A/N: If I were to start spelling Qrow like Crow, would you all hate me? Actually, it's rather unfortunate that the English Language has three symbols for the same noise, carry on, Krow.
She took off into the wreck, hurtling shards of metals into the air, Glynda hot on her heels, pulling bodies out before they were unrecognizable. The crowd fell into the streets, shops had windows shattered, loved ones dragged bloody towards safety.
A shard of red hot glass clipped in her shoulder. 'Guess who's here.'
"Long time no see, Pyrrha." Cinder Fall strutted into the center of things, relishing in the heat. "...I'm impressed."
"Shut up, you cartoon." Black eyebrows furrowed. "I have bigger things to worry about besides your narrow perceptions of me."
The rest of Cinder's posse flooded in from the rooftops, Emerald, Penny, and the girl with pink and brown hair, a man with a bowler hat, Mercury, a large man and two skinny men, and the scorpion. And lurking in the back, Archibald Stone, Leonard was late to the party, huffing and puffing.
Glynda signed at them all. ""Put on a show, do not engage. We'll attract Grimm, do not enga-"
Salem's faction charged forward, swinging for them all. Fifteen on twelve would have been simple, if it weren't for the cannon fire launched by the Mistrali National Guard. "Cease and desist!" was the war chant of the sky blue and khaki green, soldiers flooding in. The smell of smoke poured from shops, the percussion of the explosion disturbed pipes and fixtures.
"This can't happen right now." Weiss caught his eye, she danced between shots and the hulking man's fists to get to him, the other man hellbent on calling Oz out.
A mirage framed in silver, the fires put before they started, the heat had a place to go, here and gone, a distraction, the water skimming his soles. 'What...' Jaune blinked and it disappeared, as did the water. '...our hands are tied.'
"You have loose Water Dust?" She pressed it into his hands-i'msohungry,ithurts-out of her cylinders, a handful for her, a half hand for him. "Tell Raven to retreat. Somewhere, anywhere." Weiss skated off, Jaune stared down the tanks, walking over as if it was a normal summer's day, dodging Mercury's kicks, and a spare blade from Penny.
"Alizarin?" Taiyang blinked. "What are you doing here?" A rail thin man with firey red hair punched him right in the eye.
"Making sure you understand the depths of loyalty!"
"I DIDN'T KILL HER!" Tai caught the second punch throwing the man into a building. "I SWEAR TO THE GODS!"
Pyrrha stood against Cinder as the rest dodged bullets and blades. "...I don't care why you're doing this. Just know you're in the rest of the world's way."
"I want nothing more than peace for all nations."
"By destroying them?" A grenade sailed past her face. "Yeah, because destruction and violence gets you somewhere. I mean, other than getting you off, personally."
"...I regret not killing you the first time."
"Destiny waits." Pyrrha took the first swing, Cinder countering with a searing cut across the face. "I'm not obsessed with beauty." She let the blood run, kicking Cinder in the chest, the glass blades shattering into her flesh, the chained blades of Psallo following right behind.
Cinder melted a broken pipe into better weapons, though Pyrrha kept at her, a dark chuckle seeping from her lips as the heels snapped and Cinder forced to discard them for the burning streets. She waved Psallo back, grabbing Milo for the second charge, the ground cracking as she leapt towards Cinder, catching her in the eye with the blade and the rib cage with the bladed edge of the shield.
"What is your problem, PYRRHA!" Nora yelled, done playing whack-a-mole with the skinny man, the flame haired girl stopped in her tracks, a wicked grin fading to a cold glare. "Oh...what the fuck?"
Pyrrha shot the skinny man in the eye as he took aim at Nora. "At times," She strutted over, walking right on top of the man. "you just crave blood in your mouth and the snap of bone. That's all. Back to business." Psallo got Penny in the chest, once again. "You're too slow."
'This isn't the time for this shit.' Jaune checked his nails, watching the Mistrali National Guard roll in as his friends distracted and dispersed their opponents, though their adversaries were determined to wage war in the open streets. The muzzle of a cannon slid right up to his head, tapping the side of his neck. "Hello."
The driver peeked out of the side, Jaune turned to face him. "ARE YOU INSANE?"
"No..." He walked towards the man, shaking in his uniform, three stars on his chest. "Are you?" He pulled aside the veil.
"Jaune of Lisieux." He pulled a necklace from underneath his shirt, his emblem superimposed on a white lily. "...What would you have me do?"
"Remember onto your superiors that I am with them." He pressed his Aura into the necklace-don'tquitonmenow,Rookie-the chip of Dust glowing ivory. "...and the black cloaks of the Brotherhood should go honored by Human and Fauni alike."
"We've gotta go!" Taiyang kept backpedaling, checking the wreck for his daughter, and begrudgingly, Adam. "THEY'RE DEAD!"
He left, the drivers left disobeying orders, the tanks floating on white waters, the waves reaching into the burning stores, evaporating on the concrete, healing the civilians as it washed down the slope and evaporated away, the steam holding the shimmer, gracing the townsfolk as it passed, soothing wounds and lifting spirits.
Raven skidded around a corner, tearing open space. "LET'S GO!"
Mistress, we have succ...
You are injured, Hazel.
She rejected me, the corruption however has taken hold completely. I expect that they will falter. We also took some damage during the parade.
Cinder. You are...
Pyrrha's crazy.
Do not mistake darkness for rage. Do your best to continue to raid Vacuo. Destroy its populace without hesitation. Chase the varmints out.
Yes, yes of course...Mistress.
Mercury.
Yes, Mistress.
Seize the final relic. You..should be able to withstand her. Have you found the Orb and Tome?
Yes, Mistress.
Where are they?
...
Where is it?
...I can't get to them per se. They're in a-
GET. THEM. ROMAN.
Yes, Mistress.
The mountains were not the best place to end up, the lower temperatures soothing to sun heated skin. The bags were quickly emptied of gauze and clips, grass serving as a mattress.
"...where are we now? Can we stay until summer's end?" Weiss laid in the sod, out of the sun, skin burnt red. "How did you do that with the Dust?"
"I...couldn't let it burn?" Jaune sat against a tree, Aura exhausted. "I just...did it?"
"...the only place left for me. Mom's." Raven finished her flask. "And we're in the ass-end of nowhere."
"WHO ARE YOU HOOLIGANS!" A willowy woman with a decorated staff came down the hill, hair and feathers a frosted grey, a skirt trailing tattoos and jet black calves, talons catching leaves, jewelry broad and dense across her front. "AND WH-" Orange eyes caught the twins, even wreathed in gauze.
"...hi Mom." Raven huffed. "I do-" Two punches knocked them both on their asses.
"...you show up, out of the sky, after five years of me crying over you?" She was crying now. "And the best you've got is, 'Hi Mom?!'" The twins pulled themselves back up, hoods knocked clear off. Their mom pulled them both into a bone crushing hug. "I prayed for five years to see you again, finally, the gods grant me a boon." Ironwood opened his mouth and Oz slapped him silent.
"Sorry, Mom."
"...good to see neither of you ended up like your father. Unless you did...who're your friends? What..why are thirteen people-Did you join a cult?" Ironwood cracked up, Nora went with him. "What's going-"
"HI!" Ruby cheered through the trees, golden petals still clinging to her braid, squeaking away on Adam's shoulders. The Cavalry sped over to crush them into a hug.
"Are you okay?" Taiyang pulled her off and checked her over, Yang said nothing, extricating herself to Glynda's side. "Did-"
"Didn't feel it. Didn't even know it happened. Woke up at Grandpa's. Let's move on, shall we?" She finished off her bottle.
"Stop dying, man." Jaune squeezed Adam into a hug, and for once, he returned it twice as hard. "Fuck, I'm going to put you in bubble wrap or one of those...black box things for airships." He took a step back, sunken eyes now hazy and far away.
"...I'm not good with tight spaces. Watch your claws." A few cut strands of hair later, the Invincible Girl broke a few more of Adam's ribs. "...can we quit touching me now and get on with the plan?!"
Raven shifted Omen on her hip. "The plan is getting to Argus and figuring out what're we-"
"You're leaving already?" Her mother's eyes watered. "...who are your friends? Where are you going?"
"...that's your mother?" Ruby squinted from Taiyang's shoulders. "Hi Gramma!" Yang waved as well, a smile on her face. The elder corvidae just shook her head.
"...Mother." Qrow looked over at her. "I'm-"
Both mother and son's eyes flashed gold.
"...I told this fucking BIRD." Winter finished her flask, Ironwood still laughing, Taiyang handing Ruby to Jaune while he cackled, Oz laid in the grass with Glynda trying not to choke on snickers. "That he was like his mother, and he ignored me."
She blinked first. "Oh, good." Qrow barely caught himself. "...you need to stand your ground in the vision. Don't let the web pull you." She locked eyes with Pyrrha. "It is good you came. I cannot suppress your nature, but I will teach you not to ruled by it. Can the rest of you wait at least a day?"
A day came and went, camping far enough away to give the sage-woman and her pupils their privacy, but close enough that smoke closed the gap.
The two seers said nothing upon their arrival at dawn, faint streaks of paint still on skin, resinous incense clinging to their skin as they helped to pack up.
"...we're already close." Pyrrha pointed to the distance. "...we can't leave it here and come back, Catha isn't going to last through a army."
"...I wasn't trying to put us on top of the thing!" Raven squawked. "I just wanted to get out of dodge."
She looked over at Raven. "We will make choices that put us where we need to be."
"Yes, so should we take her with us when we leave?" Oz held his hip as he got up, Ironwood skipping the ordeal and putting him on his shoulders, ignoring the small 'thank you' for a "you need that hip replaced, Birdy.'"
"Did I forget to mention that my mother is as stubborn as I wish I was?" Raven huffed. "And for all of our choices, why does it feel like I'm just along for the ride?"
"Let's get a move on." Oscar pulled Ruby's hands out of his hair. "We can't waste time arguing about the past."
The forest grew denser and less disturbed the deeper they hiked in, with trees fighting for room to fall over, the summer rot heady and choking, the trickier bushes rotting away under Oscar's hands as he lead the march forward, spectral blooms flickering in and out of view, phantasmal vines dripping from his antlers.
"...okay, this is Oscar's." Ironwood rolled his eyes at Oz's snickering. Oscar paused at his name, eyes glowing green. "...don't look at me like you're going to gore me."
"This way, and don't distract me, it's hard to see in this old growth." He pushed forward. Adam watched the thorns creep down his fingers. Ruby whined, not seeing the petals spring from her hair. Hazel eyes scanned Ruby, a blush crawling up her face. Taiyang gritted his teeth.
The old growth gave way to desiccated trunks, the dead wood opening to a clearing swaying with wildflowers. Curled around the stone pedestal was a Ursae. Until it looked up.
"More to suffer and die? To have their bones bleach white in the name of freedom?"
Three heads were on a single pair of shoulders, it's tail had a bulbous tip, the majority of its scaled length unwrapping itself from the bear's torso, a snake's head baring canines and dripping poison, claws the size of great swords sprouted from its feet.
"Put me down." Oz let Ironwood set him down, shoes went flying, light scales covering talons, one set metallic. "I need to move. Sue me."
"How are we-" It barreled straight towards Ironwood, claws ready to decapitate him in a swipe, sixteen sidearms fired at the offending paw, a scythe barely hooking about the wrist, yanking it back. "...thanks. We do it the hard way." He drew his pistols, the safety clicked off, running in after the rest, Oz already leaving him behind.
"I have already fought the likes of you and they have lost severely, what makes you different?"
For its size, it outmatched Ren's speed, leaving him dead to rights in a matter of three hits, Nora yanked him aside, the paw barely missing his chest, pink aura flickering and sparking. The backhand sent Ruby flying into the horizon.
Crocea Mors bucked under the weight of its charge, its owner digging ruts into the grass to stay standing.
The Beast spun in circles, trying to catch them with paws or tails, the elder and younger dragon searing off its fur, Winter and Weiss ricocheting off glyphs, slicing into its flesh, recoiling as snakes poured from the wounds, Raven catching Qrow's scythe before he could throw it. Glynda broke tree after tree over its back, screaming as bone rose to protect its spine.
"YOU!" It kicked Pyrrha into the sky and she landed with a crunch, Jaune too far to run and Nora out of grenades. "You insolent child! Heed your nature and PERISH!"
Oscar watched, pulling the gleaming staff from the pedestal, floating away with it, retreating deeper into the forest, piercing thorns rising after him.
"And you're no better!" It ripped a tree out of the ground, watching for the final red afterimage to slow to a crawl, whacking Adam into the dust, his femur snapped like a toothpick. "Stubborn as your blood dictates!"
"Okay, it's saf-" A paw swiped into Ironwood, human side first. Oz screamed, dragged out of dodge by Raven.
"Safety is a illusion." The Bear rose its front paws and slammed back into the earth, the ground opened up, the quakes knocking them on their asses, the crags suffocating and crushing limbs. One canine got her copy, the next sank into Blake, the head of the snake whacking her into the air so high, she couldn't twist to land right.
Ironwood yelled for Oscar, who leapt out of the forest into the freshly made canyon, throwing Birch and Oak into the snake's eyes, pulling them back out with chains. "Do you think that will stop me? Blood is your beginning and your end, son of Ozma!" A canine caught in the links, sending a wave through the chain, snapping them in half, Oscar flying into the woods.
Glynda raced for Jaune, sliding underneath the Bear, grabbing him and Oz, raising the ruined forest floor out of the way, letting everyone out of the cracks, before re-compacting the earth, the three of them exhausted, Glynda screaming her head off.
"Suffer." The beast charged towards Pyrrha, nursing her dangling heel, Adam having had pulled her out of the rubble, holding his leg. "You have outlived your usefulness." The second footfall laid a crater into the hard-packed earth.
"Fuck that!" She reached for Adam's hand, thorns and all. The paw hit.
Shards of Wilt and Milo went flying from the cloud of ash and dust.
The bear staggered back, nursing a broken paw, snarling and growing.
Ironwood stared into the dust, left in the low brush between trees and flowers, the rest of the Cavalry retreating to his side lest they fall in, most holding broken bones and contusions, Blake vomiting blood.
The ash blew away, strange whispers drifting through the air, revealing skin matte as wrought iron, Pyrrha's heel suddenly functional, Adam's leg healed over, crimson fusing with graphite to form a haze of metal fillings, petals sharpened to a razor point, glowing burgundy in the sun.
"Wanna fuck up a overgrown Ursae?" She could barely talk for cackling, her green eyes burning with hatred, a barbed glaive forming out of hardened light.
"Thought you've never ask." He drew a odachi from the rest of the thundering Aura around them, thorns rolling down the flat edge, the smirk on his face bloodchilling.
"Then let's go." Oscar floated back to the edge, settling at their sides, the earth turning supple underfoot, the staff now a spear in his hands, the green aura now a part of his.
"Suffer and die as you should have!" The Bear bellowed, settling into its haunches, leaping forward with crushing speed. Red gashes sliced off its tail, mad cackling punctuating every blow, its ribs shattering in by searing crimson arcs, the femur was where the knee should be.
Snakes, scorpions and other beasts formed from the ooze. Oscar swung, and a thousand daggers stabbed into the ground. "And you too, will know suffering, in time." The Beast howled, calling brethren from the woods. "And all shall be mine again, in time." Ten thousand hunting knives erupted from the ground, stopping their onslaught, a ring of blades protecting the rest of the crew.
Intestines fell on the floor, skin peeling from sinew, its head dented and bludgeoned in by carmine waves. The jaw fell off, a soup of limbs and blood soaked into the land, disintegrating into ashes. All but a pair of knives remained, Oscar calling them over with a wave, the blades made of strange material, crystalline but unlike glass, shiny but unlike metal.
The two redheads walking towards the rest of them,covered in blood, with a post-coital grin on their faces. "We've," he slicked the hair out of his face. "gotta do that more often."
"Yep, just throw me at the next one." She spat out the dark blood, fixing the wet circlet on her head, the ghostly helm suffering a few cracks.
"It went well." The echo faded from Oscar's voice. "I hope that never comes to pass."
A fist bump went between the redheads, the overlay crumbled like rusted iron, their faces fine except for the scrapes from before, hair thrown over opposing shoulders. The deer sighed, the green glow gone, as he fell into the grass, wrapping himself around the staff.
"...I have never so uncomfortable in my life!" Glynda broke out in a cold sweat. "Did you get off on- DON'T ANSWER THAT." She threw her hands in the air, the reel of laughter proving a point. Glynda resettled Oz besides her, hunter green Aura crumpling besides her.
"What is she talking about? Didn't we kill it?" She looked up at the other murder kid, the grin still there. "...what's the problem? I cut loose once in a red moon and it's a problem." Nora screamed into Ren's shoulder.
"It's a problem?" He looked down at her. "It was a problem?" They snapped out of it, looking at their blood soaked clothes and their own hands, the grin flipping into horror, clawing hand over fist for the sacred water, for fresh clothes, to apologize on their way into the woods behind them to change.
"...well." Jaune ran over his face and neck with his hands, cutting a few loose curls while he was at it, golden petals stuck to his pants. "I'm terrified. Good to know." He looked over at Yang, she had her head in her hands, sullying gold with ooze.
'I hope she's doing alright.' He got up, laying hands on her. '...she ain't.' He heaved a sigh as the arrow pierced his flesh for the third time, as the world spun for the fifth.
"I don't know what that was." Weiss' head had yet to stop shaking. "Please never again."
"Shouldn't the lady show up?" Oscar was being checked over by Qrow and Raven. "I'm okay. Everything is okay." Another round of apologies sailed through the canopy behind him. "We're sorry!"
"...unless she's underneath us." Taiyang was stretched in the dirt, the scales up his neck dull and brittle even at noon. "I'll-" The last of the mess disappeared, the stone pedestal was cracked. Fifteen eyes turned to stare at the murder kids, now less crazy and freshly clothed. "Do not...do not ever do that again. Unless we're all about to kick it."
"I couldn't tell. And by then it would be too late." They went back to sharing the bag of strawberries, Pyrrha swallowing a mouthful. "I was just angry." A hum of attrition went over her head. "Is that what's like in your head? I'm sorry."
"I ask the same question, and offer the same apology." Adam opened a bigger bag as she finished the last of it.
Oscar resettled for the third time, the adrenaline keeping him moving. "At this point, I've got nothing but apologies. I should have done that sooner-"
"Hello. Can I have my staff?" A woman with wide hips and broad thighs came up behind Oscar, he turned around just at the wrong time to get her belly in his face. "Hello, Oscar, son of Ozma." He pulled back and handed her the staff, face redder than the strawberries that ended up going around everyone's hands. The girl walked over to the pedestal, exotic flowers blooming as she went, the pedestal restored with a wave. "You can come. My sisters have told me about you."
Oscar was too busy staring at her to get up. The girl blushed, "Maybe some other time?" Ironwood grabbed him by the back of the collar, catching up with the rest, as they hobbled and carried each other over, Oz hopping to put on his shoes, talon marks becoming shoe prints. "You need to be faster. Let each other help each other without shame or this will take another year."
"I'm not going to deal with the ramifications of that insinuation, for either event." Ironwood tossed Oscar in the back, his own face burning up, Oz's feathers flicking back and forth. Yang put Jaune between her and Adam. Ruby, as per tradition, finished the bottle she had on her.
"I am Esmeralda, Mistress," She hid herself in her brown curls. Oscar got slapped. "Mistress of the Relic of Creation."
"...So can you get us where we've got to go? Will you be okay out here in these-"
"There is no time, James. You must leave. Go and see yourselves without shadow or light."