Before anything else, I own nothing but the original characters, and content therein related to them. RWBY is owned by RT, and any mentioned creator's work belongs to them, and them alone. Rest in peace Monty, your vision lives on in us all.
CHAPTER 12
Once at the landing pads, everyone had gathered to assess damages, and get a headcount. At the sight of her sister, Ruby broke down into tears. "There's… There's nothing left." Ruby murmured. Clayton was holding her head to his chest, as Pale tried to asses if Yang was still alive. He'd created enough corpses to know that once a body stopped bleeding, it was beyond saving... Siniy on the other hand knew better. Yang would need to be seen by a surgery team in less than half an hour if there was even going to be a chance for her, but that could be arranged. "I NEED AN EMERGENCY EVACUATION, NOW!" Siniy yelled as loud as he could, clearing a path to the airship with his voice alone, before he put his semblacne to use, and sucked as much heat from the air and from Yang's body as he could.
Weiss looked at her boyfriend, and he nodded. "Go with them, get out of here." Siniy said. Weiss shook her head.
"I'm not leaving you." She said, readying her rapier.
"I'll go with her. You lot, stay here, keep an eye on things." Halcyone said, as she, Blake, and Pale moved to the airship with the other severely injured students. Taking note, Ruby had come to find that Jaune and Pyrrha were still missing. Turning back to the school. The four hunters in training looked between each other. The gorilla, the giant, the heiress, and the Reaper. There was going to be Hell to pay. From above a wyvern made itself known, screeching as it began to circle the campus from the air, dropping grimm from it's maw.
Clayton pumped his shotgun, and with a crooked smile, gave a warcry for his mottly crew. "TALLY-HO LADS!"
At Beacon Tower, Pyrrha and Jaune emerged from the basement, as Cinder rocketed past them towards the top floor. They'd failed. Pyrrha had failed to take the power of a maiden in time. Ozpin had failed to fend off Cinder. And Jaune had failed, both as a leader and a friend for letting Pyrrha get into this kind of danger. "I have to stop her." Pyrrha said, turning toward's the broken elevator.
"You aren't doing anything. Not after... Whatever it is that machine did to you." Jaune said, as Pyrrha started moving towards the elevator.
"I have to try." Came Pyrrha's responce. Jaune rushed in front of the girl and blocked her path.
"No you don't. Pyrrha, whatever she is, just killed Ozpin. We are entirelly out of our weight class here." Jaune said, trying to reason with his friend.
"So what?! I have a duty as a huntress. If I don't stop her who know's what else she'll do? This entire thing is my fault. I should have taken the maiden power when I was given the chance." Pyrrha said, trying to push past Jaune.
Initially Pyrrha had intended to shove Jaune out of the building with her polarity, but that changed the second he grabbed her by the shoulders and kissed her. Pulling away after a second, Pyrrha looked surprised. "Basic rule of combat, there is safety in numbers." Jaune said, as he let go of her. "We stand a better chance of surviving if we go in together. So either we're both dying tonight, or we're winning this fight." He continued, stepping into the broken lift. After a second, Pyrrha stepped into the elevator with Jaune, and used her semblance to proppel them up to the top floor.
The second the elevator door opened, the two shield using first year students of Beacon barreled through Cinder's opening attack. Pyrrha split right, as Jaune charged in with nothing but stupid confidence and his armor to protect him. As the first thing Cinder saw, Jaune was assaulted with a blast of fire. The power unlike any he'd come across. Sliding to a knee, he held steady behind his shield, as Pyrrha swept in from the side to alleviate the pressure placed on her leader.
Cinder spun in place, and deflected Pyrrha's initial spear thrust, following through with a punch which was planted into the metal surface of the spartan's shield. With an explosive blast, Cinder sent Pyrrha flying into a pillar holding up the second floor overhang, splitting the concrete in two. Ducking narrowly out of the way, Cinder felt the air shift as the double edged blade of Crocea Mors wiffed by. Jaune had closed the gap, and after his opening swing, he followed through with a backhand, then held his shield up at an angle to deflect the burst of flames that was sent his way. With the force of the strike being redirected, Jaune had the ability to push forward still, and finally land his first hit. Though it was a simple thrust, the strike had landed in the center of Cinder's chest, which pushed her back, and left her open to a shield throw from Pyrrha.
Having been struck in both the chest and spine, Cinder found herself on the ground, and a second before Jaune could deliver an overhead strike into the floor, she used her maiden magic to thrust her body away and then upright. Now airborne, Cinder conjured more heat, and hurled balls of flame at the two. With her polarity, Pyrrha was able to retrieve her shield, and duck into a role, joining Jaune in a crouch behind their wall of metal.
With a nod, Jaune broke formation, and abused a gap in Cinder's fire, to rush her down, as Pyrrha attacked from range with Milo. Dodging the rounds with ease took Cinder's focus away from the incoming blond, and in sacrificing her range, risked a melee. Side stepping a thrust and then jumping clear over a slash, Cinder spun into a kick with her maiden powers moving her in the air, sending Jaune's shield flying to the far side of the room. There was a moment where she had to catch a slow return swing, but Cinder managed… That was until Jaune wound up and clocked her in the side of the jaw while pulling his sword back in.
Enraged by the undignified attack, Cinder tried to blast him with a plume of fire, but the blond knight was just a hair fast enough to drop to the floor, and roll out of the way, as Pyrrha took his place. Leaping into a shield bash, Pyrrha was able to stagger Cinder, and sweep her feet out from under her. With that single trip, the fall maiden was outmaneuvered, and put into a rear choke by the spartan woman. Defensively putting up her hand, Cinder was able to catch the blade of Milo, and with her semblance heat the metal into a liquid, causing Pyrrha to drop the melted and now fragmenting sword.
With her opening made, Cinder elbowed Pyrrha, and tossed the taller woman over her shoulder into the floor so hard that the tile cracked on impact. Dazed, Pyrrha felt a heel come into contact with her head. She rolled over with her vision blurred, and her aura low, only to be brought back to alertness by a shout from Jaune.
"AAAAAAAH!" Jaune yelled, as he came charging in. Cinder halted her next attack on the fallen spartan, and moved to blast the knight with twin jets of fire. Halted by the repulsive force, Jaune braced the knuckle of his sword hand against the upper edge of his shield, as the flames grew in intensity, until the heat was flared perpendicular from the surface of the metal protecting him. With one final burst, Cinder felt her body thrown away from the shield, as Jaune was tossed backwards, that one last increment of heat blowing out the glass windows in the room.
Jaune slammed into the wall, and slumped against it, his sword having left his hand, as his aura was now running low. The heat from Cinder's attack burned the paint off of his shield, and the center was glowing a dull red, heating up his forearm through the metal, to the point that his aura was being syphoned to heal the burn it was giving him. Looking up, as Cinder got to her feet, Jaune felt his aura finally break, and with hasty hands, he dropped his steaming hot shield. Cinder got to her feet, and in turn so did Jaune. Raising his fists, Jaune staggered, as Cinder took a step closer. "You're kidding? Are you really stupid enough to fight me, without an aura or a weapon?" She asked, as she kicked his sword away. "My mom always used to say stupid is as stupid does… So yeah, I'd say I'm stupid enough." Jaune said, as he started to move.
Cinder attempted to blast him with a fresh jet of fire, only for the blond boy to duck to the left and roll out of the way, hiding behind Ozpin's overturned metal and glass desk. Cinder turned to face the desk, and continued to blast it with fire. Jaune took three deep breaths, before he made a prayer. "Professor Warzenegger, don't fail me now." With a grunt, Jaune picked up the metal and cracked glass desk in a deadlift, and though he struggled to lift the 400 pounds, Jaune hefted it up to waist level, and lumbered toward Cinder, until he felt the desk leave his hands.
Pyrrha had grasped the desk with her semblance, and chucked it at Cinder. The fall maiden jumped clean over it, and once she landed, snatched a flying blade out of the air. Pyrrha had tried to use the desk as a distraction so she could throw Jaune's sword at her. And now, with the weapon, and Jaune trying to get the jump on her, she turned and swung low, digging the edge into Jaune's thigh. Shouting in pain, as Cinder let go of the blade, Jaune stumbled, and fell. Holding his sword in place to avoid worsening his injury, Jaune shuffled on his butt, and found his back to a wall once more.
Cinder smirked, as she turned to face Pyrrha, who stood behind her shield, quaking as it seemed. Cinder's smirk vanished when she realized that barring their armor weapons every bit of metal in the room was starting to vibrate, as Pyrrha strained herself mentally and physically. As a drop of blood ran from her nose, Pyrrha reached out, and ripped several heavy gears out of the wall, throwing them at Cinder, who ducked out of the way to avoid the disks of metal. The wall that the great cogs had come from began to crumble, and the roof sank inward, that was until Pyrrha, realizing her own mistake, forced all the metal reinforcing the stonework of the building's top floor and roof outwards from her body, causing the entire structure to seemingly explode.
At the base of the tower, the two members of SPGL and RWBY looked between each other, and Clayton nodded to Siniy. "Keep the base of the building secure. You do not leave without us." Clayton said, as an explosion cleared out half of the tower's top floor.
"On my life." Siniy said, as Clayton grabbed hold of Ruby.
"What are you doing?" Ruby asked, kicking her feet slightly as Clayton backed up into Siniy's hands.
"Riding the lightning." Clayton said, as the giant picked them up. Siniy took a few steps back, then at an incredibly steep angle, threw Clayton and Ruby into the air, sending them sailing at dangerous speeds towards the top of Beacon tower.
Debris fell, and a thick cloud of dust hung in the air. After such a monumental effort, Pyrrha felt her aura finally give out. There was a shrill whistle, then glowing hot pain shot through Pyrrha's heel, and she collapsed to her knees. As the haze of dust settled, Cinder approached, a bow made of glass in her hands, conjured from the same sediment that now coated the ground. "It's unfortunate that you were promised power that was never truly yours." Cinder said, as she stepped closer. "A shame you'll never understand how little you really mattered to those who promised it."
Looking up at Cinder, Pyrrha tried to stand, only to fall again. The maiden smirked. Unbeknownst to her, a gloved hand firmly grasped a chunk of concrete. Cinder felt a blunt object strike her in the back of the head, and though it hurt a little, it didn't do much more than distract her. Turning to face Jaune, she saw that though he sat there against the wall, he had a few more pieces of rubble. "And it'll be a tragedy, that neither of you will live to see just what my mistress has planned for this power." Cinder said, as she turned once more to Pyrrha, preparing a new arrow, as Jaune threw more bits of stone at her in a futile effort to stop the death of his partner.
Suddenly from below, a war cry pierced the air… "AAAAAAH AHUHUHUUUUUUU AAAHUHUHUHU!"
"Clayton!?" Jaune shouted as the gorilla faunus and the Red Reaper came sailing to the top of Beacon Tower. Cinder let the arrow she had knocked fly, striking Pyrrha in the abdomen, as she turned to block the incoming axe swing from Clayton, and the swipe Ruby made when she landed early.
Swifter than the gorilla faunus, Cinder conjured a fresh blade as he shattered hers, and made wide slices at him, chipping at his aura faster than the slower slugger could keep up with. Forcing herself to strike harder with each attack, Cinder pushed Clayton to the limit's of his semblance, all while fancifully avoiding Ruby's attacks. With one well placed kick, Cinder sent Ruby flying over the edge. "RUBY!" Clayton shouted, before taking a heavy slash to the face from Cinder, the blade breaking against his aura.
"You know, I'm getting really tired of fighting you whelps." Cinder said, turning and finding that Ruby had just enough practice with her warping to have made it back to the edge of the tower. Facing Clayton again, now with less than a foot of space between him and the ledge, Cinder superheated the ground at his feet, and ignited the floor. Clayton was pushed back by the blast, and sent sailing over the edge of the tower. Shocked more than anything, Clayton maintained his grip on his weapon, and tried to strike the tower to slow or stop his fall. Missing by just an inch, Clayton's eyes went wide as he felt his speed increase.
Ruby had tried to catch him. She rushed to the far edge of the tower, and leaned out over the side, disregarding the fact Cinder was right behind her still, Crescent Rose extended, only for him to slip by her. She looked away, not wanting to see him hit the ground. She'd already seen Yang a bloody mess, her boyfriend being taken away from her on the same day was a thought she couldn't bear. Stairing out at the dark night horizon, Ruby felt tears well up in her eye.
Finding the failure of the Red Reaper to be slightly ammusing, and finally having gained a small victory in this long fight, Cinder laughed. "Apparently even monkey's fall from trees." She said with a smirk, as Ruby stood up.
"Clayton isn't a monkey..." Ruby muttered. "You just took away the one person I cared about most." Ruby turned around, eyes flickering with a metallic black sheen. Cinder honestly didn't know what to make of that… Was she not a silver eyed warrior? Did they not glow white with the light of the world? Ruby looked over at Jaune, and Pyrrha, who was whimpering in pain at her gut shot. Locking her gaze with Jaune's, she nodded to the elevator shaft.
Jaune understood well enough. He'd done his part, he'd bought enough time for the backup to arrive, now his efforts were best spent pulling Pyrrha out of the line of fire, and out of the clock tower. Pulling his sword from his leg, and gathing the two's discarded shield, Jaune used a loose elevator cable as a rappelling line. The blond knight, tied the corded metal to a bit of sturdy rebar sticking out of the crubling wall, and as Pyrrha held onto him, he quickly and carfully took them down to a floor with a functioning public lift.
Ruby turned her attention back to Cinder. "I'm gonna rip you in half now." Ruby said breathlessly, before bursting forward with her semblance. Out of ammo, Ruby swung Crescent Rose with nothing but muscle and motivation. The tip of her blade had started moving so quickly that on one swing it broke the sound barrier, and on impact an explosion cracked through the air.
Having had enough of the extended fight, Cinder attempted to use her newfound Maiden powers on the younger girl. Rising off the floor, an ethereal glow surrounded Cinder, and fire leapt from her hands in a display of her magic. "Stupid Girl." Cinder said, before an Atlesian airship made a low pass, and now beside the huntress in training, stood a man in a familiar black coat. Pausing for a second, Cinder looked at the man, as Ruby turned to face him, noticing his eyes. "Black?" Cinder asked, as the man seemingly pulled a hat out of nowhere, and placed it on his head.
"Cinder." Rot said, tipping his brim to her.
"What are you doing?" The maiden asked, clenching her fists.
Rot cracked his neck, then looked over at Ruby.
"Honoring an old deal." Rot said, before locking eyes with Cinder. From his glossy pupils a light shown through, and the film of his eyes began to burn, the dim glow growing in luminosity, as his irises started producing light as well. "What is this?!" Cinder asked, as the light started growing brighter, nearly blinding.
"Stings doesn't it?" Rot said, a bloody tear leaking from the edge of his eye, as they became consumed by light.
Cinder directed a blast of fire at Rot, only for the flames to trickle away as it came closer, the white light growing brighter. "You have no power here. Not before me. I'd have been willing to fight you if you got that magic fair and square, but since you sold your soul to the darkness, decided to embrace one of her "gifts," I'm not playing fair." Rot, said, as Cinder felt herself fall, the fire she'd used to suspend herself snuffed out.
"Silver eyed warrior." Cindered muttered.
"Warrior is a gross understatement... You tell the Witch, her days are numbered." Rot commented, as he kicked up the intensity of his stare, the light becoming so bright, nobody could see.
The next thing Ruby knew, she was standing at the base of Beacon Tower. Looking around, she found Weiss and Siniy, but Clayton was nowhere to be seen. Looking up, Ruby noticed her boyfriend was somehow still falling. She shook Weiss's shoulder. "Weiss, save him!" Ruby shouted, pointing out Clayton. Weiss looked shocked to see Ruby, but acted quickly when she realized Team SPGL's leader was coming in hot. Creating a glyph, Weiss repelled Clayton before he could hit the ground, drastically slowing his fall.
Once his feet were firmly planted, Clayton looked at Ruby like he was seeing a ghost. "Ruby? How did you?..." Clayton asked, trailing off in confusion.
"What happened?" Weiss asked.
"I got blown off the edge, Cinder was… She was up there with Ruby, and… Of fuck, Jaune and Pyrrha!" Clayton said, only for the two injured hunters to stumble out of the building. They looked just as surprised to see Ruby as the others had been.
"What is going on?" Ruby asked, before from the top of the building, a bright white light pierced through the dark sky, shining outwards from Beacon's tallest tower like a sign from the gods, as Vale's night became day if only for a moment. Ruby was quick to realize that something impossible had happened… She'd gone back in time, if only by about two minutes. "We need to leave." Ruby said, as Siniy and Clayton helped carry Pyrrha and Jaune back to the evacuation point. As they quickly walked, Ruby turned to see the grimm dragon that had been flying around, coming to rest atop the tower, slowly turning to stone as it roared at the now dimming light.
Stressed. Teams RWBY, JNPR, and SPGL were all admitted to Vale General Hospital Emergency room, with a few of their members in the ICU, and all of them were very stressed. The triage tents that littered the parking lot housed any number of lesser injured from the fall of Beacon, as the more gravely wounded were taken into the building… Or kept on ice in the basment.
The most relatively uninjured members of the group stood outside the operating room Yang was in. Ruby wasn't crying now… Reality had set in. It wasn't likely her sister had even survived the trip from the landing pad to the hospital. Clayton gave her what comfort he could. Halcyone was leaning against the wall, trying to hide her worry and despair. She'd only been dating Yang for a few months, but that didn't matter. It was her girlfriend in that room… She had a right to worry.
Siniy had gone to his knees, palms up, arms resting against his thighs. He was praying for his friend in Cyrillic. Weiss had decided to join him. She still couldn't understand everything Siniy was silently whispering, but made up for it by whispering in Old Atlesian. She prayed for all her friends, not just Yang. Blake was having her intestines put back together. Jaune needed more stitches for his leg than seemed possible, Pyrrha was on a ventilator after it was found out the glass arrow she'd been hit with had shattered and cavitated up into her left lung. Nora and Ren were being treated for a few broken ribs, and light internal bleeding… Then there was Pale. He had some slight bruising, and a possible broken nose… But that wasn't her concern… Pale was going to be taken into custody and would be extradited to Minstrel for his White Fang murder streak back in Anima. Siniy was still suspected of being an escaped convict, and Blake had been exposed as an international terrorist.
Still on her knees, praying with her boyfriend, Weiss didn't notice when a messenger sent by her father had come to get her. Looking up, and recognizing the man, she glanced around at her friends, and stood. "What's wrong?" Ruby asked.
"It's… Father. He's come to take me back to Atlas." Weiss said. Ruby and the three members of SPGL looked between each other. Clayton pulled Siniy and Ruby aside. "I don't want to go." Weiss muttered to herself.
A few meters down the hallway, Ruby gave a pleading look to Clayton, and the Gorilla faunus sighed. "We can't legally do anything to keep her here, Atlas law dictates adulthood to be age 20. Her dad's technically got every right in the world to bring her home…" Clayton said, as Siniy smashed his balled hand into the wall, cracking the white painted cinder block.
"Let me go with her." Siniy said, looking down at his team leader.
"Siniy, we're going to need you here." Clayton said.
Siniy shook his head. "And she will need me in Atlas… And… I need her."
Clayton sighed. Though they weren't public, Clayton had a sneaking suspicion his teammate was dating his girlfriend's partner for at least a week. "Look man, I get it, you love her, and can't let her go, Ruby and I are the same way… But, she's going home to Jacques Schnee… Is that really a man you should be anywhere near?" Clayton asked.
"That's precisely why I should be with her." Siniy said, looking over his shoulder. Clayton looked down the hall at Weiss, and sighed again. Weiss didn't look thrilled to be going home.
"Go on then… We'll see each other again… Maybe someday the rest of the team will come up to Atlas." Clayton said, clapping Siniy on the arm, as Ruby stepped forward.
"That's my partner… Keep her safe." Ruby said, as Siniy took a knee, and bowed his head.
"I would die for her, as I would die for the rest of you…" Siniy said, before standing and looking at his leader. "In the next life my friend."
Clayton gave a nod and a chuckle. "Hopefully not." He returned, as the big bear of the team walked with Weiss out of the hospital.
Clayton had left the hallway to check in on Pale, only to find the bed he was supposed to be cuffed to completely empty. The handcuff had blood on it, and had been slipped through. "Shit." Clayton said, as he turned to go find Blake's room. If there was one thing a mentally unstable racist with a hate boner for the White Fang would do after everything that went down at Beacon, it would easily be revenge… Rushing to where Blake was supposed to be, though not acting as if there was any pertinent issue to prevent a panic, Clayton took his shotgun off his back, and kept it half hidden in his tailcoat should he need to draw. Opening the door to Blake's room, Clayton found her bed to be empty as well. Clayton poked around, looking for signs of a struggle, only to cuss, realizing that Blake had run off.
"We've got a problem." Clayton said, pulling Halcyone and Ruby away from the door Yang was behind.
"What happened now?" Ruby asked.
"Blake and Pale are missing." Clayton said quietly.
"What?!" Ruby asked, in a hurried whisper, as she looked at her boyfriend with slight irritation. Rightfully so, his partner was a crazed gunman loose in Vale, and her teammate was an obvious target for whatever lingering hatred the white sniper had.
"I don't think Blake knows she's being followed… But I think she was trying to get away from us all." Clayton said.
"Why would she do that?" Ruby asked. Halcyone shrugged.
"Blake's… Look, I think she ran because she doesn't want any of us being fat honking targets. Think about it. White Fang defectors are pretty regularly executed, and usually friends hang together." Halcyone said with a shrug.
"And Pale, he's your partner?" Ruby asked. Clayton scratched the back of his head.
"He… Once asked if I had any advice for a legal defense… His list of crimes is pretty long, and I wouldn't put it past him if he just ran from the law… As to whether or not he's going after Blake I've got no evidence for, but it's more likely than I want to admit." Clayton said. Ruby rubbed her face with both hands.
From behind them, the door to the operating room opened. Ruby spun in place to see one of the physician's assistants exit the room. The trio had a slew of questions, but it was unconsciously decided Ruby would be allowed to ask hers first. "Is she... Dead?" The assistant took a breath. It was a miracle in it's own right that Yang made it out of Beacon. Quadruple amputation, right arm just above the elbow, left arm about a hands length above the wrist, left leg about six inches from the groin, and the right was gone from the top of the shin down. Multiple third degree burns at the sights of injury. Internal shrapnel damage from the shotgun gauntlet that was struck cooking off all it's ammo at once, more broken bones than the assistant could count on the X-ray, including a few in her lumbar, and a pea sized chunk of metal stuck in her frontal lobe.
"She's alive, but just barely… Clinically she was dead for the 30 minutes it took her to get here. She was lucky enough to have been a popsicle when she came to us. The doctor's have her on blood products, and put her in a medically induced coma for now, if she wakes up, she runs the risk of healing something wrong with her aura alone, and that's not something we can risk. She's being put on antibiotics to stave off infection, and when she does wake up she'll be prescribed some of the strongest pain meds on the planet, and the hospital is willing to provide a wheelchair." The assistant said.
"Wheelchair?" Halcyone asked.
"The… The limbs brought to us can not be reattached." The assistant said.
"Can not be reattached? That's why we grabbed them in the first place." Halcyone said, clenching her fists.
"We're not Atlas. Extensive tissue damage is something even their doctors would have a hard time dealing with." The assistant said. Halcyone shook her head.
"Then… What about prosthetics, I've met a few people, even in Vacuo that have decent cybernetic replacements." Halcyone said.
"If someone is willing to pay millions of lien to outfit Miss Xiao Long with custom fit replacement for all of her limbs, that's entirely up to them, but the crux of the issue is without systemic work, she's unlikely to ever even walk again. And again, that's if she wakes up. She has extensive internal damage and may need transplants or replacements on top of everything else, but that is something that we do, and have the capacity to fix right now that her health insurance can cover."
That statement hit Ruby hard. Her sister, one of the four people she called family, might have been taken from her, the lights left on, but with nobody home. "Then. Fix. it." Ruby said, balling her fists.
"Miss, I'm sorry, but that's not something we can just do… There is a piece of shrapnel in her head. It's scheduled to be removed, but her waking up is something we have no control over. And again, that's if she can pull through the rest of the surgeries." The assistant said as politely as they could. The assistant walked away, as Ruby stood still, fists shaking as a silent storm of emotions and thoughts ran through her...
Two weeks had passed before Yang came out of her coma, and she was sent home after two weeks of further treatment. While she was unconscious she had several feet of blood vessels, the lower half of her right lung, a kidney, and a quarter of her liver replaced with synthetic components to keep her alive outside of the hospital. Though she was happy to be home, the world around her felt dull. Coming to terms with her own injuries, and the shattered state of her team and her friends was something that Yang she'd never get over. Team JNPR had made it a point to visit her when they had recovered and she was home, but outside of her room, her friends were making plans.
It was decided in short order that someone had to answer for everything that happened at Beacon. Team CMNE was clearly behind the Fall of Beacon, and Ruby and Clayton fully intended to find out why they did it. Team JNPR had decided to go to Haven with them. If for no other reason than because their friends needed them...
In a hideout on a west coast border town outside of Vale, Roman tended to Rot's wounds, changing out the bandages covering the elderly man's eyes. "Neo back yet?" Rot asked.
"No… You going to tell me what exactly burned out your eye's or are you going to sulk more, it's been over a month." Roman said, as his associate chuckled.
"I'm guessing you've never heard of a negative feedback loop?" Rot asked. Roman just hummed, before both of them sensed danger. Rot sat up from his bed, and turned his head to Roman. "Hazel." Rot said breathlessly, before on instinct, he vanished from the building, only to clutch at his head, reminding himself to grab Roman. Appearing back in the room, a man standing 8 feet tall kicked the door in.
Roman jumped away from his spot beside Rot's bed, as Rot appeared in a different part of the room to avoid being hit by the door he could not see. "Roman?!" Rot shouted, hand held out to feel around for his friend.
"Rot, who the fuck is-HUUUURK?!" Roman said, being cut off as Hazel grabbed the crook by his neck.
"Hazel, stop this! Stop this madness!" Rot shouted in Hazel's direction based on where Roman's voice was coming from.
"You're still kicking old man… Mhhh." Hazel said before looking at Roman, his eyes pleading with the giant man to release him. "I should have killed you a decade ago." Hazel said to the elder, before snapping Roman's neck.
Rot heard Roman hit the floor, and the old man reached out to his friend, before turning his back and appearing aboard a ship in the middle of the ocean. Resting his arms against the railing of the ship, Rot clutched at his head, and if he could, he'd have cried. Rot made several more aimless appearances, until he felt like he was in the right place. Without his eyes he was limited to his memory, and at best appearing at a desired location he had no directional knowledge of could take days of guesswork while out of existence. He'd never been to Patch before, and was hoping he wasn't too far off the mark. Taking a single step, Rot felt the absence of snow crunch under his boot… Three months between a jump at least. It was March… The cancer was getting worse. He couldn't be seen in daylight, placing his hat atop his head, he cast a shadow over his face, and made another jump.
Author's note. Well would you look at that, V3's complete. So, who knows why Ruby's eyes flashed black instead of her going all full blown plot weapon? I DO!
In all seriousness, the decision to have Ruby not use her eyes here came from the fact that everything has changed, and I was trying to un-Mary Sue her ass pull at the top of the tower, and give that victory to someone who is older and more experienced. We won't see her use her eyes until much later.
Jaune's a better fighter here than he was in the show because of his own dedication to become a great hunter. He's studying for fun, going to the gym with the damn terminator, and is practicing even more with not only Pyrrha, but other friends in combat class. He's more confident as a result, and when it's time for Pyrrha to try and buy everyone time, he doesn't let her go it alone, because he's not getting blindsided by her affections toward him since that's already been taken care of at the dance. Belive me when I say, I'm really trying to avoid both the cringy wuss cannon Jaune, and the cringy OP Fanfic Jaune. Finding a nice mid ground for him is the goal, there will be some crazy shit, like say, taking on (spoilers) But nothing like solo fighting Salem.
He and Pyrrha still both get injured, but with Clayton and Ruby's "Polar Bear Express" flight up to the top of beacon, they are able to escape before anyone can die. And in comes the cavalry to save the back up. Rot appears with his semblance and gives Ruby a chance to run while unleashing the power of silver eyes onto Cinder, burning his eyes out of his head in the prosses, because of what Salem did to them 10 years ago... If you know about what the Nazi's did trying to create blue eyed Arians, you will understand. As anyone who watches Dr. Who can guess, Rot's semblance isn't just teleportation.
PM me, who thought I was going to kill Yang?
As for Roman still being killed. This is one of those, the more that changes the more stays the same, kind of things. Roman might not have been eaten by a grimm, but with his betrayal, Hazel was sent after him and Rot, which leads to the gangster getting his neck snapped.
For those of you who didn't like V4 and 5 because they were slow, scattered, messes, don't worry. I challenged myself to split the story up into three separate mini volumes, so the entire volume only focusses on one story line at once, before moving to the next, and it's done in chronological order. Starting off with Pale's revenge, and Blake traveling to Menagerie. It's going to be a Hell of a ride.