A/N: Indigo and Hyena are my OCs btw, for those of you who are not familiar with RWBY. They're not actual characters from the show, but I will try my best to write them nonetheless.

The two women began a standoff, choosing to remain on their guard. The chaotic atmosphere now had gone quiet. Both fixating their eyes and senses towards each other, ignoring everything except for what is in front of them. The air began to tense up around both combatants, and the group watching and staying behind can feel it.

Subaru can only sit and rest his eyes as they remain on their guard. He had done his part, which was stalling for time, which by itself is already a feat on its own at how long he managed to hold out against her without proper preparation. He then briefly looked at the two people standing there before focusing on Ruby, who had been carried over by Weiss to his side. He can see no visible injuries on the girl beside him, giving off a sigh of relief after judging her condition.

Beatrice is currently tending to his wounds, quietly muttering to herself at how useless she is as a spirit at not being by her contractor's side, even though she had recently scolded him for how reckless he was for not calling her to help. Subaru turned towards her after he overheard her monologue, and decided to give her a head pat to comfort her. It caught her by surprise, but soon enough she accepted it. It is as if both sides knew what message they're trying to convey to each other. And Subaru just knows what to do to reassure his Great Spirit.

Weiss on the other hand is more concerned than he is, but still making sure that she stays well-mannered and composed, like the aristocrat and heiress to her corporation that she is. "How did this happen?" She suddenly spoke up, not locking her eyes at him as she focused on caressing and comforting her friend beside her.

"I-I don't know! That Hyena girl suddenly came barging in and thrashed up the store we're in. We were lucky enough to dodge the initial attack!" He answered. Weiss questioned how energetic he is despite his injuries.

"So was it you that was her target, or Ruby?" She asked once again.

"I'm not entirely sure. But judging by her attitude, it seems I'm her target." He replied. All of his deaths involved him being directly tied as a target, making him flinch a little.

Weiss was visibly shocked by that answer but shrugged it off before speaking once again. She decided to change the topic, "You...fought her first huh?"

Subaru nodded. She then continued, "How did you manage to survive then?"

"Uhh…battle experience?" He said, chuckling awkwardly.

Weiss blinked several times, "Battle experience, really? You haven't even unlocked your aura yet! How much of an idiot can you possibly be!?"

"I...thought aura was directly tied to magic just by reading the books you guys have. My gate had collapsed, so I can't use magic?"

Beatrice perked up, "Subaru, aura is directly tied to the soul, not your gate. If Subaru's Od collapses, Betty won't even know what will happen to you aside from not being a living thing anymore, in fact." She explained, her mood now had brightened up after Subaru caressed her hair, "Subaru also did note down how it works, I suppose. But it seems that Betty's contractor is too ignorant to remember it"

"Eh?" That was all Subaru could say after listening to her lecture.

"You really are an idiot…" Weiss facepalmed, "But at least you proved that you have experience in fighting without aura I'll give you that. Now give me your hand."

"What are you trying to do?" Said Subaru raising an eyebrow questioning her.

"I'm unlocking your aura, you dolt! Do you want to live or not?" She replied.

"Alright! Geez…" He said, lending his left hand towards her.

As they were doing the process of unlocking Subaru's aura, Indigo noticed that Hyena was shaking, being impatient, and trying to come up with a way to strike her swiftly. She smiled with relief under her mask. But, she ponders whether or not to go hard on her obviously brainwashed friend. It will be a risky endevaour trying to find the right way to end it without hurting her that much. But when she saw her fidgeting like that, she can only smile. Saving her is possible. "You're shaking in impatience. It looks like there are things that even your curse couldn't fully block"

She widened her eyes in surprise at her suddenly speaking to her so casually. She began to internally ponder what she meant by that, so she asked in response. "Well, what do you know about little ol' me, then?" Hyena responded.

"I know your real name and the things we do together, even down to your favorite private pass-times. At least before you became what you are now, Scarlet Blackhall. You're just not what you seem to be." She uttered her name in full confidence, earning her a confused look from her opponent.

Hyena can only growl hearing that name as a response before declaring, "I'm not what you think I am!"

Hyena immediately swung down her broken sword, followed by an upwards vertical swing from her second sword. Sending a pair of powerful wind blades homing towards her opponent.

Both of the crimson wind blades shattered the paved road underneath them. Travelling with increasing velocity, exceeding the speed of sound within a fraction of a second of their existence. She smiled and laughed, but out of anger and frustration instead of satisfaction.

"Amplify, 50%"

Indigo brought out a pair of black needles and swiftly threw them to the ground shortly after uttering the activating words of her semblance, Dust Amplification. They shattered and shortly after conjured two layers of walls made out of pure hard light, stronger now with the help of it being amplified, countering the pair of wind blades just in the nick of time. Both forces clashed, forcing the wind blades to burst into a shockwave, kicking up massive amounts of dust and rubble, destroying the hard light walls immediately at the same time, protecting Indigo from the sudden attack.

"What the!?"

Hyena's response was immediately cut short. Out of the smoke, Indigo charged in with an overhead strike.

Hyena barely managed to parry her before backing off and replied with a diagonal swing. Indigo parried it and went for a quick thrust. Hyena managed to dodge to the side, pivoting and going for a hard kick to her chest. Indigo backed off as soon as she recovered from the hit. She charged in once more with her sword now split into a pair of twin blades.

"If you know me so well, how about we dance so I can know you better to compensate?" Said Hyena, countering Indigo's strike, aided by the momentum of the charge, shortly after.

"With pleasure, Scarlet." She replied with a small smile beneath her mask, earning a growl of annoyance once more from the crimson-bladed opponent, which made her charge head on to Indigo's guard after she had backed off.

They began to exchange strikes and parries in quick succession. Both are of equal force and skill, and their speed gradually increases to the point that even Subaru's eyes are having a hard time trying to track them down. Weiss however, was more or less indifferent, but definitely in awe at how in sync they are. In both of their eyes, the entire fight up to the point of Indigo splitting her swords was more akin to a brutal exchange of powerful forces of nature. But this current one is more akin to a dance of swords, Indigo leading her opponent's moves by being defensive, baiting her to attack in order to tire her out.

Like the fight between Reinhard and Garfiel Subaru had witnessed back in Pristella, Indigo is precise and composed on the defense. Hyena, or Scarlet as she calls her, is more aggressive, reckless, and desperate as she goes for the offense. He can see the balance of power being overall equal, both sides knowing what to do despite the differences in their current mood in the fight itself.

Indigo has backed off several times now. Parrying and deflecting blow after blow. No opportunity to do a finishing blow that wouldn't possibly kill the opponent in front of her. She knows that this is going nowhere. She has to find a way to break the balance.

She began with a series of backflips to get her intended distance. Deactivating one of her swords and putting it back onto her belt to bait Hyena in. It was a risky maneuver, but it was one that she was willing to take. Hyena as expected charged in, and she replied with a swift kick to her face after deflecting her blows with the single sword on her off-hand. Another one to her kidneys, and the last one to the chest. Hyena backed off, furious.

She brought out yet again her dust canisters. In the shape of needles to be more aerodynamic. She threw one just in front of Hyena before she could even react, spawning an explosion that conjured stakes of ice threatening her to back off. Indigo charged in and jumped from the spikes as a platform to gain her height advantage. So far it has been going well. Until-

Hyena looked up at her mid-air after being dazed by Indigo's ice grenade. "Oya? Is that your plan!?"

Indigo, while vulnerable and mid-air, was immediately met with a powerful wind-blade to her abdomen. Her aura immediately shattered upon impact, glowing a deep blue hue. She had thought that she shouldn't have used 50% of her aura just to amplify the hard light barrier she conjured from the dust canisters earlier. She knows that it would be too reckless due to her slow aura regeneration rate. But at last, it was all too late.

"Indigo!" Subaru yelled.

The rest of the group behind him only reacted with shock. She was knocked down from the air, before crashing down and getting pierced by a steel rod on her lower abdomen, protruding from the rubble of a building from where Ruby once crashed into. Subaru ran to assist her, Beatrice followed him as well.

"You were a worthy opponent, Indigo. But you're just too wasteful of your aura!"

Weiss proceeded to leave the unconscious Ruby behind and charged Hyena head-on with her rapier. Her speed increases exponentially using the aid of her glyphs. And both began to fight when Hyena parried the first strike from her.

While that was happening, both Subaru and Beatrice arrived to assist Indigo. She's not screaming in pain, as if she was already used to it. But her body's adrenaline is not enough to numb it. Subaru takes a deep breath and prepares himself for the incoming effort to ease her burden, and begins to utter the words.

"Cor Leonis!"

A rush of pain came in the form of a sort of stab in the same place where she was pierced. The pain is not being reduced at all by the newly gained aura Subaru has. Indigo's expression had calmed down significantly as she successfully got herself out from the rod. Blood is pouring out of her, but her aura is regenerating slowly, ensuring that it will stop soon enough.

"B-beako, how much time do you need to heal her?" Subaru asked her.

"With half of Betty's mana reserve for the past month, two minutes or so, I suppose" She replied.

"Shit! That's too long!" He realized.

"That would not be necessary, Natsuki, I can manage myself. Thanks for easing the pain." Indigo interjected, limping a bit due to her gaping wound.

"No! You're bleeding out and you should focus on getting rest while you can!" Subaru exclaimed.

Indigo scoffed, "Like your condition is any better. You would not last long!"

Subaru turned to Beatrice, ignoring her warnings. "Beako, be sure to keep her away from the fight. I have a plan." He then turned to Indigo, "You said that Hyena is your old friend, right?"

"Y-yes, but it seems she's out of her mind right now. If you're this stubborn to face her, make sure to find her weak spot. I didn't manage to exploit it before she almost killed me with that rod."

"Mind telling me where it is?"

"If I remember it correctly, there's a mark on her back. It's an old wound from when she was younger. If my guess is correct, it would be easier to shatter her aura from there, and it should be easy to knock her out after that."

Subaru pondered about it for a moment. "Or maybe……Indigo, how fast is your aura regenerating?"

"As I said, it's enough to close the wound throughout the whole fight if I'm careful enough." She replied.

"Alright. Cor Leonis would ease the burden significantly too. That means…Beako, I have a plan now. Hear my signal and fire shamak when I go in front of her, and once it is cast, fire our second spell afterwards"

Beatrice nodded, "Betty is not sure what you will do with that particular spell, since to Betty's knowledge aura is not tied to magic. But Betty will trust you, I suppose"

"That's the thing. This is a gamble on the theory that it IS tied to magic. I will guess that the aura is made out of pure mana that is unlocked through the user's soul. And if it's correct, that means it will do wonders for us!"

Beatrice's eyes widened in realization, "Betty's Subaru is insane. This is why Betty chose you as her contractor, in fact!"

He head patted her before turning to Indigo once again, "Do you trust me?"

She scoffed before taking off her mask, revealing her sweaty face, smiling. "I'm not sure what you two are talking about, but yes. Don't die on me or my contract to protect you will be compromised."

Subaru was a little surprised by her words but nodded with full confidence nonetheless. "Don't you worry, I'll never die. If I do, I'll curse fate herself and make it so that I never did!" He brings forth his borrowed whip and cracks it across the ground, declaring his statement to her with a wide smile. His heart burning with determination to make things right, once and for all.

As that was going on, a struggle between the Crimson Assassin and Weiss Schnee. Weiss is struggling to keep up her defense, even with her speed aiding her in dodging Hyena's attacks. She had found no opportunity to lower her aura, and her aura is getting lower by the second every time she uses her glyphs. It's not sustainable, but it is necessary to stall her for some time.

"The heiress began to struggle as she tried to stall the assassin for needed time for her friends to recover, wonderful! Just wonderful, isn't it!?" Said Hyena, sending off a wind blade that Weiss barely dodged.

"Could you please stop being arrogant!?" Weiss proceeds to conjure a black glyph with the aid of gravity dust of her weapon, launching herself high in the air before firing bullets of pure wind from Myrtenaster towards Hyena's position, using those same wind bullets to keep herself afloat as well.

Hyena dodged it one by one as if she was only playing with her prey. This time, she began to use dust of her own. She inserts a vial of powdered dust into the empty slot of her swords, and the crimson blade begins to change colour to dark purple. Using the gravity dust that was inserted through her blade, she conjures a shock wave of gravity dust, launching herself upwards with increasing momentum. And swiftly, she kicked Weiss to the ground as she was still mid-air after that attack.

Weiss crashed to the ground but quickly dodged by rolling away from Hyena after she followed suit, trying to end her there with a quick stab. She gets back up and aims her rapier. Its blade glowing bright blue as she conjures an ice glyph behind her. "This shall be your end, Hyena!"

She shot out a barrage of stakes made out of ice from her glyph, 40 in total. It is something she had copied from Beatrice's arsenal of spells. Specifically, El Minya. The stakes shattered across the surface surrounding the entire vicinity of her opponent, freezing the entire battleground solid in layers of ice. Hyena can only stand there embracing for the hits, each stake that hits her damaging her aura.

As soon as the barrage ends, the cold smoke began to clear itself. Weiss waits for the final result, and it only reveals Hyena, completely unscathed. "It was a valiant effort, Schnee. I did not expect that last attack to be that damaging. It left me with less than a quarter of my aura left! But alas, I shall end it here. I can see you breathing heavily, your aura had been depleted to almost nothing. I shall bring you some needed mercy!" She raised her blade, and it began to glow a bright red as she activates her semblance. "Say goodbye, Weiss Schnee!"

But as soon as she was about to swing her blade to bring forth her signature move towards the Schnee, Subaru came to intervene in front of her before screaming at the top of his lungs as he calls the name of his great spirit, "Beatrice!"

She extended her hand, aiming at the crimson assassin's position before speaking the spell's incantation, "Shamak, I suppose!"

Before her body can even react to face him, the entire vicinity was immediately covered in a veil of pure darkness. Her perception blinded, she cannot see what's in front of her. This was deadlier than a flashbang, as her eyes are entirely blinded like they were forcibly closed off. And unbeknownst to her, the boy that appeared before her to intervene in her final moment of victory, was now behind her exposed back.

"Beako!" That same voice screamed, sounding like he was calling someone's name.

"EMT, I suppose!" Said the other voice, unfamiliar to her. Sounding like a little girl had spoken it. She did not understand what that word she had spoken meant. But suddenly, a force or barrier of some sort was conjured around her, and she felt weaker as if her aura and lifeforce had completely disappeared in an instant. She can feel that her power is now completely gone from her very being.

"AAARGH!" Suddenly, massive amounts of pain followed by the sound of a whip-crack bursts forth from her back. It was something that she had not experienced for a long time. She can feel her back dripping with blood, as the veil of darkness soon cleared up, allowing her to see once again.

She was barely standing, almost collapsing from the sheer wave of pain her body experienced. But she forced herself to turn around. The figure in front of her known as Natsuki Subaru standing with his eyes showing pure anger and determination, glaring at her. But he was not frowning, in fact, he was smiling confidently, believing he had won. She weakly smiled too as a response, realizing the truth of the situation around her.

The boy had won, and she had lost. The one she served was right. This boy, the sage candidate that called himself Natsuki Subaru was not to be underestimated. She had known that, yet it seems that was not enough. It was as if this was her fate, that she was to be defeated at the hands of this very person in front of her. She can only smile, no words or even effort to do anything anymore has come out from her.

He raised his fist as he charged towards her. And soon enough, his fist had connected to her face, hitting her cheekbone with all his might. The wave of pain on her face was more or less underwhelming compared to the pain from her bleeding back. But it was enough to bring her down to the ground knocked unconscious.

Visions of her unknown past came to be in her mind. Memories of her younger self being with what she had called family. Her first time meeting her first and only best friend. Her first time using a sword. Her first mission and victory. Her first loss. And shortly after, what she had turned into what she is now, simply a Hyena. An attack dog of the one she served, the one who called herself The Black Queen of the Grimm, the person who had opened the box of the apocalypse, the Witch of Vainglory. She now knows, she is not what she seems to be. Her friend was right. She is not Hyena anymore at this very moment, she is now Scarlet Blackhall. But soon, her vision faded to black.