[Foreword: Hey guys! I hope you enjoy the continuing adventures of Cinder and crew. I just wanted to put this here to make a straightforward statement about the content of this story. I began working on this a few years ago at the end of RWBY Volume 4, and, since then, three more volumes are out now, with plenty of new information, some of which directly contradict the canon I established for the sort-of AU I created for this fic. Just want to say, I am aware of it, but I don't feel the need to go back on anything I've created. I like my stories to feel more original despite being fan works, so it works out! But I apologize if you find it strange that Neopolitan speaks, or Raven's Semblance works slightly differently than as explained in the show, or stuff like that. Kind of hard to predict some things, although I think I did a fairly decent job of predicting other stuff I think, like Cinder's Grimmy-ness, ha. That being said, I do want to try to include canon where possible, so hopefully it doesn't bug my readers too much. Also since I've been writing lots of roleplay material for RWBY, my spelling of Faunus has naturally corrected itself when I write now, so I won't be using Faunas anymore, despite an earlier statement I made somewhere that for the sake of consistency I'd continue to spell it that way. There's not really a reason to do that, so yeah. Anyway, don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe because this is totally YouTube, and please enjoy what I've worked on so hard for all of you!]
Falling Cinders, Chapter 30: The Dark
A breeze blew through the building, turning up the edge of Ruby's skirt and settling a slight chill in her bones. The tension in the air pulsed like a maggot on bone; her eyes remained locked on the icy gaze of Winter Schnee, who's emotionless expression glared back at her with a strange sort of malice. Cinder, however, couldn't look anywhere else but into the two-toned eyes of her once-ally. Neo looked right back at her with a cocky little grin on her face. Some things never changed. The tiny woman walked a circle around Winter, in front of her, between her and Ironwood, and full circle around him again to stand between them.
"Whatever you did to them... You'll regret it," Ruby chimed through gritted teeth, taking a step forward that was halted by Cinder's extending arm. They couldn't afford to act rashly. They only had to set one foot out of place for the battle to build up again. Cinder needed her time to think. This scenario wasn't to their advantage. Even as Ren and Nora finally rejoined them, running up from behind and flanking them, she still felt like a fight would weigh in Neo's favor.
"Is that so?" Neo questioned of Ruby, one hand across her chest, her other elbow set upon it so her hand rolled about near her face.
"On the contrary... I think I rather enjoy it. The might of Atlas, the gallant warriors, all mine for the taking." The huge man behind her crossed his thick, meaty arms. His face was about as dour as they'd remembered, like a statue that couldn't change its chizzled expression.
"Even the iron hand of Atlas has no chance against us!" Nora shouted in response, posing low with her hammer slung in her hands. Neo remained unphased, unamused. She walked sideways again, behind Winter, and stopped on the other side of her, then leaned against her as though she were nothing more than a stone pillar.
"Oh poor little girl... You have no idea what's going on, do you?" she said in a playful tone, one that reminded Cinder all too much of how she used to sound. Being on the receiving end of it wasn't nearly as fun. Her fist clenched at her side, and her eye spouted gentle flame while she glared daggers at the woman who'd meddled in her life far too much to be forgiven.
"Well, now... What are you waiting for, Cindy? I'm right here... I can't wait for you to melt my sundae..." Her words were whimsical, unserious, even vaguely sexual, but she didn't lose her cool. Instead, her mind was still working, letting her talk, buying time. There had to be a way out of this, or even better, to beat them... The biggest problem, though, was the giant of a man, Rainbow, who stood behind the other three stacked against them. She hadn't seen enough of him in combat to determine any sort of favorable outcome through strategy alone. No... For him, they'd have to adapt.
Ruby wasted no time in her attempt to strategize, either. She knew that bullets wouldn't help her here, it was too close range, that Ironwood's augmented arm could withstand her blade, that Winter's pure skill in swordsmanship was more than a match for her own close-combat ability. If they were going to pull this off... They only had teamwork to rely on.
A long moment of uncomfortable silence settled over them once again. They could still hear sporadic gunfire coming from other parts of the building while the resistance clashed with the Atlas troops whom hadn't surrendered. The battle elsewhere had likely already been decided, but, with their leaders still in play, that army would never truly be broken.
The first one to break the silence was Nora. Her tension had become too much for her, and despite a cry a protest from Ren, she leapt into action in a roar of rage. Bringing her hammer over her head, she went right for Neopolitan, but the shrewd little woman easily dodged out of the way. The hammer shattered the floor right between the two Atlas leaders, who immediately resumed a fighting posture and struck out at the girl. Ironwood stuffed a fist right into her gut, and a kick from Winter to the side of her head sent her skidding across the floor like a stone upon water. Then, it was chaos.
Ren broke from his position faster than Ruby had ever seen him move before. He dashed like lightning, his pistols blazing, forcing Winter to get clear of the shots while he closed with Ironwood. Cinder took that moment to finish her strategy quickly, needed instead in combat, and she was on Winter just as quickly as her ally. Ruby went for Neopolitan. Inside of her mind, she could almost feel the strikes and blows flying about nearby, the wind in the chamber shifting with each movement, though her body shifted, becoming a flurry of red petals when she blazed right past Ironwood. Faster than the eye, she met Neopolitan head-on, and brought to bear her terrible scythe, cleaving through the air in a glorious flash of steel. A single note rang out when the woman deflected the attack with her cane. As soon as she was close, a huge fist flew right for her side, but just before it broke her bones it was caught by an angry Nora who threw the fist aside with a mighty strike from her weapon.
"You'll have to get past me first!" Nora roared, flinging her hammer back the other way at the opening she'd created, slamming it right into Rainbow's rib-cage with all the force she could muster. Unfortunately for her, however, the man barely moved. He grunted, in what she could only assume was pain, but then he grasped her by the shoulders, and lifted her off her feet while she struggled to free herself.
Ruby wanted to help her, but Neopolitan didn't let her have that chance. Their second battle was on, and she found herself dodging that cane like she had before, diving to the left and swerving to the right. Their weapons impacted one another in several parried blows, then both of them suddenly paused as their Aura allowed them to detect something flying right at them both. They each leaned out of the way as Ironwood careened between them, slamming into the wall behind them, pursued by a seemingly calm, focused Ren. As quickly as they'd taken a pause, their fight resumed, and Ruby noticed out of the corner of her eye that Nora had broken free of her captor, and was slamming him at range with a barrage of pink grenades. Cinder further behind her was at a stalemate with Winter, each countering the other's elemental property in an almost perfectly synchronized dance of death.
Neopolitan was fast, she had to give her credit for it. It was surprising, how flexible she could be, moving out of the way by a hair only to counterattack with a quick jab or a well-timed strike, and soon their fight ground to a halt when Neo caught the crook of her scythe with the length of her cane. She shoved as hard as she could against it, but neither of them would budge.
"You can't win, Neo, give it up!" she found herself saying, if only to reaffirm her own mission, but the woman merely laughed.
"On the contrary..." She breathed, and then suddenly slipped away and backward, leaving Ruby's scythe to dig into the ground with the force she'd been putting behind it. The huge man she had aligned herself with moved closer to her, shrugging off the pounding attacks from Nora's launcher. Both Ruby and Nora decided to move in together, the latter's weapon converting back into a hammer in a whirl of mechanized motion, and they lashed out from the side and the front, but they didn't expect what came at them next. Rainbow grasped one of Neo's arms, pulling her out of the way of Nora and around his body, where she fluidly stepped from under his arm and cast aside Ruby's blade like she'd rehearsed this perfectly. She hung on to that thick arm, which swung toward Nora, delivering a punch, while Neo swung herself up onto it and jumped from his body, kicking Ruby downward on the top of her head with a well-placed heel. Nora didn't fare any better, thrown backward by the blow, sliding face-first to a halt near where Ren was still engaged with Ironwood. Ruby lay on the floor in the same sort of spread-out fashion, lifting her head to look up at Neo until she placed her boot heel on her cheek and ground her face into the dust.
"I think... I've already won. Rainbow, if you will," she said with a calm, measured demeanor, and the man placed two fingers into his mouth, and let out a sharp whistle. From down the hallway came a sound, and a roar, and Nora's eyes strained against her dizziness to peer up at what was coming. A large, black figure with a white mask charged right for them, an Ursa, and it trampled its way straight into the hall, catching Ren off guard and throwing him with a shoulder-tackle that could've likely cracked cement. Nora barely had a moment to roll out of the way, and then leapt to her feet to meet their new foe head-on. Neo pressed down harder on Ruby's head, and she let out an accidental whimper, one hand releasing her weapon to grab Neo's ankle.
"Now now, dear... Don't be upset. It's only natural that you- OOF!" The pressure was removed from Ruby's head, and in the moment she turned her eyes upward, she realized why; Cinder stood above her, lowering her leg from the forceful kick she'd just landed square to Neopolitan's nose. The smaller woman stumbled back while Cinder pulled Ruby to her feet, and they both looked over to where Ren and Nora had rather swiftly defeated the Grimm that had charged them. Cinder understood now. She'd seen it once before already. That large man could somehow control the Grimm, though she hoped her suspicions were right... It seemed he had a limitation, only one at a time. But now the four of them were squared off again against the evil before them, Cinder had only put down Winter long enough to rescue her love from certain defeat. The two were charged immediately. Winter came from their left, and Neopolitan from their right, and this time Ironwood and Rainbow had switched targets to Nora and Ren respectively, fighting the two off to keep them from their friends.
Winter's piercing stab nearly caught Ruby off guard, she'd moved away just enough to watch as the blade cut hairs from her head in half where they hung in front of her face, then she closed in with her fist. Ruby caught it, and Winter sneered. Using her heel, Ruby spun the Crescent Rose II around her hip, jabbing her in the stomach with the end of it, but Winter used the cross-guard of her sword to push it away once it had connected. She stepped in closer, wrestling with the girl for control. Cinder had her hands full with Neopolitan, now, who no longer seemed to be holding back. Attack after attack she had to block with her bare hands, catching the cane that fell on her with her wrists and her Aura, the nimble woman cared not for her flames and seemed to move just right to keep herself from catching on fire.
"Close quarters was never your strong suit..." Winter said in a dark tone when Ruby's strength began to fade, and suddenly she rolled her wrist and planted the end of her blade in between Ruby's feet. A burst of ice stuck her to the spot, it traveled up her body so fast that it surprised her, and Winter shoved her arms to her side, freezing them, too, in place. She tried to struggle, but she was locked in, she was left only to wonder why she hadn't frozen her entirely, leaving her upper body exposed. Winter stepped back and smirked, then turned her eyes to watch Neopolitan and Cinder. She seemed unwilling to intervene.
Cinder was finally able to catch the cane during a slightly off-balanced attack that Neo had made after avoiding her fist, and with one decisive pull she stripped it from her hands, then broke it over one knee and cast it aside. She stood with her shoulders squared, hatred burning in her eye, while Neo's gaze mirrored her own, angered by the destruction of something with such sentimental value to her.
"Now, Winter!" she called, and the woman dropped to one knee, stabbing her sword straight down into the ground. A glyph like a snowflake appeared and turned underneath her. Cinder turned about and stepped back, as a huge, white monstrosity was summoned forth before her. It was the visage of a massive creature of Grimm, like a golem or statue without legs protruding from the seal bleow it, and it clenched its fist together and drove them downward, only a moment's notice gave her time to step backward and out of the way, but the shockwave the strength of the thing caused sent her reeling backward and right into Neopolitan. She delivered a swift, downward blow to the back of Cinder's knee with her heel, and immediately wrapped an arm around her neck in a head-lock, pulling her chin backward, and up.
"CINDER!" Ruby cried from where she remained unable to break free from the ice that had surrounded her. Beyond Cinder, she could see Nora and Ren laying motionless on the floor with her other two enemies standing above them.
"Let her go!" she shouted in vain.
"Poor little... Ruby!" Neo said, pausing in between her words to tighten her grip on Cinder's throat. The Maiden's hands had clenched over that arm, the only thing saving her from asphyxiation.
"You don't even understand how important you are yet, do you?" she questioned in that same sardonic tone she seemed to favor so much, an insidious gleam in her eyes. Ruby would have said something in return, but she was silenced, stiffened by the sudden point of Winter's sword at her neck. The creature she'd summoned faded away, and she stood there with cold, dead eyes, dimmed from their sharp blue into something more sickly and grey.
But perhaps the worst sight of all was to see the look in Cinder's eye directly, the pain, like she were begging forgiveness without ever having done wrong. Her heart sunk in her chest.
"Now, now, you two, don't be so sad...! Today is a joyous day... Look, Cinder, look at her face!" Neo squawked in her ear, loud enough that it almost hurt, and she jerked her head backward with a fist in her hair, so she could see into those lovely silver eyes, the fear, the anguish... Cinder's own heart sunk, she felt so helpless, to make any move was to invite harm to Ruby. Even if she were to set her entire body on fire with the flames in her heart, even if she torched Neo where she knelt and burned her mortal enemy to ashes... She could be killed. Her Rose could die here in this cold, broken hallway.
"Do you remember, Cinder, remember your mother? I think you do. Or how about Raven? You've seen those eyes before, haven't you? The eyes of a scared, kicked... puppy!" Neo jerked her hair harder, causing her to gasp breathless in pain, one of Neo's heels had dug into the back of her knee again, keeping her there. Rainbow and Ironwood had dragged Ren and Nora's limp bodies to the side of them, all surely had been lost. Ruby had given her hope, and all that hope had led to this moment... And all that hope in her died when the first trickle of red blood slipped gingerly down Ruby's neck. She felt a similar, hot liquid flowing down the side of her face. She was crying. Her voice wasn't coming to her, as damaged as it was and choked out of her by the grip on her throat, she wanted to scream, she wanted to shout... But instead, there was nothing.
Winter had flicked the end of her blade along Ruby's pale flesh, fresh blood flowing down and over her collarbone. She whimpered, a pitiful noise but one that shattered Cinder's heart and her will.
"That's it... Cinder. Watch her bleed. Watch the only thing you've ever cared about be taken from you!" Neopolitan cried, her lips nearly touching Cinder's ear, and inside her guts felt like they were rolling over. She felt nauseous, she felt drained, she felt... Defeated. Inside of her still burned the flame of rage, and a pitch black hole where all of her repressed emotions dwelt. The spark within her roiled and boiled, her fear and her hatred and her ire and spite, all mixing together in a potion brewing while her soul fought for control.
Ruby looked on in horror as she realized what was happening.
"No, Cinder! Don't listen to her! She's... She's using y- AH!" Silenced by a swift and sharp slap across the mouth, Winter steadied her hand, ready to do it again. Cinder, however, could only hear Ruby as though she were far away, as if underwater, as if separated by some great distance like the ocean... Black dark water all about her. She felt alone again. She felt... Abandoned. She couldn't resist it any longer. The last thing she heard was the sharp, gleeful cackling of a pleased Neopolitan, and then everything went black again.
...
"You sure you know what you're doing...? This place is way creepy," Coco chimed to Raven, who stepped with a sureness in her gait that seemed to answer for her. Together they walked between row upon row of inactive automatons, each with a red tuft of hair, each clenching their hands together as if bowing their heads before some unseen master. Coco recognized what she was seeing. Each one of these machines... They were just like that girl from the Vytal Tournament. Each one of these things was a combat-ready robot built for death, destruction, and murder. And each came packaged neatly with a pink bow atop their head.
"The only thing I can't wrap my head around... Is where the hell they got the Aura to sustain so many units," Raven explained while they reached the back of the bunker and climbed a set of stairs that led its way into another windowed room overlooking the long storage facility. This one, too, like the other mirroring it at the opposite side of the chamber, contained numerous consoles and instruments that Coco didn't understand. Raven took a seat at one of the many swiveling chairs bolted in front of the panels.
"Volunteers," Coco joked darkly, but Raven wasn't amused. She pressed on the touch-screen panel in front of her, and it lit up similar to a Scroll with a pale green glow. She navigated through menus and seemed to be pulling up bits of information about the P.E.N.N.Y. units, eventually stopping on one page and placing a hand to her mouth in frustration, working her fingers against her flesh.
"These things are abominations of science," Raven said, and then quickly turned her head to stare directly into Coco's eyes.
"I brought you here because I need your help. We cannot let these... things be activated. This is unlike any threat you've faced before. Just like the Grimm, they will not stop, but unlike the Grimm, they possess each a power as strong as even the most measured of Huntsmen." Her eyes held a sharpness that couldn't be ignored, and Coco's body loosened, her arms dropping to her sides from where they'd been crossed over her chest. She leaned over and placed a hand on the back of the chair, another on the console, staring at the screen. It contained diagnostics from only a single unit, but from what she was reading...
"They're war machines. Each capable of wiping out entire platoons of soldiers. I... I can't believe Atlas would do something like this..." Her shock was apparent, but Raven corrected her swiftly.
"Not Atlas. Something worse. A conspiracy inside the takeover. A plot to destroy all of Vale, to weaponize it against the rest of the world... Just look." Raven's fingers moved fast, and another screen was displayed for Coco to pour over for a moment, her eyes turning grave.
"My stars... There would be no stopping these things..." she whispered, and Raven nodded.
"The problem is... There's already more out there. I just hope Cinder knows what she's gotten herself in to..."
...
Thick like ink and proud like poison, all around her flowed the ocean. Cinder was in the middle of it all, floundering for air, drowning, consumed. The blackness was everywhere, it seeped into her very existence, as if passing through her pores, it invaded her mouth, her nose... It crept into her from every angle, every corner of her very being. Neopolitan had released her as her transformation began. Before her, Ruby watched for the second time as Cinder coughed up heavy, thick streams of an inky, dark sludge. It painted the floor around her, her eye was gone, replaced by a reflective black surface that showed her the expression on her own face.
"NO!" she screamed in vain, while Winter still held her by point of the sword, using the tip of her blade to turn Ruby's face back the other way every time she tried to avert her gaze. The monster was coming alive again, the outward reflection of all of Cinder's negativity, borne from the blackness deep within her soul. The dripping pool grew wider, it slithered up her arms and across her dress, it devoured her legs and her body, until finally, it consumed her face.
"NOOO!" Ruby cried again, no amount of struggling set her free. The liquid ran outward, it touched Nora's hair, wetting it and making it cling to her forehead. Her beautiful face ran black on one side with the dark flow. The mound of disgusting, volatile fluid that was Cinder convulsed and churned with a life all its own, until it grew to such size that it began to form shapes. Mouths like humans and dogs and rabbits bit at the air, fingers and claws grasped at nothing, forming slowly only to disappear, and all the while Neopolitan cheered on, goading the monster out of her like some kind of witch. Slowly, the thing that was Cinder began to sprout limbs, long tendrils numbering four in all, snaking out from underneath it until it could lift itself off the ground. Three dozen mouths roared out in pain, and the creature stumbled on its feet.
"Yes... YES!" Neo cheered, thrusting her hands into the air, while Winter and Ironwood watched with stoic, unconcerned gazes. Rainbow took a seat on the ground, folding his legs underneath him and placing his hands on his knees. If he was capable of smiling, he probably would be. Tears streamed down Ruby's cheeks and mingled with the blood underneath her chin, running wet and warm along her chest. Four glowing, red eyes appeared in the sludge-body of the beast, and white like gleaming alabaster porcelain, forming a vague face in the front flanked by swirling parts of every creature imaginable. Fangs appeared and disappeared, only to be replaced by the tail of a rat or the wing of a dove, and more sinister images of a wolf's eyes, angry and hungry, the strong hand of a man who's days were spent lifting crates at the docks, the trunk of an elephant or the flared collar of an agitated lizard.
Neopolitan walked cautiously around the Cinderbeast, until she was standing beside Winter, and shot a glance to Ruby.
"This is what happens when you try to be happy, Ruby. You'll never be anything more than a puppet in a show... A face in a game of dice. Winter, your sword?" she asked, holding out both hands, and the woman obeyed the command, placing the blade sideways into her waiting grip. She held it up in front of her, admiring the make of the thing, even smiling as her gaze trailed back to Ruby and then once more to Winter.
"I've always wanted to do this," she admitted, and then with one strong thrust, shoved the blade deep between Winter's ribs. Ruby yelped in terror and anguish, watching helplessly while Winter gasped for breath and dropped to her knees, still holding no emotion in those cold eyes of hers, not even looking up at Neopolitan when she clutched her wound with both of her hands. But it only got worse.
From within the hole in Winter's body leaked a terrible, sable ichor, and Neopolitan watched while she sunk to the ground, and once more darkness flowed around them. Winter's transformation was swift, the inky substance coated her body until she became a smaller version of what Cinder had, the larger of the two beasts still filling the room with a dozen echoed screams as hideous as its appearance. It seemed to be fighting itself, swaying this way and that, until it became aware of those around itself. Neopolitan was the first to be attacked, it lashed out with a tentacle as thick as a tree, slamming into the woman and knocking her aside. She stood up from where she'd been thrown, laughing again with that venomous, evil laugh, picking herself up off the ground and dusting herself off. Cinder's attention seemed focused on her, and to Ruby's astonishment, the creature near her feet pulled itself off the ground in a mass of body parts formed by the sludge, flinging itself toward Neopolitan in desperate rage. She moved out of the way of the smaller amalgamation, dodging it swiftly and leading it back around toward the two that lay on the floor. This seemed to distract it, and slowly the ball of blackness squirmed its way over the two unconscious comrades that Ruby knew as her friends.
"Stop... Stop! I won't let you!" Ruby sobbed, watching as Nora and Ren seemed to be consumed by the seething pile of hatred that used to be Winter Schnee. Neo's demeanor became calmer once more, and she lightly stepped back toward where Rainbow had perched himself, draping herself across his lap like he were a human throne. She brushed a small hand along his chizzled jaw, and grinned back at Ruby.
"Now let's see what damage we can do," she said softly, and Rainbow slowly began to utter a note, a long, intense droning sort of sound, like he were meditating. The Cinderbeast snarled and shook, traipsing on long, liquid legs from side to side as he attempted to control it.
It had all come to this. Ruby's mind reeled, plagued by visions and pictures of what had transpired, images of Cinder's nude body, feeling her loving embrace. Someone so corrupted by hate and anger and fear, she'd never thought it possible how wrong she had been about her. Even after all their doubts and trials together, her love burned bright in her chest. She knew this day would come again, and she felt so, so very sorry. She wanted only to hold Cinder's hand again, to tell her how much she loved her, how proud of her she'd become. She only wanted to kiss her again, to feel her hair between her fingers, to look into that one golden eye and mirror all the feelings she found there with the silver in her own. She only wished she knew how these eyes of hers worked. Maybe she could... Use them again? But no matter how hard she tried, it seemed more and more impossible, she couldn't simply will her way into her power. She couldn't stop this... She couldn't...
BANG! A flash of golden light shot past her, an arrow of brightness that shocked her right out of her thoughts and back into the present. Something like a fireball had exploded by her with a heat rivaling the sun itself, and it slammed into the monster before her with such force that it rippled all around and flung black ichor all about the room. A comet that had smashed into Cinder and created a gust of wind powerful enough to blow the hair from her face, a force she'd only seen rarely but she knew it in an instant. The Cinderbeast toppled over, slopping onto the floor and puddling outward in an oozing, wide lake. The girl responsible landed on the floor in the posture of a hero, flaming Aura burning at her golden hair, her fists clenched defiantly as she stared down Neopolitan with fearsome red eyes.
"Y-Yang...!" Ruby whimpered, and her sister looked back at her and gave her a quick thumbs-up, a smirk on her face and a glint of fury in her eyes. Somebody had approached Ruby from behind. Her only hint at whomever was working to get her out of that ice was the single brown bunny ear that flopped over her shoulder.
"Velvet!" she sobbed in relief, while Neo sprung to her feet and growled intently toward the pair of would-be rescuers.
"Just hold still," Velvet's soft voice whispered in her ear, "I'm going to get you out of there."
"YOU!" shouted Yang, pointing a single finger toward Neopolitan with a voice so forceful Ruby swore that some kind of death-ray would sprout from that finger a moment later. Never before had she been so happy to see her sister in her life. When the ice finally melted around her, she dropped to her knees before Velvet, sniffing at the phlegm that had built up in her nose.
"I-I thought you... You were..." Ruby looked back to Velvet who helped her to her feet. Her eyes were just as kind as they'd always been, the gentle Faunus smiled at her warmly.
"She had a little help in her recovery," she admitted, taking credit where it was due, and Ruby gave her a sad kind of smile, noticing the way that Velvet seemed to hold herself. She looked exhausted. She'd given up a large amount of Aura, most likely, to help Yang's recovery along. Ruby had never seen Yang like this. The power of her Semblance shone outward, casting light about them that created strong shadows behind. It had to be the fact she'd nearly died that brought her to this level. What didn't kill her only served to make her stronger.
"Neopolitan, it's time to answer for your crimes. For Vale, and for my friends!" Yang swore, and braced her feet while her gauntlet rotated, firing a blast right for the villain that made her eyes go wide and her feet carry her swiftly. She was forced to roll away when the blast hit the ground, catching her feet below her and stumbling back to standing. She spun on her heel and crouched low, her eyes narrowed. Rainbow's humming grew louder.
"Yang, you have to stop that guy! NOW!" Ruby cried, and Yang nodded once before she launched herself forward with two blasts from Ember Celica. She yelled while she winded up a punch, but before it could land, her fist impacted a sudden wall of ice that rose from the ground instantly, which shattered into a million shards from the impact. Neo still had Winter's sword, and she spun it in her hand to show she wasn't afraid to use it.
Nearby, Ruby moved into action. She picked up her weapon from the ground and ran toward the liquid form of Cinder's pain, but was intercepted by the Winterbeast that she'd nearly forgotten. It sprang upon her without warning, snarling from a handful of different mouths across its strange, vaguely animal-like body. It ran around the handle of her scythe, crawling up her hands and her arms, and she wrestled to try and shake it free, when out from below it there formed a white, circular shape, glowing and bright, and all at once the thing was flung straight upward and off of her, into another snowflake seal, and down again, slamming back and forth and suddenly being tossed aside. For a moment, Ruby stood stunned, but the triumphant figure that appeared in the distance of the long hallway was unmistakable. Weiss Schnee had finally arrived. Her face, scar and all, was set in a look of determination, and two more figures flanked her, she recognized them as Neptune and Sun, they quickly moved to handle what used to be Winter to keep her free of it. Ruby chanced a glance back at her sister.
Neopolitan was standing with Winter's sword pierced through Ironwood's heart and that same, awful cocky look on her face as before. Yang was on her tail, delivering punches like a dervish, though her skill with any kind of long, single-handed weapon was still apparent as she parried, dodged, or countered the rage-filled girl's every move. It wasn't long before Ironwood had become a creature like the others, plaguing Yang's advance until it was drawn off by Neptune's rifle. Velvet watched on, unable to fight in her state, worried for her friends and attending to Nora and Ren, moving them free of the fighting. Ruby felt relieved that that... Thing hadn't eaten them. She kept moving to where the Cinderbeast was slowly reforming, and began to hack and slash away at the oozing fluids that made up her outer body, trying desperately to get to the woman underneath. Sweat had built up on her brow and threatened to drip into her eyes, but still she worked, while Weiss attempted to help Yang. She knew the blade she was up against, and her fury doubled when she realized that Neopolitan held her sister's sword, engaging her in a sword fight that kept her busy long enough that Yang could make a move on Rainbow's motionless position. But it was too late for that.
The beast that was Cinder roared so loudly it shook the entire building, and it exploded outward in numerous winding, long appendages, catching Yang before she could act, hurling her into the wall and through it, clear out into the light of day. She bounced across the cement of the courtyard until she ground to a stop, slowly picking herself up and looking around. All about her was chaos, and her eyes widened in horror at what she saw. Everywhere were the creatures, wild and changing, and just like before they were attacking everyone they could find. Gunshots sounded from every direction, she saw Atlas soldiers and resistance fighters alike attempting to gun them down, she saw bodies being absorbed where they lay from the assault. It was madness... It was a nightmare.
Inside, Ruby had cut away in vain again and again, trying her best to force her way to Cinder. But it was no use. Rainbow had taken control of the beast, and it attacked everything in the room, save Neopolitan, with a ferocious determination. Every ally she had was engaged in one way or another, whether it be by Winter, or Ironwood, or Cinder herself. She had to fend off tentacles and gaping maws and hands that pulled at her clothing, she cut through wave after wave of pulsing, angry darkness, it threatened to overwhelm her. Neptune was the first to disappear into that seething mass of black, he shouted as it enveloped him, reaching a hand out toward her until that, too, disappeared underneath the ichor. Weiss had managed to catapult Neo into the roof, her back slammed against it and she finally fell, unmoving, to the floor. But no sooner had she dispatched one threat that the others came for her, and the beast itself turned its awful, red gaze on her. With a fanged jaw larger than any other on its body, it moved toward her, uttering a sound so loud she had to actively fight not to cover her ears, and she slashed at it, severing slimy pieces of its body which writhed around her on the floor.
"Cinder, stop, this isn't you!" Ruby shouted, cleaving her way through yet another limb, moving closer toward the beast. Those eyes disappeared on one side of its amorphous form and reappeared to look at her, pouring more animalistic features at her now than before. Her scythe swirled in a flurry of blows, cutting down arms and legs and wings and tails, all the various attempts to engulf her in its ever-growing mass. Sun had put down Ironwood's transformed body, holding him to the ground with copies of himself, while he himself fended off all manner of things.
"Cinder!" Ruby yelled again, but it didn't work any more than the first time.
"Cinder listen to me...! Ahh!" It had finally wrapped a long tail about her leg, and pulled her to the ground, drawing her in. She had dropped her scythe, and clutched desperately at the floor, trying to drag herself away, until finally her hand caught in one of the many cracks that had formed from their battle before. It felt like her leg was going to be ripped from her body, but still she held on, clinging for solace. Where was Yang? She could see Velvet through the breaks in the blackness that writhed about her, crouching over Nora and Ren and trying as hard as she could to keep the beast back. All around her she could feel it. The tension, the hopelessness of her comrades in arms. She looked behind her and to the side, where Weiss faught to keep herself out of this mess, to stay alive. Outside she could hear the sounds of Yang's gauntlets firing countless shells at some unseen foe. She could hear screaming. It was everywhere.
Then, she felt it. Something inside her burned, longing for the past. She yearned to save her friends, she wished not to feel this powerless, she wanted to end this madness. She was afraid. She was terrified. But inside her still, she felt the heart of her hope, the thing that had kept her going all this time. She felt love. Passing through her mind were thoughts of all the people she cared for. The way Yang's determined smile brought her the will to fight, the way Weiss' calculating nature made her feel safe. She remembered the way Cinder had caressed her flesh and held her, shown her love, and she heard the soft voice of Velvet in her ears. She remembered how smart Ren always seemed, quiet but wise, it filled her with reverence. The way Nora's upbeat style had always made her smile. So many people were counting on her and her mind. She felt something pop and pain wash over her as her ankle was broken. But she still thought only of her loved ones. Her thoughts were on those who'd given their lives for her and their way of life, she remembered Pyrrha's endless drive, remembered how nothing ever seemed to slow her down. Even Jaune crossed her mind, his stalwart devotion, an echo of vigilance she hoped to mirror in her own life.
She thought of Penny and all the horrible things that she'd been used for, but she remembered the Penny she knew, the one that saw all people as equals and friends. She remembered her mother's impossible skills, how she was always there for her family no matter the cost. And then, she saw Blake. She looked up to a Faunus standing before her, proud for her people and unwavering in loyalty, who's golden eyes looked down at her with compassion she'd only seen on rare occasions, with two black ears perked up with happiness. Blake spoke to her.
"Ruby," she said simply, "I still believe." She leaned down and offered a hand, and though her grip was slipping on the floor, Ruby reached out to take it. An energy flowed through her, sudden and with purpose, it ignited the fire of her feelings that settled in to every vein in her body like her blood had ignited. All the feelings that others had made her feel in her life she felt all at once, as though she'd become enlightened to the truth of her very existence, as though she were safe and determined, vigilant and loved, happy and sad all at once. She felt a will to carry on and to never stop, she felt a burning need to be there for her friends, her every movement felt slow and gentle and deliberate, she felt equal to her peers, a connection that could never be usurped by the ideas of another. But above all, she felt loved. She stood tall, free of the grasp that had bound her, and she turned to face all of the hate, the evil, the darkness before her. From it, she felt the cold, the bitterness, and the anger; from it she felt the death of hope and the birth of fear, the anguish of strife and the toil of living and dying itself. All around her a light mingled with the darkness, forming and swirling endless grey, a deep understanding of everything that made life so precious washed over her. A calmness unlike any other had settled within her very soul. Her Aura poured from her in virtuous silver haze, and somewhere near her Velvet and Sun and Weiss were shielding their eyes from the blinding light.
She could hear the humming of the man named Rainbow throbbing with tones of some inner pain, she could hear the astonished cries of Yang's voice beyond the wall. Ruby stepped forward slowly, and time about her ran ever more still, the convulsions of the beast before her slowing until she could see every part moving on its own very clearly. She understood the nature of this beast, how it had come, how it maintained itself. This thing before her was born from a life of regrets and failure. She walked among its undulating currents, watching as they parted around her, moved away from her hand as she reached out toward it.
Inside the darkness that surrounded her, Cinder suddenly saw a light. It was distant, but bright, and it grew brighter by the second. Her body was racked with pain, every muscle as tense as possible, every gasp for air she took yielded nothing. She felt like she was dying, like her soul had come to haunt her, to devour her whole and leave nothing behind. The light in the distance still grew stronger. She reached out toward it, choking and coughing at the same time, struggling for life, struggling only to survive. It warped her thoughts, made her incapable of thinking of anything else but the need to stay alive, she couldn't see anything, she could only see that distant beacon of hope approaching slowly from the haze around her. She couldn't move, couldn't speak, and her eyes, both of them, felt like they were bulging from her skull, ready to burst. Every fiber of her body simultaneously ached and burned, she wanted to die, she begged for release though no words came out.
When that light finally reached her, though, something touched her hand. It pulled her closer, and another touch joined it, they were fingers, then arms, and her face pressed against something warm and soft. She gasped for air, she curled up into a ball, she beat her fists against the side of her own head just in the hope that some other form of pain would dull the sensation that flooded her mind. She felt completely dry, like she were attempting to cry with no moisture left in her body, she was shriveling away, ready to turn to dust, ready to crumble... And a hand touched her face. It slid gently along her cheek until the fingers brushed her ear, and she felt lips press to her forehead. Then, finally, she heard a voice calling to her.
"Cinder... Don't be ashamed of who you are. You're so much stronger than you know." She recognized the voice, but she couldn't place it to a name, all she could do was pray that this would all end.
"Cinder... You're powerful and brave. Don't forget who you are," the voice said, and lips touched her own. She shook with a tremor that threatened to rip her flesh at her joints. She knew fear the likes of which she would never give words, she was lost, she was drowning again.
"Cinder... Come back to your friends. The person you are is the one I love..." The kindness of the words suddenly rocked her mind, an avalanche of purity, it pushed back the impossible darkness, it gave her some semblance of hope.
"Cinder, I love you," Ruby said, and clutched the woman closer to her chest. In that moment, she knew no fear. In that moment, she only knew rightness. Cinder grabbed hold of the cloth that covered her chest, her grip was impossibly strong. Her fingers looked like they would break any moment as they strained against her. She leaned down, and once again kissed Cinder's lips, holding her face with one hand, her body with another, while the darkness and the light battled around them. Time stood still, and there were only two souls in this place, caught in a world all their own, shimmering, entwining. That was the only time either of them would ever feel it, a profound oneness like Aura had merged together while the balance of the world flowed about them in harmony. Cinder looked up at her with a pitch-black eye, but her grip loosened, and sporadically felt for her face. Cinder touched Ruby's cheek the way Ruby had her own, felt her face, her neck.
"Ruby...?" she breathed weekly, and the girl in question smiled.
"Yes," she answered, and when she kissed her again, this time, for Cinder, everything became white.
[Author's Note: BAM! I did it! WOOOOO! YEAHHHH! Feels good man! I had, for awhile, been thinking that I wouldn't finish this thing before chapter 30. I wanted to finish it ON chapter 30, and everything pretty much worked out! Oh-ho, but what's this? Unanswered questions maybe? Don't worry. There will be a little more to this story before things are truly wrapped up. I'd like to thank those of you who reached out to me on Discord for this chapter, because without you I think it would've taken longer to come to this point. You really helped me feel a drive to continue this story, you know who you are you special babies! hart u 4 reel!
I hope this was a thrilling chapter for all of my readers. This chapter took a whole lot of thought on how I wanted it to work out. I really wanted it to feel like a struggle, and like the good guys may have had it bad. I will admit, I feel a little dirty that the writers of RWBY itself handed me a dues ex in the form of Ruby's powers, and normally I'd never do things like this in my own original stories, but come on, you gotta admit it works pretty dang well for what its worth. I hope I captured the necessary feelings that Ruby needs to go through in order for her powers to work, as explained in that one situation with those freaky lethargy-Grimm dudes in the show.
Still, WOOO! I really enjoyed writing this chapter. It took me FIVE HOURS to write this! It's 7-fuckin-AM now! I'mma get some sleep. But before I go, since people seemed at least a little interested in talking to me personally, I'll give you guys my Discord info. You can reach me at Yonder#9700. It's over NINE THOUSAAAAAA- wrong show? Oh. Oops. Thanks so much for the continued support and I love all of you, really! Thank you so much for sticking with me through all my crazy IRL bullshit and continuing to give me such lovely feedback and support. It really means a lot to me, really.
See you all hopefully soon!
-Yonder ]