning in the blood she'd already spilled or dying from blood loss, two things that Aura just couldn't fix.
Jaune flinched when I tried to move the girl out of his arms, but he let me do it, either trusting me to help or resigning himself to be unable to stop me if I wanted to hurt her now.
I turned the girl over and tilted her to the side, forcing any blood in her lungs to drain out the hole that the dagger had made. In one swift motion, I pulled the dagger back out as cleanly as I could, finding myself relieved when it wasn't barbed or serrated, which meant that it hadn't cut anything too badly on the way out. The drain wasn't perfect, and would only drain one side of her lungs, but it would be enough to keep the girl going. After a few moments, less liquid poured out of the wound, and I turned the girl back over, shutting off my Aura flow to Jaune for a moment as I summoned a small flame to cauterize the hole. It wasn't a perfect fix, but it would stop the bleeding and leave less for Jaune to heal, and I flooded more Aura back into the connection to make up for it.
It was hard to tell if it was working, and I started looking for a pulse when a wave of orange energy washed over the girl. She cried out, her eyes shooting open as she lurched forwards, but it was the flames around both eyes that caught my attention. She fainted moments later.
Jaune and I shared a look, each thinking the same thing, but not willing to say it aloud just yet.
"I've got a pulse," I said finally. Jaune's breath hitched several times, and a wave of relief washed over the connection between us.
I stood up and cut a portal to Vernal, before turning back to Jaune. I made a show of sheathing my blade and taking my hand off it, making it clear that I was not here to shed blood.
"Come on. It's time to go home, Jaune."
"I… I don't understand."
"Vernal! Get the blood packets ready, we're going to need an emergency transfusion!" I yelled into the portal. Jaune didn't realize just how lucky he was that we were giving the whole private military thing a try. Previously, our first-aid kit had been some gauze and alcohol, and that was if we happened to have gauze. "I know you don't, Jaune. You'll figure it out. Now hurry."
He didn't need to be told twice, stumbling to his feet and carrying the girl in with him.
"Tell Vernal to help you however she can. I have one more stop to make."
I closed the portal behind a very confused Jaune, pausing for a moment to steady my own breathing and wipe away any moisture in my eyes. That stupid kid.
I opened another portal to Qrow, jumping in before he could notice it and fire at me again.
I stepped out into what looked like the lower-levels of an arena—so, Amity, more than likely—and immediately noticed that I was surrounded by what had to be twenty or thirty students. Most were standing around idly, waiting at the edge of the arena where bullheads were loading captive White Fang. Ironwood was organizing it.
My attention was brought back in front of me as Qrow swung his sword at me, aiming for my neck and swinging with a fury that he normally didn't show. I ducked under the blow and caught his follow-up backhanded strike on my own blade as I drew it, leaving us in a stalemate. Since I wasn't here for a fight, I kicked off from him and allowed myself to fall back out of measure.
A crowd of students had formed now, a carbon copy of Summer who had to be Ruby. Yang was off behind the crowd, tending to a dark-haired girl who was getting a stomach wound patched up.
"It's time," I called out to Yang, not that anyone but her realized that.
"I couldn't agree more," Qrow growled, adjusting his stance and readying himself for a fight. I rolled my eyes just to piss him off, before looking past him to Yang.
Yang hugged the girl she was tending to and then another girl who was helping her, both of them confused by the actions, before giving a very confused Ruby a crushing hug. The girl had no clue what was going on and Yang mumbled something softly to her, rubbing a hand through Ruby's hair before making a show of walking past Qrow over to me.
"Yang, what are you doing?" Qrow called out, shocked and unsure of what was going on. Yang stopped halfway between Qrow and me, looking back at her time and her uncle before turning to me once more.
"Did you get him?"
"Jaune is safe," I answered, speaking loud enough to be heard plainly. All of Yang's team looked surprised at name drop, as did several other students in the ring around me.
"What did you do!?"
"I protected my family," I spat back at Qrow, choosing the words very deliberately so that they would sting Qrow the most. "Let's go, Yang. Before your uncle does anything he'll regret."
Yang bowed her head under the confused and fearful looks she was getting from friends and her uncle, but steadied when I placed a hand on her shoulder. With a flick of my wrist, the portal closed and one to Vernal opened in its place.
Yang walked through, sucking the air out of the room as she left, leaving a dangerous tension behind.
"Raven!" Qrow screamed furiously, grabbing my attention just before I walked through myself. "This is a line you can't uncross. If you do this, Tai is going to kill you, and if he doesn't, I will."
I smirked at Qrow, which infuriated him even more.
"I guess I'll be seeing you around, little brother."
Closing Thoughts: Bet you didn't see that coming.
no i didnt write this chapter just to be unpredictable and yes this is still going according to plan k thanks bye
There's been a lot of vocal support for Pyrrha dying in the last few months leading up to this, but there's been a pretty even distribution this week of "Jaune done fucked up," "Fuck you, Pyrrha," and "Well, shit's fucked all around." A good compromise leaves everyone angry, amiright?
More importantly, in the several-way struggle coming into this arc, it appears that Raven has come out the best. Not perfect, since she's now painted a huge target on her back and has the Fall Maiden(?) as a hostage/guest, and she's likely going to have to deal with some emotional fallout from Jaune and Yang, but her plans blew up in her face the least.
Ozpin? Well, he seems to have killed Cinder. Yet to see if she took him out with her, but his Maiden is now MIA and Vale's destroyed (or in the process of being so).
Cinder? lol RIP. Less monologuing, more Maiden-murdering next time. I find it hysterical that in V3 she hits Ozpin with that "such arrogance" line. Apparently, they do not own mirrors in the Grimmlands.
Yang? Well, she survived with her arm and got Jaune back. That's good. Had to join her mother to do it, though...
Jaune? :D
Comment of the Week: by Veraq (but abridged, because I'm already being accused of padding word counts...lol)
"...On a side note, I wonder, how Jaune got so much aura back. He could have drained some of Pyrrha's, maybe even through her semblance. In theory, he could have gotten some aura from Cinder, but I highly doubt, she'd go for that.
CoTW's OC burn is awesome. Admittedly, the guy isn't exactly wrong. I think with 15%, our new OC Ikedawg43 has the most lines out of everyone in the entire story, which makes him pretty well established. Personally, as long as the author notes don't cut into the chapter length, I'm happy..."
Okay, by 'abridged,' I mean that I'm picking and choosing a few lines. Sue me.
Wait no, don't do that.
Just about got it in one for your point about Jaune's Aura. Pyrrha might know about Jaune's Aura-draining trick, if he's told her about it since he discovered it. Remember, Jaune didn't even get it to work until his big fight with Yang, where he tapped into her Aura while she was powering her Semblance. He's borrowed Aura when it was freely given before, which Pyrrha helped discover, but actively stealing it was a new development.
That's what was going on last chapter. Pyrrha noticed that the very air around her felt angry, as if Jaune's rage was projected around her. Were she in a better state of mind, she might have recognized that as Jaune's Semblance bleeding his emotions over to her. The trick Jaune pulled here was subtle, but negated Pyrrha's advantages: Pyrrha couldn't use her Semblance with powering it with her Aura, and Jaune could siphon off her Aura when she did this.
That's why Jaune was able to stop Pyrrha from moving Crocea Mors; he felt her Aura building up and pushed his own into his blade in response. During the fight's climax, Pyrrha got tired of using her Semblance because she didn't know that she was powering her own Semblance and powering Jaune's. Each time she hit him, she was only draining herself further.
All in all, Jaune only had maybe an hour to rest and recover Aura while captive, but he didn't need much to level the playing field.
As for our new OC Ikedawg43, I think he is easily the worst-written character so far. Nothing about him seems realistic. It's like the author is trying to downplay the character's pure intelligence and sex appeal, because otherwise it just wouldn't fit in the story.
15% might be overestimating, but it was a safe guess. The AN's don't have any bearing on the actual chapters anyways, so don't worry. Chapter gets written, edited, sent to the Discord mods for spellchecking, and then once it is done I go and write the ANs. For example, this chapter was about 8600 words when it was finished. Now, it's at around 9800.
Wait, have I really been rambling for 1200 words? Jeez, someone's gotta warn me when I start going on for to long...
