Chapter 39: Unfinished Business
Blake could do very little at the moment other than try to avoid the attacks that were coming at her one after the other, blood red blade moving like a laser as it tried to dismember, stab, or otherwise kill her. The black, shadowy arm that held the blade was moving like a whip, making the attacks even more unpredictable and pushing the young woman closer and closer to her limit. She was acutely aware that if it were not for the monkey Faunus who was distracting Adam by trying to land even a single blow on her attacker, she would likely have already been hit by Wilt's edge. She made a mental note to compliment Sun if they managed to get out of this alive.
"What kind of radical idealist are you?" Sun snapped while he brought his staff around once again. Adam leaned back to avoid the blow and Sun immediately turned it into a jab. Taurus twisted beyond the attack and lashed out with a backhand blow using his sword's scabbard. Sun disconnected his gunchucks and brought the weapon up to deflect the blow. "What? The White Fang dump you, so you go from 'kill the humans to save the Faunus' to 'kill it all?' I love how you stuck by your ideals."
Adam snarled and lashed out with his foot, the blow glancing off of Sun's hip. The monkey Faunus stumbled backwards and used his hands to spring back up to his feet, gunchucks reconnected into a staff once again. He leveled the weapon's tip at his opponent again and waited for Adam's next move. "I just cannot understand what it is Blake sees in you," Adam snarled. He jumped towards Sun, lashing out with his foot at Sun's head this time. The monkey Faunus ducked beneath the blow and used his staff to sweep the man's other leg out from beneath him. The terrorist flipped when his foot left the ground, but his other foot kept moving to land against the ground and keep him from falling. The scabbard shot out towards Sun's throat and the monkey Faunus was forced to roll out of the way. "She was always more interested in men who are strong, intelligent, or interesting."
"Maybe she just wanted a change of pace!" Sun snapped. He frowned and glanced at the ground. "Um... wait a second! I mean –!" Sun was forced to cut himself off when the scabbard flew at his throat yet again. He clumsily slapped the attack away while backpedaling. "Dammit, I swear I'm usually better at this!" He twirled his staff, deflecting a series of strikes that Adam sent his way, then brought it around in a two handed blow directed at the terrorist's shadow arm. If he could just break Taurus' control of his sword for a moment, it would give Blake the time she needed to make this a real two on one fight.
The scabbard came around to block the blow, catching the staff before it could hit the shadowy arm and destroy it. Sun used this to his advantage, however, and looped his off hand around the scabbard, yanking on the end of the staff to extend the chain between two sections and loop it around the scabbard. It was a simple thing to turn, accelerating with the aid of an Aero spell, and tear the secondary weapon out of Taurus' hand. A quick fire of the gunchuks later and the staff separated into two, giving Sun the time he needed to launch a barrage of bullets right at the shadowy limb, interfering in Taurus' control. The limb seemed to melt into the ground, giving Blake all the time she needed to run right at Adam.
"I suppose that's what I get for underestimating you," Taurus growled at Sun. The shadow reappeared at the end of Adam's arm, almost as if it had never been destroyed at all. Sun's heart skipped a beat when he saw the terrorists' red blade float up from the ground and shoot tip first right towards Blake.
"Blake!" Sun snapped. He sprinted towards the cat Faunus, using his reconnected staff to try to hold off Taurus' secondary assault. Blake turned her head around and saw the red blade advancing on her, so she let it collide... with a shadow. The fake exploded violently around the sword and sent it flying away. Blake herself was far above, spinning mid air. Gambol Shroud flashed in the dim light of the Grimmlands as she descended, and her blade soon crashed into Adam's scabbard.
The two struggled against one another for a few moments. "You are such a disappointment," Adam growled.
"I was about to say the same thing." Blake angled her weapon and let Adam's weapon slide off of hers. She spun around him, performing a kick to the small of his back that sent him stumbling forward towards one of Sun's copies. Unfortunately, Adam's sword came up before he hit the clone's foot. He absorbed the force of the blow and twirled around. Blake jumped to the side to avoid a blow that never came. She came to her feet and felt the blood drain from her face when she saw the red sword cut through Sun's golden Aura like it was nothing. He hit the ground a moment later, blood streaking across the ground.
"SUN!" Blake shouted, her golden eyes flaring with rage. Darkness surrounded her twin blades and she rushed the smirking Adam Taurus. "How could you do that to him!?"
Adam turned and dodged the blow, a smirk on his face. He was surprised when the figure who had attacked him disappeared, a mere shadow. "What?" he grunted, turning as quickly as he could. He was lucky enough to get his blade up to block Blake's next attack from his right. It passed right through his weapon, another shadow. "Dammit, Blake, face me!"
"Fine." Adam was thrown from his feet by an explosion of Darkness, black flames licking at his suit as he soared through the air. She had not been hitting him this hard before; it was as if her Darkness had grown exponentially in a short period of time. He turned his head and opened his eyes when he began to return to the ground, only to close them again on instinct when a black shoe collided with his face and he was sent back into the air. "You -" Another kick at the small of his back sent him straight to the ground. His Shadowy arm dissolved alongside his concentration. A kick caused him to roll onto his back. "- keep hurting -" He screamed in pain as black ice erupted against his legs, shredding his clothes and rooting him to the ground. "- the people I care about!" He opened his eyes slowly to see Blake standing above him, Gambol Shroud's blade angled at his throat. Adam had expected this fire to have been destroyed by her time as a human's pet, but Blake's golden eyes still glowed like fire. In fact, it was the only color visible against the black shadows coming off of her shoulders and blade. She looked like she was going to cut him into a thousand pieces.
But she didn't. "I want to kill you, Adam," she said, taking a step back and letting the shadows around her disappear. "But I've killed enough people because of you. I would rather someone else do this." She froze his free arm so it was stuck to the ground before she turned around and began to run towards Sun's prone form.
"Then you're a fool," Adam growled. His arm reappeared, destroying the ice on his legs and left arm. He surged to his feet and threw himself at Blake's back, shadowy hand forming into a jagged, evil claw. "Those humans really got to you, and you're going to pay the price, anim-" He was cut off when the figure in front of him disappeared, yet another shadow, and a sharp pain extended through his chest. He looked down as the claw extending from his right shoulder began to falter; a sword covered in flames of pure Darkness was extending straight out from his heart.
"I won't make the same mistake twice, then," Blake said. Then she twisted her sword within Adam and unleashed a Dark Firaga, engulfing her former love and enemy in an explosion that incinerated him completely in a single, merciful second. Finally, Adam Taurus was gone.
Blake stood where she was for a moment, letting that fact sink in. She wasn't sure how she felt about it. Then she remembered she didn't have time to think about that; she dropped her weapons and sprinted towards her ally laying on the ground. "Sun!" she shouted, sliding to a stop beside him and summoning the green light of a Cure to at least close the wound. She placed her hands on the sides of his face and looked for the place where Wilt had dealt its blow. "Sun, are you –!?"
"Hey, you didn't run away this time! You do care," Sun joked. He opened his eyes and grinned. "You're even crying." His hand reached up and wiped a tear from her cheek.
"You're alive," Blake noted, her voice cracking with joy. "He... he didn't hit you?"
"No, I think he did. I just... Why can't I feel my tail?" Sun suddenly asked, his eyes widening with worry. He tried to jump to his feet, but groaned in pain and immediately fell to his face. With a voice muffled by the ground, he began to cry half heartedly. "He... he cut it off, didn't he?"
Blake grimaced and looked at Sun's broken tail. "Half of it," Blake supplied sympathetically. She walked over and sat down beside him, placing her hand on his shoulder. "Maybe Doctor Polendina will make you a prosthetic?"
He stopped crying and turned his head so half of his face was still in the Dust covered ground. "You think?" he asked through teary eyes.
"I'm sure," she replied with a smile. She reached down and helped him to his feet, supporting his weight across her shoulders. "Where do you think we should go?"
"To help the others of course!" Sun shouted. It sounded like he had barely held back a 'DUH!' He leaned down and picked up his weapon, folding it up and putting it away as soon as he did.
"You're hurt and I have to carry you!"
"Um..." Sun mumbled, trying to come up with a way to circumvent that logic.
"I'll take you." They looked up at the same time to see Qrow Branwen standing there. He was staring at the crystal pyramid across the battlefield, red eyes fixed on the flashes of Light that would appear atop it. "I have a feeling that Ruby and Sora are going to need all the emotional support they can get."
R W B Y
Weiss cartwheeled out of the path of Neo's bladed umbrella while Neptune began to fire off a volley of electric blasts at the mute crime lord. Neo's pink and brown eyes widened with anger and the body of the umbrella sprang open. The shield that the umbrella created caused the blasts to fizzle out uselessly upon collision. The blade disappeared within the umbrella and an explosion of ice erupted from the center of the unfolded weapon. Neptune threw himself to the side, rolling to his knees and firing off another volley to distract the crime boss. The umbrella moved to easily catch the attacks.
"You know, fighting this girl is really weird," Neptune said as he swept his weapon out to the side and shifted it from blaster form to trident form.
"And why is that?" Weiss asked as she planted a gravity glyph on the umbrella's face. It slammed into the ground a moment later, leaving Neo wide open to a series of stabs from Neptune's weapon.
Neo raised her foot and kicked his blows away as he continued to talk. "Well, traveling with Sora, Ruby, and you guys has gotten me used to an absurd amount of banter during fights," Neptune explained when his fourth stab was deflected. She stabbed again while simultaneously shifting his weapon back into blaster mode. Neo's foot hit empty air and she stumbled to the side, taking her newly freed umbrella with her, and she felt a series of electrical bursts crash against her aura. "So going from that to a mute is pretty weird."
He received a kick to the face for his lack of attention. "Ow!" he snapped as he hit his back. He raised his blaster to catch Neo's incoming umbrella blade, giving Weiss time to jump in and summon a half dozen icy Beowolves to attack Neo. The crime boss jumped away from Neptune while the monsters chased after her with claws glinting red in the dim light.
"Real cool, Neptune," Weiss said dryly as she stopped above him with her hands on her hips. She raised an eyebrow at the boy.
"Don't remind me. That was too embarrassing," he muttered, cheeks a fiery red. Weiss scoffed, amused, and held her hand out to help pull him to his feet. He took it and the two turned their attention back to Neo again. She was currently in the process of dismantling the icy Grimm copies, her umbrella's blade flashing as it carved through the ice. One was down with a blade through the head, quickly followed by another that Neo flipped over her body by looping the crook of her umbrella around its wrist and yanking as hard as she could. Both of the creatures exploded into a thousand shards of ice even as Neo moved onto the next. A ball of fire melted a pair down into water while Neo coated her umbrella in darkness and sent out a blade of the energy, cleanly slicing the last two in half.
"I thought that would last longer," Weiss muttered before rushing in to continue the fight. She fired off flurry of icy spikes at Neo. The criminal looked up as the attacks came her way, and easily spun out of the path of all save one, which she lazily shattered with the body of her umbrella. Weiss came up behind the spears, bringing Myrtenaster up towards the criminal's chest. The blade pierced Neo and Weiss's eyes widened in surprise. They'd done it that easily?
Then Neo shattered into a thousand pieces accompanied by the sound of breaking glass. Weiss turned around as quickly as she could, hoping she could raise Myrtenaster in time to block the attack that was surely coming her way. She saw the blade of Neo's umbrella arcing down to kill her, and she tried to force herself to go faster. Thankfully, she had no reason to. Neo had forgotten, yet again, about Neptune. His blaster fire filled the air with high pitched whistling as the blue light slammed into Neo's side and sent her tumbling through the Dust covered ground.
Neo pushed herself to her feet, unfurling her umbrella to block the blaster fire Neptune was sending her way and the ice spells that Weiss was casting. These two were starting to get on her nerves, a lot more than she had expected them to. When Little Red and her boy toy had decided to circumvent her, she'd wrongfully assumed this would be a breeze of a fight. Neo supposed she would just have to step up her game, now; almost two years later, they weren't kids anymore.
She snarled and twirled her umbrella, casting an Aero spell as she did. Black Dust filled the air around her and was thrown forward by a tornado, filling the region around Weiss and Neptune with the material. Weiss threw her off hand up, shielding her eyes from the incoming Dust, while Neptune pulled down his goggles. "Wow, and Sun said I'd never get mileage out of these things!" he said to himself. "Can't wait to tell him he was wrong." He soon began to look around the dust surrounding them in an effort to find Neo, his eyes eventually locking on to Weiss' silhouette instead. She was looking at him, though he doubted she could tell.
The criminal's shape showed up behind her not a few moments later, placing Weiss firmly between the two of them. Neo wound up for a powerful, horizontal blow to the heiress' head that would send her flying. Neptune shouldered his rifle again. "Weiss, duck now!" he shouted even as his finger began to squeeze the trigger. Weiss did as he had said immediately, throwing herself down and the side. The umbrella collided with her trailing ponytail, but that didn't do anything to her, merely causing a few of her hairs to come loose. Neptune finished squeezing the trigger. "Sparks!" Yellow lights appeared around the barrel of his gun, spinning around, and when the blue lights began to stream from the end of the weapon they dragged those sparks behind them. They flew at Neo, crashing into her and –!
And she shattered into a thousand pieces. "Another damn illusion!?" Neptune snapped. He glanced around and twirled his weapon into its trident form to defend himself. He yelped when Neo appeared before him and began to slash wildly at him. Being more used to the ranged fighting, it was all he could do to actually block her attacks. "Dammit dammit dammit!" The umbrella strikes were surprisingly strong, rattling his arms with every collision. He tried to slash back with the electrified prongs when Neo took a step back, but it had turned out to be a trap. Neo easily sidestepped the desperate, clumsy blow and the crook of the umbrella's handle looped around Neptune's wrist. She twisted hard, yanking Neptune's arm up and behind his back at a painful angle. His trident fell from his open hand and a black explosion at his chest sent him flying across the battlefield. The Dust around them ignited with the explosion, and another, larger one erupted. Neptune heard Weiss scream out in pain before he was too far away to hear.
He bounced twice before stopping and rolling to a stop. He groaned and pushed himself up; he had to find his weapon. He opened his eyes and noticed that one lens of his goggles had shattered. "Da – Oh, oh... Oh, God no. No no no no no no no nonononon -"
He gulped down his words and looked around, hoping to God that it wasn't everywhere. It was. It was, of course it was. "God, why?" he asked. He was surrounded by a huge, twenty foot wide hole filled to the brim with the most terrifying substance known to all of mankind. What you ask? Water. One hundred percent, pure H2O. Neptune fell to his knees and stared out helplessly. "No..."
"What did you do to him?" Weiss snapped. She struggled to push herself up. Blood was streaming down from a cut above her left eye, from the same place she had been cut before attending Beacon. She slammed her fist into the ground as the scar began to close again, summoning up a huge glyph behind her. "What did you do to him!?" She surged to her feet and roared angrily, the first foe she had ever vanquished appearing from nothing behind her. The huge white knight echoed its masters rage, its armored form clanking with the movement and its huge sword whistling as it arced through the air into a ready position.
Neo smirked. This was interesting. She dashed to the side, leaving behind a physical illusion behind her. She had barely moved by the time that the huge, white blade crushed her illusion. She raised her umbrella and fired off a black explosion at the monster. It raised its free hand defensively, catching the blow in its open palm. The hand shattered under the heat and force of the flames colliding with it, and a cloud of steam appeared that obscured the monster. It came out of the cloud with its huge sword at its side, only missing its left arm up to its elbow. Neo growled and dashed backwards as fast as she could, narrowly avoiding the blade that crashed through the ground where she had been standing. Fine, two could play at this.
Neo raised her hand, coating it in Darkness and summoning a monster to her aid. The Defender's shield fell from the air in front of the icy knight's next blow, blocking the attack. Neo smiled and turned to glare at the heiress, who was glaring back with her left eye still shut and covered with blood. This was going to be a lot easier without her little supporter giving her back up.
Neptune could see the whole thing playing out, but he couldn't really pay attention. At the moment, he was paralyzed by crippling, intense fear of the water surrounding him. He could vaguely see his trident resting on the other end of the twenty – or was it forty? God, how much water was there around him? Whatever it was, he felt like it was beyond too much.
"Neptune, wake up Goddammit or I swear I will... shave your hair!" Neptune didn't respond. Weiss growled to herself. "I was... really hoping that would snap you out of this..." Neptune continued to stare out at the water, hearing only the pounding of his heartbeat in his ears.
Weiss jumped to the side and parried the umbrella's blade with Myrtenaster, flicking her wrist and jabbing forward once the umbrella was forced wide. Neo slapped the round blade aside with her open palm and lashed out with her leg, angling back and kicking Weiss in the side of her head. The white haired young woman stumbled tot he side, somewhat stunned, but still had the clarity of mind to raise her weapon and block the kick that was coming from the other side. Another blow landed at her midsection before she could respond again and she fell to her back, a buzzing in the back of her head warning her just how low her Aura was beginning to get. The explosion of the Dust cloud had decimated her Aura, easily pushing through the reflect shield she had tried to raise to protect herself. She wasn't sure she could take another hit, much less one from the criminal's blade.
Meanwhile, her Knight was doing better, but not enough to turn the tide of the battle. The Defender seemed a uniquely qualified counter to the Knight's abilities, even more so because of the damage Weiss' summoned creature had already sustained at the hands of Neo's spells. The Knight swept its sword upward in a lightning fast arc, the unbreakable ice letting out a hollow peel as it crashed into the face of the shield. The blade moved back down immediately, another harmonious noise echoing out. The Defender simply took each blow in turn, no damage managing to pierce the shield. The blows did, however, send the shield shifting from side to side. This prevented the Defender from counterattacking at all with its flame spells or the shield itself. On top of this, the Knight itself had no Heart or Will to it, making it somewhat more difficult for the Heartless to 'see.' That the Knight was merely a channel for Weiss' Heart and Will was even more confusing for the creature, as it could smell its prey coming from two different directions. The creature and the familiar were at an impasse.
Until Neo diverted her attention from the downed Weiss to launch a Dark Fira at the Knight. The creature's sword cracked, parts of its blade exploding off just as it had begun to attack the Defender again. This pause was just enough time for the Defender to slam its shield forward, the black, dog like face's mouth brimming with flames, right into the chest of the Knight. The flames exploded against the Knight, and the Knight disappeared in a cloud of steam. Neo looked down at Weiss and smiled as the Aura connecting her to her Knight vanished and the Heiress was made completely vulnerable. Neo hadn't killed anyone in almost three years! Not for lack of trying, of course, but it would be nice to finally break that streak. She didn't even feel like a real 'villain' at this point. She raised her umbrella above her head and flicked out the blade.
Weiss' skin grew even more pale. "N- Dammit!"
"What the hell are you doing!?" Neptune heard someone snap in the back of his head.
"Water..."
"You... really? Really!? Oh my God, you aren't four anymore!" the voice shouted. "Look, I just... Weiss is in danger. You have to help her!"
"But... water – Oh, God dammit, you're right," Neptune muttered. He surged to his feet and glared at his weapon just across the moat. He swallowed the pit in his throat.
"Well!?"
"I... The water is scary."
"I am you, so I know that you coward. Just go!" The voice was not entertained. "You aren't being cool, and Weiss is going to die!"
"Okay, fine!" Neptune snapped, and he sprinted right at the water with his eyes closed. "Eek eek eek eek eek eek..!" He continued running until he thought he had crossed the moat, at which point he opened his eyes. He turned around to see he was just a little past his weapon, so he grabbed it and began to sprint towards Neo. He didn't even think about how the water was supposed to be deeper.
"Hey, Ice Cream!" Neo turned towards him and was greeted by an electrical prod to the face. The criminal yelped in pain and surprise as the jolt passed through her skin and she was thrown backwards by the force of the blow. Neptune slid to a stop and watched the criminal slide away, a determined look on his face. After a moment, he looked down at Weiss. "I hope you appreciate that I crossed water for you!"
Weiss blinked once. Water? "Um, wh- Move!" She shoved him to the side and surged to her feet, Myrtenaster in front of her. The tip of the blade angled towards the exposed body of the Defender when she passed beneath its raised shield. Ice magic trailed along the tip until it finally ran through the open mask of the creature and froze it from within. The creature exploded around Myrtenaster and Weiss felt the blood rush from her head; she was exhausted. Her shoulders slumped and she tiredly glanced over at Neptune.
"Nice save," he breathed. He shook his head and shouldered his rifle, aiming it straight at Neo who was beginning to stand up. Weiss made her move before the criminal could fully recover. With the last of her Aura, the heiress raised her weapon above her head and turned it ninety degrees clockwise. A yellow glyph appeared beneath Neo's feet and the criminal suddenly began to move slower.
Neptune caught on rather quickly. "Stop!" Then he fired a single, magically charged bolt. The blue and black energy crashed into the criminal, and a sphere of temporal energy expanded around her body. This was their opening. Neptune summoned up the most powerful stream of water magic he could manage and waited for the split second it would take for the river to slam into Neo. Had she not been under the effects of Stop magic and Weiss' glyph, she would have been thrown away like a ragdoll. Instead, she remained where she was, giving Neptune all the time he needed to squeeze the trigger again and let electrical Dust energy diffuse the river. A thousand thousand volts of energy traveled down the length of the river and into Neo.
Then the Stop spell wore off and Neo was thrown high into the sky. Her eyes widened and her heart began to beat with terror. She could feel a brown and pink light around her skin as her Aura almost instantly traveled down to zero from the sudden influx of damage, but it did not stop there. The energy coursed into her undefended body as soon as her Aura disappeared. Within three seconds, Neo was dead.
Weiss slumped and finally collapsed onto Neptune's shoulder. "That's what she gets for challenging two top tier fighters," she breathed. Her eyes were drifting shut, but she fought to stay awake.
"Yeah," Neptune said. He twirled his weapon into a trident and let the base of the weapon collide with the ground. A green light exploded around them, healing their immediate wounds and, if only slightly, rejuvenating Weiss' stamina. Neptune yawned and helped her steady herself. "You were pretty great, Snow Angel."
"And you were cool," Weiss admitted.
Neptune grinned. "Really? Good, I was trying really hard."
"Oh, good, you two are still alive," Qrow said as he walked up, weapon in hand. Blake and Sun were following close behind, the monkey Faunus leaning on the girl's shoulders. "Let's get moving."
"Sun! Sun, I crossed water to save Weiss!" Neptune shouted, running towards his friend, whom Blake was supporting. Weiss raised an eyebrow when she was suddenly abandoned and caught Blake's eye. The cat Faunus rolled her eyes as if to say, Boys will be boys. Qrow sighed in disappointment; he wanted to get going already. "It was – Where's your tail?"
Sun began to cry.
"I, uh, I mean – I barely noticed! It really isn't that bad!" Neptune shouted while Weiss rolled her eyes, both bemused and amused by what was playing out in front of her.
"Blake, I'm glad to see you didn't run off this time," Weiss said jokingly. Blake turned her dry glare on the heiress. Weiss bit her cheek. "... Are you okay?"
Blake smiled at her friend. "No... but I think – for the first time in a while – I will be."
R W B Y
Ren's coat trailed behind him as he sprinted around the Heartless, firing off a constant barrage of confusion laced bullets at the monster as he did. The monster shrieked angrily, its arm raised in front of its face defensively to protect against the bullets, but doing little to protect it from the effects of the magic that was now pumping freely into its body. The world swayed around the monster and it began to thrash about vainly with its other arm as a weapon. "Nora, now!" Ren shouted. He slid to a stop and cut the magic he was channeling, letting the spell wear off on the Heartless. He didn't stop firing, however, causing the creature to begin turning towards him the moment that the Confusion wore off. It turned right into a powerful uppercut of Nora's hammer and it was tossed into the air by the strike.
"Thunder!" Nora shouted gleefully, hammer raised straight above her head. A singular, powerful lightning bolt built up and coiled above the Heartless for a moment before exploding downward. The Heartless roared in rage and pain before the beam of energy sent it plummeting back towards the ground. The Dust exploded out from where it landed, leaving the monster in a crater as it forced itself to float again. As soon as it began to hover again, however, Ren came spinning down through the air. StormFlower's blades glinted with menace as he coated them with Poison magic and slashed one, two, three times with each blade. The Heartless hit the ground yet again. Ren grinned as he landed softly on the ground, ready to put distance between the monster and himself.
The creature lashed out before he could, however. By a combination of incredibly speed and great luck on the Heartless' part, the black claw of the creature wrapped around Ren's ankle. The warrior grunted in surprise and fell face first into the Dust. He recovered quickly and lashed out with his foot, heel catching the palm of the monster's other claw as it rushed down at him.
Nora broke this stalemate. Her hammer spun around above her head and she brought it down with both hands. The Heartless let go of Ren's leg and tried to avoid by flying away. It was almost successful, but the poison in its body caused a sudden spike of pain. The Heartless flinched where it was, stopping for just a second, and Nora's hammer came down on the its tail. The creature roared angrily and whirled on the two warriors who now stood next to one another. From the Heartless' glowing fist erupted a beam of pure Dark energy, the wave colliding with the two Huntsmen and sending them away from the Heartless.
"Well, this thing is just Heartless," Nora muttered as they pushed themselves up to their feet.
"You sound like Yang," Ren pointed out, earning a gasp of disbelief and horror from Nora. Ren decided to take pity on her. "Don't worry, I still think you're A-Nora-ble." The berserker squealed gleefully and turned her weapon into its grenade launcher form, firing off a volley of heart emblazoned grenades at the Heartless. The monster deftly snaked between the attacks, formless like a shadow as it moved. It came out with both claws raised and surrounded with spheres of Dark power. The energy flew from its hands, arcing towards the two Huntsmen.
Nora jumped in front of Ren, readying Magnihild over her right shoulder. She waited as one of the beams began to outpace the other, then slapped it aside with the head of the hammer with a single blow. The beam went wide, performing a sharp turn down and to the left from where the berserker was standing. She took a single, shallow breath and fired the grenade launcher in the hammer's head, completely reversing its momentum. She spun the weapon in her hands and delivered another massive blow to the second beam, altering its path in the opposite direction of the first.
Ren wordlessly jumped onto the head of the hammer as it stopped moving, and Nora seemed to understand what he wanted without any problems. She wound up for a moment then brought her weapon forward as hard as he could, stopping at just the right time to send Ren flying right at the Heartless. He slashed downwards with StormFlower's blades, catching the Heartless' incoming claws. Ren twisted, channeling his Aura into his arms, and finally threw the Heartless at the ground again. It twisted as it fell and was able to stop its fall this time, only for Nora's grenades to smash into it at full power before it could return its attention to battle.
Nora continued to unleash blow after blow upon the monster, hammer spinning as it crashed down onto the monster's shoulders and back up to attack again. The Heartless stumbled back with every moment the barrage continued, dents and divets appearing in its flesh wherever the hammer collided with its body. The Heartless was slammed from side to side by Nora's hammer until she landed a final blow to the combo and it was sent straight into the ground. Nora squeezed the trigger on the handle of her weapon and the grenade fired, burying the monster further and helping her to backflip away while Ren prepared for the next move.
He leaped as high as he could in the air, flipping over the monster as he did. He began to fire a constant barrage of bullets at the Heartless, taking advantage of its inability to move. He landed next to Nora and the two waited to see if they had dealt the final blow.
But, well, obviously not. "Why did we even think he would be dead?" Ren grumbled to himself when the ground beneath their feet turned an inky black. The two jumped back as quickly as they could, but only Ren was fast enough. This time, the Heartless' claw wrapped around Nora's throat and the two shot upward. Ren's eyes widened. "Nora!" He grit his teeth as the two figures soared away from him, further and further so that he couldn't hit the creature without hitting Nora. Oh, dammit, where was someone who could fly when he needed them? He couldn't help Nora get out of this, he couldn't... No, he had one chance.
"Thunder!" Ren snapped, he crouched his legs as the energy began to pulse through his weapons, then jumped as far as he could. As he soared upward towards the Heartless. The creature's evil grinned turned on Ren as he raised his weapons and aimed them straight up at the thing, then it turned and placed Nora right between them. Despite himself, Ren grinned before he began to fire a constant stream at Nora's back. The electrified particles slammed into the berserker's form one after another, each small charge of electricity adding up in her body until, finally, it became enough. Nora's hand rose and tore the Heartless' hand from her throat. She bent the creature's appendage back at an unnatural angle, then used all the power she had been given to deliver a blow so powerful to the monster's head with Magnihild that it exploded into a thousand particles of Darkness right there, finally defeated. She continued to spin in the air, her eyes eventually catching Ren's, and she grinned. Ren grinned back.
He hit the ground softly a moment later and holstered his weapons. He ran forward and slid to a stop with outstretched arms beneath Nora. She landed on him harder than any blow the Heartless had managed to dish out, and Ren realized as the breath was torn from his body that he had forgotten about how heavy Magnihild was. "Ren! We did it! Oh, it was so fun! Did you see when – " Nora shouted, only receiving a gurgle in reply. She grinned sheepishly and jumped off of him, letting him breath. She reached out to him. "Oops..."
Ren grabbed her hand and stood up. "That was fun," he agreed after a moment, and he smiled softly. He raised his finger to Nora's nose. "Boop."
Nora blushed for a second before raising her hand as well. "Boop." She placed her finger on his nose.
"Is this... is this supposed to be how they kiss?" Weiss inquired. The two turned, somewhat embarrassed by being discovered in the middle of a private moment. Weiss was standing at the front of the group who had been separated cut off from them by previous enemies. Qrow was there, too, his sword resting on his shoulder in the same manner that Sora would often place his weapon.
"I think it's a-Nora-ble," Ren repeated simply, earning another squeal of joy from his partner.
R W B Y
Jaune Arc stood stock still in front of the crystal staircase leading up to Salem and, now, Sora, Ruby, Ozpin, and their temporary criminal allies. His black Keyblade was held out to his side, ready to battle at the slightest provocation from the two blonde warriors standing opposite him. Somewhere behind the burning yellow of his eyes, Jaune recognized them. They were important, though he could not quite remember why or how.
The man was the first to truly ready himself for battle. He reached down to his hip and pulled out a gleaming white sword, similar to the one he had received from his father and passed down to his own child. The blade was longer, however; more befitting a fully trained knight. Next he pulled the scabbard from his hip and it unfurled into a kite shield adorned with the golden, rising sun of the Arc family crest. Running along the back side of the shield, right next to Argent's hand, was a Dust gun embedded in the metal to allow for some mid ranged attacks. Argent raised the shield in front of him and looked at his son over the lip, then raised his sword beside his head and slid his right foot back so he stood at the ready. Yang merely raised her fists and grinned, ever the cocky fighter. "Bring it on, Vomit Boy," she said, then she launched herself at Jaune as fast as she could.
Yang's fist was gleaming with a fire spell, and her hair was beginning to float behind her with the same intensity. She wasn't angry, however; she was excited. She hadn't gotten a chance to fight a Keyblade wielder yet, and she wanted to have some fun doing it. Even if she had to help figure out a way to break whatever weird crap was making him act like an Atlesian droid. Her fist came down and the spell coating it exploded uselessly against the flat of the black Keyblade. Jaune's eyes met hers as she tried to push against his defenses and the contact between them began to rattle. Yang frowned at how empty they looked, like he wasn't in there. "I guess this is what Ruby's Boy Toy meant he said your Heart is locked away, Vomit Boy," she said cockily. She grinned and brought her other fist around to slam into the Keyblade's flat and begin to push the Keyblade wielder backwards through the Dust.
Jaune didn't respond for a moment, and then a Reflect wall appeared in a flash around the blade of his Keyblade. Yang barely had a moment to realize what had happened before she was thrown away from Jaune, flipping through the air. She corrected herself and landed on her feet next to Argent. "I see you're a punch first ask questions later kind of girl," Argent noted simply. His eyes returned to his son. "Do you think we can beat my son in a fight?"
Yang grimaced internally. Externally, she said, "Eh... I think we can get him off balance enough to break through whatever's got him like this." Her fist began to glow as she coated it with flames once more. "I think I'll let you do the talking. Like you said, I'm more of a punch first and ask questions later kind of girl, even with my friends."
Argent smiled. "You're definitely Taiyang and Raven's daughter," he said. He rushed forward and dipped his shield slightly, then quickly raised it when he got near his son. The lip of the weapon collided with Jaune's Keyblade and sent it bouncing upward in his hand. Argent next brought his weapon up, flat aimed at his son, and made to attack. Jaune sidestepped the blow and delivered a front kick to his father's chest. Argent stumbled backwards and turned as quickly as he could to bring his slightly dented shield between his son and himself. The Keyblade slammed into the same corner as before and the dent was made even sharper. Argent slid backwards through the Dust, and Yang leaped easily over him. She launched the flames covering her hand at the Keyblade warrior. He raised his free hand and slapped the first fire away, but the second right behind it crashed into his face. Jaune made a yelp that reminded Yang of the old days when Vomit Boy would clumsily fall on his face. Pyrrha would pick him up back then.
She wasn't here though, so Yang wasn't too surprised when Jaune's glowing yellow eyes, filled with angry fire, turned back on her. He flicked his weapon to the side, sending his father tumbling away and letting Jaune jump to turn his attention to Yang. His weapon slammed into her side, a powerful blow that almost took out a quarter the substantial Aura keeping her safe. Yang slammed into the ground and tumbled for a moment before getting her wits about her. She dug her robotic fingers into the ground to flip over and onto the balls of her feet, hands and toes dragging through the Dust until she stopped. She stood up and stretched her arm across her chest. "Looks like I should probably try that 'dodging' thing Ruby does so much," she muttered to herself. She let her hands fall to her side and shook out the tension in her shoulders.
Jaune ignored her in favor of his father, who was also observing Jaune in kind. Jaune could feel the rage and anguish in his Heart battering the walls locking him away. Memories began to appear, of his older sisters braiding his hair, his grandfather telling old war stories, and finally of his father and mother... His father and mother telling him he would not make it and if he failed he could always come home. The memory disappeared after a while, but the anger with the man lingered, enough so that Jaune went on the offensive. With Keyblade raised, he sprinted at his father.
Argent glared at the young man rushing him and his grip on his weapon tightened. How was he going to get through to his son? He slapped Jaune's overhead slash to the side and fired the Dust gun point blank. The explosion of energy merely seemed to annoy Jaune, as when the smoke cleared there was barely a scuff mark on his skin. The young man's free hand slammed into Argent's chest, the punch causing the older warrior to double over in pain. Jaune raised his weapon to deliver a blow to the man's back, but was tackled to the ground by Yang before he could.
"Now, Vomit Boy, it isn't okay to try killing your dad" Yang said. She grappled with Jaune for a while before separating his hands and legs so he was completely spread out. Her hands were at his wrists and her feet pinned his ankles. "Look, I'm sorry about Pyrrha. I understand it, okay?" That was the... wrong topic to bring up at that moment.
Dark energy pulsed through Jaune's body and he began to struggle against Yang's leverage and strength. "Come on, Jaune that isn't..." She stopped talking when his wrists began to rise and she was slowly pushed back. "Huh..." She slammed her forehead into his before jumping away, leaving the stunned Knight on the ground. He recovered quickly and stood up, readying his Keyblade in both hands at his side left side. Argent and Yang raised their weapons defensively, but were unprepared for the speed with which Jaune attacked. His Keyblade collided with Argent's shield and sliced it cleanly in two. The metal panel slid from Argent's arm and he brought his sword over to deflect the next attack. The Keyblade trailed Dark energy and the sword shattered against the magical weapon. A back kick sent Argent to the ground, but Jaune was already on Yang.
"You aren't getting any sympathy like that, Vomit Boy!" Yang shouted. She brought her fist down at his Keyblade, using the energy stored from his last blow, and deflected the gleaming blade. "Look, I get it. You lost someone you love, the person you loved more than anything. I lost my mom, so I get it." She punched Jaune in the temple and spun around to elbow him in the gut. She turned and grabbed his face between her hands. "And I'm going to do whatever I can to get her back. But not this. Not let someone else control me, because then I'm not doing anything! She'd want me to fight even if it hurt, and I know Pyrrha would want you to do that, too!" Yang jumped and forced her knee upward and into Jaune's chin. His head snapped back and Yang smiled. That had to have gotten through to him! Still, she raised her weapons and prepared for a counterassault.
It was good she did. She barely blocked the strike that came, Jaune spinning and bringing the Keyblade up at a diagonal. She slapped the flat of the weapon with her palm and raised her other fist to punch Jaune's lights out. Maybe they could sort all this out later. Jaune's Keyblade turned on a dime and slashed up to collide with her prosthetic fist, cutting it right in two. His hand shot out to her throat and lifted her from the ground before she could process the explosion of pain. "Why... does this always... happen?" she gurgled. Her vision began to tunnel on Jaune's yellow eyes. "Jaune, wake up... I could... use a hand..."
Jaune dropped her immediately, a flicker of recognition in his eyes for a moment. This was his friend, Pyrrha's friend. The walls in his Heart shuddered and a memory of a huge food fight ran through his mind, Yang and Pyrrha trading blows with food. He smiled. He couldn't – The Dark Will that had created the walls enforced itself upon him again and the recognition was gone. The memories still leaked out, but it was as if they were muted. He raised his weapon above his head and prepared to bring it down.
His attack was stopped by a woman with red hair and eyes that looked exactly like the woman she had saved. Yang raised an eyebrow as she continued to cough and gasp for air. "M-Morrigan?" she asked, surprised the Nobody would save her. She thought the Nobody wanted her dead, so why save her?
Morrigan did not respond, instead shoving Jaune away. She lowered her telescoping blade to her side. She pressed her advantage for a moment, the katana moving at such a speed that Jaune in his mind controlled state could barely keep up with. The Keyblade moved messier and messier, and the frustration was beginning to show on the young man's face. Morrigan shortened her blade before the next blow could land and looped the weapon through the central hole in Jaune's Keyblade. She then extended the weapon so its tip was buried in the ground. She used the weapon as a lever and yanked backwards, tearing the Keyblade from Jaune's hand. That was when the Nobody stopped attacking and raised her finger to point at the angry and embarrassed Keyblade Wielder. "Don't," Morrigan growled, her voice filled with anger. Real, actual anger, not a poor attempt at copying it from memory. Morrigan seemed to realize this and she glanced down at Yang. "She is mine to kill." Great, this again.
Jaune's eyes glanced between the Nobody and Yang, considering destroying them both. But that wasn't his job. Besides, the man was the one who inspired his anger. He turned away and a stream of Darkness appeared in his hand, his weapon returning at his command.
Morrigan turned to Yang while Jaune walked towards Argent. "I could kill you right now," the Nobody said. She placed the tip of her blade on Yang's throat and the young woman's hair flared up for a moment, eyes turning a bloody red with defiance. Morrigan flicked the weapon across Yang's face, leaving a small cut below the girl's left eye. "But there is no use killing you if I cannot enjoy my strength. You are here with the Keyblade Wielders, aren't you?" Yang raised a confused eyebrow. "Hm... Even if you are weakness, your death would unbalance them. That would be dangerous to my survival." She looked over at Jaune, who was standing still over his father. "I want to see this; what does it look like to kill your weakness?"
"Jaune, n-" Yang's appeal was cut off by Morrigan's hand covering her mouth.
"I will not kill you, but that does not mean I will not hurt you," Morrigan growled, then she looked back over at Jaune.
"Jaune," Argent said as he looked at the young man standing above him. He smiled at his son and tried to sit up. Jaune's foot collided with his chest and he fell back into the dirt. Argent's eyes widened and he hastily raised his hands to catch the edge of the Keyblade before it could slice through his neck. Jaune leaned on the blade, trying to push it down onto his father. Argent knew his only chance now was to get through to his son. "Jaune, I'm sorry. I was never good enough of a father to you." The pressure on the blade increased and it hit his throat for the briefest moment before he was able to push it away and breath. Jaune was far stronger than he had expected. "Son, wake up. Please. Your mother misses you, your sisters miss you, your friends miss you. I... I miss you and I want to help you get through the pain that's killing you." Argent felt tears stream from the sides of his eyes.
Jaune's pressure lessened for a half moment. Dad?
"Jaune, I – Ak!" the edge of the Keyblade seemed to sharpen, and blood began to leak from Argent's hands shortly after a thin, silvery barrier fizzled and died around his flesh. He had to get out of this or his son would never be able to escape what would happen. Argent looked around for anything that could save him, but his sword's remains were out of reach and the shield's pieces were useless. That was when Argent noticed the item dangling from Jaune's hip. It was worth a try. Argent pulled his right hand off of the Keyblade and yanked the item off of Jaune's hip as quickly as he could. A gray blade erupted from the guard and collided with the edge of the Keyblade.
"A sword –? Oh, thank God," Argent muttered, using his new weapon to push back against his son's blade. Still, he had only bought himself a few moments. Argent could feel the exhaustion in his arms telling him he was being pushed to the limit. Well, if he was going to die anyways he might as well say what he wanted to say. "I'm sorry, Jaune. Before I die, I want you to know... I'm proud. You made great friends and became a great warrior. So break through this, save your friends, and make me even more proud." Then his arms gave out.
Jaune, wake up...
Jaune caught Fenrir before it could hurt his father. He tossed his Keyblade away and stood up slowly before he looked up at the sky.
"Interesting," Morrigan muttered. She glanced down at Yang before standing up. "Do not die; it would mean far less if I was not the one to kill you." Then she turned and began to walk away from the young woman with sword at her hip. Yang watched her go for a moment, more confused than ever.
"Love you too, Mom," she growled.
Jaune, meanwhile, continued to look up at the sky. Argent slowly pushed himself up to his feet and stood next to his son. He sighed. "You've gotten taller," he noted upon seeing they stood shoulder to shoulder now. Argent looked over at the tears streaming down Jaune's face, so he calmly put his arm around his boy's shoulders. "I didn't know how proud I could be of you until now, Jaune. You're quite the Huntsman – no, hero. I bet that's what that girl saw in you. Why she saved you."
"I just miss her, Dad..."
Argent looked over at his son and smiled sadly. "I know you do." He hugged his child closer and ruffled his hair. "I wish I could've met her. She sounds like one in a million. And a good sense of humor to boot."
Jaune didn't respond. He just cried into his dad's shoulder, letting loose everything he'd been holding in for so long. Argent smiled softly and leaned his head against his son's. "Welcome back, Buddy."
Yang watched this happen with a smile on her face. "Crybaby," she whispered before wiping a stray, empathetic tear from her eye. "Welcome back, Vomit Boy."
"Jaune! You're okay!" Argent blinked as his son disappeared to be squeezed in a hug between Ren and Nora. "It's so good to see you again, what are you doing here, how are you, did you miss us!? Never do that again!"
"Nora... choking me!" Jaune gurgled.
"Are you just incapable of keeping your hands in a fight?" Weiss mocked from behind Yang.
Yang rolled her eyes at the remark. "Ha ha, give her a hand," Yang remarked dryly, turning to her friends and uncle. She looked over at Blake. "Is he -"
"I got payback for you," the Faunus remarked simply. She wasn't smiling, but Yang could tell that a weight had been lifted from Blake's shoulders. That made the blonde brawler pretty happy to see.
"Hmph... Well, it doesn't make up for you stealing my style," Yang mocked with a grin. "I –" She cut herself off when she realized no one was paying attention to her. Everyone's gaze had drifted upward, eyes wide and full of fear. Yang blinked once and followed their gazes before the same terror ran through her mind. The world went silent as her mind focused on the one, impossible thing that was happening. "Son of a bitch..."
The shattered moon far above was drifting together, the stars surrounding it doing the same. The sky burned as the massive shards of Remnant's broken sattelite came together, slamming into the large piece of the moon. More and more of the stars disappeared. Stars drifted closer, appearing out of the Darkness, and came together. The round of the previously existing moon became a single hill of a Heart shape, another forming from the countless specks of Light that had surrounded Remnant. Soon, the moon was complete. Everyone had only heard the name a few times in Sora's stories, and each time the name had been connected with the ultimate power of the universe. A stream of light shot from the peak of the crystal building up towards the Heart shaped moon known only as...
Kingdom Hearts.
AN:
Hey, sorry it's been so long. I had midterms pop up, and then I also wanted to make sure that these send off fights were sufficiently epic. I hope I succeeded in that regard! I also forgot about the melancholy that comes with getting this close to the end. I almost don't want it to end, you know? Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this penultimate chapter.
Responses...
To brave kid: Any review means a lot to me, so even if it was no problem, thanks again.
To Locke Lynx: I know it wasn't enough Morrigan/Raven, but she still has story left after this. She's actually about ½ the impetus for what happens in the epilogue.
To Blazer777: Those are legitimate concerns. So, for the one about Ira, I assumed he was named that because it was his biggest flaw – anger. When you're angry you don't notice simple things. Also, earlier when Xehanort transformed his body he mentioned that only a Keyblade Master could do that and only if it wasn't his real body. He isn't omniscient, so the implication was that he was wrong; any Keyblade Master could do it if they wanted to, including Skye and Oz, which is why their voices and forms could change perfectly. As for the time travel, I'm sorry I didn't explain it well enough. I was trying not to overdo exposition, which is part of the reason I included the flash backs. The last lines of Sora in his chapter 1 fight with Xehanort were the same as Oz's in the Keyblade War because the events were the same – I was trying to quietly suggest that chronal displacement is delicate as fuck, so getting distracted by another person or a punch to the face – not to mention the Darkness caused by Kingdom Hearts' shattering/disappearance – threw the time travel's destination off. Finally, Sora isn't happy. I mean, he is, but even in the last chapter when Neo showed him an illusion of the thing he wanted most, it was of Riku and Kairi meeting Ruby. He's accepting it because he has to accept it. Anyways, you must see something you like for you to keep reading, and maybe even more so because you've obviously been thinking about it! I'm glad to have inspired anything like that, so regardless of whether it's good or bad, your criticism has been constructive and heartening. Thanks!
To warrior of six blades: Thanks, I'm glad my idea with the droids made sense. I also agree with you about Qrow, and that's why he was clear about 'emotional support' rather than any actual support. He knows he's out of his weight class already, but he probably wouldn't be much help regardless. And, yeah, I was sad about Tai too. Unfortunately, I just kind of realized I didn't have a place for him to actually... do anything with the main cast and he hasn't been around enough for him to be 'needed' in the last fight.
To Guest: Yeah, that seems to be a consistent gripe. I thought that his dad would be the best person for this, now, so I hope that the sympathy he deserved is what he got. I also have one more big piece planned for him, like an emotional sendoff for his arc in this story. And I hope that next chapter and this one fulfill your combat needs. Next chapter is just going to be one big fight between the Good Guys and Salem.
To Kingofclubs8129: I definitely agree with you on that. In the show especially, Blake is out of her league when it comes to Adam. From what we've seen at least. In this, I decided to go with a bit of the Kingdom Hearts logic in that you get stronger when you confront your Darkness rather than run from it, a big thing for Blake. When Sun got hurt, her Darkness flared up but she stayed in control, giving her what she needed to take Adam down.
To CHAOSMarauder: Morrigan's future will be a big part of the reason for the core events in the epilogue. She and Yang have only crossed blades once so far, and I couldn't see someone obsessed with her own life and goals willing to team up with someone trying to destroy reality.
To gamelover41592: Thanks!