The citadel was rife with Grimm, the walls of a abandoned adobe town collapsing in, making the summer sky blow thick with dust and decay, the snarls and howls of the Grimm crackling over the walls, the desert and its burning sun bearing down on them, Shade Academy a pinpoint in the horizon.
Taiyang burned away the rotting wood, the Beasts poured out in a horrid flood, the bodies piled up so thick, winter would claim them for a planned avalanche. The Cavalry didn't budge at all, waiting for the last baby Boarbatusk to squeal itself dead before they made their entrance, Ironwood breaking the inner wall the same way he built his.
The town laid in ruin, the last structure to collapse was the library, the palm trees had claimed it for scaffolding, all that remained was the shadows of the books, the leaves settling into their former depressions as the queerness of high summer once again began its long and ghastly descent, the light too bright in the shattered stained glass.
"This is weird..." Ruby shot down a Beowolf without turning to look. "I don't like this." She shoved her flask into a deeper pocket. "We'r- What's that?"
A beam of light illuminated the path to the dilapidated door at the back of the hall, two statues of a woman bearing a crown in both hands flanking the door.
"I don't like that." Jaune drew Crocea Mors, the old girl was broadened and the sword retrofitted with a firearm, the edges glowing with Gravity Dust. "Get ready. Qrow? Pyrrha? What's happening?"
The seers looked at each other. "We don't know. We saw nothing."
"What do you mean?"
"It was a haze of white. Like it is sometimes. I'm sorry," He was out of things to flick at her. "it's not perfect and we can't figure out how to get it to function when we want it to..." She pointed over his shoulder.
Tai was standing in the spotlight. "We need to go in there."
"Tai...it's a godsdamned ruin." Glynda checked over her crop. "The only thing in there are de-"
"I'm going in there." He turned to look at the rest, his eyes red as fire. "I must."
"Ah shit, this again." Ironwood put Oz down.
The iron doors were warped shut, Pyrrha requiring the help of both Weiss and Winter to pry them open, a spiral staircase leading down into darkness waiting on the other end.
Tai lit the torches on the way down, eyes flitting up and down the incline.
"Are you okay?" Qrow tapped his shoulder, snatching back his scalded hand. "You're freaking out."
"A woman...you can't hear her." The elder dragon swallowed. "I don't know what's happening."
The younger dragon watched her steps, tears once again wetting her cheeks.
"So you have made the decision to succumb, Invincible Girl?" Pyrrha held Akouo on her arm. "You're a walking contradiction at best...and a martyr without a cause at worse. You take fate into your hands and let it tell you to die? Grow up, little girl."
"She's cruel." She choked back tears. "You're looking for cruel."
"You're also burning up." Qrow's hand blistered. "This woman ought- Shutting up."
Some of the steps had fallen in, Ironwood creating ramps from the brick.
At the base laid a hall, tree roots sticking through the ceiling, a draft blowing through the cool and damp stone corridor. Life once existed here, the final pieces of a rug rotted in a corner and a throne sat at the furthest left, raised on a pedestal.
"What is this? A throne room?" Winter stepped out of the crowd, Weiss close behind. "I don't-"
A flash of red blinded all of them.
"Hello." A dark bird coalesced from the flash, sitting on the throne, familiar markings on the crown of its head, Pyrrha pulled hers off, in fear or awe, nobody knew.
"You know, you all can come in." They shuffled in, Pyrrha nearly taking a rogue piece of rotting metal to the chest. "You are here for a reason."
The world fell away and rose in full color, the hall decorated white and gold, the grubby stone scrubbed clean, the braziers overflowing with flame, either side of the hall stretching into infinity, the other thing that remained was the throne dead center. Her form twisted and spun, growing into a phoenix dark as night, with eyes on each feather, embers falling with each flap of her wings.
Weapons were drawn.
They all shattered into pieces, sidearms, pistols, all into dust.
"How dare you raise a weapon against me, who offers you the choice of a lifetime?"
The stairwell sealed behind them.
"You have seen the consequences of your choices. I offer you deliverance. To know nothing and do nothing."
"That's...not much of a choice." Blake tied her hair into a bun.
"So, what you're saying is that, we can choose not to do anything, we can choose to end up...okay..." Weiss wrung her hands.
"That's not what she said." Yang folded her arms. "What she said, was that we can choose to fuck off. What she's not saying is that she sealed the door behind us.. Stop speaking in circles. Say what it is that you mean." She looked down, pushing aside the black haze that stuck to the bottom of her feet.
"Oh boy. At least Grandpa Oz is telling the truth." Ruby stole Weiss' flask.
"He has more secrets than you know. And you know nothing." The bird's throat began to glow.
"What she's not saying is that...she's got secrets." Oz spoke over the crowd, glasses missing, eyes glowing grey.
"I never said that, descendant of Ozma, wreathed in lies." The phoenix reared back before diving through the crowd, snatching him into the air with her talons, careening down the hall, wings scraping the sides of the corridor. They ran after her, Weiss and Winter speeding them up with glyph after glyph, Oscar struggling to keep pace.
"Wait, DUMB DECISION!" Raven turned on her heel. "HER THRONE IS THAT WAY!" So they ran back the other way, Ren throwing Oscar over his shoulder, the way ahead stretching, warping, fading into a edge, the floor falling brick by brick. They looked up, and in their faces, was a bloody Oz hanging by a talon, a burning phoenix, and a fireball.
Taiyang threw everyone behind him. "RUN!" It singed his clothes, leaving most of his black scales burning bright orange, as he staggered, faltered and fell.
"DADDY!" cried his daughters, as they were pulled in the opposite direction, the phoenix chasing after them.
He bolted towards them, moving faster than a firework on caffeine, blowing a hole in the side of the hall as he vaulted off of it, snagging on the back of the firebird. It screeched, both loads too much, it dropped Oz, who now had five holes versus the one. It continued its hampered flight bouncing off the walls, Taiyang battering it the whole time. Ironwood blew through the march, reaching for Oz as the floor disintegrated underneath them both, and they fell into the dark below.
"NO!" Ruby shrieked, Adam grabbing her before she could follow them, darkness cloaking his hair. The phoenix came around for the third time, bouncing, skidding, and with Jaune, Weiss and Winter's hands joined, crashed to a halt against black glyphs. It rose yet again. Taiyang holding a broken arm, falling off its back as it dripped burning ooze, the stone super heating and splitting underneath.
Glynda cried over the drop, sobbing for her friends. Ren flashing all kinds of colors, Nora's hair sparking like mad.
"Okay." Qrow watched a curtain rod and went to grab it, it dissolved in his hands. "I've got nothing."
Jaune ran for Tai, hauling him over to the rest, fixing his arm, ignoring his roars of pain.
'Mydaughtersaregone. RavenandSummeraregone. What'sleft? Adog?I'mtired-'
"We ran past twelve chandeliers, thirteen if you count the one that fell down whatever the fuck that is, and there's four banners over our heads-"
"Jaune? What are you talking about?" Tai stared at him, pupils dilated in the dim light. "Why're you counting things?" He kept counting things, including how many scales he was missing. Twenty four.
"Stop panicking. There has to be a way out. It's not down..." Blake looked up. The abyss was there too. "Ironwood's gone..."
"It's a circle..." Pyrrha tried to throw her chains across the gap, they dissolved. "It's a circle! Does it have sides?"
Yang coated her arm in Aura, ramming the wall, reeling back in regret. Everyone turned to look at Adam. "I won't do much better. I'm not a ram!"
"What's that!?" Nora pointed over to the fallen creature, fire spilling from its body, the smoke coating the walls.
"Oh gods..." Raven stepped back, hitting a loose brick, Qrow and Glynda scrambling to grab her before she fell over the edge, his hand catching on the last sturdy brick, Glynda falling off the edge as Raven's weight swept her off. "LET ME GO! LET ME GO! YOU DON'T NEED ME!"
"Shut up! Yo-" They fell, Winter grabbed before she could dive off the edge.
"Wait..." Blake stepped back against the wall. "...choose! CHOOSE!" She grabbed her former teammates. "Or we leave them behind for that thing!" She looked behind her, a fireball collecting in the phoenix's throat.
Nora jumped, followed by Ren, Pyrrha after, Jaune catching her sash, dragging Taiyang with him. Oscar decided to salute his way off, falling backwards. Winter started to run, only to catch herself on the last brick. "I'm scared of heig-" Adam crashed into her, sending them both off.
The last four took the dive, holding hands.
Smoke burned their eyes. Invaded their lungs. Stole their life.
-.-.-.-. * -.-.-.-.
Jaune woke up, the sleeves of the onesie tied around his waist, Pyrrha asleep in her bed, dawn breaking through the window, Ren was still asleep, Nora at his side. Snow fell out of the window.
'...huh...I feel weird?' He stepped out of bed and washed up. 'Did I eat too much last night?'
A stranger looked back at him in the mirror, a taller man with a scar over his eye and the front of his neck, canines for centuries and wild hair that fell down his back. 'What the fuck is that? A lion? Am I high?'
He pulled on his uniform, worried over the scratches in Crocea Mors, and pulled on his backpack, wavering under its weight. "What's in here?" He took it off, opening the old leather flap. A photo album was with his books. "What's this?" He flipped through it...pictures of a decimated dining hall, a train, a crater, fields of gold, prairies of blood, bedrooms, a hospital room with a yellow blanket, shrapnel coated in rose petals, a curtain blowing through a window, with herbs drying in the sun. "...when did I take all of these?"
"Jaune...it's our day off." A pair of arms wrapped around his waist, the smell of amber and lilies sweetening the air. "Come to bed...the library can wait."
He turned to look at her, her hair burgundy in the rising sun. "Come on. Let's go."
She pulled off the brown and black and they laid together in the dim light, watching the sun fill the room. Ren woke up, pulling his hair into a ponytail as he did when he rose, and shuffled off to wash up, Nora padding across the room to the girls' room. Ren returned, dressed in a plain green sweater and white pants, pulling the pancake griddle out, Nora showing up in a cotton candy colored shirt-dress. Pyrrha finally left to dress for the day, returning in a brown dress underneath a red wool blazer, the heavy circlet traded for a series of headbands. He shrugged, pulling on blue jeans and a new Pumpkin Pete hoodie. Pancakes eaten, they filed out, wallets in hand, on their way to Vale.
The snow was a kiss on the ground, having had stopped during breakfast, but the wind bit his arms, Pyrrha insisting he take the coat she threw at him, the sun occluded by the grey clouds.
'...hmm...' He looked at his hands, the nails...sharpened? 'Am I...having a panic attack again? Can panic attacks last hours?'
He looked in the stained glass windows outside of the dining hall as they passed. Ren and Nora's hair was longer, the both of them taller, the side of hers shaved off, their eyes tired. Pyrrha's hair was woven with bronze chains.
He caught his own reflection, standing still as he was, though his arms were crossed, a snarl in his throat, "WAKE UP!"
"Jaune!" Ruby whirled over, he caught her in her usual morning hug. "Are you okay? Did you have a bad dream?" He looked down at her, toothy grin shining as usual, the rest of her team behind her, a black ribbon on Blake-
"Um...I slept wrong..." He looked away.
"Well, we're on our way to Vale, you want to come with us?"
He looked up, airships landing in the distance. "Yeah...the skyport is over there. Let's go."
The squad walked over, the commuter ships traded for the smaller weekend ones. a boy with hazel eyes and freckles stepped off followed by a blonde with a black and white spotted dog, a woman with feathery black hair, holding a red haired man in shades by the arm.
"Mom!" Yang caught the woman in her grip, who let go off the other guy, turning to meet her daughter for a hug, a black and red coat shifting over her shoulders. "I thought you wouldn't make it. Hey, Dad." Taiyang's arms were filled with a ball of poppy petals.
"That's what retirement is for...hope you didn't mind me bringing a old friend. Adam, you're okay? You finally stopped humming."
"I have work on my lyrics. Some of us have day jobs still. Where's the ceremony?"
Raven opened her Scroll. "That way. Let's go."
"Oh. I forgot about that!" Ruby fell out of suspension, knocking the freckled boy into the ground, antlers scraping the ground, still in velvet. "I'm sorry!"
"It's okay, I've done worse to myself..." He took the hand up. "Name's Oscar...do you know where the ceremony is? I'm supposed to meet my cousin there..."
"We're...on our way there." Blake looked at her Scroll, frowning at her missed notifications, Weiss looking over her shoulder.
"Is that the Adam you hung up on?" They both looked up. Blake cursing apologizes under breath, Weiss shaking her head. Jaune looked him up and down, the red and black of the jacket on his shoulders matching the older woman's.
"Adam, I'm sorry." He said nothing, but the sigh may have contained a piece of his soul, a "let's just go" slipping between gritted teeth, a tremor running down his leg as she grabbed his hand.
His mind's eye flashed, the crush healing into purples and blues.'What...I don't know him...I...what is going on? Who the fuck is that?" Adam tilted his head at his unrelenting gaze. 'WHAT THE FUCK
"Honey," Pyrrha shook his arm, a marled pattern on her neck-Are you beside me?-flickering over love bites. "Are you okay?"
"I...think I'm getting sick." She patted the tears away. "I think you were right, I need a day off."
"Well...let's get you inside." She pulled him towards the rest of the moving crowd, worry coloring her face. The puddles of snowmelt reflected different shoes. A man with white hair underneath a green knitted hat stood of front of the auditorium's door, using a broader man with graying hair as a leaning wall, another woman with platinum blonde hair catching up to a woman with white hair and blue eyes, a blue dress skimming her flats, hands entwined with a man with feathery hair in a three piece suit, a black and red coat on his shoulders.
"Jaune, you're scaring me." She squeezed his hand. "Let's go..."
"Oh good, you've arrived." Glynda looked over her clipboard. "Let's get this over-" She looked over her glasses, the clipboard clattered to the floor.
"...NO!" The one with white hair screeched. "I am not going in there!"
"Birdy..." The broad- 'Irondad?' held his shoulders. "We've talked about this...it's just a award ceremony. We won the war. Don't you remember...you...don't look like that..." He let Oz go, checking for his guns. They weren't there.
"What war?" Taiyang blinked. "...who are you?" He turned around to look at Adam, who had a hand in Yang's hair. Blake barely held back a growl, holding his other arm. Yang looked at him, reaching to pull off the shades. "What is this?" Raven looked at her jacket, despair coating her face in a cold sweat.
"YOU HAVE TO BE JOKING." Oz broke out of Ironwood's grip. "YOU!" He pointed at Jaune. "YOU KNOW THIS IS FAKE!
"Um...what?" Ruby patted her decolletage, grasping for something missing. "...I want a drink? I don't drink? What...?"
"...if there's a assembly." Winter looked over everyone's shoulders. "where is everyone else?" There was nothing but silence and a cold wind, faceless students and puddles.
Qrow leaned over a puddle, his reflection grayer than he was, with dark circles and hazy eyes. "Um...something's wrong."
Jaune ran back to the dining hall, the rest followed, meeting their reflections one by one.
"We've got to do something!" Ruby tried to burst into petals, only to collapse on the pavement.
"Is that...us?" Blake rubbed her eyes. "...we look like shit."
"GUYS!" Weiss shrieked, the edges of the world collapsing in, surrounding by pitch black and red eyes "Break it! Someone break it!"
Yang threw herself through the glass.
-.-.-.-. * -.-.-.-.
He rolled over to vomit, black ooze and strange bones coming up, until he swore his life was on the stone.
"Jaune?!" A tanned hand patted his arm, pulling his hair out of way. "Oh gods...thank the gods." He pressed himself up. The rest of the Cavalry in just as bad of shape.
"We...nearly died." He spared a sip of vermouth to get the taste out of his mouth, staggering to his feet. "We need to be faster on the uptake."
Ruby, Weiss and Blake fought to rouse Yang, her eyes green and dilated, open though unconscious. She started awake, landing a uppercut on Blake, roaring in her face, sending her back a few feet. Her hands were engulfed in flames, claws breaking through flesh.
"Will you stop hitting me?" Blake sobbed. "Please don't hit me anymore..."
Yang caught her fist before the next hit landed, lowering it to look at her bleeding hands. "I'm sorry." She stood up, looking for her father, who was searching for a way out with the others, the cobbled walls smooth and circular, the ruined floor a perfect fit.
"What is happening?" Ironwood shook, Oz holding his arm.
"Found it!" Ruby waved a white stone in the wall, holding a nauseous Oscar by the hand. "It's here!" She booped it. A tunnel opened. They filed through two by two, Taiyang at the lead. A chasm opened up before them, the cliff faces sheer and impassable, a stone pedestal in the center of a room held a red crown in chains, black ooze seeping from the metal.
Yang walked off towards it, snapping the chains with her bare fists, plucking the circlet from the ooze, not caring that it stained her hands black. She turned to look at the rest of them, hollering for her to move, to turn around.
The glow of a fireball consumed her frame.