Prim-Arc

by vixvix

Sanguinius dies but The Emperor salvages his dead son's soul, or at least as much of it as possible and send it to Remnant. 10.000 years later Jaune Arc is born and he grows up wishing to become a hero. Pity that The Emperor's soul-salvaging plans didn't quite work out. See how the young knight deals with mutations, personal issues, love, duties and old memories of a dead Primarch.

25. Chapter 24: A promise of angels

Well, this is it! The chapter you've all been waiting for! The Emperor's avenging angels of death are coming to Remnant!
In this chapter: crazy Roman! Jaune makes a speech and the forces of chaos keep messing with poor Pyrrha's head.
Also, this was a big one. over 22.000 words for a second time. Now let's get it on!

---

Chapter 24: A promise of angels

---

It was time. Nothing seemed to be off as the remaining competitors stood in the arena, waiting for the pairing to be done.
Pyrrha had briefly scanned the crowd, looking for one of the suspected conspirators among all the people there. She hadn't seen any of them. Then again, her looking for them might tip the villains off. Thus Pyrrha decided to just focus on the selection for now.

Most of the competitors seemed to be calm, excited even. But Pyrrha felt uneasy. She tried to hide it as best she could, putting on the same face she had every time she had partaken in the Mistral tournament.

The selection for the night's first match came to a conclusion.

Like Pyrrha and her friends had suspected one of the fighters for tonight's fight was Pyrrha.
The other one was Penny. Not surprising, like Pyrrha she was well liked by the audience.
It was to be suspected of Cinder Fall to ruin this girl's reputation as well or worse.

Cinder Fall, the name made Pyrrha ball her fists and taste bile in her throat.
She would be stopped. Pyrrha would not let her succeed in her plans, whatever they were.
Then she would have to make a decision about the Maiden…

Pyrrha snapped out of her lamentations. She had a match right now to focus on. If Cinder and her lackeys got suspicious they might not reveal themselves.
'Buuut Aaambeeerrrrr…' whispered a tiny voice in her head. 'Youuu muuussst chooose…'

The two fighters got on the stage and greeted each other.
Pyrrha only glanced into Penny's eyes due to her distress. She didn't notice anything odd about the girl. She didn't even size the girl up for the fight like she usually did with her opponents.
'Sloooppyyy… Aaand yoouuu woould bee aa Maaaiiideeen...'

Penny waved to someone in the audience, Pyrrha didn't know to whom. She couldn't bring herself to care about it right now.

Penny seemed oblivious to Pyrrha's distress.

Was the girl happy about this? About Pyrrha's state of mind?
No, the girl was just is this way. She meant no harm. Penny might have appeared a bit odd but hey, she was Ruby's friend after all.
Upon closer scrutiny, maybe Penny's mannerism was a bit odd. Even for one of Ruby's friends.

Pyrrha bit the inside of her cheek. She didn't want to hurt Ruby's friend but she realized that she couldn't pull her punches in this fight.
Not because Penny was strong but rather because her holding back might tip Cinder off to the fact that Pyrrha knew something. If Pyrrha was to lure Cinder out of hiding she couldn't pull her punches.

Penny stepped forward, having waved to the audience enough.
"It is an honor to face you like this, Pyrrha. Please give it your all."

Pyrrha smiled at this. She had always appreciated polite opponents.
"Likewise"
She barely managed to hide the unease in her voice.

"This will be fun." said Penny and walked over to her side of the ring, getting ready.

---

Ruby walked around an entrance to the arena.
All seemed to be in order as she scanned her surroundings.

The 'squad' was in place, evenly spread out among the audience. All knew their their roles and were ready to spring into action if anything happened.

Ruby shifted her gaze to the arena.
Like Jaune had suspected Pyrrha was chosen. And then Penny.
Ruby didn't know who to cheer on due to the circumstances or if she should sheer at all. She had hoped that Pyrrha's opponent would be Sun as he was in on the plan.
Ruby decided to wave, if only to keep up the facade, to both Pyrrha and Penny but only Penny waved back.

Ruby smiled back but not for long.
Now two of her friends were at risk for whatever Cinder had in mind for them. That made Ruby even more worried about all of this.

Urged on by this fact Ruby doubled her efforts to scan the crowd while also trying to seem inconspicuous.
By sheer luck she spotted a head of mint green hair.
Ruby looked more carefully and thought that she had just spotted Emerald.
… And that Emerald had spotted her in turn.

For an instant it seemed like Emerald glared at her.
Then the girl disappeared. It was like she never had been there to begin with.
To Ruby it seemed to be an empty seat were Emerald had been.

'Illusions!'
Ruby tried to compose herself and calmly walked away, pretending to simply having been confused by blinking and rubbing her eyes.
She couldn't let Emerald know that she had actually seen her.
She ducked away to a gate to inform the others of what she had seen, out of sight.

That's when she spotted Mercury heading into a service corridor.
Just like Jaune had said, Mercury Black was not at Haven, but here in the arena. And he looked as if he was up to something.

Should she call the other? Let them know that Mercury was here? But then he might slip away.

Suspicion got the better of Ruby and she made the decision to follow him.
There was still time before the match started. She could still manage.

Surely, he must be up to something!

Ruby followed the same corridor as Mercury, hoping that she could corner and catch him.
At the very least she could try to see what he was up to. If not, she could always run away.

Ruby didn't know how but for a moment she thought she had lost him going through a door.
She ran up to the door as silently as she could, not wanting him to realize that she was there or that she was following him.
She tried to open the door but it wouldn't budge.

"What's this? A little red riding hood?" asked Mercury with a mocking voice from the same corridor that Ruby had just walked. He had noticed her following him after all.

She snapped around and saw his smug, condescending grin.

Ruby did not like the look on Mercury's face, the way he looked down on her.
"I wonder whatever you're doing here. Shouldn't good kids be out there, cheering on their friends?" he taunted.

He planted himself firmly in the middle of the corridor leading back to the arena.
"Then again, someone so young as you probably shouldn't see something so gruesome. Not a good match-up for that Polendina girl. I mean magnetic chick against a chick with metal wires. Not a good match-up at all. Would be a 'shame' if she ended up garroting herself on those wires."

Ruby was processing what she had just heard. They knew about Pyrrha's semblance!
Never mind Pyrrha accidentally garroting Penny. Penny was a machine made of metal! Pyrrha's polarity could destroy her!

Ruby moved to get back to the arena before the fight began.
Mercury stopped her, blocking her path with ease. He wasn't going to let her go.

Grim realization dawned on Ruby. Penny was in mortal danger. She had to stop the match!

Then she heard the voice of Oobleck starting the countdown for the match.

"3, 2, 1... BEGIN!"

"No!" she shouted.
She was too late to stop it!

She tried desperately to come up with a way to get past Mercury but came up blank.
She didn't have Crescent Rose with her but Mercury's weapons were in his boots and he was much more skilled than her. He controlled the only path she could take.
There was nothing she could do.

"Ruby! Go!" shouted the gruff voice of uncle Qrow, coming up from behind Mercury, weapon drawn and ready.

Using her Semblance she bolted past the distracted Mercury before he could stop her as Qrow let out a battle cry, striking against Mercury.

She followed the same route she had used to get here in order to get back to the arena. Getting lost meant being late and she could not afford that. Not now!

---

Pyrrha's point of view

---

Everything seemed to be in order so far.
Even so the Invincible Girl was hard pressed against Penny. Pyrrha just couldn't focus on the match like she usually could.
Images of Amber kept popping up in her head no matter how hard she tried to put them under a lid.
'Iiiff yoouu taaake heeerrr powerrrr - yoouu taaakeee heeerrr liiifffe…'

Penny is a very tough opponent as to be expected. Her defenses were especially difficult to deal with. Pyrrha couldn't land any direct hits to Penny's actual body. The blades the girl used were only part of her weapons, they consisted of wires as well.
And it was the wires that were the problem!

They were strong enough to absorb Pyrrha's blows but flexible enough not to break under the strain.

'Uuunliiike yoouuu…' whispered a voice of self doubt in Pyrrha's head.
The memory of her slamming Jaune into a column earlier flashed in her mind.
'Youuu diiidn't eeeven haaave theee pooweeerrr yeet aaand youu stiiilll snaaapped…'

Pyrrha scolded herself for not focusing on the match.
The wires of Penny's weapons could take whatever punishment Pyrrha could dish out apparently.
That didn't seem to be the case with Pyrrha's weapon, Miló.

Pyrrha jumped away from Penny, gaining some distance from the girl. The black shine of her semblance appeared on Miló. Pyrrha didn't even notice activating her semblance. Had she just twisted her own weapon and then restored them?
Pyrrha hoped she had done it right if she had. It was a delicate process and had to be done carefully lest the weapon lose its rifle and spear mode.

Weapons hopefully mended Pyrrha focused on the fight again.
Penny was up to something. That much was clear.

Once again Penny sent her blades towards Pyrrha who dashed toward her opponent, deflecting with Akoúo̱ and dodging the oncoming blades. Realizing it to be impossible to get within sword fighting distance of Penny She let Miló change into a javelin and managed to get in a few blows, knocking the girl back.

A few of penny's blades came flying at Pyrrha, forcing her to cease her assault.
She didn't relent and continued after Penny who had begun to shoot at her with laser fire.

Ducking, dodging and blocking Penny's assault Pyrrha managed to once again knock Penny back.

Finally, she was getting into the fight proper, even if it was a bit too late.
The faint smile Pyrrha had on her face disappeared as she saw Penny getting up again only to then launch herself up into the air using her weapons' laser fire to propel herself.

'Doesn't this girl ever run out out energy?' thought Pyrrha as Penny dived down at her.
Pyrrha barely managed to roll away in time but two of Penny's swords came in from a dead angle and knocked Akoúo̱ and Miló from her hands.

Before she could pull them back with her semblance did Penny attack again, forcing Pyrrha to redirect Penny weapon first.
Penny just grinned.
'Shee knooowsss hooowww piityfuullll youuu aaaare…'

Penny raised her arms and several of her swords appeared above her, ready to strike.
Pyrrha counted them quickly. Eight in total, too many for her to dodge and she could't block them without either Akoúo̱ or Miló if they all came for her at the same time.

Then something happened. The eight blades became double that. Then they became more again, and again and… and…
Soon Pyrrha could not see the crowd past the blades.

She took a step backwards and then another. Her heart was beating fast and hard in her chest.
Adrenalin was running through her blood. Her mind was set to fight or flight but she tried to keep a hold of her reasoning.

She knew this wasn't real. Jaune had deduced that the enemy had an illusionist at their disposal. She knew this had to be an illusion. A trick.
'Ooorrrrr iiiisssss iiittt...?'

With a flourish of her hands Penny set the swords at Pyrrha.
Outgunned, unarmed and without Akoúo̱ to defend herself with Pyrrha did the only thing she could.
She reached deep within, calling forth her semblance.

She knew that in reality it couldn't be more than eight swords heading toward her.
But which ones of all of these were those eight swords?
Primal survival instinct took over and she spread her arms to unleash her semblance with all she had.

Just then, she felt something grab her knocking her to the ground.
"Pyr! Stop it!"

She opened her eyes. The hundreds of blades were gone…

---

Ruby ran. She ran faster than she had ever ran before in her entire life.
She had gotten past Mercury thanks to Qrow but now she had to get to the arena before it was too late.

Exiting the corridor she briefly stopped for a moment to see what was going on.
Where was Pyrrha? Where was Penny? Were they still okay?

Her heart froze for a moment as she saw an unarmed Pyrrha backing away from Penny.
'It's happening!'

Ruby sprang into action, not caring if Emerald or Cinder noticed her actions.
She saw Pyrrha bringing her arms closer to her, preparing for an attack.

'Faster! FASTER!'
Down the stairs. Past the crowd. Up the ring.

Ruby ran into Penny in a cloud of petals, driving the girl down to the floor. She felt something grace her and pulling at Penny.
She opened her eyes. Penny was still there.

"Friend Ruby? Oh, I seem to have lost one of my arms. That is alarming, issss iiit nnnooot..."

"Penny?"

Ruby looked down at Penny's form. Indeed one of her arms was missing among other things, having been torn by Penny's own wires by Pyrrha's semblance.
Ruby saw wires and mechanical parts hanging lose from their proper places.

"Power core disrupted. Entering sleep mode." said an automated voice, not from Penny's mouth.

'Okay. sleep mode is better than dead. This can be fixed. Nothing to worry about.' thought Ruby as she got back up on her feet, careful not to damage Penny further.

She looked around. Jaune was getting up as well, having tackled Pyrrha at about the same time as Ruby had hit Penny.
Had he not, perhaps Penny wouldn't simply be damaged but broken beyond repair.

---

Pyrrha looked around from the floor. She didn't understand what was going on.
The blades were gone. The illusion was gone.

Pyrrha looked at Penny who was on the ground with Ruby. Penny seemed made of metal and wires and the light in her eyes seemed to be dimming.
Her body was damaged and she seemed to be missing an arm.
'Did I do that? Why didn't I notice?'

Jaune was holding onto her, getting up.
"It's was illusion! It wasn't real. Why didn't you just stand down when you saw it?"
He had noticed her focus shift from where the actual swords were. That' what had tipped him off.

"I- I-"
Pyrrha couldn't form sentences. She was still shocked from seeing the damaged Penny and tears ran down her cheeks.
What had she done? What had she been thinking? This wasn't supposed to happen.
She was supposed to be better than this!

'Aaand yoouuu aaarrreee sssupposssseeed tooo bee theee Maideeen…'

There was a yelp from the crowd. Pyrrha's head snapped around.
Her breath hitched, her eyes narrowed and her nails dug into her skin in anger.
There was Emerald, the one whose fault everything was.

Around Emerald was CRDL, looking mighty smug with themselves.
Cardin had grabbed hold of the girl's hair and pulled hard, breaking the girl's concentration but also her illusion.
The girl wasn't going anywhere but that didn't mean everything was okay.

Pyrrha turned to once again look at Penny.
Nora had joined Ruby and was looking over the machi-, no! They were looking over the girl Penny! Penny didn't move but Nora looked up to Pyrrha with a smile.

"She is only in sleep mode!" shouted Nora

"That's grand." whispered Pyrrha.
It was a huge relief.

---

Cardin was smiling his widest grin ever.
He and his posse, in the Lord Primarch's and The Emperor's service, had caught their quarry.
He was holding tightly onto Emerald's hair, not letting go.

"Well, what did I tell you? The Lord Primarch was right."
He tightened his grip on Emerald
"And you will have a lot to answer for."

Emerald didn't answer. The haze from the blow that had first broken her concentration before the thug grabbed her hair was leaving her, letting her think again.
Her eyes were filled with tears from the pain of having her hair almost pulled off her scalp.

When she opened her eyes they were filled with fear. She was figuring out what had happened:
The Rose girl reacting to her, the placement of the Beacon students, Arc's and Rose's intervention in the match, CRDL seizing her.
'We were found out!'

She had to get away! To get to safety.
Hopefully Mercury had made it out. He could spring her out of this.

Before anyone could do anything else, the speakers came to life and all heard the voice of Cinder Fall.

"This is not a tragedy. This was not an accident. This was bound to happen from the moment you put your trust, your safety and your children, in those who claim to be our defenders, but are, in reality, only human."

---

"Dammit! Shut it down!" shouted Oobleck to the technical staff.

This was beyond bad.
The entire world had watched Penny Polendina get torn apart by Pyrrha Nikos.
The students had jumped up on the stage and now someone was hacking into their systems, whipping up fear and terror among the people.

"We can't! We don't have control of the cameras anymore! We can't stop it!

"What!?"

---

Cinder Fall smirked as she held up her scroll before her. Mercury might not have been there to help her with this but that didn't matter. She had planned all she needed.
Now she held the ear of all of Remnant.

"Our Academies' Headmasters wield more power than most armies, and one was audacious enough to control both.

They cling to this power in the name of peace, and yet, what have we seen here? What are the headmasters teaching his students?
First we see a dismemberment, and now this? A nation's attempt at a synthetic soldier, disguised as an innocent little girl?
But for what would Atlas need such a weapon for? To hide among human? To wait until it is time to strike? I am almost glad it was torn apart."

"But who did the tearing? Who was it that tried to tear a little girl apart if not the star pupil of Beacon? To me it didn't seem like she hesitated in doing it.
Are not Huntsmen and Huntresses supposed to carry themselves with honor and mercy, none of which I've seen here.
And now our supposed Angel is standing with her. I wonder, did he want this?"

Jaune's eyes narrowed at Cinder's words.
He couldn't spot her anywhere. She must be hiding away from everybody else.
That meant he couldn't just drag her to justice before the crowd right there and then.

"Or how about the other rabid students that Ozpin teaches, that strike unarmed and downed foes without remorse?
And then there is the headmasters and generals who have promised to protect everyone but neglect to do so."

The audience slowly but surely began to panic.
It started as a whisper of concern. Then it became a murmur of worry. Then it was spoken words of fear. And finally it became shouts of panic.

Having had enough of Cinder Jaune stepped up.
His patience for this shadow play was at an end.
Cinder's charades reminded him a bit too much of Kyriss, that wretched daemon he had eventually decapitated on Signus Prime.
Perhaps he would eventually do the same to Cinder.
"CINDER FALL!"

His shout silenced all other voices in the arena.
"Enough with your lies, Cinder Fall!"

He looked around, flexing his wings to get everyone's attention.
"All you have seen, all you have heard, is a lie! What you have seen was indeed no accident. It was planned by none other than Cinder Fall!"

There was a gasp going through the crowd as the people didn't know what to believe.
Jaune continued, ignoring the questions being thrown at him.

"She speaks of the honor and mercy of the hunters but who is she to judge when she won't even show herself, only working from the shadows!?"
He made a short pause, letting his words sink o the crowd.

Before he could continue Cinder cut him off.
"And what of the madwoman Xiao Long? What of the would-be murderer Nikos? They still maimed and dismembered Black and the machine Penny." said Cinder over the speakers, trying to maintain her narrative of what was happening.
At her hide-away Cinder was reeling. She hadn't expected something like this. How did he know it was her?

Jaune did not falter in the face of Cinder's retort.
"Yang is not some madwoman. Pyrrha is not a murderer. I will see their names cleared before this is done!"

Cinder had to stop this! Arc knew of her plans! There couldn't be any other explanation for all of this!
Cinder tried to cut the feed but found that she couldn't. Someone else had hijacked her!
'The third party!'

The cameras all fixed on Jaune as he continued.
"People of Remnant. All you have seen, all the tragedies that have happened here, Cinder Fall is the one behind everything."

He gestured over to Penny's damaged form.
"This and the slandering of Yang Xiao Long, both these tragic matches were just part of a plan to bring the grimm here. A plan and a lie that you, the people of Remnant, are buying into with gusto!"

Jaune spoke the words with contempt. Indeed, the people of Remnant had been all too eager to trust in Cinder's lies.
The murmur in the crowd died away as they were ashamed of having been led astray so easily.

"These matches, from the ones that went wrong to this one happened because of foul trickery - by the robbing of peoples' very faculties!
How else do you think Yang Xiao-Long would attack Black? She thought she was attacked and defended herself.
Why else do you think Coco and Yatsuhashi, two of Beacon's best, would lose so badly or act so strangely?
Why do you think Pyrrha Nikos, the champion of Mistral, would do THIS?"

He pointed at Penny and the still sobbing Pyrrha.
"Does this look like a psychopath to you?"

No one dared to say anything.
"This happened because their minds were meddled with. And she was the one who did it!"

He pointed at Emerald Sustrai, still restrained by CRDL.
All recognize her and a new murmur began to spread among the crowd. Wasn't she and her team supposed to be at Haven by now?

"That proves nothing!" someone shouted, still doubting the truth.
"It proves nothing apart from her not being at Haven with Mercury Black."

Once again the people let themselves be led astray. They screamed for proof despite having accepted Cinder's lies so eagerly.
Some called Jaune's words bullcrap, not wanting to admit that they have been duped so easily.
"We all saw Black's leg get broken and him get shipped off to Haven!"

Ruby Rose spoke up, trying to be heard over the din of the crowd.
"Jaune is telling the truth! I saw Mercury Black only a few minutes ago! He tried to keep me from stopping this match that they had set up!"

All eyes focused on the Red Reaper. She wanted to shrink away under their scrutiny but held her ground.
"And I ask you: did any of you ever see his X-rays or anything like that? All he did has roll on the floor shouting, pretending to be hurt. All Black did could be faked!"

Before anyone else could object there was a new voice that came to Ruby's aid.
"IT'S TRUE!"
All turned towards the end of the arena to see Qrow Branwen dragging Mercury Black by a leg only to toss him onto the arena for all to see.

No one spoke but the doubt was still strong.
This only proved that Black wasn't at Haven but rather here. It didn't do anything to disprove his injuries.

Black rolled over on the floor, not getting up, while pretending to be hurt.
Annoyed with the pretender's antics Qrow changed his weapon and fired a few shots at Mercury, making him get up and stand.

Mercury rolled away from the bullets and got up into a fighting pose, ready for a fight as he was surrounded by hostiles.
He quit bothering to fake his injury. His survival took priority over Cinder's scheme.

The crowd gasped! It was true! They had been tricked.

---

Emerald was having a hard time believing what she was seeing but she believed it.
They had been found out and The Angel was currently giving all of Remnant a first hand account of their deeds… as well as their names and faces.
If she and the others didn't get away soon it would be over for them.

She took as deep a breath as she could and activated her semblance on her captors, making it seem as if she was still in their grasp.
In reality she was pulling with all her might, trying to break free.

She could feel her hair being torn out by her efforts and Winchester's grip. Tears flooded her eyes but she forced herself to push on. She had to get down to the arena, to Mercury. Their odds would be better together.
They had to get out, but how?

That was when Cinder decided to play her final card.
She finally got enough control back over the system to change the feed of the cameras.
The view on the screens changed to downtown Vale, the same place as the Breach had taken place.

Nothing seemed to have happened but then it did.
With a loud crack the pavement split open and a hoard of Grimm once more crawled into the city. Only this time, there were much more of them.
"Behold! The grimm are attacking your city and it's defenders are nowhere to be seen!"

Now shit began to hit the fan as the grimm descended on the arena the arena, attracted by all the negative emotions in the crowd.
Jaune spotted Griffons, big ones, attacking the shield overhead. It would not hold them long.

He gave the order.
All of his squad, students and his family alike, sprang into action just as they had prepared with a few changes due to the sudden appearance of the grimm.
The people were led out, eager to follow these calm and well-prepared people who obviously knew what they were doing.

By the time the last civilian had been escorted out and delivered into the watchful hands of the Atlas soldiers the grimm broke through.
Some of them descended and snatched up Emerald and Mercury with their claws only to place the humans on the others' backs and began to carry the away.
The grimm were carrying the two away from the people on their backs - signifying that the pair had betrayed mankind for the grimm.

As if on cue the defender's rocket lockers arrived, flattening a few grimm in the process.
The students began to take the fight to the grimm.

Jaune look up to one of the big screens of the arena.
After Cinder's last statement control had returned to the people in charge. Or maybe it was someone else controlling the cameras now?
Most of the screens just showed the students purging the arena of grimm but some still showed the grimm pouring into the city.

There were too many grimm for the huntsmen and the students to deal with on their own out there.
Even if the defenders tried it would only be a matter of time until they were overwhelmed.

Jaune understood what he must do.
Jaune looked up to a camera and signaled that he wanted its attention. Whoever was in control granted it.
Soon his visage was displayed to any who were still watching the broadcast from the arena.

"People of Vale. There are dark works at hand."
His voice was leveled but firm.

"The traitor Cinder Fall and her followers seek to challenge us. They seek to break us. They have brought the grimm to our very door, seeking to make us fall into despair and darkness but their gambit has failed. For it will take more than this to break us. We are better than that!"

He held up his sword into the air, sweeping it over the heads of those around him, to the cameras observing him.

"People of Vale, let me tell you why the traitor's gambit failed. Let me tell you why we have not broken! Let me tell you what makes us better than anything she could ever imagine!
It is not the descent toward the shadow nor the rise toward the light that makes us superior. It is the endless struggle between the two that greatness of character lies. We are tested, and we do not break. We will never fall!"

"We will never fall!" echoed the voices of the student, ringing loud and clear.

"People of Vale, we face our darkest hour. But I promise you, a dawn is coming! And we will be its light-bringers! We are the Blood Angels, and we fear not for we are angels all. When we descend from the sky, Remnant will tremble to witness it!"

He looked into one of the cameras and spoke with authority.
"To me my legion! To me my sons!"

The speakers came alive once again like they had the night the virus in the CCT was discovered or when The Angel showed himself ti Remnant for the first time.
Only this time the voices were clear and strong for all of Remnant to hear.

"For Baal and Terra!" they called, their voices resonant.
"For Sanguinius and the Emperor!"

Jaune lifted his sword up once more.
"For Remnant!"

"For Remnant!" echoed the voices in acknowledgement.

---

Behind the moon

---

"For Remnant!"
The words echoed throughout the entire vessel as the astartes shouted it, as if to push through the emptiness of the void so that their father could hear them.

Librarian Amaretto was moving along with his battle-brothers.
Their Father had summoned them and they would answer!

A communique confirmed that the Flesh Tearers and the Lamenters too were readying for the final steps of making planetfall.

The machines had been prepared ever since the primarch had given the order to prepare.
The best options for making planetfall had been discussed and were now in the final steps of their preparations.
It had been clear that their task was to save and liberate the people on this world, not destroy them.
Thus, great care had been made in the preparations in order to protect mortal lives. But that was costing them time!

"Brother-Apothecary, how long until we leave this shattered moon behind us?"

"Not long." answered Deon.
"But the machine spirits have become aggravated. The tech-marines are seeing to it as we speak but they have been distracted by the goings-on planet side."

"Tell them to hurry!"

"They already are. They too are eager to meet our Father."

---

Amity Colosseum

---

The evacuation of Amity Colosseum was underway, only hampered by the sudden appearance of Beowolves in the colosseum itself.
Odd, given that Beowolves could not fly and therefore couldn't have gotten to the arena themselves.
The Atlesians soldiers were almost panicking and Jaune could spot the general holding his hand to the side of his face, no doubt getting very worrying reports.

Jaune flexed his wings to reach the skies for a bird's eye view of what was going on.
It didn't take him long to determine that things were bad. He descended back down to his fellows.
The grimm in the arena had been cleared and the civilians were getting ready to leave.

Ironwood was preparing to depart on a smaller Atlesian craft. Some of his soldiers were carrying Penny's motionless remains. Somehow, they had managed to convince Ruby that they could get her to someone who could fix her.

"General." said Jaune, striding forward. He had a few matters to iron out before they left for their respective tasks.

The general nodded in acknowledgement of his presence but held up a hand to signal Jaune to wait as he got another update on the situation.
"Dammit!" growled the general. "I've just gotten word that Torchwick has broken loose and is running free on my flagship!"

The Angel stood still for a moment, berating his own stupidity. How had he failed to take Torchwick into account!?
The White Fang had apparently joined up with Cinder in her attack. But the White Fang had been partnered with Torchwick!
Was there a connection? Had Torchwick also been working for Cinder!?

Sure, Torchwick was in captivity but Jaune had pointed out that all of this had been planned. Did that include Torchwick's incarceration?
And he had a partner who had remained on the loose!

And then there was the criminal's capture. Torchwick had been taken in too easily and since then he hadn't cooperated with his captors at all, despite it being his best choice legally and practically - or so everyone had believed.
What if Torchwick had simply been stalling for time while he was waiting at the right place to do his deed?

Jaune shook his head and decided to do what he could.
"That is not all general. There is a bigger problem." said Jaune, adding more problems to the pile. "Beacon is being swarmed as we speak. I have spotted White Fang landing at the school, releasing grimm onto the premise."

There were gasps as the ones around them got wind of that. Jaune silenced them with a gesture.

"There is more. The grimm are headed towards Beacon en masse from Forever Fall, homing in at Beacon. Their numbers are about as great as the ones in the city. It is the school that is the real target of this attack. Cinder and her forces want it gone. The attack on the city is merely meant to force us to take forces away from Beacon."

Ironwood nodded. The picture Arc was drawing fit the reports Ironwood had been getting.
But Beacon wasn't what he was worried about. There was a city out there that needed defending. People needing saving. And it was Atlas' duty to do it.

Jaune noticed the general's worried expression. He understood that the man's motivations were not quite aligned with his own.
"General, Beacon must not be allowed to fall, not now. If Beacon falls then all the enemy forces held busy by it will no doubt move towards the city while using the school as a staging ground for more attacks."

Ironwood relented and nodded. It those grimm were not held at bay at Beacon then the city would be flooded for sure.
"Very well. I'll retake my ship and lead my troops in the city. I trust that you will take to Beacon then."

"Then go. It would not surprise me if Torchwick still has a role to play in this."

The general nodded and departed, flanked by two of his own troops.
Jaune moved to an empty transport and gestured for the students to follow.
All did.

"Jaune, when will the astartes show up?" asked Ren, looking up into the sky.

"I only know that they will show up, Ren. I do not know when exactly." said Jaune as peered up as well. No sign of them yet. But there was still time.

---

The Atlesian flagship - command bridge

---

"...so the voice says to me, 'you wanna be bad?' and I say 'Yeah! I wanna be bad!' Ah ha ha ha ha haaa!"

Neo was hanging out with Roman, having sprung him out of his cell a while back.

He was quite nuts right now. And coming from Neo that was saying something.
Apparently Torchwicks bombing-craze hadn't gone away with his incarceration. It had instead gotten worse. He had apparently decided to go from trains with bombs to ships with guns.
He had been utterly incoherent when Neo had let him out but now he had calmed down a bit. But only a little.

"And so first the voice says to me, it says to me, 'you got Style, baby! but gotta have a gimmick'…and so I says 'Yeah! A gimmick! High Explosives! Ah ha ha ha ha ha!' Cuz I'm the Bomber What Bombs With Gunships!"

The master criminal was currently merely playing around with the ship controls, pressing buttons, pulling levers and such.
Most of it did nothing but occasionally there was a loud boom of a weapon going off.
He would laugh at that. He laughed even more when he brought down two other ships out of the sky with only one shot.

"'And it says to me 'you got legs, baby, you're all over the place!'"
He changed course towards Beacon and started to prepare the cannons for full bombardment.

"And- and so it says to me, 'you wanna be a real villain?', and I go 'Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!'
And so it says 'you gotta do something real BIG. You got gunships. Shoot up the Academy. It's full of goodie two shoes and Little Reds!'
'And I says 'yeah, baby! Yeah!' Cuz I'm the Bomber What Bombs With Gunships! Mua-hahahahahahahaha!"

Neo shook her head at Roman's antics.
Once all of this was over with she would have to rob a pharmacy and drug Roman's crazy ass back down to Remnant.
She was quite certain that the defenders soon would mobilize and come for them. Well, at least try to come for them. It would be quite hard for the defenders when the skies no longer belonged to them.

She trotted over to an important looking machine, took out a scroll from her pocket and put it in.
It a matter of moments there was a picture of a chess piece on the screen, growing more and more clear on the screen as time went on. In a minute it would be ready.

She smirked but did not let herself relax completely just yet.
She was still not convinced that they were untouchable up in the sky.
'The Angel' had spoken of someone coming to Vale. Reinforcements, supposedly. That did worry Neo a little bit.
Where would they come from and how? And what was that 'planetfall' the angel had spoken of?

As Neo was thinking she spotted something. It was a small vessel, probably couldn't hold more than a handful of people.
Among the figures on the vessel she spotted a very certain general that had incarcerated Roman some time ago.

Neo tapped Roman shoulder and pointed.
Roman looked up to see the general shoot a small Nevermore out of the air with some fire dust. Roman flashed one of his crazy smiles as he planted his feet firmly on the floor, not going anywhere.

"So he thinks he can stop me, eh? Fool! An object at rest cannot be stopped! Yeah! Keep playing with fire fancy pants! You don't know what kinda fire you're playing with! Ah ha ha ha!"

Roman pushed a button and watched the fireworks as General Ironwood was shot out of the sky by his own ship.
"Well I hope you liked that jib, cuz it's the only jib I got! Hahaha!"

---

Vessel headed for Beacon Academy

---

The students were on their way to Beacon in their commandeered airship.
All were preparing and psyching themselves up. None of them had ever deployed in these kinds of circumstances.

Jaune kept an eye on the sky, hoping to see a glimmer of the warriors he was expecting. Still nothing.
Until the astartes arrived, the students and the Atlas military would have to hold the line on their own.
"Cardin!"

"Yes, lord primarch?"

"Once we reach Beacon, I want you and your team to go and establish and keep a safe zone by Beacon's landing area. From there we can safely move the people caught up in all of this to the vessels that will get them out of Vale."

"But we can fight! Let us-"

Jaune cut Cardin off and looked him dead in the eye.
"Cardin, all of this has been planned. The speech, the grimm, Penny... If such amount of care has been put into the attack, then surely Cinder must have thought about the evacuation as well."

"Yes, but-"

"Cardin!"
Jaune gestured to all of the people running scared at Beacon's grounds
"These are the Emperor's people. And the grimm shall not have them!"

Cardin nodded and compiled and surprisingly Port and Oobleck joined in.
Before they turned around to make their final preparation Jaune grabbed Cardin by the shoulder.
"Cardin, the astartes will come!"

*BOOM*

There was a bright flash and a boom.
All turned around to see Ironwood get shot down.

"What happened?" shouted Sun.
"The general, he was shot down by his own ship!" shouted someone else.

Jaune stepped forward as he looked around the area where the general's vessel had crashed.
Jaune was at first glad to see that it had landed close to other Atlas forces. Then he snarled as he saw the machines turn on the crashed Ironwood.
The machines were fighting against their masters! They were corrupted!
All over the ground he could see the machines turning on those they were meant to protect.

Ruby didn't have to be told on what to do. She didn't even wait for any say-so either.
With a flurry of rose petals she exited the ship and using her semblance she rushed back into the arena to her rocket locker.
Punching in the coordinates she grabbed hold of it as it flew off towards the aircraft captured by Torchwick.

Jaune contemplated if he should follow but he let her go on her own when she shouted for him to stay with the others.
He accepted. If anyone could do this it was Ruby, and she could get up to the ship well enough on her own.
He had faith in her. He had to.

---

Ozpin's office

---

Grimm were in the city. Atlas' machines were attacking the people they were supposed to defend. White Fang were on a killing spree.

Ozpin buried his face in his hand as he sat at his desk, watching what was going on outside through his computer.
It had happened. Arc had warned him about this and he had decided to ignore it. Now this was happening. Ozpin could not help but tremble at the possible death toll. He didn't want to, but he just couldn't help it.

He had already sent Glynda out to the city at the first sign of trouble. With the Atlas machines being corrupted that had seemed to be the best option.
Ozpin picked up his scroll and selected a contact. He just hoped the man would be able to answer.

There was a signal and Ozpin could hear stuff through the scroll.
"Qrow, it's Ozpin."

"Oz, that really you? Things are craz-"

"I know. I know what is going on. I am looking at the situation as we speak. The students are holding off the enemy here at Beacon. I need you to go into the city and assist Glynda."

"Way ahead of you Oz. I flew into town when I saw James get shot out of the sky. Someone has to haul his rusty ass out of that fire."
"Right. Glynda is on her way. Do what you can. And Qrow… I'm sorry for not acting sooner."

Ozpin ended the call and got up. Picking up his cane he gave his trusted companion a few swings, rolling his shoulders as he was getting ready go out to do his part to hold the line.
It would be nice to do some field work again after all this time. When was the last time he had managed a proper defense? During the Great War, perhaps?

Things were bad, but they were not that bad, Ozpin figured. They could still manage this.
The students, guided by Arc, had established quite a solid hold at the landing area of Beacon.
The human, and still loyal, part of the Atlas forces was recovering from their machines' betrayal and the White Fang could not hope to keep fighting for long lest they too be attacked by the grimm.
They could handle this.

*BOOM*

Ozpin fell to the floor as he felt the tower shake, the ground rumble and the earth tremble.
Leaning on his cane for support, Ozpin pushed himself up and looked southeast through the window.

"Oh no." His voice was barely a whisper.
Looking towards Mountain Glenn he could see saw the mountain crumble. Cracks formed in the rock. Massive blocks of stone shifted. The Mountain shattered.

With a mighty roar to announce its freedom, a massive black creature took flight.
As it set course for the City of Vale it let out another roar, letting its future victims know that death was coming for them.

---

Beacon's courtyard

---

Pyrrha could see Jaune being busy organizing the defense.
With both grimm and machines to combat he was wearing himself thin trying to be everywhere at once, trying to guide everyone at once.
Well, most at least. Pyrrha had noted Blake going off after an Alpha. She had not come back yet. Hopefully she might run into Yang. The brawler would certainly be needed here with the other defenders.

Several teams of students were gathering to Jaune for instructions. He directed them as best he could, not letting himself show any fear or doubt.
He only issued simple commands like 'go there', 'stop that grimm' or 'get that team to the evacuation area'.

Occasionally he would glance up into the sky expectantly but when nothing was coming down he returned his attention to the matter at hand, things he could do something about.

The grimm were getting bolder and drew ever closer, attracted by the civilians awaiting evac.
The sudden appearance of the giant flying monster headed towards Vale did not help matters. The shaking of the ground when it broke free had only scared the people even more.

Pyrrha looked around. Beacon's campus had already been torn up by all of the fighting and further away she could see grimm scurrying about, not quite sure on how to attack this place full of human who usually hunted them.

The grimm were not just rushing out to be killed at the blades of the students. The grimm were led by Alphas, creatures that had lived long enough to learn not to just rush in and die.
They were prodding the defenders, striking were the defenses were weak, going foe the wounded ones first.
To Pyrrha there was something strangely human about how they behaved for she knew of no grimm that these sorts of things.

Pyrrha spotted Ozpin, standing in front of the CCT. He had a stern look on his face as he looked Pyrrha in the eye. He gave her a quiet nod and turned around to enter the building.
His message was clear. It was time.
Without saying a word to her friends she walked over to the tower, to her destiny.

'Iiit waasss yooouuurrrr aactioonsss thaaat sssseet aaalllll oofff thiissss iiintoo mootioon…' said a tiny voice in her head.
Was it her sense of duty or guilt? She didn't know. All she knew was that she had to do something to help. To fix all of this.
'Yoouuu caaan heelllp by dooiiing whaat iiisss expeecteed oofff yoouuu...'

"I'm sorry." she said to no one in particular. "I'll make it right."

---

The student had landed at Beacon and were now busy holding the landing area.
The students had exited the vessel before it landed, trusting in their landing strategies to keep the unharmed as they got the drop on their foes. It had been a direct and brutal assault and the grimm that were at the landing site were quickly dealt with.

Jaune was frowning as he was fighting.
They were not in a good position even if their first move had gone well.
"Dust, I wish Dorn was here. He was better at this stuff."

Beacon was not a good place to defend as it had never been planned with this event in mind. Now Jaune and the other students were stuck defending a rather open area with very little cover while their enemies could be hiding in any of Beacon's buildings.

But they had little choice. This was the only area where bullheads could land to pick up wounded and others that needed to be evacuated. It also was the one place that they could establish a chokehold for the enemy's movements.

They had already weathered one assault by the corrupted machines. Weiss and Blake had dealt with those easily enough but then Blake had run off after a Beowolf Alpha. She hadn't returned since then.

Jaune looked around to make a headcount of the others. Everyone else was there and were doing their part.
CRDL was protecting the landing area as instructed, serving as a final line of defences for those who needed to be evacuated.
SSSN were busy dealing with a bunch of Ursai that had gotten too close. Being low on dust the boys were attempting to grapple the beasts of engaging them in melee combat. Jaune had to step in a few times when it seemed like one of the lads was about to be injured.
Ren and Nora were thinning out the grimm together before they even got close to said landing area.
And Pyrrha was… Where was Pyrrha?

Jaune turned around and saw his love walking away towards the CCT, towards Ozpin.
Realizing this must be what has been bothering her recently he made to follow her.
The others waved him off, saying that they had this in the bag. They had been doing well so far despite the giant grimm showing up.
What could possibly ruin this for them?

But none of the defenders realized that Cinder Fall was watching from on high with Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black.
Cinder smiled. They had found it! She had found it!

With a gesture of her hand Cinder called on more grimm to assault the defenders to keep them busy. It wouldn't do to be spotted now.
The grimm came easily enough, like they had all night as she had been directing the assault on the defenders, slowly wearing them down until the real attack came.

Cinder motioned for her disciples to follow her. It was time for her to claim what was hers.
'Yeesss, gooo aand leeet eeveryythiinnng buuurrnn…'

Down below, several Paladin-290s were approaching Beacon at high speeds.
Once again, none of the defenders had noticed these things yet.

---

Beacon's resident physician had been running around since this entire shitshow began!
Young Arc had fortunately had the great foresight of letting the good doctor know of what was going on at the landing area. All wounded or non-combatants were to be evacuated there.
And where there was wounded, there would be Surgia.

Surgia was not a combatant. He was a man of medicine. If he ever had to set foot out on a battlefield he would always have someone with him to watch his back.

At first, he had professor Peach with him, but she had up and disappeared soon after he had left his work station.
After dodging a few White Fang patrols Surgia had come across some other students whom he then proceeded to make his bodyguards and assistants.
This meant that Surgia was running haggard trying to get to the wounded while his 'assistant' was stuck carrying his field equipment.

Surgia almost had sympathy for the young student. Having to watch field medicine for the first time is rarely a nice experience.
Even less so when those wounded are one's own friends. Or if the observer is young.

Some of the patients were beyond helping.
To those Surgia gave what help he could when his assistant looked away.

It's said that war is hell and Surgia believed it.
He just hoped that the bitch behind all of this got what she deserved.

As he was finishing some stitches on a wounded student a White Fang soldier ran towards him, bladed weapon raised.
"FOR THE FANG! FOR THE BLOOD!"

Surgia wasted no time when he jammed his bone saw into the throat of the lunatic.
"Bloody savages." he muttered as he finished patching up the patient he had been working on.

He had to hurry over to the students fighting.
A bunch of Atlesian paladins were on their way towards them and Surgia doubted any of them were prepared for that.
There would be wounded.

---

An Atlas paladin was charging the defenders.

They had barely been able to stop the last wave of Paladins and that had only been thanks to Velvet's and Weiss' semblances. Now Velvet was out of the count and Weiss didn't have the strength to summon another such construct again.

Nora and Ren, both having ended up taking blows meant for the other, were practically down for the count, their auras broken.

The others were bracing for the approaching juggernaut. None of them were in prime condition anymore. Several of them had bruises and small wound, a sign that their auras were starting to approach the red levels.

"Oh no you don't!"
Yang ran up past the others and towards the mechanical brute, he hair burning with her semblance.
Their blows met and both of them staggered. Yang regained her footing first and using her experience from facing down a Paladin operated by Torchwick she struck its weak points. Taking the odd retaliatory blows the Paladin threw at her to keep her semblance going she kept hitting it until it was scrap metal.

"You did it, Yang!" said Weiss.

"Puh, yeah, sure did. Just need to… catch my breath."

"Where have you been? Did you see Blake anywhere?"

"Ironwood had me under house arrest, remember? What was that about Blake?"

"She went after an Alpha and some White Fang soon after the droids began attacking. I haven't seen Ruby either."

"Right. Let's look after them, then."

With that Yang headed back into Beacon.
It shouldn't be too hard for her to find Blake. An Alpha and White Fang soldiers were going to make a lot of noise.

Following her instincts Yang headed for the cafeteria.
If anything else maybe there was someone hiding there.

She turned around the corner. The building was on fire, but she couldn't see or hear anyone around.
She peeked inside. Something had blown a hole in the wall and she could see dead soldier on the ground.
All showed deep cuts made by a sword.

*SNIKT*
There was a stifled cry of pain from deeper into the building.
Yang looked and saw Blake on the floor. She was hurt and above her was a man with red hair and a White Fang mask on his face, his sword buried in her gut.

Despite the pain Blake was trying to signal Yang, trying to tell her to stay away.
Her warning fell on deaf ears as Yang activated her semblance and charged in.

The man with the sword smirked.
"For the blood."

---

Above the City of Vale

---

Ruby jumped of the ship. It was going down and if she didn't act fast she would go down with it. She didn't have time to call another rocket locker. The grimm had damaged the ship too much. It was going down too fast.

She grabbed Crescent Rose tight as she plummeted down the air, looking for something.
She spotted a Griffon. Was it the same one that had eaten Torchwick? She didn't know, didn't care.
All she knew was that it was too far away from her right now.

She began firing her weapon and let its recoils spring her closer and closer until she finally could reach the grimm with a burst of her semblance.

She sank the blade of her scythe into the grimm's back. Not deep enough to kill but to cause the beast pain and to have something firm to hold on to as she began steering the grimm down to the ground.

Pulling and yanking the weapon embedded in the grimm she steered it down towards Beacon. She made sure to hurry up. She did not like being up in the air like this when than giant flying grimm was around.

As she traveled through the air she looked down on the mayhem taking place on the streets. People were running around trying to find a place to hide or to escape the attackers.

Ruby winched when she saw an Atlas soldier being gunned down by a robot.
She had messed up. If only she hadn't gone after Torchwick alone maybe this could have been avoided.
She shook her head and tried not to cry over what she saw.

But even now the city's defenders were regaining their bearings, slowly pushing the corrupted robots back.
Even with the flagship crashing the robots were still active. Ruby had hoped that they would stop when the ship crashed. She had been wrong.

Once she thought she was close enough to Beacon she pulled out her weapon from the grimm and then beheading it she let herself fall down to the ground a bit from the action.
By the time she got to the others many were on the ground and being treated by Beacon's physician.

"Weiss!"

"Ruby! You're here! Where have you been?"

"I tried to stop Torchwick when I saw the general get shot down. It's him, Weiss! It's Torchwick who made the robots go crazy! He had some virus that he put into the general's ship and then all the machines went crazy!"

"Torchwick? A virus? But how?"

"I don't know. When I got to the ship Torchwich was already free and his partner was there and grimm and the virus was already in the system and- and-"

"Ruby! Calm down."

"Right, sorry. So, I tried to get to the computer but Torchwick's partner just kept pushing me back and when I sent her flying there was Torchwick, but he got eaten by a griffon. But then the grimm had already damaged the ship too much for me to get to the computer so I jumped off the ship."
She swallowed.
"And then that thing also showed up."

Weiss nodded. Yeah, that thing, the Wyvern as the defenders had started to call it. Some had suggested calling it Dragon but when it became clear that it only had hind legs and wings all settled for Wyvern.

Ever since it had reached Vale it had been spawning more and more grimm from above.
Forming a defensive line was almost impossible when that thing could just fly over them and drop grimm behind their backs.

Ruby looked around. From her friends all were there except for Blake, Yang, Jaune and Pyrrha.
Weiss explained that Blake had gone further into Beacon to hunt down an Alpha and some White Fang and Yang had gone looking for her. They hadn't been seen since.

Ren and Nora were exhausted and hurt, both having been on the receiving end of the Paladins before the machines had been taken down.
All the others tired as well as they had been busy fighting and trying to push the grimm and robots back rather than to just be on the defensive.

Further away from the fighting Port and Oobleck were getting the last of the civilians and students onto a transport.
"That's it! Everybody on board! This is a mandatory evacuation! You take off ones the skies are clear enough!" said Port, trying to sound calm.

"Atlas forces have established a safe zone in Vale! Please, remain calm and listen to Atlas personnel!"
chimed Oobleck in, ushering in more people into the transport.

"But Jaune and Nora are still out there!" shouted Nora, trying to get up only to get pushed back down by Sun.

"Look, guys, that giant Grimm is circling the school! The grimm are only coming at us in bigger and bigger packs! We have to go!"

"We're not leaving… without them!" said Ren. Like Nora he tried to get up but only fell back down.

"Students, you've fought well, and you have held this place for longer than anyone would have expected. But now it's time to go!"

"We are not leaving without them!" protested Nora.
"No one gets left behind!"

Port sighed.
"Miss Valkyrie, we have no choice. If we stay any longer we will get overrun. Now get yourself on the transport!"

"Not happening!"
All turned around to Cardin and his team who were standing closest to the transports waiting to take off.
"No one is going anywhere any time soon."

"Cardin! Are you out of your mind!? Beacon is about to be overrun! We have to g-"
Sun tried to protest but was cut off by Cardin.

"Go? Go where, monkey-boy?"
He pointed up to the sky. It was full of Nevermores and Griffons, not to mention the Wyvern.
"We don't own the skies anymore. They do and no ship going to fly in this. The only thing we can do is hold out and hope for the best."

"Hope? Hope for what? Is there even any hope left? There's grimm are everywhere, the atlas droids are still going roque. And now there is a grimm dragon flying about! How can you say there is any hope?"

Cardin shrugged.
Sun didn't have the same level of faith as he did. Cardin still remembered what The Emperor had told him, to do as Arc told him, and he was going to stick to it.

"One's got to hold on to hope. Even if it's faint. Besides, the astartes will come."
He looked up into the darkened sky.
"They must."

---

The vault

---

Pyrrha followed Ozpin as they exited the elevator, Jaune following close behind. Him being with them had come as a surprise. Pyrrha had considered pushing him out of the elevator but had reacted too late. By the time Jaune was in it, was it already on its way down.

The headmaster didn't say a word as he moved along.

"Pyr?" Jaune said. Before she could respond was he next to her.
"Pyr, what is this place? What's going on?"

"This is a vault Jaune and- I'm sorry but you shouldn't be here. I can't te-"

"It doesn't matter now." said the headmaster as he walked along and signaled for the youths to follow.
"With what is going on it hardly matters if he sees this or not."

They went on. Jaune tried to ask the headmaster what was going on, but Ozpin remained silent.
"We have to do it." muttered the headmaster. "We have to keep It away from Her."
The man wasn't making much sense. Who was the person he was talking about? What did they have to keep away from her?

Finally the headmaster picked up his pace and spoke clearly again.
"Let's move. There is no telling how the battle is going outside."

Pyrrha began to run after him only to be picked up from behind by Jaune who had decided to fly instead of walk seeing as there was enough room for him to use his wings here.
It would be a lot faster than running and as Ozpin said they had no way of knowing what was going on outside.

They eventually reached the end of the vault.
Jaune saw a strange machine with two pods, one housing the girl and one empty.
The girl appeared to be comatose and there were strange marks on her face. Jaune could tell that she was weak. Her skin seemed to have paled much and quickly.

Growing tired of Ozpin's mix of cryptic ramblings and silence Jaune turned to Pyrrha who was a bit more helpful.
She told him of the legend of the Four Maidens and how one of the Maidens were below Beacon.

"She was attacked and some of her magic was taken from her. I don't know how. All I know is that we must keep the rest of the power from falling into the wrong hands."

"And what's your part in this?"

"I'm- I'm the candidate for the next Fall Maiden. The current one is weak and if she dies then the power might go to the one who attacked her."

"The one behind all of this." Said Ozpin, finally speaking up.
"It is as miss Nikos says. If Cinder Fall gets the rest of the power, then there will be dire ramifications for all of Remnant."

Jaune looked between the two.
"Why didn't you tell me? I could have helped."

Pyrrha looked away from him, a bit ashamed.
"Jaune, Ozpin didn't want me to tell you because he wouldn't trust you because of the astartes. I'm sorry. I was only doing what I thought was right."

Jaune was silent for a moment, thinking of what he had just learned. This whole think reeked of magic.
It was obvious that Pyrrha had not told him everything she knew. Understandable as she was quite distressed right now.
And it was also quite clear that Ozpin had not told her everything either.

Jaune sighed.
It was stupid. Pyrrha had been and had continued to act stupidly. Had he not told her about stasis-coffins? Literal life-preservation-forever-machines when he talked about Curze?
"We could have tried to contact the astartes and asked if they had a stasis unit at hand. The Fall Maiden could have been kept safe while we looked for a solution at our own pace."
he said out loud.
"Dust damn it, Pyr. Once all this is over I'll ride your ass on this one!"

Pyrrha's face lost what little color it had left as she hid her face behind her hands.
"I'm sorry! It slipped my mind! I was just so worried back then!"

"Yes, that would have changed much." said Ozpin as he kept working on the keyboard of the machine. Yes, if they only would have had such a machine instead of this thing they were using to keep Amber alive.
"But that doesn't matter now. All that matters is that we keep the power away from Her."

"Professor, what do we do now?" asked Pyrrha cautiously.

"We, do nothing."
With the push of a button he opened the empty pod.
"You however have a choice to make."

Pyrrha hesitated for a second. In her mind she was going through what she had been going through these last few days.
'The process might change you. For all we know, you might end up as someone completely different if you chose to take on Amber's life.'
'She wanted to protect Remnant, but at what cost? Her very sense of self? Her life as she knew it? Her success, her fame and the admiration that many others would envy, her good friends whom she had had for less than a year?
Would she still have those if she went through with it?'

Why should she do this if she had so much to lose?
'Tooo prroooteect theeemmm…Tooo heelllp…' whispered a small voice in her head.

Yes, that was her purpose, why she had decided to become a huntress. To protect and help. And if there was even a chance for her to help someone then she would do it.

Pyrrha nodded to Ozpin and stepped into the pod.
As the lid sealed shut Ozpin turned to Jaune who was looking at Pyrrha worriedly.

"Mister Arc, I owe you and apology for not informing you of this, but I must ask you to stand on guard for now. We have to do this or else…"

Jaune nodded quietly and slowly turned around to keep an eye on the way they had come.
He noted how Pyrrha didn't want to look him in the eye. Was there something she didn't want him to know about this? Was there a danger they hadn't told him of?

Jaune took a deep breath. He could try to argue but if the situation was as dire as Ozpin claimed it was then he would let this happen.
Surely Ozpin would not be foolish enough to do something that would hurt Pyrrha?

The machined hummed as it became more active. Lights lit up and Ozpin resumed his work at the keyboard.

Jaune placed himself in the middle of the corridor a bit away from the machine and peers into the gloom. He focused his senses. His eyes could easily see through the dark of the vault, but he was not going to trust his eyes only.

Something felt wrong about what he was looking at. Like the lights were wrong or didn't reflect right.
The sounds didn't sound quite right either.
The slight breeze he had been feeling in his feathers for a while was gone too.

Remembering that Cinder Fall had access to Emerald and her illusions Jaune dug in his pockets for some lint and let it fall.
It fell and was pushed towards the machine Pyrrha was inside by a weak, almost unnoticeable, draft.
Then why did he not feel it?

He tightened his grip on his sword. There was a good chance that the enemy was near, at least Emerald. She could be hiding herself with her illusions, making Jaune not feel her presence as she approached.
"Professor…"
Jaune tried to warn the headmaster without alerting the possible intruders.

"Not now! The process is about to begin."

"Professor!"

"Not n-"

"AAAHH!"
Ozpin was cut off by Pyrrha who shrieked as the aura from Amber reached her, the power touching her.

Jaune turned around and saw her writing in pain.
What was going on? Why was she hurting?
"Ozpin what is going on?"

"I- I don't know. The aura should flow freely into her, not like this."
He stepped back and watched what was going on. This wasn't right.
"I'm so sorry."

Jaune blinked.
Aura? He was having her take the aura of someone else into her?

Before Jaune could step in he staggered.
The machine, Pyrrha and Ozpin disappeared from his vision. He realized he was having a vision again.
He saw an arrow flying through the air towards the Fall Maiden.
Reality snapped back to Jaune. Or was it Jaune who snapped back to reality?

Jaune didn't wait for a clue to present itself for him to understand when to act.
He hurled himself to his left while raising his shield just in time to prevent an arrow from piercing Amber.
The enemy was here!

He turned around to see not only Cinder and Emerald but also Mercury.
Emerald was missing a large chunk of her hair from where Cardin had held on to her and Mercury still carried the marks from his fight with Qrow earlier.
All of them were brandishing their weapons and making ready to attack. There was murder in their eyes.
They were all a lot closer than Jaune would have thought possible before.
'Bloody illusions!'

"Ozpin! They are upon us!"

"Hold them off! I'm managing the machine!" shouted the headmaster, not having bothered to turn around to see the number of attackers.

The villains began shooting at the Amber once more, only now at the same time.
Jaune soon found himself pinned to the very glass of Amber's pod with his shield raised and taking fire from all three attackers at once.
"Ozpin!" he grunted through gritted teeth. He could feel the shots gong through his armor only to be stopped by his aura.

"Keep them off. The process must not be interrupted." said the headmaster, not bothering to look up from the controls.

Realizing it to be pointless to shoot at the Maiden behind the Angel, Emerald shifted her aim at the machine instead.
No machine - no transfer, she thought.

Jaune understood what she was about to do and pushed himself toward the offenders.
He spread his wings to cover more of the machine and the pods than he could with just his body and shield.
He could feel his aura getting grounded down under the barrage from Emerald and Mercury, his feathers being torn from their places, his blood being spilled and flesh tearing as the shots hit him.
"Ozpin!"

"Just a bit longer!"

"Dammit Ozpin! I'll punch you in the dick for this!"
He forced himself to look forward at the trio. While Mercury and Emerald were shooting at him, Cinder was lining up another arrow with her bow.

"No!"
Jaune tried to stop it but the momentum of the barrage he was receiving threw him off.
Jaune could only watch as the arrow flew past him and pierced the glass of Amber's pod before sinking into her chest.

Amber opened he eyes for a final time as she felt the pain shoot through her. She tried to move her arms, but they wouldn't move anymore.
She gasped as life left her, briefly looking down at the arrow in her chest. Her eyes closed as she passed away.
Yet even as she died with an arrow in her chest, she almost looked peaceful in her last moments - free from this false life in a pod.

A light left the body of the dead maiden, shattering the glass of her pod, and headed straight for Cinder, seeking to reunite with the rest of itself.

Cinder let the power enter her. Her body began to glow as she lifted off from the floor. When she opened her eyes long trails of flame leaped out.
Yes, this is what she had been after. She felt the power stir within her and then settle.
But there was still something missing. A tiny bit that wasn't hers yet.

She glanced at Pyrrha in the pod.
'How convenient.' She thought. 'I don't even have to go look for the rest.'

"Mercury, Emerald, you may leave and procure transport for us. I will join up with you shortly. I just have to 'clean house' for a bit."
The two criminals nodded and turned around, eager to be on their way from this wretched place.

Cinder returned to terra firma and smirked as she lit a flame in the palm of her hand. It was not like any flame she had ever made.
It was like a glowing crimson mist that shone with a baleful light.

"This will cut you deeper than any blow ever would." said Cinder towards Jaune in a hushed but malicious voice.
She did not know from where she found the words. Nor did she know how she knew how to make this kind of flame.
Was it the power of the Maiden? Or was it something else? It didn't matter. All she knew was that she would enjoy it.

She let the fire grow.
She looked back over at Pyrrha, still stuck in the other pod.
"Nothing too personal, champion. Loose ends and all that, you see."

Cinder unleashed a ball of flame against Pyrrha to get the last of the power of the Fall Maiden.
Jaune reacted and threw himself between the flame and Pyrrha, getting smashed against the pod by the exploding fireball.

"Jaune!"

He didn't respond to Pyrrha's words, he just groaned in pain.
He was dazed, wounded and bleeding from the onslaught he had received earlier. He tried to lift his hand as if to stop someone from coming close, but it barely got off the floor.

His face was twisted in pain. He thought his legs had been shattered despite them being fine. But it did not wake him fully. It was like something was keeping him from waking.
In his mind he was stuck in a memory that seemed so fresh despite happening a lifetime ago.

He saw faces. There was Nakir, captain of the 24th Company along with Gravato, Madidus, Eremin, Carrick and Perada and Ferveus…
There were so many faces. All coming to him. All coming to help him.
He tried to stop them, these ghost images of warriors long gone. He knew what would happen to them – what had happened to them.
He had seen it before. Lived through it but that didn't help things now.

Cinder smirked as the angel tried to get up in vain, his wounded flesh resisting him as he tried.
She conjured another flame in her hand and pointed it at the Champion.
"Watch, my angel. Watch as your beloved dies before you."

"No!"
His words were not even a whisper as he again tried to get up to stop her.
In his mind the flame burned like pure fury.
Like the ragefire in his past life this flame burned like a crimson flame.
The memory from that time on Signus Prime, the memory of five hundred of his sons died at once and him being powerless to stop it.

The pain of sharing the deaths of five hundred of his sons was too much for his mortal mind.
A phantom pain that felt like a daemon had torn every feather from his wings at once was running through his mind.
It was too much for him. Darkness took him.

Cinder set the fire free towards the lovers but before it had even left the palm of her hand Pyrrha let out a shout. The lid of her pod came loose and flew straight for Cinder.
Cinder almost lost he balance as the lid pushed her back until she burned it to cinders with her flame.

Pyrrha jumped out from the pod and tried to shake Jaune awake.
But it was too late.
A darkness had claimed him, and he wouldn't wake up.

Realizing the danger Pyrrha pulled out Miló and Akoúo̱ and made ready to attack Cinder but was stopped by Ozpin.

"Don't." said the headmaster sternly.
"Take Arc and flee this place. Find Ironwood and the others. Tell them of what happened. The rest of the power must be kept from her! The tower must not fall!"

"But I can help."

"No." said the headmaster, looking her dead in the eye.
"And frankly you would only get in the way."

He tossed a quick look at the unconscious Arc. His wounds were closing but he was nowhere okay yet. Pyrrha got his unspoken message. Staying would only put him at risk.
"This foe is beyond either of you. Run!"

Pyrrha nodded and tossed Jaune over her shoulder.
She circled around Cinder to get to the elevator, vary not to get attacked. Cinder however seemed to be focused only on Ozpin now.
Most likely because he was the biggest threat at the moment.

Cinder chuckled. "This whole time... it was right beneath our feet. Tsk tsk tsk. She was right about you, you know. Such arrogance."

As the sound of the retreating youths faded away into the distance they got ready to make battle.

Ozpin made the first move, making a quick dash at Cinder and jabbing at her with his cane.
She merely stepped back to avoid it only to then step closer with her hand on hire, hoping to grab him with one hand while she was forming a blade in the other.

Ozpin easily jumped out of range.
Neither one had drawn first blood yet, but this was merely the warm-up. The real fight was about to begin.

They attacked again. The speed of their blows increasing with each strike. More and more force was put behind each blow and the battle became more and more arcane as it went on.
She had the upper hand when it came to pure strength while Ozpin was the faster one, if only by a little. And he was losing that edge fast.

As the fight went on they were not fighting on the ground anymore, only landing briefly to jump at the other again.
Soon one would only see flashes of green and vermilion as their weapons clashed with ever increasing intensity.
Ozpin managed to push Cinder back, but she merely slid along the floor, melting it as she went.
She called upon the power and formed crystals from the melting stone that she hurled at Ozpin.

He began deflecting the shards at blinding speed and then darted forward before Cinder could get up again, striking her several times before launching her back with a final blow.

Cinder figured that she had toyed around with the headmaster. She had a school to destroy.
Before she even hit the ground she unleashed the power of the Maiden. She looked down at him from above. He was already getting tired.

As she floated in the air Ozpin drove his cane into the ground. A green sphere formed around him just in time to shield him from a powerful blast of flame from above.
Ozpin brazed and keeping his shield up he jumped through the fire and the flame.

Just as Ozpin thought he was about to reach the murderer the fire stopped.
Surprised by this Ozpin's concentration slipped for an instant, making him drop his shield.
Then he noticed Cinder's burning fist coming right for his face. He crashed down to the floor with Cinder hot on his heels.
He didn't have a chance to defend himself at this point.

Cinder grabbed him by his clothes and pulled him up just enough for her to look him in the eyes.
"Now, any last words before I send you home to mommy, Ozpin? For however long that reunion will last anyway."

'So, she had told to about that thing about me? Good to know.' thought Ozpin as he looked back at Cinder, not giving her the satisfaction of breaking down.
"My mother is dead." croaked Ozpin.

"I know. Better luck next time, Ozma. Maybe then you will actually last for a few more rounds."

Those words were the last ones Ozpin heard before he died.

---

The void

---

"Raarh!"
Sergeant Skoraen of the Flesh Tearers slammed his power armored fist into the wall i a fit of rage.
He had fallen to his knees as he and his battle brothers were awaiting to soon join the battle down at Remnant. It was like a hole had been burned through his soul.

Out of no where a sudden sense of fire and fury had come over him. In his mind, the rage that all sons of Sanguinius carried with them was stirring. Whatever it had been, it had touched something primal and deadly in them all.

"Blood of the primarch. What happened?"
Skoraen got back up again. The sensation was passing, and his mind was his once again.
He scanned the faces of his battle brothers. Many had reacted the same way has him.

His vox chimed. Letting him know that someone was attempting to reach him.
"Speak."

"Brother Skoraen." said the voice of the Blood Angel Librarian. "I assume you and your brothers felt that too."

"We did. What was that?"

"A psychic backlash of sorts. It seemed similar to the visions and sensations that we have been feeling throughout our journey. I do not know if it's because of the lord primarch being in danger or not."

"Have the Lamenters felt it as well?"

"Yes, but to as many of them did as with my brothers."

The com-link was severed and Skoraen look up once more.
He focused. Now was not the time to let the rage run wild.
They were close now. so close to their father. In any moment their vessels would enter Remnant atmosphere.

---

Tower of Beacon

---

As they moved Pyrrha could feel the heat of fire radiating from the battle behind them.

Pyrrha thanked her lucky star when she noticed that the elevator was waiting for them.
Perhaps Emerald and Mercury had sent it down in advance for their boss for when she was done with the good guys?
Either way, Pyrrha was grateful for not having to wait more than necessary with Jaune unconscious.

It took a while for the elevator to get up to ground level, longer than previously. Pyrrha reasoned that it was running on reserve power. Maybe something had cut the power?

She put down Jaune as gently as she could. He showed no sign of waking yet. His wings were curled about him and his face was pale. A slight frown adorned his face.
To Pyrrha it seemed like he was having a bad dream that he couldn't wake up from.

She took out her scroll. They were still underground so there was no signal. Either that or the CCT was down. Either way, she couldn't just call for help just yet.

Pyrrha allowed herself to sit down next to Jaune. With the speed of the elevator she had a few moments to catch her breath and calm her mind.
Her limbs were trembling from what she had been through. She hadn't noticed it when she was carrying Jaune out from the vault as adrenalin and endorphins has kept her going back then.

She was still recovering from the feeling of having some of Amber's aura put into her. She didn't know if the process had gone as it was supposed to, but it had felt terrible. Her head had been spinning and she couldn't tell what was going on back then.
It had felt like a million needles had gone in under her skin and then seeped into her muscles, pricking every nerve they came across.

She had gotten some of Amber's aura, she had felt that. Maybe she had gotten some of the power as well? Ozpin had implied so.
As far as Pyrrha could tell there had been no clear changes to her yet but maybe it would happen with time.
Or maybe there wouldn't be any major changes to her as she obviously didn't get much from the transfer.

Pyrrha got back up on her feet, the tremors gone. The elevator was almost at its destination. From down below she could still hear the fight going on.

After making sure Mercury or Emerald weren't waiting for them outside she scoped Jaune up in her arms and exited the elevator and then walked out to the burning remains of Beacon Academy.
The campus looked like a warzone she had seen in her history books.
The very sort of thing she had hoped to prevent in life.
'Aaand iinsteead yoouu trrriggerreed iiit…'

Pyrrha forced herself to move. Jaune was still unconscious from whatever Cinder had done to him but he was still oozing negativity.
No doubt would any grimm in the area hone in on him if she didn't get him someplace safe.

She contemplated summoning her rocket locker and put to send Jaune away in it. She discarded that idea. He wouldn't fit. Maybe he would have a few months ago but not now.

There was no way for her to fit him into a locker without having to break his wings first.
Besides, sending someone who wasn't awake in such a manner could kill them once they hit the ground as they would not be able to raise their aura.

She moved him to another building that still seemed to be untouched by the fighting.
She kept her eye on the tower. Hopefully it would be Ozpin who would come out of it next. If not, then something would have to be done.

She pulled out her scroll again to call Goodwitch. Hopefully the CCT still worked.
When she couldn't find Goodwitch's number she frowned.
Of course, she didn't find it. She had never saved it as she had never needed it.

She took out Jaune's scroll and unlocked it with his finger.
Looking through Jaune's contacts she still kept an eye on the tower. The sound of fighting had died down a few moments ago.

She finally found Goodwitch's name among Jaune's contacts.
But just as she was about to call there was an explosion from the tower.
Turning her head Pyrrha saw two pillars of fire go up the elevator shaft. At their top was Cinder Fall, very much alive.

If Cinder was there then that meant Ozpin was dead. Something had to be done. But she hadn't managed to get hold of Goodwitch yet. Or Ironwood. Or Branwen.

'Theeerrre issss nooo tiiimmeee...' said a voice in Pyrrha's head.
'Ifff nooo oonne doesss ssooomethiiinng, theee towerrr willll faaallll…'

Yes. It would fall if nothing was done to stop Cinder. And Pyrrha was the only one around who knew of what was going on.
'Aaand theee oonllyyy ooonnee whooo caaannn dooo ssssomethiiing.'

Pyrrha looked at the scroll in her hand.
She had to get Goodwitch and the others, but she couldn't just leave Cinder be. And she couldn't just leave Jaune on his own in his current state.

'Iiit isss yooouuur deeessstinnyyy…'
Pyrrha steeled herself. She would protect everyone else on her own until help could arrive. It was the only way that no one else had to be risked.

She bent down and kissed Jaune on the lips.
"I'm sorry."
If he was awake he would have tried to stop her from doing what she had in mind.

She flipped through Jaune's contacts until she found the one she was looking for. She didn't have time to call for Goodwitch and to call for someone to come for Jaune.
Instead she settled for something else.

She made the call. In mere moments there was a response.
"Jaune? Jaune, where are you?"

"Weiss, I need you to get Goodwitch and tell her to bring the others. Cinder is at the top of the tower."

"What? Pyrrha, what is going on? Is Jaune with you?"

"Jaune is unconscious at the foot of the tower. I need to go. Look after him."

"Pyrrha, wai-"

Weiss never got to finish her sentence as Pyrrha ended the call.
She put Jaune's scroll on his chest and turned towards the tower and started running. It was time for her date with destiny.

She headed for the now ruined elevator. Using her semblance, she tore the doors open.
She noted the hole in the floor. The twisted metal was still warm from when Cinder had burst through it. Seeing it only solidified Pyrrha's resolve. Such power must not stay in the hands of someone like Cinder Fall.

With a grunt of effort, she focused her semblance, grabbing hold of the metal of the elevator.
The metal creaked under the strain until it finally gave way.
Pyrrha felt a jolt going through her body as she began go up.

---

"Pyrrha, wait!"
Weiss didn't get a response. The call had been severed.

Jaune was unconscious? At Beacon tower?
That was around where the worst of the grimm were right now! Getting hold on Goodwitch would have to wait. They couldn't just leave him there!

There was an ear shattering screech as a shadow moved over them. The Wyvern was headed for the tower, black ooze dripping from it.
The monster latched on to the tower and began to climb up using its massive hind legs and claws.

Ruby stepped forward. She had overheard what Pyrrha had said. They had to get to the tower but that was on the other side of campus.
"Weiss, I have a plan."

"You always do. So, what is it?"

"We run for the tower as fast as we can and kill any grimm that gets in our way."

"How is that a plan?" complained Weiss but moved to follow her partner.

Their path took them past some of the densest concentrations of grimm on Beacon.
Only thanks to Ruby's speed and Weiss glyphs were they able to move ahead without stopping.
But they were delayed. The grimm that the Wyvern were spawning kept getting in their way, forcing them to take other path, longer paths. The flying grimm was circling the tower but never went far from it, like there was something inside that interested it.

As they got closer to the tower they could she flashing light coming from professor Ozpin's office.
At the edge of their hearing they could hear the sound of clashing metal and glass breaking.

Ruby looked around, trying to find Jaune.
"He is a human with huge wings! How can he be so hard to spot!?"

"Ruby! There!" said Weiss and pointed.

Hidden near a building was Jaune, motionless and pale. Ruby ran up to him while Weiss kept her eyes open.
She paid particular mind to whatever was going on up on the tower. Someone was fighting but who?
"Jaune, wake up! We have to leave!" said Ruby as she tried to shake him awake.

His scroll fell from his chest down to the ground and Ruby could see the aura meters for all of JNPR. Jaune's was in the lower yellow. Ren and Nora's were in the red after their fight with the Atlas paladins. And Pyrrha's was dropping rapidly.
"Pyrrha must be fighting somewhere!"

And then, the grimm turned towards the tower. Blocks of stone and masonry rained down around the tower as the floor that once had been the headmaster's office was demolished.
By some miracle the rubble from the tower missed the trio on the ground as it rained down.

Then Ruby saw Pyrrha's aura meter drop to zero.
From the tower they heard Pyrrha scream in pain.

"Weiss! Glyphs, now!"

"You can do this, Ruby."
With some of her last aura Weiss formed a series of glyphs for Ruby, propelling her upwards the tower.

Ruby ran along the tower, constantly picking up speed.
First floor, second floor, third floor…
With a final leap she threw herself over the edge, above the ruined office, above the massive grimm that clung to the tower.

Then she saw them.
Pyrrha was on her knees, not moving and with an arrow in her chest. She didn't even notice the tiny sparks were seeping out from the wound or Cinder's hand at the side of her head.

Pyrrha began to burn. A fire lit in the palm of Cinder's hand and began turning Pyrrha to cinders.
Still in the air, Ruby could see sparks blowing off in the wind.
Pyrrha was going to die. Pyrrha was dying. Pyrrha was…
"PYRRHA!"

Cinder Fall barely had time to remove her hand from the champion as the white light from the little girl came over her.
"Wha-"
At first it was blurring. Then it was blinding. Then everything hurt. Finally, everything stopped.

---

The City of Vale

---

They were exhausted.
General Ironwood, Qrow Branwen, Glynda Goodwitch and Winter Schnee were fighting in the city.

Ironwood had found himself shot out of the sky by his own ship. Then when he freed himself from the wreckage of his own transport he had been dismayed to see his own robots turn on him.

He had managed to fend of his initial attackers and had then been joined by Qrow.
Qrow had been quite pissed with the general, what with not heeding Arc's warnings.
Ironwood had thought Qrow was about to kill him when instead the man had only struck for a grimm behind the general.
Qrow had been pissed but he intended for the general to help fix the mess he had made, not kill him.
Goodwitch and Winter Schnee had joined them shortly afterwards.

They had established a safe zone in the city for the people evacuating from Beacon.
Many had flocked there when it was first established but now with the grimm owning the skies no transport dared to make the trip anymore. The evacuation had grinded down to a halt soon after the appearance of the giant grimm in the sky.
To make matters worse, the massive grimm that roamed the sky seemed to have taken an interest in Beacon Tower. No doubt causing more difficulties for the students there.

But with the Atlas machines still active and still hostile the group couldn't just hunker down and expect things to blow over. That is why they had decided to venture outside the safe zone in the hopes of reaching Ironwood's crashed airship and find a way of turning off the machines.

Ironwood had first thought that the initial crash would have been enough to destroy the control terminal for the machines but apparently that had not been the case.
Until they managed to turn off the machines they had to manually scrap every droid they came across.

Qrow had even joked that it wouldn't be much of a walk when they set out on their quest.
He had been quite wrong. Between the droids shooting at them and the grimm spawned by the Wyvern, not to mention civilians in need of saving, they had their hands full.

There were other groups of resistance spread throughout the city, tasked with finding more survivors.
But most of the remaining able bodies were assigned to protecting the safe zone. With more and more people being lumped together in these conditions, the grimm were only attracted more and more to them.

And there were plenty of grimm, all thanks to the Wyvern.
Ironwood cursed the thing. He had intended to first establish a center of operations, the safe zone, and from there push the grimm away and create a frontline once their forces had consolidated after the initial shock of the grimms' attack.
But with the monster spawning more grimm behind the defenders' backs that plan had been scrapped in favor of just holding their ground until the droids were dealt with.

Ironwood looked up towards Beacon and the tower. The giant grimm was currently resting on top of what remained of it. Moments before said grimm had destroyed what had been Ozpin's office.
Winter had already reported that she had spotted fire at the tower but that seemed to have died down now.

Ironwood feared that the worst had come to pass.
Ozpin's plan to transfer the power of the Fall Maiden had failed and that Cinder Fall now had that power.
Was it perhaps she and Ozpin who had been fighting in the tower?
Either way, the situation could be surmised with one word: crap.

"James, look! Something is moving up the tower!" shouted Goodwitch and pointed at a red thing headed straight up the tower with what looked like white circles in the air.

Qrow looked over to see the familiar red hood reach the top of the tower and hang in the air for but a moment.
Then he saw a bright white light.

"Ruby!"
Without another word Qrow Branwen darted away towards the tower, changing quickly to his bird form.

---

Tower of Beacon - outdoors

---

Weiss shielded her eyes as the white light spread out from above the tower.
She didn't know what it was, but it seemed to make everything go quiet.

The huge grimm screeched for a moment and then it was silent. There were no sounds after that.
"Ruby…?"

Jaune didn't know what it was that woke him. As he had laid on the ground there had suddenly been a white light that pushed the darkness away.
The horrid memory from his past life was pushed away and Jaune slowly awoke, sitting upright.

"Jaune!"
He waved away Weiss' hand and took in the scene.

He was outside Beacon Tower, out of the vault.
Weiss was beside him and he was surrounded by rubble. The great grimm was motionless on top of the damaged tower was but very much alive.
Pyrrha was… not with him. Had she gotten out? What about Ozpin?

"Where is Pyrrha and Ozpin?"

"Ruby ran up the tower to save Pyrrha when her aura meter hit zero. I don't know where Ozpin is."

"I have to get her out off there!"
Jaune lifted himself off the ground and spread his wings. They were still hurting, and many places lacked feathers from Mercury and Emerald shooting at him.

With a storm-roar, Jaune vaulted up into the air. In the corner of his eye he could see a single dusty crow fly towards the tower at break neck speed.

---

Cinder grunted as she forced herself off the floor. She was hurting all over.
She tried to mutter a curse, but she could only groan. Her face wouldn't move, her mouth wouldn't form words. Her entire body felt stiff.

Whatever that Little Red had done hadn't killed Cinder but she would wish it had once Cinder got her hands on her.
Cinder tossed a looked at the Wyvern. Her vision was blurry but returning to normal with every moment.
The Wyvern was still, as if it was asleep. Whatever it was that Little Red had done had hit the grimm a harder than Cinder. Probably due to their difference in distance to the girl.
But it was wearing off. Soon Cinder would have full freedom of movement again.

Little Red was on the other side of the tower, unconscious.
The champion was were Cinder last had seen her with the arrow still in her chest. Still alive but that wouldn't be true for much longer as the arrowed kept burning her from the inside.

Cinder forced herself up. There was murder to be done.

But before she could get to it two figures appeared. She recognized them both.
The older one she had seen when she had attempted to seize the Power from the Maiden for the first time.
The younger one was the Angel.

Both of them had landed between Cinder hand her would-be victims. The Angel was focused only on Cinder. Branwen was looking after the girls.

"Qrow." Jaune's voice was hard when he spoke.
"Take Pyrrha and Ruby and get them away from here. Weiss is down below. She can help you get down the tower."

Qrow didn't need any more motivating as he hurried over to Pyrrha.
"No need to tell me twice." said the huntsman.

He grabbed the arrow in Pyrrha's chest. If he was to move her the arrow had to go. There was no blood, as the wound had been cauterized by the dust that made up the arrow.
The arrow snapped in his fingers as he tried to pull it out. A fragment was still inside the girl, burning away at her.
"Damn semblance! Why now of all times!"

Qrow picked Pyrrha up under one arm and did the same with Ruby with his other. He just hoped both of them could handle this next part. Ruby was merely unconscious but Nikos…
"Please don't die on me now." He muttered as he jumped off the edge of that had been Ozpin's office.

Using the elevator shaft would have been too obvious and it would have made them easy targets for Cinder.
He made sure to stay close to the tower's wall, using protrusions from it to regulate the speed of their decent.

Then Qrow's semblance struck again as a piece of masonry gave way just as his foot touched it.
Having no other choice he kicked off against the actual wall and was propelled away from it, out into the air.
The kid had said Snow Queen's sister was down below. Here was hoping he was right.

True enough Weiss was standing underneath them.
Without prompting she formed a glyph for Qrow but in her haste she made an error and made a white, accelerating, glyph instead of one of her black, decelerating ones.

Qrow realized what had happened and adapted, making ready to jump again.
"All, right. Just like Snow Queen's."

His jump carried him to the roof of one of the buildings. Not where he had wanted to go but it was still away from the tower. Away from Cinder Fall.

Cinder smirked as she saw the huntsman carry the girls away.
The Angel was standing before her, ready to keep her there for as long as it took for his friends to get away.

"You do realize this bravado of yours is pointless? I will simply finish you off and then I'll finish what I started with your beloved."
She didn't need to say it. She felt like doing it. If nothing else she could do it just to spite him.

"With the grimm and White Fang and my machines around my little 'prey' will not get far. They will block your friends' path and keep them from getting any help on their way as the rest of your friends will be busy protecting those foolish civilians. Either way, my angel, I will catch them. "

Jaune didn't appear faced by her words and merely looked at her with contempt.
"You're wrong on several accounts, Fall. The civilians will not need protection of the huntsmen - my sons will protect them. The Grimm, the White Fang and your machines will not stand in their way to safety - my sons will purge them. And you Cinder, will not touch anyone else today for-"

Cinder interrupted him with a nonchalant gesture.
"..Let me guess. Your sons will deal with me?"

"No."
Crocea Mors left its sheath and was pointed at Cinder.
"I will!"

Behind the Angel Cinder could see Branwen landing on a roof, still carrying the girls.
She laughed and formed a bow and arrow in her hands.
"I doubt it"

She raised the bow and let the arrow fly towards the running huntsman. It is an easy, linear, shot for the red headed girl's head.
The Angel didn't have time to react in time to stop it. Cinder smiled wickedly. Nothing could stop it. The arrow would find its mark!

The arrow flew over the edge of the tower and headed right for its target only to shatter into a hundred pieces before it even got close to Nikos.

The sound of a blast echoed in Cinder's and Jaune's ears.
He smiled a bit. That had been the sound of a bolt round detonating.
They were here.

"What!"
Cinder let loose another arrow before Qrow could get out of her sights. This time the arrow was not shot out of the air.
But instead of hitting its mark it shattered against an armored hull as the trio were taken into an unknown airship roaring through Beacon's airspace at impossible speeds.
Cinder didn't recognize its model. It bore no insignia that she knew.

She looked around and saw other such crafts moving over the city and Beacon, tearing apart the opposition and unloading warriors, big as Ursai, to the battle.

How had they gotten here?
Had she been so focused on the Angel and killing Nikos to notice them arriving before?
"Who are they? What are they?"

"My sons." said Jaune.
"My Blood Angels"

---

Qrow was running away from the tower, trying as best he could to avoid running in straight lines to make him and the girls harder to get a bead on. But up on this rooftop and the weight of the girls it was difficult.

He could hear an explosion behind him just before he leapt for a window at another building, hoping for better cover.
In the corner of his eye he saw something coming towards him at breakneck speed. A ship?

He braced for impact and prepared to try to take as much of the impact as possible to protect the girls.
The vessel made a sharp turn, exposing an open door, and instead of getting crushed they were snatched up in the air by strong, metal clad hands.

The sensation of being picked up at suck speeds was not pleasant. Qrow caught a glimpse of his saviors. They were huge and were donning yellow armor and snarling helmets.
"Mortal, grab on to something while you can!" snarled one of the giants.

Mortal? What did he mean by that? Questions for later!
Qrow knew better than to question and did as he was told. He strapped the girls into a pair of seats meant for much bigger people than they. He wasted no time on Ruby, she was simply unconscious.
Nikos on the other hand was in a bad spot.

He examined the injury as he held on to something solid.
The injury itself, caused by the arrow impaling her, was not fatal if she got to a hospital fast enough.
The problem was that the shrapnel in her burned with Power, slowly and painfully killing her.
"Aura imbued weapons! Shit!"

And he had just left the kid to face down someone who could wield such weapons?
He tightened his grip on whatever he was holding as the craft made another sharp turn in the air, sharper than any bullhead could manage at these speeds.

"I sure hope you know what you're doing kiddo." he muttered as he heard the vessel open fire with its guns.

---

All remaining teams were at the landing area. What ground they had once held had been taken by the grimm and now the defenders were all grouped together against the grounded transport.
All were tired, and many were wounded.

Only team CRDL was the only team that could be considered somewhat fresh and hopeful as they had followed the Lord Primarch's order to guard the area instead of going into Beacon.
They had gotten shit for it from the others for it but now they were the only ones left to keep the efforts of the others from being in vain by holding the line.

Jaune said that "All of this has been planned. If such amount of care has been put into the attack, then surely they must have thought about the evacuation as well."
Well, he had been right.

The teachers had quit trying to get everyone to leave.
The students had been adamant in staying and not leaving any of their own behind. The teachers had tried to rebuke this as that would leave none left to fight tomorrow.
But in the end the teachers had to accept that it was too late to pull out.
There just were too many grimm in the sky and to go by land would leave their backs open to attack.

Right now, a new wave of black bodies was building up and was getting ready to attack the landing area.
Port, Oobleck and the students were getting ready to face yet another wave of grimm, ready to sell their lives as dearly as possible.

Dove looked up into the night sky. At first all he saw were flying grimm but then his face it up.
"Hey look! In the sky!"

"Yeah, we know the sky is full of Nevermores! So what?" asked Sun annoyedly.

Cardin looked up as well.
"No, behind them! By the moon! Look!"

Coco cocked and eyebrow. She could only see some dark dots at the moon behind the grimm.
"What is that? More grimm?"

"No! It's reinforcements! Just like Arc said! We are going to make it!"

The dots in the sky seemed to grow bigger as they neared the edge of the shattered moon. Then they disappeared into the dark night sky only to appear again as streaks of light.

Like shooting stars they made their way to the surface of Remnant.
To the defenders of the City of Vale they seemed to be about to crash outside the city. But just as the fiery objects neared the ground they pulled up.
Their direction changed, and they headed for the city, for Beacon.

"Get ready!" shouted Coco as she remembered the approaching grimm and readied her gun and what little ammo she had left.
The fear of the injured inside the transport had driven the grimm into a frenzy. A massive wave of black bodies was making its way towards them.

Then the students heard the sound of guns firing as something tore bloody holes in the grimm line, punching holes in the ground as it moved towards them.

Massive ships still glowing from entering the atmosphere, heavier than any bullhead, roared ahead over the defenders into the hordes of grimm, guns blazing.
The sound of the guns was like thunderclaps but the grimm were the one who suffered the worst.
In a single sweep the airships had decimated the monsters in the streets and Beacon.

The ships pulled up and turned back to Beacon's landing area. Their massive doors opened and released their passengers, all ready to perform their brutal craft.

Massive figures in suits of armor unlike anything Remnant had ever seen before leapt down to the ground between the grimm and the students.
In perfect unison they formed a line against the new hoard advancing on their location.
But unlike the huntsmen the warriors showed no fear.

They shall be my finest warriors, these men who give of themselves to me. Like clay I shall mold them, and in the furnace of war forge them.

The grimm kept running towards the line like mindless beasts. Yet they were a far cry from the vicious tyranids.

They will be of iron will and steely muscle. In great armor shall I clad them and with the mightiest guns will they be armed.

Servos running smoothly, the warriors readied their bolters and chainswords.

They will be untouched by plague or disease; no sickness will blight them.
They will have tactics, strategies and machines so that no foe can best them in battle.

No words were spoken between the warriors. The battle plan had already been agreed on. They all knew their part. This fight would be theirs.

They are my bulwark against the Terror. They are the Defenders of Humanity. They are my Space Marines

In a perfect line of warriors made it way towards the approaching wave of grimm. Not a single one would get past them. The mortals looked up to their new heroes in awe.

And they shall know no fear.

"FOR THE EMPEROR! FOR SANGUINUS!"
The warriors let out their battle cry and with great fury they tore their way through the grimm, tearing the black shapes apart with a brutality and effectiveness that left the huntsmen speechless.
And then, the grimm were pushed back.

---

Qrow saw from the vessel he was on how the astartes tore their way through the grimm in front of them. He wanted to just sit still and watch but he forced himself to focus on him task.

He unstrapped Ruby and Pyrrha who was very bad pain.
Scanning his surroundings he spotted Beacon's physician tending to a injured student.
He called the doctor over.
"Surgia! I have wounded for you! She has been hit by aura-imbued dust weapons!"

Surgia snapped at this and moved over to the patient.
"Are you sure? Those weapons were banned since the War and with good reason!"

"Well, our enemy doesn't care if it's legal or not. Now start doctoring!"

Surgia moved over and examined the patient. It was bad. There was a big shard of dust glass in the girl's chest and several fragment throughout her body. No doubt from being tossed around like a sack of potatoes.

The reason why weapons such as these was that there was no real way to treat the injuries they caused. Typically, the patient's own aura should deal with it.
The problem was that in order to get hurt one's aura has to be depleted first. This meant Pyrrha had no aura to help her.

All Surgia could do was to try and remove the biggest shard and give her something for the pain and pray that she would last long enough for the invading aura and dust to run out before Pyrrha's life did.

"Hey, where is Jaune?" asked someone. Qrow figured it was one of his teammates. The one with dark hair.

"He- the kid, he is- um…."
Qrow did not want to answer. Chances were that Jaune was probably dead by now at the hands of Cinder.

Nora wobbled forward, leaning on her hammer for support. She pointed to the rooftops.
"Um guys, isn't that Jaune, fighting Cinder?"

---

Cinder had some advantages over her opponent.
she had pretty much all of the maiden's power backing her up and empowering her while he was wounded from before.
She was physically faster, could summon weapons at will, she had plenty of options in terms of ranged attacks and she was the one with more actual experience.
She had already recovered from the Little Red's action and the Angel's wings made for rather big and easy targets.

He only had two advantages, both minor to Cinder: his large aura reserve and his wings.
But she knew his aura wasn't anywhere near full after Emerald and Mercury had shot at him down in the vault. What aura he had left she could wear down easily enough.
As for the wings, they did provide him with a certain maneuverability but here in the confined ruins of Ospin's office that would not help him much.

And still he fought on! how?
Cinder had defeated Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon! She had beaten Nikos, the Invincible girl for f#ck's sake!

She poured fire at the Angel, hoping to burn him to ashes.
Before the first flame had even left her hands he reacted, prompted by a vision.
He didn't move to evade the fire but rather he planted his feet and flapped his wings. With a great gush of wind, the flame was sent pack at Cinder who swept it away with her power.

It had happened again. He had acted before she had even finished her move!

The power of the Maiden was useless against him!
She would hardly have begun to attack him with the power before he moved to evade her or to counter her. It was not a reflex for his body was still much slower than hers despite his changes.
He just saw her attacks coming much sooner than she could expect.

Her little trick with having him lose focus by exposing him to the power didn't work either like she thought it would. He didn't zone out like he had done back when he was her assigned caretaker during the epidemic.
Instead he remained focused on killing her.

The two of them separated as Cinder let loose another fireball between them, forcing him to back away.
Cinder smirked. She was still in control.
She would still win. It was her destiny for she would make it so.

She doused the sleeping Wyvern in flame.
It had been motionless ever since Little Red had done her thing, slowly waking up again.
Maybe Cinder's actions would speed things up.

Their blades clashed. Cinder's weapons made of glass shattered before Crocea Mors and she dodged backwards but Arc was hot on her heels.
She let forth a goat of fire against him as she summoned a long-bladed sword behind her back. With his view blocked by the fire Arc would have no way of knowing of her new weapon.

He powered through the fire, ducking behind his shield to avoid the flames.

He got within range for her blow. Cinder ceased with the fire and spun around, putting the needed speed and force behind the blow. The blow hit his shield. Arc had anticipated her move yet again.

She managed to materialize a pair of curved short swords to block his strike and roll away, getting ever more annoyed with this annoyance.

She was supposed to have the advantages here, not him.
It was high time to quit playing around and start using said advantages.

She stuck her blades into the floor for later use and conjured her bow once again. She let fly arrow after arrow at her opponent, imbued with the power of the Fall Maiden.

She knew he would have no other choice but to come at her now. He had no ranged weapon and he could not hope to block every arrow she shot at him. His only hope was to advance towards her, where she would be waiting with her blades.

Just as Cinder had expected he came at her, but much faster than she would have expected. With his wings he launched towards her whilst angling himself so that her arrows mostly glanced off him. Mostly. Some hit and dwindled down his aura even more.

Cinder grabbed her blades and was able to block the fool's blade but just barely for he had put his whole weight behind it. Before Cinder could move her blades to his throat did he slam his shield against her.

Instead of being knocked off her feet she used the power to cushion the blow and to propel herself away from him.
Once again, he anticipated her actions and before she had landed and regained her footing did she feel that blasted shield slam into her again.

This time there was no time for her to react or to cushion the impact in any way. this time she was knocked of the tower, free for gravity to do its work at her.

Cinder realized what was going on soon enough and smirked as she somersaulted in the air and lit fires in both of her hands, keeping herself airborne just like when she went up the tower.
"Nice try, idiot! Did you forget I can fly, you foo-"

She did not have time to finish her thought as she felt someone grab the back her head. She noticed that Arc was not at the tower anymore either.
And just like Cinder he was capable of flight.

Before Cinder could properly process this turn of events was her face introduced to the walls of Beacon Tower.
The instant Cinder's face hit the solid wall shifted Jaune his and Cinder's direction to downwards.
As they went down he kept a steady hand on Cinder's head, pressing it against the tower.

Cinder felt her aura being ground down as if by sandpaper as her skull was being pressed against the wall.
She focused all of the power against the offending parties: the wall and the hand.
But even as she poured out the power did the fool not relent, instead letting his aura soak up the damage. All to grind Cinder down.

Cinder fought desperately to free herself.
Nikos had been nothing like this! Even at her worst had the champion not come close to this level of hardness or ruthlessness. The worst the champion had done was to throw a bunch of gears at Cinder. Nothing like this!

There was pain.
Any moment Cinder's focus broke and she let up the flow of the power did she feel herself take damage before she could raise her aura to protect herself again. Not to mention getting the power flowing again.
She couldn't hope to keep this up for long and there was still a lot of tower for them to pass by.

Cinder's face was slammed into a decorative piece on the wall with such force that Arc actually lost his hold of her head.
The last bit of her journey was mostly under her control. She still slammed into the ground hard.

Cinder was in excruciating pain. The left side of her face stung like it had been picked clean by ants and then covered in fire dust.
The power that had previously failed to protect her face was not surging in to support said face and try to heal it.
…Well, what was left of it, that is.

She couldn't see with her left eye anymore.
Cinder put a hand to her face and winced. Her hand was now the color of blood and there were pieces of bone on her hand.
She lit her hand aflame and cauterized her marred face, ignoring the pain it caused. The need for survival would overrule vanity for now.
It would do for now. Cinder's Lady could fix her up later.

No sooner had she gotten up on her feet by the base of Beacon tower when Arc came at her again. he came from on high, capitalizing on his flight.

Cinder barely dodged the blow as she didn't have depth perception anymore.
Not too big a problem. She would adapt once she regained her bearings.

Or maybe not. This fight had taken a lot out of her. She needed a boost, like the rest of the Power. If she only had that then this would not have happened!

She had to find it!
Nikos must have been at death's door by now. It would only take a light breeze to put her down properly.
No matter what sort of warriors these 'sons' of Arc were, they would not be able to stop her from getting what was rightfully hers, thought Cinder.

A roar from up above signaled the Wyvern's reawakening from Rose's trick.
Not wasting any time Cinder called upon it and set it on her pursuer while she went out hunting.

Cinder propelled herself up in the air like she had done when she went up Beacon Tower. She could feel the power nearby!
Cinder was so focused on her hunt for the power that she completely forgot about Arc and his ability to fly as well. Or his single-minded determination to put her down.

She barely managed to get above the dorms' rooftops before she felt him slam into her, forcing her to crash onto a roof.

The massive grimm was hot on his tail and was soon joined by a murder of Nevermores. Soon the smaller grimm blocked his path to her, forcing him to halt in the air.
He began to cut down the grimm with great fury, not intending on letting them get in his way for long.

The Nevermores fell easily as he cut of wings and tail feathers, but the Wyvern was too massive to be cut down by a weapon like Crocea Mors.
Even as Jaune tried to get at its eyes it just shrugged off all of his blows.

Cinder summoned a bow once again and lined up a shot. In the background she could see a group of students. No doubt watching the fight.
Cinders lips formed a cruel smile.
'Well if they want to watch then I'll give them something worth watching.'

She let loose an arrow and it found its mark. Arc yelled out in pain as it pierced his right wing, going right trough it. But he did not fall, not yet.
Instead he shifted so that the grimm was between him and her as he kept carving into it.

Denied a clear shot, Cinder bid her time and formed a pair of blades again with a bit of effort.
It was becoming more and more taxing to do so. Her ride on the pain-train down Beacon Tower had taken a lot more out of her than she had realized.
Not to mention the fight against Nikos and Ozpin before that.
Her aura had taken quite the beating.

But there was one bit that worked as consolation for her: the winged fool's aura had also taken quite a hit as she had tried to burn his hand off.
She noticed that he favored his sword arm, not bothering with his shield any more.
His left hand was badly burned, no longer fit for battle.

Arc threw himself off the grimm's wing that he had been cutting up and let the grimm's own strength propel him towards Cinder.
But Cinder did not even wait for him to release his grip on the grimm before she fired a second arrow at her foe, catching him by surprise for once.

Again, her aim was true, one eye or not.
She pierced his wing once again, forcing him to leave the skies.
But he resisted gravity and instead forced himself to land on the same roof as her.

His breathing was ragged, and his pose was sloppy. His armor sported several dents and was missing many more feathers than before, no doubt because he did not have the strength or dexterity to dodge properly anymore.
He had several scratches on his face and lower arms. His wings were bloodied, and his armor was barely holding up anymore.
Without any power to back him up he was in just a big a bind as Cinder was. Well, almost.

His last round with the Wyvern and the Nevermores had obviously taken a lot out of him. His aura must have been very low if such lowly beasts could harm him.
Cinder guessed he wasn't used to battles lasting this long.

She could win this.

Then something happened.

A small sliver of light, barely noticeable over the light of all the fire and destruction around them, flew closer until it finally reached Cinder and went into her to join with the rest of itself. A familiar sensation filled her. The same one as she had slayed the previous Fall Maiden.

The Power was whole once again.
The keeper of the fragment was dead.

That could only mean one thing.

Pyrrha Nikos was dead.

---

What is this? A cliffhanger? In my fic? Who would have thought?
Well I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. If there was one bit I didn't like with how it came out it would have to be Jaune's speech to Remnant. I've never been good with speeches. Other than that, I had intended to write Ruby encounter with Torchwick but just couldn't be bothered! Call me lazy if you wish (but be polite about it) but I just couldn't care enough. Also, I did not care to write more crazy Roman right now.
(Side note: If you people don't get who I'm referencing with Roman then shame on you! And I tossed in some other, subtle, references here and there as well.)

For the next chapter: I'll be off on a business trip for the next week with not internet or free time to work on Prim-arc so be patient if you haven't had enough of my ramblings by now and decided to quit reading. I'm not blaming you if that's the case.

As for the poll I've been running regarding the omake-chapters: with 15 votes for, 8 votes against and 8 votes not caring, I have decided "maybe".
The poll's results were never intended to be binding. Apologies to those who might have assumed that it was going to be binding. Chances are that I'll just spit out these omakes if I get writer's block for the main story, letting the omakes function as filler until I get my groove back. (So let's all hope that I don't lose it)