Last chapter had over 420 reviews, lol, most calling for either blood, no blood or my head for killing an OC. I'm pleased with the reaction it all got, but the downside is that whenever you have a chapter like that, you just know the next can only satisfy half of the readers.

No pressure, lol.

Warnings ahead for… well… violence.

I'd normally avoid warnings because I see them as spoilers, but let's be honest - if this chapter was all Ironwood and Blake having an interview and then a PoV of Cinder, Mercury and Em, and it ended without violence? Well, I might get even more than 420 reviews for the chapter, but most of them would require a rather strong swearing filter.


Cover Art: Serox

Chapter 27


The shrill scream all around them, reaching a crescendo upon which it broke with a twang, dying off with a painful gurgle and the tinging of tinnitus in Yang's ears. The man she had hold of slumped, turning into a sack of potatoes in her hands, heavy and drooping. For a short moment she stared at him, wondering if she'd have to explain how and why someone died in her hands. Something sweet and sickening began to work its way up her throat. Had he died? Was she holding a dead body?

There was an almost crushing sense of relief when Jaune Arc released a shuddering breath, his left hand coming up to weakly clutch at her elbow, extended as it was with both her hands pinning him to the cold metal of an SDC-marked cargo container.

He whispered something she didn't hear. The sound of the explosion and his scream were still ringing around in her ears and the Bullhead's crash landing wasn't any better since it struck down against concrete and metal, twisting and groaning like a falling building. A final fitful explosion went up in the distance along with a billowing cloud of blackish smoke. His lips moved, some breath coming out with a tint of a lowered voice. Yang's eyes narrowed and she leaned in, tilting her head slightly to bring one ear close enough to hear.

"You win…"

"Hah-?" Yang wasn't sure she'd heard that correctly but he said it again, tone just as broken, repeating the word like a mantra and almost more to himself than to her. He'd obviously taken one knock too many in their scuffle. "Damn right I win. You're going to a cold cell in Atlas, bub. I've no idea what they'll do to you over there but good riddance."

"You win…"

Maybe he really has gone nuts, she thought. "Yeah. Yeah. I heard you the first time."

"You win…" This time he looked up and Yang was caught, lost in the most dizzying array of colours she'd ever seen in a person's eyes. Gold, yellow, blue, green, purple and red, all mixing and swirling together like paint whisking down a sink's drain. "You win," he whispered. "I'll do it. I'll kill you."

Yang's eyes widened. "What-?"

Cold agony ripped through her left arm and Yang gasped, eyes jerking down to her left arm where the blade of a knife was jutting up out the inside of her elbow. The pain took a second to filter past the shock but when it hit, it hit hard and she screamed reflexively, releasing his collar and stumbling back.

Jaune Arc ripped it free, pulling his gun out from under her arm where she could see a bloody knife sticking out from the bottom of the grip. She hadn't noticed it, but even then it shouldn't have punctured through her aura like that. He swept his arm over both of hers to knock her grip off him, then twisted his fist back, swinging the knife-gun around towards her face. Eyes watering from the stinging pain and angry tears, Yang brought her right hand up to catch and deflect the weapon, pouring every drop of aura she had to her hand. She'd stopped Ruby's scythe full swing before and that had the added benefit of her sister's speed adding to the force. It would be enough!

The knife hit and Yang didn't let out even a single word. All she could do was stare at the bloody tip that had stopped an inch away from her eye, stained red with the blood running down the back of her hand.

Feeling struck a half second later.

"Yarghhhhhhhh!"

The blood ran down her wrist and arm and Yang tried to swing her left, only for it to not respond to her commands. The tendons are cut, her mind supplied, even as it faltered as to why her Semblance wasn't kicking in. She instinctively activated Ember Celica and caused the metal gauntlets to expand over her hands.

It was the worst mistake.

Training had never accounted for an incident like this and the metal plates of Ember Celica slid out over the back of her hand, catching the knife jutting out from her right and forcing it up. Muscle and skin ripped like parchment and Yang watched in slow motion as the blade cut up between her middle and ring finger, sliding between her fingers and out her hand with a spray of blood. It was her turn to scream, at first from the terror and then from the pain when it finally hit. She fell back clutching her right hand to her chest, tears streaming down her face as blood flowed everywhere.

The high-pitched scream pierced through the night, a wail of pure agony.

"Yang!" Ruby shouted.

The crack of Crescent Rose sounded to her left and Jaune Arc's eyes flooded back to blue an instant before he was struck and launched away from her. Yang didn't care to see if he was alive – the very moment he was out the way, she staggered to her feet and fled, left arm draping at her side and right clutched to her chest to stem the bleeding. Her aura trickled back and over the injury to dull the pain. Eyes stinging, she wondered why it hadn't helped in the first place.

"You wanted this!" a wild cry behind her echoed. "Well congratulations. You win! I'll be the monster you've always wanted me to be!"

Yang's heart raced. She took a right and ducked behind a container, pressing her back to the cold metal and forcing her legs to keep moving, sliding her along with a trail of blood left on the hard concrete. He was coming. He was coming for her. He was going to kill her. Yang bit her lip to stop a pained cry that might give her away. If she could just get to Ruby and Weiss, she'd be fine. They could take him. Or run.

Running sounded like a good idea.

Fuck, Penny, we should have left when we had the chance! Why did you charge in? A wave of nausea overcame her and she had to stop, banging her head back against the container as she caught her breath. Shock. There hadn't been enough blood loss for it to be a problem yet, but her body wasn't coping with the sudden shock to its system. Stay calm. Stay calm, girl. You've been hurt before.

Loud footsteps echoed behind her as Jaune Arc moved slowly among the containers.

"Where are you…?" he sang in a manic tone. "Do you think you can hide? That's a tall ask when you're leaving me a nice red trail to follow."

Yang's eyes snapped down to the floor and the blood she'd left everywhere. She heard the click of a hammer cocking back and threw herself to the right and along the container, narrowly dodging the bullet that smashed through two layers of sheet metal and pierced out where her chest had been. Hitting the floor, she tried to find her footing, only to curl up around her badly bleeding hand and whimper.

His footsteps carried him casually around the front side. A clip was discarded from his weapon, clacking down before her eyes as he retrieved a second and slowly slid it into the magazine, pulling the slide back with an ominous clack. She'd faced Grimm, fought Ursa, risked her life in the wilds of Patch, but never in her life had she so completely known her life was over as when she looked up into his cold unfeeling eyes. Only one thought came to mind, one bitter and pathetic thought.

I don't want to die.

"YANG!"

The cry came from above and the killer tutted, keeping the gun on her but looking away in time to see Weiss approaching over the top of the containers, bounding from one glyph to another. The heiress crouched and leapt off one, forming another in the above Jaune Arc, Myrtenaster already spinning through its rounds in one hand.

"Get away from her!" Weiss snarled.

Jaune scoffed. "Cute." He swept his left arm and the glyph Weiss was about to land on shattered in the air. Weiss' eyes widened as her feet failed to find the purchase she'd been expecting and she flailed her arms, flopping forward and down as gravity took hold. It was a short drop all things considered but any hope of landing properly was removed. Weiss struck the top corner of a container chest first and buckled over it, crashing down on the other end with all the air driven from her lungs.

A second shot ignited the dust in the container she'd landed on, causing it to explode outward in a ball of fire that engulfed Weiss and launched her off the docks and into the ocean with a loud splash. Metal rained down where she'd fallen, crashing down into the water. Weiss had been dealt with within seconds.

"Rargh!" Ruby screamed, streaking in with Crescent Rose drawn back. "Get away from my sister!"

Ruby was moving so fast she might as well have been a streak of red cloth. Jaune Arc didn't even react to her other than to look her way. Yang couldn't see that he did anything, but when Ruby finally got close enough to him to think about striking, everything went wrong. She snapped back into reality and the rose petals vanished. Her pace halted in an instant, as impossible as that sounded. Ruby's legs were suddenly moving at normal speed – but her momentum wasn't.

When her feet next touched the floor she was forced to contend with the fact that her forward momentum was many times greater than she could physically keep up with. Her foot tried to kick off the floor, but her upper body moved faster than it, zipping forward while her feet were yanked back and out from under her. Like a bike whose front tyre had hit an immovable object, she flipped forward and down.

Almost straight down. The sickening crunch as Ruby impacted the concrete chest and face first would have had Yang crying out if she wasn't so deathly afraid. Ruby didn't let out a sound. Ruby didn't scream.

Ruby wasn't moving.

Jaune Arc turned back to her, eyes dancing with bright golds and purples again, face impassive despite the fact her teammates had been dealt with before they could even get close to him. He raised his handgun toward her face and prepared to pull the trigger.

Yet again, he was interrupted.

"Subject 000." Penny's voice made him pause. His hand wavered, gun shaking, and for a moment she thought he was afraid. Only for a moment. His lips quivered and then stretched into a wild and painful grin. He turned from Yang, forgetting her entirely.

"Chivalric Arms," he rasped out. "Yes…"

"Subject 000," Penny said. "You are to be captured and returned to Atlas for testing. Resist and you shall be neutralised." Her blades hovered in the air around her to form a fan shape, clicking and clinking together as she took her position at the end of the containers. "Are you prepared to surrender?"

Could Penny take him? She seemed to think so and Yang dared to hope, even if she didn't dare make a sound for fear Jaune Arc would decide to shoot her in the head before he went after the new threat. It didn't even cross his mind. With a bloodcurdling cry only an octave lower than the one she'd let out when he split her hand in half, he charged the orange-haired girl, shooting so wildly that only one out of ten shots hit.

Yang moaned, reaching out a hand to drag herself along and to Ruby. She thought her vision was failing her because she saw two hands, then realised it was two hands, her own split in two and slipping one way and the other. Fresh nausea threatened to have her spewing out on the concrete. Closing her eyes to hide it, she used her feet to push herself instead, squirming along the floor with both hands reduced to uselessness.

Her sister lay still on her front, one arm bent at a crooked angle and so broken it might as well not be a part of her. The other lay underneath. Dragging her sorry ass onto both knees, she trudged over and fell down with her nose and mouth against Ruby's neck. Her lips touched her throat, feeling the faint ripple of a pulse and breath being drawn. Alive. Yang sobbed, tears of pure relief mixing with those of agony and fear.

"Subject 000- S-Sub-SUBJECT-" Penny's voice changed, faltered and then recommenced again in a tinny and robotic tone. It happened once Jaune Arc closed the distance and the knives she had in the air behind her tinkled down to the floor like rain.

Penny swung one arm clumsily, face blank and sickeningly empty. Her mouth hung open the entire time, not to speak or make any sound, but as though every muscle in her face had gone slack. When her swing missed, she didn't even react to the knife sweeping up and plunging into her stomach, only to shake at the impact and then fix both hands on Jaune Arc's neck.

His clapped up, slipping between her own and parting them. He then dragged one out and stabbed his knife up and into the elbow as he had her. Penny didn't make a sound. Her aura also failed to protect her, though Yang noticed there was no blood. No blood, no screams and no reaction. Penny's other wrist opened up and a knife flicked out, caught in her free hand and brought down at Jaune's back. He did cry out, stiffening and arching as blood flew out. His elbow swung back and caught her arm before she could attack again, then he placed the barrel of his gun against Penny's shoulder and fired. The bullet pierced through, rendering her arm useless.

"SUBJECT 000. SURRENDER AND SUBMIT TO-"

"Fuck you!" Jaune Arc screamed, sliding his hand up to the back of Penny's head and dragging her to the nearest metal container.

Her arms were already broken and hanging at her sides and her feet couldn't stop him. Pausing at it, he pressed Penny's face into the very edge, the metal right-angle corner of the container with the sharpest point toward her nose.

Yang closed her eyes and curled up at the sound of the first blow. A sickening and twisted crunch of metal on metal – not flesh? One eye cracking open, she watched the killer slam Penny back and forward, crushing her face into the sharp metal corner so hard it would have killed anyone. Penny's arms and legs bucked with each impact, but not as they should. Her feet kept trying to find purchase and she was pulling away even though Yang could see the horrifying mess her face had been reduced to. Most of her skin was torn off, her nose, eyes and mouth caved inward and bits of her skull sticking out.

Metal. Penny's skull was metal.

"S-S-SUBJ- SUBJECT…"

Jaune Arc pressed his gun to the middle of her face and pulled the trigger, snapping Penny's head back and then her body, sending their new friend toppling to the ground. Dead. Or as dead as a robot could get.

What's going on? Penny is a robot. This guy's suddenly too good and my aura isn't working! What the fuck is going on here?

"That's it?" Jaune laughed and kicked Penny's head so hard it flew off her shoulders. "You're sending robots masquerading as people after me now? Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you. FUCK YOU!" He stamped down and shattered Penny's head under his boot, parts flying in every direction. "I'll kill every single one of you if I have to. I'll burn Chivalric Arms to the ground and salt the ashes."

Buckshot from Ember Celica sprayed off his back, making him draw in a sharp breath and turn toward them. By the time he had, Yang was on her feet and a good distance away from Ruby, propping her left arm up over her right wrist, and bleeding badly from both arms. Legs weak and heart in her throat, she tried not to shake as he turned to face her.

"H-Hey!" she stammered, flashing him a smile she absolutely did not feel. "W-We're not done."

He took a step toward her, eyes narrowed and blue once more. "We will be soon…"

He was focused on her, which meant Ruby and Weiss would be okay. I might not be, she thought, but there was nothing else that could be done. Before he could notice Ruby and think to hurt her, Yang fled into the containers.

/-/

Yang bit down on the scrap of cloth, dragging it tight around her split hand with her teeth. The bandage was already soaked through and not really a bandage – she'd torn the cloth from her skirt. It'd have to do, and at least it stopped the trail of blood she'd been leaving. Her feet shuffled along as she did, taking her around another container, ears strained for the killer moving amongst them. He was out there still. Hunting her. The maze of containers, some smoking and others on fire, made for a terrifying labyrinth.

Time was on her side. Except for the whole bleeding out thing, that was. Yang listened intently, catching her breath and leaning back against a container. Gunfire and shouting in the distance told her some of the White Fang were still alive. She hoped they'd be distracted enough not to go after Weiss or Ruby. Pebbles crunched nearby. Heart thumping, she moved quickly and quietly in the opposite direction, trudging around another container and sliding along it, breath held.

She'd thought Grimm were frightening but this felt like she was trapped in a horror film. Some useless damsel running away from a slasher who'd cut her in two if he found her. I'm supposed to be a huntress. What the hell is going on here?

"Come out, Yang," Jaune Arc called. He'd evidently heard Ruby and Weiss shout her name. "Weren't you going to show me what a huntress is made of? I'd like to test if it's the same material your friend was."

Yang clenched her eyes shut as panic mounted. It was such a subtle threat and yet she could just imagine him carving her chest open. Her heart thumped wildly, so fast she thought it might explode. Her nostrils flared, taking in the scent of blood and fire and dust. Why couldn't he just go away? He'd beaten them. It was already over.

A scroll buzzed. Yang's heart stopped and she glanced to her skirt.

It wasn't hers.

"What?" Jaune snapped, behind her container. "No, I don't care. The dust is your problem, Roman. I'm busy. Yes, I'm aware what killing one of them will mean. You're mistaken if you think I care." Yang leaned her head back, eyes wide. She wanted to pant but was afraid of the noise it might make. "I don't know where Neo is. I don't care either. They killed her. They killed her and I'll make them pay for it."

Killed who-? They hadn't killed anyone! Her eyes widened. The Bullheads. The ones Penny chopped open. But that wasn't our fault! We didn't tell her to destroy them! Fuck. She tried to move on while he was distracted, taking small steps to bring her to and around the next container. He obviously wasn't in the mood to negotiate. He wanted blood. Hers.

Something crinkled underfoot. A thrown away wrapper from a candy bar that made a loud and tell-tale sound. Yang swore under her breath and broke out into a sprint seconds before a gunshot pinged off the container to her right. She hurled herself down a narrow aisle between two, hearing the clanging above that told her he'd taken to the tops and was leaping over them. She paused, let him pass her by and then doubled back, but he saw after his next jump that she hadn't come out and came after her.

Another shot whistled by over her shoulder and impacted a metal container ahead of her. It pierced through and then the metal ballooned outward, the briefest warning to toss her aura up before it erupted in a ball of fire, sending her hurtling back into the container she'd been running by, slamming her up against the metal and dropping her to the floor. Wisps of flame danced and weaved around her, tickling her skin and making her tears burn off her face.

At least her aura had protected her from that. Jaune Arc emerged from the fire, eyes a dark blue and locked onto her. His gun whirred and clicked as some mechanism fed a new round in. Explosive shot. He hadn't shown that before. Funny how that gem of wisdom came too late to make a difference.

"We didn't mean to," Yang rasped. "W-Whoever died, we didn't mean to…"

"Does that bring her back?"

Grimacing, she pushed herself up so she was sat against the container. A strange sense of calm had come over her – mostly morbid acceptance. If she was going to die, she'd rather die sitting than curled up on her side. Call it stupid but it was the best she could give.

"Tell me," he said. "Does the name Chivalric Arms mean anything to you?"

Yang looked up at him dizzily. Tired. "No…"

"Then I guess there's no point wasting time with an interrogation. At least Roman will be pleased," he muttered under his breath, bringing the gun up toward her. His eyes changed colours again. Was it his Semblance? It was far too late to care.

His head snapped left and he dived back, casting his eyes blue again. A sword cut through the air between him and her, slicing upward in a red blur before twisting and lunging his way, driving him back with a devastating flurry of blows. The aggressor was dressed in full black and red, wielding a long and thin sword with one hand and with the other on her sheathe. Long flowing black hair poured down her back and flew up in the air as she darted in, driving Jaune Arc away with skill far beyond anything Yang could hope to match.

Beyond what he could match as well. The sword nicked his arm and shoulder, swept low and caught his knee. Aura prevented any of it cutting him down, but she clearly had the upper edge. Growling, he stepped into the woman's guard and his eyes changed colours, swirling with gold, purple and green again.

The very second it did – the instant – the woman threw herself back, kicking off with heeled boots so hard she flew at least ten metres away, and even then backing up further, keeping her sword out straight and toward him but retreating at speed.

"Who the fuck are you!?" Jaune Arc raged. "Where the fuck did you come from? Why are you here? Why are you interfering!?"

Yang shared the same questions, though she had a feeling she knew the answer to the first. M-Mom…? She'd only ever seen an image of Raven Branwen, but her biological mother evidently liked her style because she hadn't changed it in over seventeen years. Why was she here, though? Why had she come back?

"Are you for real?" Jaune Arc snarled. "Are there more? Are people going to pour out the woodwork to save her? What makes her so special? Why wasn't my family special?" He unloaded a clip at Raven, and though the whirling blade deflected some, more pierced through, driving the woman back. "Why did no one come save us!?"

He lunged in for her and Raven met him, blade flashing. He was driven back again, unable to match her and losing aura fast, but he found a point after her blade caught his shoulder to bring his handgun up. Yang couldn't see that anything happened, but Raven was suddenly in full flight, retreating as fast as she humanly could.

"You know," he hissed. "How the fuck do you know? Chivalric Arms? Is that where you're from?"

Raven shook her head but said nothing, and the mask covered her face.

"Then how do you know? Why are you here?"

"I don't have to answer," Raven said, voice low and threatening. "Leave. You've lost."

"Lost…?" His eyes burned. "I have lost. I've lost so much – and I'm not leaving until she loses something too! Step aside or I'll go through you."

Raven brought her sword up defensively. "Try it."

Jaune Arc grinned ferally.

Yang saw the flash of pink. "Mom!"

Raven twisted and flicked her sword back behind her, catching a silver blade that seemed to come out of thin air. A short figure materialised with the sound of shattering glass – pink hair and white clothes. Yang didn't catch any more because the short girl kicked off Raven's chest, pushing her back toward a charging Jaune Arc.

Even with the mask, Raven's panic was clear. Genuine panic. She slashed her sword back clumsily and he dodged under it. Pushing a foot back to steady herself Raven leapt away with little regard for her own defence, all but hurling herself aside like she was trying to escape a live grenade. A bullet caught her thigh and blood sprayed in the air, Raven grunting and hopping back, leaping up onto a container, at which point Jaune Arc stopped shooting.

Panting, Raven touched her leg and the thin line of red there. The shot had torn through skin and flesh from what Yang could see, but it had more cut through a chunk of leg than gone in, and the bullet wasn't lodged inside.

"Neo," Jaune gasped. "Is she-?"

The new girl, short and pale, shook her head, eyes closed and tears on her cheeks. Jaune Arc shuddered, gasping for air and clutching his face with one hand.

"I knew it. I hoped but… They killed her, Neo. They fucking killed her!"

"Atlas killed her," Raven said, voice raised. Yang's eyes widened. Atlas-? "Your crusade is against them. That girl is a bystander. She has no part in this. Leave and you can escape before Atlas arrives to take you back. I won't stop you as I have no love for them either."

"That girl-" he sneered, "Held me back as my mother was killed before my eyes!"

His mother…? No, I… but I didn't…

"I really don't care what your reasons are, boy," Raven said callously, flicking her sword down. "I have a rule. One time. You've forced her to use it here and I won't be letting her die. You can't beat me. I know what your Semblance is and I won't be getting anywhere near you."

"You may know mine, but do you know Neo's…?"

Raven stared at the girl beside Jaune. The short girl kept smiling mutely, never once saying a word. The standoff lasted a few seconds, seconds enough that Yang dragged herself to the end of the container and stumbled up onto her feet. Looking back, she caught the flicker of displaced air behind Raven.

No! Without thinking, Yang pushed her left arm up and squeezed the trigger, fighting the lancing pain down her arm as Ember Celica bucked, scattering Jaune Arc and his accomplice with buckshot and causing them to shatter into shards of glass.

Her mother reacted instantly. She didn't know where they were but could guess, and she leapt off the container without a second's thought. More glass shattered behind her and Jaune Arc stepped out of it, gun barking once. The bullet caught Raven in the back and mid-air. Yang knew it hit because the woman flopped out the sky with a grunt, landed on one knee and punched the concrete.

"Illusions," she spat, voice tinged with pain. "Why didn't Qrow say something?"

"Good job, Neo," Jaune Arc said, stepping forward. Her arm touched his chest, stopping him. The girl nodded to Raven and hefted her sword, then pointed with her other hand to Yang. Yang froze, cursed and quickly hurried away, dragging her bloody self along the containers. "You sure?" Jaune asked. "Well, I guess she's already injured so you should have an easy time. Fine. You handle the walking Deus ex Machina. I'll deal with the blonde."

/-/

I can't beat him.

It was a sobering and despairing thought that passed through Yang's mind as she staggered down a corridor formed by shipping containers. For all their bravado and confidence, he was on another level. Even Raven hadn't been able to stand up to him once he had help, and for all that Raven was a bitch who abandoned her family she was still a huntress. One of the strongest if Uncle Qrow was to be believed.

Stumbling along, dizzy and tired from lack of blood, Yang stumbled on, bumping into and leaning on one wall of the containers to stop herself falling over. Her eyes felt heavy and sticky, likely from all the tears that had long since run out and dried to her skin.

Turning the final corner, Yang felt a bitter laugh bubble out her lips. Whether it was by design or pure accident, she'd found her way back to the entrance, but not to an escape. Weiss was nowhere to be seen, but Ruby was in the arms of Roman Torchwick, bloody faced from her earlier impact with the concrete and blissfully unconscious. Torchwick had an arm around her chest and neck, supporting her weight against his midriff. He was flanked by White Fang. Yang dropped to her knees, shoulders shaking with hysterical mirth.

"W-What a shitty way to go…"

Jaune Arc appeared at the end of the path, shaking his head as if he was a tired parent chasing an unruly child. "There you are," he said, striding toward her. "For someone so confident in kicking my ass you do spend a lot of time running away." He brought his gun up. "Time to end this."

"Kid." Roman called. "This is a waste of time – not to mention the last thing she'd want. The plan is shot. Let's get out of here before it gets any worse."

Yang dared to hope.

Jaune crushed it. "Not before I make her suffer."

"Fuck, kid! She's suffered! Look at her – the girl is a fucking mess! They all are. Just… peace. Come on. This isn't worth having all of Atlas and Beacon coming down on our heads. You're not just rocking the boat, you're dropping bombs off it."

Jaune Arc didn't listen. He walked past Yang and turned, bringing the gun up to aim at her face. She'd seen what that did to Penny and knew it wouldn't be any better for her. Aura didn't work. That was his Semblance. He cancelled aura. As always, the knowledge came too late to do a damn thing about it. Yang spared a miserable look to Roman, hoping he might speak out in her defence again. The thief looked away, clearly unhappy but not willing to push his luck.

"Shoot and I'll shoot you!" a familiar voice called. Blake stepped out from the nearby crane, chest rising and falling as though she'd run a marathon. Gambol Shroud was in her hand in gun form. "I know your range, Jaune. You need to lower your own aura to drop Yang's. The second you do, I'll shoot."

"B-Blake…?" Yang croaked. "Am I dreaming…?"

Jaune laughed, gun falling and shoulders hitching. "Blake. Ha ha. Ha!" He burst out laughing suddenly, gun over his chest as he held onto himself. "Oh wow. Ha! I can't believe it. Of all the odds. This is… This is so fucking stupid it's funny."

Blake's tongue darted out to lick her lips. She stepped away from the crane, carefully keeping her gun gripped between both hands and trained on him. He was the only one to find it amusing. Blake looked terrified.

"I wouldn't laugh if I were you," she warned. "General Ironwood is on his way with the Atlas military. Winter Schnee is coming faster." Her eyes flicked to Roman. "I'd take Torchwick's advice and get out of here. There's still time for you to run."

"Finally, a calm mind," Roman said. "Listen to her, Jaune. We have a hostage." He hefted Ruby up. "We trade her for safe passage out and get away before the tinman can arrive. No one has to die and we can fix this. We can sort this out."

"How can I not laugh?" Jaune ignored him and turned to face Blake, smiling madly. "How can I not, Blake? Isn't it hilarious? One girl – that's all she is – one girl in trouble and everyone is willing to move heaven and Remnant to save her." He stabbed a hand back to a confused Yang. "How many people have come to help her? Her team, a killer robot, some teleporting huntress, you, and now all of fucking Atlas is on its way. Probably Beacon too. Everyone's willing to give it their all to save her but put my family on the line and how many came? None!" he roared. "No one! Easier to sweep it all under the rug then put the same effort in that you all will for her. Why?" he demanded. "Why, Blake!? Is she the Queen of Vale or something?"

"I don't know. It's… It's Atlas, Jaune. Yang didn't ask for this – she doesn't even know what's going on. It's not a fair comparison."

"You want to talk to me about fairness? Me!?"

"What happened to your family wasn't fair," Blake acknowledged. "It really wasn't. Pushing that onto Yang isn't any better, though. She's innocent in this. There's no reason for you to hate her."

"No reason?" He laughed. "Oh Blake, Blake, Blake. There's reason."

He moved to Yang and gripped her hair, dragging her head up painfully. Her scalp burned as strands were pulled loose. Teeth gritted, she looked to Blake. Her partner didn't move. She was waiting for something – waiting for him to drop everyone's aura, Yang realised. Blake knew about it and knew that so long as she had a gun trained on him, he couldn't. But while he couldn't use his Semblance, Blake also couldn't stop him manhandling her.

"Tell her!" he ordered her. "Tell Blake what you did."

Yang's chest hitched and her eyes watered. "W-We didn't mean to-"

He gripped her hair tight. "TELL HER!"

"We killed someone!" Yang screamed. "Penny, a Bullhead, it was shot down. We didn't know your mother was on there!"

He released her hair at the last and Yang fell face first onto the floor, giving in to sobbing and tears as the pain took over. Even if he didn't use his Semblance, her aura was almost gone anyway thanks to her injuries.

Blake's face was stretched with sorrow. "Jaune, I… I'm sorry. I…"

"Don't." He stepped away from her and toward Blake. The faunus stepped back as he did, maintaining distance. "You don't have the right to apologise, traitor." The word made Blake flinch. "You betrayed me."

"The White Fang was going the wrong way…"

"I don't give a shit about the White Fang! You. Betrayed. Me!" He thumped his hand against his chest as he said it. "You brought me here, tricked me, lied to me, stole my scroll and cut me adrift when you knew Chivalric Arms were hunting me! You left me to die, Blake!"

"No!" she cried. "I… It's just…"

"Shut up." Sneering, he walked past her, past Yang and past everyone, moving toward Roman with stiff shoulders and burning hate in his blue eyes. "There's nothing to be said. You know the truth. You know everything about me and why I'm doing this. You knew and you still turned on me. You could have left me with Adam, but you wanted to sell me out. I can only imagine it was to get yourself pardoned."

"That's not true," Blake whispered.

"I no longer care. Take your friend back. Since the whole fucking world seems determined for her to survive, I guess that's it. I'm the bad guy in this, I'm the villain, and isn't it the fate of the good guys to keep escaping by the skin of their teeth? It sure feels like it since I've had to fight a fucking army of huntsmen to get close to her." He looked up to the battleship looming over the city and moving toward them. "And now the actual army is coming to back her up. Nice to see Atlas can do its job in going after criminals for once."

Yang looked up as Blake knelt by her, supporting her against her side. The gun remained trained on Jaune, though Blake hefted her up. "Weiss is safe," she whispered. "I managed to get her out and was trying to save Ruby. Damn it, Yang. I told you lot not to do this."

"I-I'm sorry. We didn't mean to. Penny just ran in!"

"And where is this Penny…?"

Yang whimpered.

Blake understood. "Shit." Pulling her up, Blake stared at Jaune, unsure what to say. "Jaune, I-"

"Save it. I was sick of your hypocrisy then and it's not gotten any better now. For all that you act like you want to avoid loss of life, you dragged and dumped me here. I take responsibility for the people I killed, Blake. Do you?"

"I do," Blake said, shivering. "And I'm sorry, Jaune. About your mother. I… I'm sure she was happy just to have seen you again-" His gun cracked, and a bullet pinged off the floor by her foot. Blake flinched, shutting her mouth. The message was clear. Her sympathy was not desired.

"Don't you dare tell me what she would have felt, Blake. Not you…"

Nervously, Blake nodded and remained silent.

"We've got to go," Roman said loudly, for the benefit of Jaune, the White Fang and even them. "I trust you two will let us go, yeah? We really don't want to drag this already sour meeting out further than it has to."

"Ruby," Yang said. "Give… hngh. Give my sister back."

"I will. I will. Just as soon as we're sure you two won't-"

"Sister…?" Jaune Arc looked to Ruby and then to Yang. His eyes burned and he marched over to her. Roman looked afraid of him and too afraid to stop him wrenching the unconscious girl out his hands. "This is your sister, is it?"

"Jaune, no!" Blake yelled, taking aim, but he pulled Ruby up to block any shot, lifting her off the floor with a hand in her hood. "Don't! Please!"

Yang's heart thudded in her ears.

It was deafening.

"I said I'd make you suffer like I had," he told her. "I thought the best way would be to kill you, but maybe letting you live would be that much worse. You took something from me, Yang." His eyes flared purple, gold and cyan. "Let me take something from you."

Ruby's body arched forward, her silver eyes snapping open and an agonised scream bursting out her lips. One loud crack. Then a second. Ruby's body bucked with each shot driven into her back at point blank range. The bullets pierced out her front and fired up into the sky. Her hands, both the good one and the broken one, flailed in the air, legs kicking violently before going still.

Jaune Arc tossed her body down, cancelling his Semblance just as Blake's shot struck his chest and pinged off. Two more came but his aura deflected each. Roman Torchwick looked down on Ruby with horror, stepping away and around her body nervously. Ruby twitched on the floor, hands fumbling under her in a futile effort to keep all the blood pooling out of her inside her body.

"It won't stop," Ruby cried, great big wet and broken sobs that twisted Yang's heart. "Why won't it stop coming out? Y-Yang? Dad? Mommy? H-Help me…"

Jaune Arc stepped past her, leading the White Fang away, catching her wide and broken eyes as he did. "That's what it feels like," he said calmly. "To be so close, and yet not have the strength to save them when it matters. Now you know how I felt."

Yang Xiao-Long screamed.


Long AN Ahead (No Spoilers Included):

Yikes. Doozy of a chapter to write. Bit of a weird one too. Since I knew from the start it'd be divisive, I kind of want to explain my reasoning. I'm not expecting everyone to agree, but it's such a pivotal moment that it probably deserves an explanation.

The obvious goal of this chapter was to show Jaune breaking and becoming something akin to what Atlas paints him as, and naturally Team RWBY were going to be the butt of that. The obvious choice was to kill Yang. I have enough death flags for it and to be honest the majority of the reviews were calling for her head on a silver platter so it would have been easiest to please that majority. This is me liking Yang too.

In the end, though, I decided not to. Partly because surviving can be just as traumatic for them – and remember, if I did kill them then we wouldn't get to see the juicy and traumatic aftermath, would we? The moment Team RWBY has to deal with this after all that's gone on. The other reason to keep Yang alive was kind of what Jaune himself said about heaven and earth (or Remnant in this case) moving to do so.

Now, that's not some call to "fate" or "destiny" or such, but I kind of wanted to show what it must be like to be a baddie in RWBY. The cast have some serious plot armour, if not by being apparently as strong as professionals as children, then having an almost limitless amount of Deus ex Machina reinforcements at their beck and call. Whenever they're in danger, another ally comes to save them. Sometimes it's JNPR, or CFVY, or a teacher, or Qrow, or Glynda, or Ozpin, or Raven, or Ironwood. Point is, they're always being protected one way or another – even a Grimm protects Ruby in the show by eating Roman. Seriously, how hard is it to be a villain in this show when even team evil is defending the good guys?

And this is fine. It works in a show and happens in more than just RWBY. It's a common trope. But I wanted to firmly have Jaune be on the wrong side of it, much like his family was. Like he says, everyone is rushing in to save Yang, but no one gave a toss about his family. Atlas brushed it under the rug, Chivalric Arms is allowed to experiment on them, and Penny was free to kill his mom. No one came running for them, and that makes Jaune understandably angry.

It's hard to fully explain my reasoning but the basics of it come down to a sense of breaking apart his reasons not to be angry against the system. The system abandoned his family and turned on him, and even when he's trying to right that wrong the system fights him. Then when someone steps in and does wrong to him, the system protects them. It's the hypocrisy I wanted Jaune to get to feel. The idea that the rules are different for Yang than they are for him. Different for Penny too.

In the show, Penny shoots a giant laser and almost certainly kills a lot of people. She gets off completely free because, eh, they're White Fang. Who cares? Well, presumably their families cared. The friends and relatives of the dead would have cared. But good guys do as good guys do, and Jaune has realised that here. He's the villain, which means he's a monster for trying to kill Yang, while they're praised as heroes for killing his mom along with the other White Fang who died in the explosion.

I guess it sounds like I'm just shitting on Jaune as usual, but it's hard to justify his coming actions without him being pushed to the edge. Killing Team RWBY would let him have a sense of getting his own back and might even have him regretting his rash actions once he's had a chance to calm down. That'd be bad for the story because it would mean Jaune slowing down and maybe even being wracked by guilt. This way, he gets to remain angry.

Think of it as how John Wick can kill his way through an army of henchmen but the bad guy who killed his dog will keep escaping by the skin of his teeth until much later. I guess it's somewhat similar here.

Still, I know some people will have wished for more blood, while some will hate me for shedding Ruby's. As for Neo, don't worry, I didn't forget her. It'll be covered next chapter.


All in all, if you feel angry and frustrated about how everything kept working out in Yang's favour, then you're feeling what Jaune is now, and that's my intent. Whether it works? Eh, we'll see. I guess some people would have liked the more immediate gratification of vengeance on Jaune's part, and I can definitely see the appeal, but like good sex, I kind of need to stretch out the climax until the end of the story.


On Penny: A lot of people have theorised how she might work in Null, etc. My theory (and others had equally good ones, so I'm not saying mind would be the correct one) is just that once he's close, she loses any sense of her individuality and becomes a mere machine. No aura, no personality, no free will that makes her Penny. Just a basic robot.


Next Chapter: 17th August

P a treon . com (slash) Coeur