Authors' Note:
Sorry for not updating in so long, the reasons are explained below.
Hopefully, I can keep updating faster here onward.
About this chapter, it is an RWBY AU which follows canon till Vol.3, that is, Pyrrha dies. The only major difference being, Jaune seeing his partners' death.
Please bear with me thorough this, I will make changes that might be harder to understand. Just let me know in the reviews or in the PM and I'll help you through them.
I know I said few dark verses, but I feel that the cast watching the fall will play a huge role in motivating most of the cast. Some characters will obviously react differently, but please follow along and read.
Anyhow, the actual story goes on with Jaune going on a hidden revenge crusade against Salem and Co. and killing most of them.
That said, Pyrrha WILL be there in majority of the other viewings, she WILL be important in a lot of them too.
Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY. For the rest of the disclaimer, refer to Ch. 1.
P.P.S.: - For those wondering how Jaune looked like in first chapter, while cooking, look up the following on Google "Lovely Dining Table. RWBY".
Note: The above picture DOES NOT belong to me, I just found it on Pinterest. Anyone who knows may report it to me so that I may give the appropriate credit.
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The next morning;
AniDi was a being that did not need much-or any- sleep. This was due to his complete control over this dimension, and he was very much a part of this dimension. So he had done a lot of thinking, with the said thinking he had convinced himself that the cast needed to watch the next dimension. A lot of them were too naive to face what was to come next, they had to harden themselves. If not, a lot of pain and suffering awaited them. Especially team NPR.
He was just thankful the Readers had decided to send Jaune to the blank dimension, he would have felt a lot more reluctant to show this otherwise.
For now though, he needed to rouse the still slumbering audience for the day to start, and he proceeded to just that.
Like what he did yesterday, he made enough copies to rouse each room individually. It seemed that more than a few groups were formed in choosing the accommodations. Understandable, given their current happenings. It was testament to how off-centre they were that they did not even question the concept of and night in a seemingly magical place.
Of course he had included that feature into this place. He'll have those disbelieving of such notion know that he was a very responsible host that took his responsibilities very seriously. Except for a few mistakes here and there. Hey! Even cosmic beings unknowingly do stupid things sometimes.
His pondering had bought him to the breakfast hall where his copies had directed the viewers to. The copies were handy helpers when many hands were needed, and its not like he ripped of the ability from a certain orange wearing ninja. Nope, not at all sir!! Also, they were critical in ensuring that none of the cast do something stupid while exploring the castle during the intervals.
With that last thought, he finally entered the breakfast hall with the gentle tones of Beethovens' violin concertos playing in the background. He could see that the viewers were segregated into separate groups all around the huge fifty people-accommodating table. Yeah it was a bit excessive, but he did NOT want noisy arguments among opposing factions this early.
He cleared his throat loudly to gain their attention.
"" Ahem, could I have your attention for a few moments? Thank you! I hope that you were all well rested the previous night-and yes I did include the day-night feature to help with your body clock and relaxation-"" He saw that that there were a few understanding nods, clearly, some of them had thought about this once they had cooled down some.
""-moving on, I advice you have a relatively lighter breakfast, you can avail whatever you want in the theatre after the viewing starts. We are on a tight schedule and ill tell you, angering the Readers in not something you want to do. Hope I have your understanding, Thank you.""
With his thoughts spoken, he chose to wait by the doors as they finished their light breakfast. Seems the teachers and teams had noticed Velvet and Coco present and were chatting happily after getting over their surprise.
Thankfully, the brown themed duo seemed to have kept his over-sight a secret, same with their special accommodations too.
All the cast were then done eating and proceeded to the open theatre. The cast was all silent, anxious to see the next viewing.
He stood by the shimmering screen as the audience settles in, settling in more or less the same places. With the welcome exception of CV of CFVY sitting among their peers.
""I wish to elaborate on this next verse before we start. This is a potential future path of your own reality. One with a lot of chances of happening, so please pay close attention and be ready for all that you see. This WILL be disheartening for most of you, but you have my assurances that you will be ready to face the future. This future will be occurring just as the Individuals rounds of the tournament start.""
As the screen was getting ready to show the next reality, most of the cast stiffened. They did not like the implications of the beings words and tone, for something that bad happen to that soon, exactly what could have happened.
Salem and her underlines just shared a look, knowing what this was going to be about. They were right, partially at least.
All of them focused as something happened on the screen. There was no picture, only the sound seem to be playing for now.
-"The fall of Beacon was as sudden was as it was unexpected. All was fine one morning, everything went to hell. Things started going wrong with the individual rounds. Pyrrha was already deep in thought, almost panicked about whatever it was that she spoke with Ozpin.
Yang fought against Mercury Black and won, only to break his legs for seemingly no reason— An image of Yang braking Mercurys's legs is shown. Our team elected Pyrrha-obviously- for this round. That was our second mistake. Turns out her opponent- one Penny, Ruby's friend was some sort of an android with a soul. And with a somehow accidental use of Pyrrha's' semblance, she was utterly destroyed— an image of Pennys' Limbless carcass is shown along with Pyrrha's' horrified face-"-
A sudden silence ensued at the sudden and rather brutal imageries that were shown. Yang and Pyrrha were the most affected though, almost brought to tears. They did not know what prompted them to take such brutal actions, their friends and family held hands for support. Though, Qrow noticed with narrowed eyes that she was somehow hesitant in her show of support.
Both Ironwood and Winter stiffened at the last part of the information that was revealed.
Glynda whipped her head towards the general and asked in a scathing tone.
"What is the meaning of this James?! Hiding such things is preposterous!! Look at what this has lead to!"
"What I reveal on this matter is solely up to me, Penny is Atlesian property and I will not leak out my nations secrets with out due need! Besides, does Ozpin not have many more, much devastating secrets in his hands?!! Look at how that which and him behave towards each other!! He definitely knows something significant about the witch and he REFUSES to inform us of it!!" He retorted with a lot of heat and and more than a hint of vitriol and hate leaking toward the Beacon headmaster.
"Atlesian' property?! James! For the love of maidens, didn't the viewing say that she was sentient? How could you say that?!"
"Yeah Jimmy what's the deal here?!" Joined in Qrow, he always acted how the general acted on things. This was just the breaking point.
"Yeah! Tell her uncle Qrow! Penny is my friend! Not some property!!"
Winter would have usually tried to side with the general, but she was just as shocked as everyone else after seeing Penny's last expression and hearing the generals opinion of it. Willow just looking on with a vacant gaze, while what was happening on screen was tragic, it didn't involve her family in my way.
Ozpin just watched on as they argued with a stony, somewhat regretful expression.
Pyrrha was almost catatonic with regret, her teammates doing their best to console her in the absence of their leader.
With RWBY, Weiss had finally noticed Blakes' hesitance, prompting her to ask in a worried tone.
"Are you worried about something Blake? You seem very distant right now, whatever it is Yang needs our support right now…" She trailed off.
This got both Ruby and Yang's attention with Taiyang looking suspiciously to the black haired Faunus and said faunuses' parents gently support her.
Yang suddenly grew furious and demanded;
"Do you really think that I would do that Blakey?!! Is that how much you believe in me?!"
"I have learned that people can change over time!! And you are prone to do reckless things, who knows if you really just broke his legs?!" The cat faunus shot back just as heatedly, unable to bear her teams' betrayed faces and her parents' sad expression.
Salem and co. just watched on with amused expressions.
As the fight looked like it was about to escalate AniDI intervened, causing them to go silent.
""ENOUGH!! This exactly the kind of reaction that Salem and Cinder had planned for! Look at them, they are laughing at your foolishness!! Are any of your bonds, teams or resolutions of any worth if at the first sign of trouble you lot just collapse among yourselves?! Please calm down and keep watching, you will now watch just easily you have been played."" He started the viewing after he himself and the viewers had calmed down a bit, looking a bit ashamed.
Turns out, it was Emerald Sustrai's doing- her semblance supposedly allowing her to cast illusions on those she targets specifically. She along with her teammates Cinder Bitching Fall Mercury Black and Neopolitan- Romans' sidekick- were all fake students from Haven, The Havens' head master betraying the Brotherhood and the Circle in fear of Salem.
With the negative emotions all around Vale caused by these displays, the Grimm were getting unsettled, and Cinder worsened the situation by hacking into the broadcast and Relaying a lot of atrocities committed by the the National councils and questioning the peoples belief in huntsmen.
Abroad his supposed Jail, Roman had escaped with Neo's help and hacked in to the CCT with through the ships terminal, the process having been facilitated by a virus uploaded to the CCT through beacon- Courtesy to Dr. Watts, on the night of the Dance. The White Fang under Adam Taurus joint into the fray, clearly working with the fire-bitch. The Atlesian robot sentinels opened fire on the civilians, causing the collective negative emotions to finally allow the Grimm at the walls to breach Vale
Thus began the battle leading to fall of Beacon.
The affected were all shocked, all of this happening right under their noses and to have not gotten a whiff of it…it would have damaged their pride were it not for the fact that they were still shocked.
The villains fo the current story were furious, all of their planning, months of preparation all down the drain, just because some random entity wanted to change the course of reality so that their reality could survive. The nerve!!
Though, Salem had noticed something that most seemed to have missed. The boy seemed to hold almost the same amount for Ozma's current form as he did for her half-maiden underling. Interesting….
The revelation after revelation hit the Circle members in the face like nothing else. Ironwood was the most affected, his past regrets catching up to him. Had he truly bee doing the right thing? While the general was not a changed man, the seeds of doubt were being slowly, yet firmly planted.
Ozpin was just too shocked, hurt by another trusted members' betrayal, another joining the long line of many. The dance night, Ms. Rose had already disrupted some the enemy's plans to get into CCT undetected, had he grown so complacent over-time to allow such blunders?
So many lives lost…..
-"-About the only good thing in al of this was that Roman Torchwick was f*cking eaten by a Griffon. Serves him right. With Roman's death, the Grimm that swallowed him being blasted into the hacked ship and its subsequent explosion, the robots were back online. Doing what they were supposed to do. But the damage was already done-"-
-"- The screen opens up to a birds Eye view of the city of Vale. Large sections of the city destroyed, huge fires raging across its layout and hundreds, if not thousands of dead bodies lying around the once prosperous city. The Grimm crawling inward like ants on a dead snake.-"-
Everyone gasped at the imagery. Emerald was especially nauseous, she all for teaching others a lesson in hardship. But this, this she would never wish. Seeing children and babies scattered around like trash was something she'd never want. She looked to her side, at Cinder, who just looked contemplative than anything else. Emerald turned a bit more green.
-"-We certainly weren't spared from the damage. Yang and Blake got into a fight with Adam, it resulted in Adam retreating and Yang loosing her right arm. Weiss and Ruby were mentally scarred heavily. Nora and Ren had to re-live a lot of their past and fight on to protect what they could-"-
Yang held her right arm in a tight grip as her friends and family looked at her worriedly, with Blake turning away guiltily at Adam's involvement. She felt Yang place a hand on her shoulder and shake her head with a small shaky smile. They both nodded to each other, they'd talk and resolve their issues later. RW and NR holding each other for strength.
Pyrrha had a stage foreboding feeling through the whole narration. She knew, she knew that Jaune wasn't one to be so vindictive over someone's death or remember people with such hatred. He said that all of them lost something, but what exactly did she and Jaune loose?
-"Pyrrha and I……Pyrrha and I lost a whole lot f*cking more. She lost her life and I lost her and a large part of me there at Beacon-"-
Pyrrha almost collapsed at that, if not for Nora's strong grip holding her limp body.
The Arc parents who had been silent till now were almost to tears. Their boy was suffering so much. They could hear it in his voice. They too had noticed what Pyrrha had noticed all through. Their boy had fought and fought through suffering since a young age, he did not need this at all. They had had enough, screw being useful in the future, they couldn't watch their child suffer anymore.
The Arc patriarch rose to his full height, all signs of yesterdays' joviality gone.
"Is there any more need to watch this? We already know that things go bad and we know who does it and how! Why can't we just skip this?! We can just cut these bitches to pieces and be done with this right now! Send us back and I will cut-off their heads personally and spread their ashes in the oceans!!" He roared in part fury and part desperation.
Salem just scoffed at the notion;
"As if you could ever come near me. I'm immortal, cursed by the God of Darkness himself, and I am the Grimm queen! You will never touch me." She said confidently.
Most who did not know were reeling from the information, even the rest of Circle did not know about this.
Mama Arc did not care though, she was too furious and worried;
"All the better then, I'll keep ripping you apart! I'll rip apart your Grimm, I'll keep ripping you apart till I'm satisfied and then I'm going to bury you in alloy encased reinforced concrete slab with gold rods and mercury poured in to your brain! Let's see you come out of that you bitch!!" She huffed angrily, letting out all her pent up stress from yesterday and before. She had kept it hidden, but her worry was compounding day-by-day for the last few months. These last tow days were just the final nail dammit!!
Papa Arc forgot his worries just for a second and looked at her, incredibly aroused. He then cleared his mind immediately, he didn't want to get clobbered into the ground right now.
The circle, Salem and Co. were impressed and stunned respectively.
The Beacon students though that Glynda Goodwitch had NOTHING on Elena Arc. Nothing they say.
""Please, I understand your frustration. No one wants to see their closed ones suffer. But I'm showing this not just for your sake, but to see what sort of a person Jaune can become. I request that you do not panic as much from here on. All will be revealed as we see these realities.""
The viewers reluctantly nodded their heads and accepted his words.
-"-turns out, all those fairy tales that we heard in our youth, the ones that all had deemed mere fantasy were as true as the tragedy that occurred. The lonely girl in the tower, the Brother Gods, the relics and finally the maidens, the maidens!, all of them were true. And as it also turns out, our headmaster was a reincarnating guy leech that took over their hosts life and got his pawns involved in a shadow war that he had no hope of winning. He certainly knew that at that time. Not me though, I'll kill them all of those were that were involved in this tragedy, in Pyrrha's death. Especially that Cinder bitch, I will follow her along into hell and make her suffer there too. And by my hands they all will suffer!!"
Though the memories haunt me, though I feel my actions will disgust all who know me, though my actions might never let me near Pyrrha in any sort of afterlife, I will do this. Put this meaningless war to an end and no more of the wizards pawns need to be sacrificed. No more of my friends need to die.
I can still see her last moments in my mind, I probably wouldn't have turned out this way if she hadn't said what she did, but I don't regret it one bit. That will be one of my most precious memories ever.-
The video suddenly paused but the audience was too dazed to give any sort of response. Was this the same boy that they'd seen the previous day? The same goof that they'd laughed at looking at his funny antics?
Seeing as no one was in any state to react, he continued in a gentle tone,
""Moving forward, we will watch this viewing from Mr. Jaune's point of view, the narration part is over.""
Not getting any response, he just played the viewing.
-Things had started to go to hell just as Penny died, some mysterious lady seemed have hacked into the radios and was spouting crap about councils, corruption and kingdoms. I couldn't care less about her crap right now, people were being attacked left and right by Grimm, White fang idiots and were those Atlesian robots?! I knew it! Never trust a militaristic nation, they always betray you! Anyways, just as he was about to order his team to protect the people, Pyrrha seemed to start suddenly, it seems Professor Ozpin had called for her urgently. Makes sense, there must be some problem and Pyrrha was one of the strongest in Beacon. Still, he couldn't let her go on her own, not in these circumstances. Turning to Ren and Nora, he just nodded to them, receiving understanding nods in return. Then the two were suddenly off.
Turning to Pyrrha, I noticed that she seemed to be hesitating somewhat, Pyrrha was getting stranger and stranger as time went on.
"Pyrrha, are you alright? What did Ozpin want from you? Well us more like, I'm not leaving you right now!" I said with a grin, hoping to at least draw a smile out of her. Even I knew I was failing horribly at that.
She attempted to give a smile nonetheless, shaky as it was.
"Jaune.…" She seemed to hesitate more somehow. She then just shook her head, firming herself. She put on a serious face and started.
"Jaune, I haven't been truthful with either you or our team. Headmaster wants me to do something risky, incredibly risky so that I can stop all of this madness. I don't have the time to explain right now, but I'm worried…" She trailers off while biting her lips worriedly.
I hadn't ever seen my parter this desperate and sad. Whatever this must be, it must have been really important. Times like these, I feel even more useless. Still, my partner was awesome and all I could do right now was lessen her worries.
I put on the brightest smile I could muster and nodded.
"Whatever this is partner, I know that you can do this. You are awesome! Let's do this, I'll always be with you!" I wished I could say more, DO more to help her. But that seemed to have done its job, her smile brightened noticeably and she motioned me to hurry along with her.
'Looking back, I was an idiot back then, I should have done something-ANYTHING- to stop her. She probably would be here with me right now. Not dead. NOT turned into ashes……'-
The viewers were getting very emotional too, understanding that this would somehow lead to Pyrrha's death.
Jaune's family and friends were incredibly sad, seeing their loved one this sad was getting to them.
Pyrrha herself was realising something, she WAS important to her team, more so to Jaune. While she objectively knew all of this, there was this doubt, the lingering fear that her place in the team was temporary. She was scared for her future, would the team part-ways after graduating? Would she get so busy that she couldn't make time for her team and friends? Such questions haunted her everyday, they too were one of the reasons she didn't take any steps with Jaune after all….
Seeing this though, she decided that she wasn't going to wait. As soon as she sees her version of Jaune, he would know how she felt. NO matter what she sees in such viewings.
-We had reached a base near the school, just to see the headmaster waiting there impatiently, more impatiently than anyone had ever probably imagined the man. Upon seeing me with Pyrrha, he just froze for a second then shook his head and asked us to follow him.
We entered into an elevator, only for him to do something and the elevator seemed to move downwards, something that worried me greatly. Looking to Pyrrha, she just seemed distracted and worried, not at all surprised with where this was going.
'Does this have to do with something she was saying about earlier? Hmm..' I wondered.
By that time, we had reached our mysterious-only-to-me destination.
Walking forward, it was a pretty dark roomed, with a green hue from some mysterious lights.
But the thing that had my interest was the giant machine in the middle, to which the headmaster immediately proceeded to and started fiddling with something. Looking into it, there seemed to be a heavily scarred woman sleeping in it, more like fitfully resting. Her face seemed to grimace, as if in pain, every-now and then.
The viewers felt pity for the poor woman on the screen. She looked like she was in a lot of pain and the machine only seemed to extend her suffering, seemingly doing not much else…
The people that knew her though, were sad and guilty for their failure in protecting her.
Cinder was just frustrated that the previous maiden got to escape before she could get her rightful powers.
I looked at Pyrrha questioningly…She looked back, contemplating on what to say,
"Jaune, you have to listen and not ask questions ok? We just don't have time. This is Amber, the Fall Maiden. She was attacked just before the start of our school year. This whole, attack on Vale, they probably did it get the maiden powers. Professor Ozpin does not want those people to get the powers and he has offered to gift those powers to me…..I want to do this Jaune, I want to be able to protect everyone else." She responded with a resolute voice. Her beautiful emerald eyes filled with determination.
I thought back to all that was said, I'd normally brush apart the fairy tale stuff, but this looked as genuine as it could get. I looked at the pained woman in the contraption, suddenly remembering the fate of those that passed on their powers. I was about to voice my concerns to Pyrrha, when headmaster Ozpin interjected,
"We have been trying to get her healthier for almost a year Mr. Arc, we don't even know what's she's seeing in her painful coma, the only reason she isn't dead and the maiden powers transferred is because of this machine. The best that we could hope for Amber right now is that her powers are passed on her to the worthy and that she passes on peacefully…"
I still felt conflicted, even after hearing to all of that, I looked to Pyrrha to see her nodding resolutely, signifying that she knew about this.
Salem just nodded her head towards Cinder, It seems that her analysis of the possible maiden candidate was right. Not that it was that hard to figure out really.
Cinder just preened at the implied praise. She had her reasons to be proud after all.
The students all tuned to Ozpin for confirmation about the onscreen events, the Circle members just looked at each other, Glynda and Qrow nodding to Ozpin, signifying their support to share information with the students. Ironwood was Passive. While he'd normally be against sharing such things, he knew that truth would come out one way or he other. Better them say it.
Ozpin just sighed and turned to the parents and the children gathered.
"Yes, what the viewing says is true, the maidens do exist and the fall maiden was indeed attacked. She is in the location mentioned and I was looking for a candidate to transfer the powers to. In fact, I was planning on asking Glynda to escort you to us, Ms.Nikos, to ask of this same thing. That means….." he trailed of with that. But everyone got what he was saying, everyone had a smidgen of doubt about the whole thing. Who wouldn't? This was surreal after all.
Team JNPR was especially worried. This just meant that they would watch one of their own die. Nora held a very unfocused Pyrrha's hand tightly and Ren just placed a hand on her shoulder.
The parents present there were getting more and more worried. To think that their children and their friends at so young an age would be facing all of this….
-As Ozpin was getting ready to call Pyrrha to the machine, the ceiling and walls exploded in a fiery ball, with some kind of arrow slamming directly into the poor woman in the machine. A mystic golden light began to flow toward the origin of the explosion and we had realised that the maidens powers were once again stolen.
Ozpin was the quickest to recompose himself, he turned to Pyrrha and I, ordering;
"You two! Quick! Get out of here at all costs! Get help if you can! GO NOW!
I'll hold them here!" Saying that, he quickly leapt towards the enemy. We started doing as he said, I turned back one last time, curiosity compelling me to do so.
What I found was a hauntingly beautiful woman, she would have been considered very beautiful, were it not for the fact that she was attacking beacon and trying to murder us.
I faintly recognised her as the teammate of that transfer student that Ruby spent a lot of time with.
Does this mean that we were being infiltrated from that long ago?-
All through this, Cinder was just smirking, both at her plan working and her beauty shown on the screen. Mercury just rolled his eyes at his boss, damn could she be prideful, this was just going to feed her pride.
-While we were running for the CCT, I fumbled for my scroll, I could find Ms. Goodwitch with this and she would surely know how to help us. She was always so composed, he was sure she just had that hard glare of hers that probably had other huntsman fumbling to do their job and the attackers regretting all their decisions in their life.
"Let's keep going Pyrrha, I'll call Ms. Goodwitch to hel-"
BOOM!
Just as I said that, we heard a loud boom from behind us and we looked up to see a red figure FLYING towards the top of CCT. I was shocked, Pyrrha and I looked at each other, we knew what this meant.
"Impossible…..the headmaster cant be defeated that easily. That person must have been very strong to do this. Pyrrha, this is way over our head, lets hide here and protect the entrance. We need to call the other professors for this, no way we can do anything about that monster."
"At this point, I really should have looked at her, I could have known what she was about to do, I would have known what she was about to do. I would have done anything to stop her. Anything to stop her from facing that bitch. In end, I was a fool who didn't know any better. I was an idiot that Pyrrha did not need to suffer, and she paid the price…."-
The pain in this Jaune's was too much for those that cared for him to bear. His father was openly dripping tears along with his mother sobbing into her hands and Pyrrha was sobbing audibly, barely preventing herself from crying out loud. The rest of his friends were not far off,
"No Jaune just no, I did not suffer anything with you. You were the one of the best things that happened to me since coming to Beacon. You really were hard on yourself the most." Pyrrha whispered quietly, but with how silent the theatre was, everybody heard her.
-Pyrrha suddenly grabbed my shoulder firmly and spun me around, I couldn't do anything else but turn around, as surprised as I was.
She looked at me with the same determination that she had this whole disastrous out evening, but I could also see the resignation there. She was going to do something terrible and I wouldn't like it one bit.
She suddenly grabbed my head and pulled me to her, forcefully but gently, and suddenly, it was almost like I lost consciousness for a second.
It took me another to realise that there was something warm on my lips. It was another pair of lips, those that belonged to my partner. I was stunned still, the experience still not computing.
And what an experience it was, our lips were dry and choppy with all the nervousness, both of us reeked something bad and I could still hear the fighting in the background. It was by no means the perfect fairy tale kiss that I dreamed so much about.
And I wouldn't have it in Any.Other.Way!
'So that was what it was' I felt relieved for a second, 'She wasn't about to do something terrible. Stupid Jaune, of-course she wasn't, she is my calm and collected partner!'
But, the feeling of dread returned threefold as I looked into her eyes once again.
She then opened her mouth, to say something. I expected those three words.
"I'm sorry Jaune…" She said, almost in tears.
Most of the cast knew what the Pyrrha on the screen was about to do, and most did NOT like where this was going…
"Wha-!" Those weren't the three words that I was expecting.
She then suddenly pushed me back, I almost felt betrayed for a second. She the suddenly slammed shut the door of whatever I was pushed into and started typing in something beyond the door. It took me all of a second to realise that I was in a rocket locker. And the understanding of what was about to happen slammed into me like a ton of bricks.
"Pyrrha NO! Pyrrha I can fight with you! I can be your shield if nothing else! PLEASE!!"I begged like I had never in my life. I begged so hard my voice was hoarse. But any of that didn't matter to me. I just wanted to help her.
"I know Jaune….I know that you would sacrifice yourself for me. I can't let you do that, this is MY destiny. I know you can do so much more. I love you Jaune, Good bye."
The locker took off just as she turned back and started running.
I was silent for a second, taking in all that she said, I pretty much ignored what she said initially. I just focused on what she said later.
"You can't say you love me and do this to me Pyrrha! I never expected you to be this stupid!!" I yelled banging at the doors to open. I knew they wouldn't though, I had experience with this after all.
"Ok, cool down, panicking will not help her. Think of something, I'm not able to reach Goodwitch, Nora and Ren must be too far right now and neither of them can travel that fast. Ruby!! She can get anywhere fast enough!"
I frantically called her, hoping that she'd d pick up the call immediately, and she did.
"Ruby listen! Pyrrha is going to fight that monster! You need to go to the CCT to help her! Please help her! Please!"
"Jaune, wha-" I cut her from saying anything further. I'd normally understand her frustration. But not right now, Pyrrha needed help.
"NO time to explain, please go to the CCT and help her! Please!!" I pleaded her to get to the helping already. She seemed to have understood my desperation if nothing else.
"Okay, understood! Me and Weiss will go and help"
She cut off the call immediately. Good, Weiss could speed her up.
Ruby and Weiss looked at each other, each imagining themselves in the situation, from both perspectives. They nodded to each other, silently agreeing with the happenings on the screen.
I called Pyrrha's scroll, There was a function activated in our our teams' scrolls, such that any of our calls will automatically be picked up when a unique character is typed with the call. The ring would be silenced in case the callee was up to something important and talking to them would solve the problem anyway.
Most of the people there agreed that this was a pretty good solution, while there would be quite a few issues with the usage of such a system-not to mention the security risks there in. But, the potential with this was large in hands of trained teams.
As soon as I heard the call connecting, I started to slash and pound on the door with all I had, even knowing it would do nothing, I need to do something to get back to Pyrrha as fast as I could. And then, after saving her, I'll be sure to spank her. That'll let her to know not to do anything of this sort!
Despite the current ongoing of the story, Pyrrha couldn't help but blush at Jaune's boldness. Papa Arc was just so damn proud of his boy and Mama arc was worried that her son would turn into his father if left alone.
Miraculously, my sword seemed to glow a bright white and the metal cage below me vanished. I panicked for a second, then calmed myself and made sure to protect my scroll in my armour and held my sheathe in shield more to brace for the fall.
Just in time too, as I abruptly slammed into the ground with my shield. I could hear a loud cracks and the searing pain in my shield shoulder confirmed my suspicion.
The pain was more than anything I'd bore in my life, it almost paralysed me. Yet, I needed to carry forward, saving Pyrrha was a lot more important than any pain.
I wedged my shield into some rubble around me and held myself tight. After preparing for a second, I twisted my body. The joints snapped back with just as loud a crack as they did as when they broke. The pain was so agonising this time, I did drop to my knees panting. But the relief was just as sudden.
My aura seems a lot more active today, good, it seems even my soul knows what is important right now.
Most of the experienced people winced at such a thing, the hunters were more than familiar with brawls and fights that could break bones. Even people like Qrow and the father brigade-yes, lets call them that here on- who were more than a bit experienced in bar brawls, they knew broken bones hurt like nobody's business and the field setting that the lad had done to himself must have been very, very, very painful.
Ozpin and Glynda were curious, the behaviour of his aura seemed strange. It was oddly active, more than they had ever seen. Not to mention that arc of light from his sword was mysterious. Was that his semblance?
It seems that mysterious woman was already wreaking havoc on the CCT. I connected the paired wireless headset to my scroll so I could hear what was going without having to have the scroll at my ears all the time. Safer for my scroll and less time consuming too. I cleared a few buildings, just in time to see that it wasn't the woman that was wrecking havoc on the CCT, it was a giant Grimm. A Grimm DRAGON! NOBODY said there were dragons in remnant. Nobody said there were DRAGON GRIMM in remnant!
This just meant that I needed to get there faster. I don't know what I would do, but if just being a meat shield helps, Ill happily take that death. No matter what Pyrrha says, I believe that she has more of a reason to live than I ever do.
Cinder was just about pissed right now. All he plans were being exposed and her final trump card was exposed! Just like that! She had to begin making plans to get out of this catastrophe.
The Beacon students and staff along with the other 'good' people were scared shitless. There were very few things that could harm something like that. And using any of those could require sacrificing a lot.
Pyrrha was getting sad and determined simultaneously. She had to do something so that Jaune could recognise his own worth.
Running along, I saw Weiss just barely fending herself against the Grimm that seemed to just spout off of the Dragon, I desperately wanted to help her, but it looked like she was doing just fine and I needed to get to Pyrrha. She looked and seemed to know what I was thinking. She nodded to a glyph at the base of the CCT, that must be how Ruby ran up the tower. There was no way I would be able to do something like that. She seemed to recognise that too, as the glyph spun and changed. I readied myself and ran to the glyph.
For a second, I lost all bearings on where I was and what was even happening and suddenly, I landed thumping on to hard broken concrete surface. Seems the glyph had a lot more ooomph than I expected.
I groggily looked up and saw a wounded Ruby, just barely propping herself on a wounded arm, the other arm looked twisted, as if broken. Her desperate expression stuck a massive blow to my disorientation, it drove away my confusion like nothing else. If Ruby was here to help and if she was this hurt….
With sinking heart, I looked to the centre of the CCT, the first thing I recognised was that the strange gears that were present before were scattered in all directions, almost like they were blown away from an epicentre.
Then my eyes set on to an inevitable sight, that woman, she was an amber eyes, ebony haired woman. If this was any other situation, if she was doing anything else, I would have called her beautiful. But not right now.
For she was pointing an arrow right at my partners' heart, a partner that looked more defeated than ever and seemed to have her aura broken.
Pyrrha just clenched her hands tighter. Was this when she was going to die? Right in front of Jaune?
Something in me broke that instant, I knew I had to at least shield Pyrrha, save her! With no other thought but that, I pushed all the pure determination and Aura I could into my muscles, and lunged with my shield in between myself and that bitch. As I sailed in the air, I decided on it. This woman was a bitch alright.
I succeeded! bad news, that tiny arrow hit like a tank shell and I flew back, right beside my partner.
A partner who looked more horrified than anything else.
"Oof, I know I'm not much of a help Pyrrha, but you at least be happy to see me!" I attempted to lighten the situation. Well, that seemed to snap her out of her daze at least.
"What are you doing here Jaune?!! You have to get out right now! I sent you away just so this couldn't happen!! Go! Take Ruby and run!" Her desperation and horror seemed to increase with each sentence she spoke.
It looked like there was no lightening the situation, so I dropped all pretences and looked at her with all the emotion- the frustration- that I could feel into my face as I spoke next.
"And what did you do Pyrrha?! You disobeyed a leader and a friend, so you could do nothing but loose your life and put comrades in danger! Did you think I would do nothing else?! That all of us would leave you to die just like that?! NO WAY I could allow that!"
To her credit she attempted to look chastised at that, but her attention along with mine turned to the flaming bitch that seemed to have moved back a bit, in surprise if nothing else.
"Finally! You know, I never liked being ignored, not one bit. To see a nobody like you doing that? It grates me like nothing else. If you are done bickering, can we get on with me slaughtering you lot? This is tiring as is." The bitch spoke smugly, as if we were worms under her foot!
Seems Ruby couldn't take being silent anymore, her arm seems to have healed reasonably too
"Hey! Just you wait! We'll beat you so bad you're gonna cry in the jail!!"
The audience snickered at her cute but incredibly naive words. Weiss had a palm on her leaders hand while Yang was messing her air in a headlock.
Taiyang and Qrow were getting worried though, this Cinder person looked incredibly dangerous, evident with how she seemed to have crushed Ozpin. And they could not think of a way the students could get out safely without some Divine grade intervention.
While I would have agreed with my fellow leader any other time, I couldn't do that now. Still, her distraction worked well for me. I took out my scroll and turned to the side. Making sure that the bitch was concentrating on Ruby, I logged into the emergency broadcast in my scroll and linked it to the CCT. Another thing to thank my sister-in-law about. Once I was sure my scroll was broadcasting across all emergency channels I set my scroll on a piece of rubble beside me so that it could record and then, I lunged at the bitch with no pretence or yelling.
I knew that my chances with her were slim-to-none and this was my only chance. But she seemed to have sensed that I was coming somehow, as she whacked me away with flames on her hands. Thankfully, I bought up my shield in time to block her, but that did nothing to stop the hurt my back felt when I hit the ground.
"I never expected to be pummelling you here. From what I heard, you were a cowardly weakling. It's a wonder that you are even standing here. Is it stupidity or bravery I wonder….I will commend you for even trying to face me through."
Just hearing the smug bitch rant was incredibly irritating, I wanted to bash her teeth in so badly, so desperately that I almost lost the ability for thought. I calmed myself at the last instant though, she underestimates us, rightfully so, but that could be useful. The scroll must already be broadcasting to emergency channels and I know no press would miss out on the chance. So I had to rile her up even more, and I'm sure shell babble like nothing else.
Still, we had to do this fast, the dragon was still wrecking havoc and the others were still there outside.
"So what? Just because you think that I'm useless, I should lie down and die?! I'll fight till my last breath, for my friends and those innocent people! And I'm sure the White Fang will realise that taking advantage of this chaos was wrong and they'll be bought to justice!!"
I made sure to include the White Fang part, no way their attack was coincidence. All of this seemed incredibly planned.
The more experiences of the audience had to accept with Jaune's analysis. And he was doing well, playing on her arrogance to get information.
Ozpin just hoped that Mr. Arc wouldn't push his act so much that the woman could get suspicious.
Cinder was indignant with all of this. First, the indignation at having to deal with that weakling, and the thought that she was seemingly being manipulated on screen.
I was brought out of my thoughts due to her snort of laughter, and we slowly started to circle around each other. Silently signalled Ruby to provide cover fire from the periphery. She was too injured and tired to be of much else right now. Her sniper rifle could be very useful in distracting the bitch even more.
*Snort*
"Are the students of Beacon that naive? To believe that there would be stars and pony's by the end of all of this? People will be angry and scared. The ones in power will need someone to blame, and who will they blame? The White Fang of course! They wouldn't be wrong though, Adam is a good pawn, his goons useful canon fodder. It took more than a bit convincing to get that bull and the scum Roman to side with me. All must fall in line before me though. The world WILL burn by my hands and the people WILL fall in line. With me as their rightful leader of course. Not that any of that matters to you dead dolls."
The three of us were shocked, this was more than what we imagined happening. I knew that I couldn't panic right now, this was a chance for information that the kingdoms couldn't loose.
"And you think doing all of this will allow you to rule? Look at all the Grimm around here!! There will be no one left to rule if you let the Grimm kill them! Hell. even you wont be able to live against hordes of Grimm! What about your teammates? Wont they die too?!" I attempted to goad he for more, growing more and more desperate.
She just stared at me, silent for a few seconds.
"You think I don't know that you were fishing for information? No matter, not like any of you will live to spread this to anyone. When I'm done with the CCT, the kingdoms will have lost contact between each other anyway. My underlings are of no concern to you. Besides, the Grimm wont do anything to me, my mistress won't allow that as long as I remain useful. Now just shut up and DIE!" Ruby interrupted the probable fire ball with a well placed distracting sniper round.
Ozpin let out an inaudible sad sigh, he knew that something like this would probably occur, looking upon the previous scene. Just sitting here and looking at the imminent tragedy was making him feel anxious and a tad bit useless.
What the bitch had uttered had shaken me- both the others too probably. The thought that there would be some that could control Grimm-or at least have the authority to stop LEGIONS of Grimm, was frankly terrifying. When she had guessed the reason behind my attempts, my heart almost stopped for a second. It was probably her arrogance that discounted the possibility of this information getting out-in her head at least. I was doubting our chances every second. This strong woman, the Grimm dragon, scores of other Grimm and the woman's other teammates. The situation was looking more and more hopeless.
Still, I performed my duty, now, the only thing left to do was try our hardest to get out from this disaster to survive another day.
I looked to my silent partner, it looked like she had regenerated some of her aura, at least enough to make her earlier wound bearable.
The audience, the ones that had a stake in the current viewing at least, were on the edge of their seats. The situation on screen was getting more and more tense, it looked like the evil was indeed about to in the day and the possibility of that happening to their own reality gripped their hearts painfully.
The bitch looked incredibly at ease just dodging Ruby's shots. Pyrrha and I nodded to each other and leapt into fray to bring our enemy down.
Just hitting her seems impossible to do. The worst part was, I could see that she was not that much better than Pyrrha in terms of skill. But the addition of maiden powers had changed the whole game. She seems to have studied our fighting styles too, as she seems to predict our moves and deal with them swiftly.
Seeing as Pyrrha was still low on her aura, I acted as more of a shield than usual. We were a vanguard and a warrior pair, so i stayed forward and took her attention, while Pyrrha took shots from the gaps that I left out. Unfortunately Pyrrha seems to have run out of her dust rounds already, would have made the situation a bit more easier.
I deflected a strike to my torso with my shield and went for an inward slash to get into her guard. She simple backhanded my blade and nearly pushed my off, thankfully, Pyrrha used her spear to take a stab at the bitches' eye to get her off of me. Ruby used the gap to fire a couple of shots at her, pushing her back even more.
The exchange continued for a few more moments, I felt hope rising in me. everyone everywhere should have heard of the transmission by now, we could expect help anytime now!
The teams RWBY and NPR along with their more hopeful well wishes felt their hopes rising. If they could hold their own for a few more minutes someone was bound to come and help right?
The more experienced among them did not feel this hope unfortunately.
Glynda and Qrow felt especially, wishing their counter parts would arrive to help these students already.
But, hearing to the narration earlier had given them a picture of what was about to happen….
But all our hopes crashed as Cinder seemed to have enough of our back and forth, as she released a heat blast that took us off of our feet and threw us down. The heat and the force were incredibly painful, I was sure that, If not for my aura, I would have died ten and there.
I suddenly jolted up painfully, searching for Pyrrha and ruby. If it hurt me this much with my current aura level, then I was worried to see what it did to the others.
I looked round to see that what ever remained of the rubble and the pillars were almost completely blown off. I noticed Ruby at the far end of me and Pyrrha was nearer to the centre than both of us and the bitch was languidly approaching her.
I wanted to getup and help her, but my legs were stuck under the few pieces of rubble remaining, I was peripherally aware of Ruby was unconscious diagonally across me.
The bitch even had the gall to taunt my partner as she approached her.
"So, how does the Invincible girl feel with all of this? To be so outmatched that the three of you couldn't defeat me?"
She kept walking as she kept talking, picking up Pyrrha's weapons along the way, inspecting as if one would a trophy.
And Pyrrha seemed too much in pain to talk back and I wanted to be a distraction at-least.
"Hey! You don have any right t-" whatever I was about to say was interrupted by a bas to my face and a blinding pain in my right forearm, I could barely hear Pyrrha's screams in the background.
It took me a couple of moments to comeback to any sort of lucid ness, looking around, I noticed that it was Pyrrha's shield that hit me in the face and I knew, without even looking down that it would be Milo sticking out of my forearm.
"If you could ship up for just a few seconds, Ill come and tend to you too. Don't worry, despite being bugs that got in my way, be happy that I don't have time to do much else right now. Your deaths will be swift but painful." There was a savage malice in her voice that froze me despite the pain.
I met eyes with Pyrrha and only now did my false bravado start to falter. Looking at her normally vibrant emerald eyes, seeing them in tears and with hopeless ness filling them, the reality of our situation came crashing to me.
We were NOT getting out of this, all of our effort in trying to protect the CCT was for nothing. She would have destroyed it either way, we just delayed her.
I would die without realising my dreams, without proving to my family that I could be someone important.
Pyrrha and her friends were openly sobbing now. The possibility that their death was always just that in their minds- a possibility. But that possibility was a reality right in front of them. To see people dear to them about to die was not pleasant at all.
Emerald was having more and more doubts about the whole thing, while Mercury seemed to not care about anything on the screen, she was sick of what was happening. She wanted, she really wanted to teach the world a lesson, but this was not how she imagined that happening. Besides, were the things on the screen anything more than a quest for Cinder's own power fantasy?
All of this would simply create more homeless and starving kids. More Emerald Sustrai.
The parents together was leaning against themselves in pairs to at least sail through this tragedy as maturely as possible.
The Arc parents were especially close to being devastated. Could more training have helped their son? Such doubts were drowning them.
To see him lamenting his losses was painful, to painful to even watch.
But none of that was on the forefront of my mind, I was just looking at my partners' sorrow filled emerald eyes. They conveyed a deep sense of sorrow that I wanted to go there and do something about this, to console her but I wasn't able to do anything, stuck as I was.
Useless as I always was.
Something strong was building inside me, but I failed to pay any attention to it. I could only feel the desperation that kept growing in me.
In a far corner of my mind, I realised that Pyrrha must be feeling the same as I was. The same despair that I was feeling.
The bitty hole just placed a hand on Pyrrha's head, turning it towards herself. Her palm glowing an ominous golden-red.
"You shouldn't have gotten yourself involved with all this. Ozpin should know by now that no matter what he does, our queen is unbeatable. The relics WILL be ours and the Grimm will help in culling the kingdoms. Do you have anything to add?"
The glow seemed to seep from her hands to Pyrrha's whole body. Despite this, she raised her head to her executioner and just asked a question.
"Do you believe in destiny?"
The question seemed to perplex even the bitch as the strange glow grew to encompass Pyrrha's body completely, but she paid it no mind and just scoffed.
Pyrrha just gave one final glance to me and gave a shaky smile. Even now trying to comfort ME. Despite her position, she cared about me even now. I could do noting but watch her and let the tears finally fall from my eyes.
And suddenly, there was a strong gust of wing that just blew her away into ashes.
I was so shocked that I chocked on my own tears.
She was gone.
Just like that.
Turned to ashes.
With no final words to us other than that smile.
I was dimly aware of a now awake Ruby screaming out loud.
Not that I was in any position to actually notice that, I was doing the same really. That something that was building in me was finally bursting out and I was too far gone to notice the golden white glow around me. Far too gone in my own despair.
All I could see was her final smile before me. I noticed nothing else right now. Just the smile and the despair.
And suddenly the world turned white as unconsciousness claimed me.
That was the last nail in the coffin, Pyrrha and her friends broke down crying. There was not much running through their minds other than the despair and devastation of seeing their friend die.
Nora and ren were hugging the red headed warrior as tightly as possible, a support given as much as it was taken.
RWBY were hugging their parents for support, Blake being cocooned by her parents, Yang and Ruby being embraced by both her father and uncle.
Willow though distant normally, could not bear to see her daughter in this much pain and gently held her hands within hers, with winter placing a gentle hand on her sisters shoulder.
The huntsmen of the lot, including the parents, were all experienced with losing their close ones. to see that appending to their children was heartbreaking to watch.
Ironwood looked at his cybernetic parts and recalled all the loses he had personally suffered. He just shook his head in sadness.
Even Emerald was openly shedding tears right now. Her belief in Cnder was starting to waver with these viewings.
Cinder herself was more than a bit pleased at the outcome. She had succeeded after all….
Salem was just passive through it all, having seen countless deaths through millennia of existence.
As everyone was in their own thought and most were grieving, the screen focused to something else.
They all looked up, hopeful to see something more positive.
Qrow was just about done with the whole attack, a lot of the civilians were thankfully evacuated with the help of the hunters and the students. But a few idiot shad still remained at the school itself. What about a retreat did those fools not understand? Glynda had even received a distress signal a few minutes ago. She would've gone herself, but she was truly needed there.
Nothing like that witch was there and a witch was needed to keep people in line right now.
He suddenly shivered, hope she hadn't heard that somehow.
He was suddenly brought out of his musings by his scroll buzzing an emergency tune.
That was perplexing in and itself. The whole clusterfuck of a situation was an emergency, who the fuck was trying to use the emergency channel right now?
All those thoughts flew out of his head as the broadcast actually started,
This was bad. This was so much worse than any of them had actually imagined.
What was worse was Ruby was actually there with that monster that took the fall maidens powers. If he didn't reach there right now, there was a possibility that al those brats would die.
Problem was that no bullheads would fly to the school, that means he only had one way to get there in any meaningful speed. Damn the secrecy of magic. That was his niece down there and nothing would stop him now!!
He turned into a crow and flew as fast as he could, just looking at the dragon Grimm was giving him the chills.
He kept flying faster and faster to get to his niece and the situation seemed more and more desperate. The bitch was just about to kill hogs niece!
"Please! Hang in there Ruby! I can't loose you too! Not after Summer! Please hang in there!!"
Ruby held her uncle's hands tightly, silently conforming that she was indeed alive right here.
His anxiety reached the peak when he heard the Nikon's girl dying. Tears were freely starting to flow out of his crow eyes, almost fearing that his niece would be next.
And suddenly, just as he was reaching the tower, dodging the dragon, he heard a twin desperate screams of sorrow and anguish. And just as he'd shifted to his human form and took his niece in his arms, the glowing arc boy exploded!
He barely had time to jump of the crumbling building and run away just in time to- feel more than see the blast that happened behind him. He was sure that, if he was not who he was, he be blown of the hill that he was on. Looking back, all he saw was a big bright ball of explosion, covering the whole campus and extending just a bit past it.
The blast had immediately killed the dragon and any other Grimm present.
He covered the unconscious Ruby and waited for the blast waves to subside.
he had hoped that no students were present in the campus or around it when the blast happened. Else they would have been vapourised.
looking down to make sure that Ruby was safe, he poked back to survey the damage.
And what he saw- as the dust settled completely shocked him.
The place where Beacon once stood was an empty crater.
Thats it.
An empty deep crater.
The viewers were shocked completely, forgetting their sadness for a second. The scale of destruction was something else. Sure, damage on that level was possible, even seen on a few instances throughout history. But nowhere had there ever been an individual that had wrought such damage individually, and this had them ordering.
Was this ability some one off thing? For they couldn't fathom such power as accessible as easily as any other semblance.
Salem and Ozpin had already seen such expertises of power, though that was in an age long past. When magic was staple in the world. For a world that fights with bullets, this was a nuclear warhead. So such power in a persons hand was concerning.
Was this the start of a new age with a lot more people welding such powers? Or was the Arc hei really that special?
He stood stunned there for a couple of seconds and went into the crater to earth for anything that remained, as doubtful as that notion sounded. Stranded at the edge of the crater, with Ruby draped over his left shoulder, he had to say he was shocked once again.
For there, in what was probably the centre of the crater, laid the Arc boy. Looking pretty healthy too from what he could see from here.
Slowly sliding along the crater, he inspected the body. His dress was completely torn to shreds. The kid was buck naked, to the last thread of the clothing. Other than that though, he looked more than fine.
As he kept observing, he noticed that the weapons had survived too. He had his own weapons held tightly along with the cere-Pyrrha's weapons.
They were probably the only things that he could remember his partner from here on.
Still processing the whole tragedy he silently hefted the weapons and stored them in his cloak. Then proceeded to carry the boy on his other shoulder.
He just hoped that Ozpin would return to clarify more stuff.
He had a lot to answer for after all……
The people did not have the the will to actually look or more. The whole ordeal was draining in itself. They just hoped to get a rest soon and recollect their thoughts.
——Patch, a week after the Fall of beacon——
Jaune slowly returned to consciousness, his eyelids, and his body for the matter, feeling extremely heavy to even consider doing anything else. Just as he was about to feel uncomfortable with his dry throat, a cool cup of water was held to is lips by someone. That some one was supporting his back too, so that he could safely drink the water without chocking.
As he drank, his mind slowly came to him and with came along the memories. It was all he could do not to choke on the water that he was drinking. He could feel his face blaming as he attempted to process his memories.
Qrow, the one that was actually feeding the kid water, could clearly see what was happening in the moods head as soon as his face started blanking.
The loss of ones comrade, a loved one, was never easy. Especially so on the ones that leat expect it.
He got to know of the kids history through out the week previous. And this was exactly the kind of kid that came in with rainbow filled dreams and the ones that were left with the bitter truth when reality kicked them in the ass.
The only difference was the kid could potentially be a time Bombula ticking. He was knocked out of his thoughts when the kids voice knocked him out of his thoughts.
"How long was I out?' The voice was as hollow as its question.
Still, easing into conversation was always a good way to go.
"It's been a week since all of the shit happened." He was aware that his own voice was clipped, but he felt that was needed more in this conversation.
The kid just seemed to stay silent for a few moments before speaking up.
"So that was all true huh..?" HIs tone was incredibly bitter, understandable.
"Look kid, I know that this might not be the time but-"
"I know,….I know what you want to talk about. The thing that I did at the end…."
He just seemingly fell in a trance after that, jut clenching his palms.
"…..and I think its part of my semblance….It felt like something was bursting out of me and all my Aura was gone in an instant…..I don't really know what really happened but…."
It was clear that he was really bitter of what had happened that all of this talk was only an attempt at a distraction. Even if it was the Brawen that had started the topic.
"My teammates, do you know what happened to them?" He asked in a low voice, almost afraid to ask.
The veteran huntsman just waved his hands casually.
"They're alright, just outside if ya wanna know. Not damaged 'tall." That seemed to get the kid to relax a smidge.
"Still kid, do ya know what happened to the bitch that attacked us? She was with you right? Do you think she died?" He had to know that, to prepare for future atleast.
The look of anger and hatred suddenly appeared on the kids face.
"NO! I KNOW that bitch is still alive. I can feel it, right in my would. That bitch is hurt but alive. Ill get her…ILL GET HER!!"
The kid stated gritting his teeth and clenching the sheets as they were her neck, the look in his eyes was sited more for a savage from his sisters tribe than a student.
And he hadn't even told the kid of what else ad happened to the sister team. The future looked bleak right now, he could only hope that the Grimm queen did not win the whole race.
He feared there would nothing be left afterwards.
Those were his final thought so the matter as he looked out of the room window.
The screen quite simple shut down, signifying the end of this viewing. Not that most of the viewers were in any position to pay any attention to it, as sad as they currently were.
Seeing that no one was in any position to talk, Anidi gently came forth.
"This must have been very hard on a lot of you, I perfectly understand that. Any thing you would want to discuss can be had tomorrow. We'll shift the viewings to a later time tomorrow so that you can cope with today's happenings.
I sincerely hope that you have a stresses rest tonight."
Most of the viewers just Holloway nodded and went on their ways to rest. Most staying in groups for support.
He noted though, that Emerald was not sticking as close to Cinder as usual.
'So the changes are already appearing huh, as subtle as they are for now….'
———————————————————————————————————————————
A/N: Well guys, this is the part 1 of probably a two part series, I couldn't fit the whole thing in one chapter with any amount of wiggling, the chapters also felt incredibly hard to write, the words just couldn't flow at all.
I'm considering If I even want to continue this. Something for another time perhaps. I also got to know that I'm horrible at writing fights.
Hope this satisfies my audience for now.
For those salty, I accept that Cinder seemed way more generic villain and more cardboard cutout that she usually is. Just had to get that frustration with this one-dimensional character out of me.
And I didn't even have to include Ruby here with the role she played here.
I can only hope that I don't remain this biased moving forward.
Sorry for not updating in so long, I had to help with and attend two back-to-back weddings and their receptions too. And I was a Camera man for both of them too….the after editing was more than painful. I'm still helping with arranging a lot of stuff in their homes. They were my Cousin and uncle too. Too close to even leave for a day.
Sorry for not answering the reviews this time folks, I'm in a hurry as is and all I could do was send individual PMs to logged in reviewers when ever I had the time.
While I welcome most suggestions to this piece, please understand that I already have a chapter sequence planned and can only use the recommendations when I find my muse lacking. I have ten other topics that I've planned out, but I'm not sure how they'll pan out yet.
Ill be sure to not roast Jaune all the time though, that would probably just ruin his image forever.
Note: DO NOT take the bone setting thing that I've put in the chapter as any form of advisement. I don't have any knowledge pertaining this matter. I have solely put what I feel gave the story more intensity and showed Jaune's determination. This is neither the right procedure nor something I'm recommending to anyone.
Any decision someone takes from any of my work is a responsibility that they themselves bear.
Thank you for understanding.
Uffff! Such hard work this writing is…. I have whole new appreciation to authors who update regularly with quality and quantity, along with multiple stories. I really need to improve my typing skills huh…
I have also been working on learning the guitar, never knew it would be this hard, my finger tips are killing me!!