Ruby flew towards the tree line with her semblance. The rose petals she emitted fell down to the forest floor as she flew and finally landed on a large branch. Whipping out Crescent Rose into its sniper form she began to open fire on her target. The sniper rounds flew towards the long haired blond before it simply appeared on the other side of him.

Dammit! Ruby thought with anger. She continued firing and only ended up with one round hitting her foe. His Semblance was for all intents and purposes invincible. They'd been fighting for only a bit and already they'd been pushed back to their brink. Weiss was trying to use her summons but the hardy fists of King Crimson pummeled her back. Nora caught Weiss as she was thrown back. Ruby grit her teeth as she saw her girlfriend thrown around by that bastard.

Nora rushed forward after setting Weiss down with her hammer at the ready. Using lighting dust from her recent upgrade, Nora felt the energy coursing through her muscles. Her strength was enhanced and her senses heightened. With a furious look on her face she jumped forward with Maginhild to smash down onto the bastard who'd stolen her team leader. "Over here!" she heard coming from her partner Ren. Diavolo looked over towards him, erasing the result of his bullets hitting him. Nora found her hammer slamming into the ground where Diavolo would have been. The distraction should have worked!

Compared to Ren, she knew the least about King Crimson and how it worked. All she knew was that it made this fight much much harder. Diavolo returned her attack in kind with an open palm strike from King Crimson. The first one slammed into her shoulder. Her aura took the brunt of it and her hammer quickly rose to meet his second strike. She quickly stepped back, letting King Crimson fall forward.

The semblance and it's user where them hit by two ice glyphs that knocked him back slightly. Nora turned with a grin to see Weiss on her feet again with a very angry look on her face. Her rapier slammed into the ground and with a strain she summoned her Arma Gigas. The summoned creature rose to the occasion as Weiss wipes away some sweat. Diavolo angrily glared at the children down. "You're all.. nothing more than pieces of trash in my way. Give me that arrow!"

Ren responded with a hail of gunfire that Diavolo skipped away from. He had to rush towards Ren to regain the second arrow but that miserable silver eyed Rose had her weapon trained on him. He needed to start killing some of them before going after his prize.

His Semblance turned towards Weiss and Nora before erasing the distance between them. His fists slammed into the ground to announce his presence. With shocked looks the two tried to defend themselves but Diavolo was much faster. Rolling forward, he crossed his arms and swung them outwards, two open arm strikes from King Crimson slamming into their bellies and knocking them both to the ground. Nora rolled backwards and jumped up while Weiss struggled to her feet. Taking advantage of her weakness, Diavolo lunged with his Semblance.

Weiss desperately tried to match her enemy blow for blow with Myrtentaster but her rapier was not a match for the speed and strength of King Crimson. Standing behind his Semblance, Diavolo looked down at Weiss with those cracked green eyes.

Weiss however had an ace up her sleeve. Her Arma Gigas has already been summoned and was creeping up behind Diavolo. It rose its blade and swung downwards only to have Diavolo disappear behind it. Dammit! He's too powerful! However Weiss could see the effect it was having on his aura. Whoever he was fighting before them must have done a number on Diavolo.

Using his brief pause, Nora landed her hammer right into his back. It flung him towards his old hideout, breaking down his door with a loud thunk. Nora ran to Weiss while Ruby flew down towards them from her perch. Ren as right behind her. Coughing, Weiss spoke up.

"What's the plan Ruby? We can't beat him. Not normally!" Ruby held Weiss's hand tightly. Her mind churned for ideas. She wished Jaune was here to come up with a plan but that wasn't a luxury they had. They had to save him.

"Alright. Ok" she said as Diavolo began to rise from the wreckage of his hideout. Her mind had settled on a plan that might work. "Ren. You and Nora take the arrow. I think I've figured a weakness of his!" Ren and Nora listened closely as they couldn't think of anything that might be a weakness of King Crimson.

"He can predict our movements right? Well I think he can't predict everything. Only one thing at a time. If he predicts one of your attacks…"

Weiss seemed to get it at once, her eyes widening. "Then he won't see a second attack."

Ruby nodded her affirmation and also beamed at Weiss. Her girlfriend was so smart! "That's right. Ren, you and Nora need to attack him with the arrow. Launch it at him." Nora and Ren nodded and ran closer to the trees to formulate their plan as King Crimson leaped out to face them again. With a hand in Weiss's, she smirked. "We'll handle the rest."

Those miserable students. Why didn't they just keel over and DIE? They were weak. Weaker than him. Why didn't they just give up? They were trash compared to him. Compared to his Semblance.

I'm the pinnacle. The pinnacle of the world! These pieces of trash and their low tier semblances are just annoyances! he raged to himself as he saw Ruby grab the white haired girl and burst into a petal of roses. He erased time with King Crimson to see their forecasted movements and pinpoint where they'd stop.

There they are. Now, where are the other two. Using Epitaph, Diavolo looked into the future to see the bullets of Lie Ren flying towards him, alongside the hammer of Nora Valkyrie. They're trying to trick me. In his vision of the future he could see Ruby Rose firing bullets at him.

With a smirk, he ended skipped time and promptly reentered it. He moved around Lie Ren's bullets, behind Nora Valkiyre's hammer and simply let Ruby Rose's bullet fly through him. It wouldn't matter. Only the results did. Only the results of their actions.

As erased time ended, Diavolo launched his attack. King Crimson punched into Ren's back. His aura flickered and the boy flew through the air and into a tree. I'm surprised that didn't kill him. Diavolo saw the boys aura shatter.

He slowly stomped over towards him. With a scream however, he saw Ruby Rose flying towards him with her semblance. Erasing time once more, he let the girl arrive on the other side of him before resuming the flow of time. With a swift movement he flung the red reaper to the ground. "You are all miserable little pretenders. Don't you see. The arrow chooses who is worthy to wield it!"

He moved past Ruby, not caring for her partner zooming over to her with her glyphs on the ground. Weiss reached Ruby and pulled her up from the ground. The redhead coughed as she did so, slumping her shoulders. Weiss held her hand tightly as she could and planted a kiss on her forehead. "Come on Ruby" she said to her. "Get up. Get up and fight him." Her voice was pleading. The two girls looked to see the bleeding body of Ren and Nora was nowhere to be found. "We have to save Jaune. We have to save Ren! You're our leader. My leader. You're-"

Weiss was cut off with a kiss on the lips as Ruby pulled out Crescent Rose. Weiss nodded at her as they looked to what Ren would do. The plan hinged on them entirely. "I'll need your help…" Ruby said weakly. "We're going to shoot the arrow right into him, just as we planned… I'll need you to speed it up…."

Weiss nodded with pure determination. They would defeat Diavolo.

"Now you'll see who the true king of kings is. Who the arrow has chosen! IT IS I, DIAVOLO!"

Ren looked up at him and smirked. In his hands was the second golden arrow. With all his strength and a couple of dust cartridges, he blasted the arrow up into the air. Surprised at this, Diavolo looked up to see Nora Valkyrie standing tall and proud. What?!

As she fell from her perch, hammer ready, Diavolo saw an Epitaph vision showing the arrow being slammed into him by her hammer. I see what you worthless scum are trying! It won't work!

"King Crimson!" He shouted as time was erased and he saw the path of the arrow. He stepped out of it and resumed time, raising a fist to put an end to Ren's life.

As he turned he did not predict the actions of Ruby and Weiss.

Aiming directly at the arrow, Ruby Rose prepared to fire. Seeing this, Weiss slid one hand around her waist and slightly into her pants, and the other went up to her hand and held it firm.

Ruby took aim and fired. Weiss activated her glyphs and sped up the bullet she fired. In an instant the bullet flew right at the arrow and shattered its stem. The result of the force launched it straight into Diavolo's back.

"Yes!" Nora screamed as the arrow pierced into his aura. With a gasp he fell to one knee and reached to try and pull the arrow out before it was too late. No! They couldn't have! How could I have not predicted this?! Me? Diavolo! The king of all kings!

His soul fell into inner turmoil. The flow of aura seemed to seep forward. Into the arrow. If he tore it out now he could lose a little aura but himself from being shoved into that arrow! "Fate has shown me overcoming all obstacles! My King Crimson is the apex of the world!" he screamed at the students who gathered around him now, Nora standing over Ren with concern.

He reached around his head to grab the arrow but felt his arm stop. Something had grabbed it and it wasn't any of them. "WHAT?!" He shouted as he looked down to see….

It was Jaune. Not entirely. It wasn't him reclaiming his body. Not even close. "It's" hand was similar to his own semblance. However it was golden rather then crimson and white. An arm that was thinner and far less defined than his own. It exuded a shine akin to the red aura that flared around him, but this time was a white gold.

The hand itself had a purple ladybug brooch on it, a design similar across the body of gold. Impossible. It can't be…Jaune's true Semblance is the same as his?

"I'm going to overcome this" spoke the semblance. It was Jaune's voice, weak, but there. "I'm not going to live in fear and run away from the fate that you've passed on to me. If it's in my way, I'll just climb over it!"

Diavolo felt two things. First, anger. Anger at being outplayed by a couple of children. That he, the ultimate king, was beaten by that miserable blonde noodle! He could excuse Cinder. He could excuse the Nikos girl even. But his other soul? Jaune?!

He felt a pull. A tug at his very soul. It was a ripping feeling. This wasn't his body. He was only a soul and the arrows he made were meant to capture Aura's. What was he but that? "You… you have genuinely angered me…" he sputtered out.

The second thing he felt was despair. That it was all over. That he, Diavolo, had lost. To these worthless pieces of trash.

The tug on his soul felt tighter. He felt himself vacating the body of the family he had been inhabiting for generations. All of it had become nothing.

If I'm going down then I'm going to take him with me! He thought as he raised his other first to bring down into the other soul and drag him into the arrow alongside himsel . But he couldn't reach it in time. The pull of the aura transfer arrow was too much. He felt himself being torn apart and shoved into a smaller vessel, screaming as he did so.

"You can't do this to me! I'm Diavolo! I'm DIAVOL-"

His screams were cut off with a burst of energy that shook them all. Then there was silence. The golden arrow hovered for a moment as it fell to the ground with a soft dink. Ren was coughing up blood as Nora ran to his side with fear in her eyes.

"We did it…" Weiss said softly before seeing as Jaune's body stumbled and fell to the ground. "Jaune!" she shouted and ran with Ruby to their fallen friends side. They knew that he might have been….

Ruby didn't even want to think of it. She zipped over to her friend and fellow leader and held his head up. His body felt weak and his aura was… gone?... "No… no… no…" Weiss began saying softly. Ruby felt weak. They'd beaten Diavolo, just as Jaune would have wanted but…. what did it cost?

"I'm sorry, Jaune…" Ruby said sadly as she held his body close. Weiss felt tears falling down her face and drip down to the hard ground ... until….

A breath. A single solitary breath. A glow of aura. The flickering sight of a semblance.

His eyes bursting open to reveal blue irises.

Jaune was alive. He had enough aura to sustain himself and not get pulled in with Diavolo. Weiss's tears of sadness were turned to tears of joy as she pulled her friend into a hug with Ruby. "You're alive" Ruby said again and again as Jaune weakly hugged them back.

"I made a promise to Pyrrha, didn't I?" he said with a small, weak grin. Despite this fortunate turn of events, the sound of Ren's weak coughing broke them out of their joy. Nora's face was one of pain. One that was near breaking. She was holding Ren close but didn't know what to do.

Jaune crawled over to his teammate, being helped along by Ruby and Weiss. He groaned in pain but was otherwise fine. Nora looked to her leader for guidance. "Jaune…" she said with relief. She wouldn't lose two family members today. "I'm glad you're alright but… I don't know what to do… It must be internal

Or something…"

Ruby and Weiss stood up, feeling they ought to let JNPR do this together. They did not leave their side, however. Jaune reached forward weakly to touch Ren. As he did, he shut his eyes and felt wetness pool around the edges. "I'm not going to lose a brother"

He said with anger in his voice. His soul urged him forward, to place his hands on Ren.

His Semblance flared. His true semblance. He knew what its name was. Those visions had shown him. Those memories of the past. The golden haired man, his ancestor. Giorno Giovanna Arc and his Semblance.

Focusing all his will, all his strength into his aura, he reached out. The semblances hand reached out and touched Ren's broken body. "Gold Experience…" he breathed out. Something shone.

"Create life ... and make it anew…"

The flash ended and Nora could see Ren's breathing steady and he was no longer coughing blood. His aura also looked like it was coming back. "Jaune… what did you do…?"

Jaune shook his head. "I'm not sure…. it's like my soul was speaking… my semblance… Gold Experience…. it's some kind of healing I think…" he set his hand to the ground to steady himself and out sprouted flowers from the ground. As Nora held Ren close she looked at it with amazement.

"I think it does more than that…" Nora said as she pulled her leader into a tight hug. "We're ok. We're all ok. And together" she said with pure relief.

JNPR was ok and alive. They'd made it. They'd beaten Diavolo. Trapped him in the golden arrow. When they finally broke the hug they rose with Ren being held up with both arms. Ruby and Weiss smiled as the red haired reaper picked up the golden arrow and looked to Jaune. "What will we do with it?" she asked. Jaune shook his head, not knowing what to do.

"I know what to do" said Weiss as she snatched it from Jaune's hands. "I say we destroy it here and now. Prevent him from ever tormenting anyone ever again." Her voice was ice cold. She had no sympathy for this demon that has tormented her friends and made their life a living hell.

"But…" Ruby began to say. She was unsure about taking Diavolo's life. No matter how evil he was, their job was to preserve life, wasn't it? To stop Salem and Cinder?

Jaune spoke now. "I think… we just…" the boy coughed and grunted in pain as he tried to carry Ren with Nora. His Semblance shimmered and helped him regain stability before fading away. "We just ... throw into a lake somewhere."

Weiss raised an eyebrow at the proposition. She smirked. Death is too good for that devil. It was a good compromise. "I agree. Ruby? Nora?"

Ruby considered the options. She didn't want to take life and they couldn't just leave it here either. She sighed and nodded her head in agreement. "If we can't smash it, then we'll sink it!" Nora said with excitement. Diavolo had brought nothing but misery to their team and she was perfectly fine with letting the arrow holding Diavolo's soul sit at the bottom of a lake for all time.

"Then it settled… let's… let's get back to uncle Qrow" Ruby said firmly, taking Weiss's hand and taking a deep breath. Though victory was theirs for now, they still had to make it to Haven and uncle Qrow was still injured. One step at a time she told herself as Weiss drew herself near her body. She grasped her hand tightly.

Back in the unfinished town where Risotto and Tyrian had appeared, Qrow could be seen leaning against some stones that belonged to an incomplete tower. Rushing towards him with her semblance, Ruby knelt over him with a weak smile. "We did it uncle Qrow. We beat him."

Qrow's eyes were just barely open. But in those red eyes was a spark of pride. "Never doubted you for a second kiddo…" Qrow groaned in pain after speaking, holding his chest tightly.

The sounds of aircraft grew louder and louder as they considered what to do next. Luckily they didn't have to choose. The smoke from the fighting had caught the eye of a patrol team from Haven and now they had found them. It was a great relief as Ren and JNPR boarded one while Ruby, Weiss and Qrow were boarded on another, medics within each to take care of the wounded.

Flying high above the sky, Jaune leaned against the metal frame of the vessel and took a long, deep breath as he looked over to Ren and Nora. The girl was holding his hand tight and held herself close to his body, placing a single finger on his nose and said "Boop."

Ren stirred slightly, having floated in and out of consciousness for a while. However, he did have enough strength to lift his hand weakly, touch her nose and say "Boop."

Jaune smiled weakly as he saw his teammates, his family, whole. Just missing one. We'll see you soon Pyrrha. I made a promise…

With Diavolo gone…. Jaune felt clear and whole. He'd have to train with his new semblance for sure, but he thought immediately of one thing he could do with it. If it can create life…. then I could give Pyrrha her legs back….

Jaune smiled at the thought of surprising her with that once they reunited. He couldn't wait to see his love again. Just a little longer. They still had work to do in Haven.

As they flew over a lake heading towards Mistral, the large city coming into view, Jaune felt the arrow in his hand and took a breath. He focused, took his arm back with all his strength and threw the arrow as far as he could. He watched it fly in the air until it hit the water of the lake, lingered for a moment and sunk deep beneath the waves, sentencing its prisoner forever.

With a deep feeling of relief, Jaune figured the worst of it was over.

To be continued..

A/N: And so, Diavolo has been defeated. Gold Experience has been awakened. They have arrived in Mistral. I promised Risotto and Diavolo and Cinder would be dealt with by the end. Two down, one to go. I'm going to be skipping pretty much straight into the fight at Haven anyways. Probably two more chapters and an epilogue. We're reaching the end of the line folks.

As always, please leave a review and tell me what you think. New stories will be coming soon as well!