We see only brief images during the fast-paced fight in the darkness. Cinder's fire clashing with Ozpin's green energy. They clash repeatedly, Ozpin mostly on the defensive, blocking all of the false Maiden's attacks and managing to deliver some of his own, even pushing her back and forcing her to stop herself with her hand, leaving a trail of fiery glass in its path, before firing a small barrage of glass shards at him, which he somehow stopped with a series of after images, before rushing in and delivering a quick combo to the witch and slamming her back with one more powerful strike. However, she barely seemed fazed at this, surrounding herself with a dome of fire and launching a beam of fire at him as he rushed in, shielded by a bubble of green energy.
Back on the docks...
More transport ships arrived as we all prepared to evacuate Beacon. "Everybody on board! This is a mandatory evacuation!" Port told us.
"A safe zone has been established in Vale! Please, remain calm and listen to Atlas personal!" Oobleck instructed.
Weiss covered her mouth at the horror she saw upon her teammates as Ruby ran up with Draco. "Ruby!" The heiress said, taking her younger leader's hands.
"Oh, I found you!" She said, relieved.
"Glad to have you back, buddy." I said, patting Draco on the back.
"Yeah. Scratch one wannabe mobster off our hit list... maybe a little mute ice cream bitch, too." He said.
"Ruby, where do you-" Weiss started.
"Don't worry, I'm fine. What's going on?" She asked.
"Hell on Earth. We've taken down a lot of Grimm but they keep on coming. And more and more people are getting taken out of the fight." I said with a sigh, Weiss and I moving out of the way so she could see Ren and Nora down from their injuries and Blake tenderly holding her stab wound, reaching out to hold Yang's one remaining hand as Damion crouched beside them, his energy all but spent after his rage against Adam and the pack of Ursai.
"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry!" Blake cried as she held Yang's hand, all but curling into a ball, Ruby reaching out to them somewhat.
"It's not your fault... none of it was... It's Cinder, the Grimm and the White Fang. They're the only ones to blame here." Damion said tiredly.
"Yang..." Ruby said worriedly.
"Hey..." Sun said softly as he walked up. "She's gonna be okay. The soldiers have a ship ready to take you guys to Vale." He explained.
"But Jaune and Pyrrha are still missing!" Nora said, trying to get up, but her injuries prevented her.
"What?!" Ruby asked in shock.
"Look, guys! That giant Grimm keeps circling the school! Even the White Fang are pulling out! We all have to go! Now!" Sun said authoritatively.
"We're not... leaving!" Ren said, struggling to get up, but like Nora, his injuries also brought him back down.
I looked around, before feeling a new sense of resolve wash over me. "I'll go look for them." I said, then looked at the members of the other (OC) teams that were still able to continue: Damion was down from exhaustion and Nick had taken enough hits from a Deathstalker to keep him down. Naomi and Umbra were unconscious while Aisu and Vega had also taken too many injuries to keep going. That left 6 members left. More than enough. "If any of you are feeling up to it, come with me. But if you feel like you can't go on, don't even bother trying." I said, taking off.
"I can't let you do this alone, man. Not my style." Draco said, running alongside me.
"I'm with you, brother." Serena said, her and Selene following us.
"We're with you, too." Erika agreed, her and Dumplin flying about 5 feet into the air above us and following us.
Ruby paused for a moment, looking at the wounded, before looking back up. "They need all the help they can get! I have to help them!" Ruby said.
"No. WE have to help them!" Weiss said, walking up to stand beside Ruby. "Watch after Blake and Yang. We'll be back." She told Sun before they took off after us.
"You better be!" He called after them. "Idiots..." He said, shaking his head.
We made it about half of the way to the statue in front of Beacon before a wall of Grimm blocked out path. "We don't have time for you! Get out of our way!" I said as we all rushed in.
Meanwhile...
Jaune and Pyrrha just made it out of the school, before Jaune pulled out his scroll. "Okay. I think I have Glynda's number!" He said, starting to type in the numbers. Pyrrha looked back at that moment, wanting to do something, but was unsure of what. "Pyrrha, what was all of that?" He asked.
"I..." She started, before both turned to see Cinder rise up the elevator shaft towards Ozpin's office.
"But... Ozpin..." Jaune said, looking down, realizing Ozpin must have lost the fight.
"There's no time." She said, looking at Jaune. "Go! Get to Vale and call for help!" She said, sounding if she would cry soon, but kept herself stern.
"Huh?! What are you gonna do?!" He asked, before they both looked back up at the tower. "No... Pyrrha, you can't! You saw how powerful she is! Pyrrha, I won't let you!" He said, before she pulled him in to a close hug.
"I'm sorry." She said, before using her semblance to force him into a locker behind him.
"Wait! Stop! STOP! Pyrrha, please don't do this!" Jaune pleaded.
"I'm sorry, Jaune. I hope I'll see you again. And if you see Sai... Tell him... My answer is yes." She said, before backing away and the locker launched him into Vale. With that, she turned back towards the school and went back in, making her way to and into the ruined elevator to Ozpin's office, getting in and using her semblance to take it to the top.
Back with us...
I headbutted another beowulf and kicked a Creep in the face, before jumping back as my scroll rang. "Jaune?" I asked, seeing his face pop up. "Jaune, what is it? Where are you?!" I asked.
"Sai! Please, you have to stop her!" He said.
"What are you talking about?!" I asked.
"Pyrrha! She's going after that woman at the top of the tower! She doesn't stand a chance!" He said.
"No..." I said, looking up. "I'll go get her. Will you be alright? I can send someone to get you-" I started.
"Don't worry about me! Please... You have to save Pyrrha." He pleaded.
"I will. I promise." I said,
"And Sai?" He asked.
"What is it?" I asked.
"She wanted me to tell you something. I don't know what she meant... But she said her answer was yes." He told me.
I looked up in horror and realization at this, dropping my scroll. "Hang on, Pyrrha. I'm coming." I said, trying to fly straight to the top of the tower, but a Goliath reached up and wrapped its trunk around my leg, throwing me back down to the ground and into the middle of the horde. "GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY!" I shouted, triggering and tearing through them as fast as I could.
The dragon circled around the school, before landing and screeching. Ruby and Weiss armed themselves and prepared to fight. "I have a plan." Ruby said.
"You always do." Weiss said.
In the tower...
Cinder reached the top and confidently walked up to the window as the Dragon peered in at her, surprisingly calming down as it saw her, although it did screech once. She then shushed it rather gently. "This is your home now." She said, to which it let out a somewhat peaceful squawk. Cinder then stepped back and made a fire in her hand, but stopped and turned when she heard the elevator door open, easily dodging Pyrrha's sword as it flew in, but was forced to block when Pyrrha flew in, slamming her shield into the Maiden's arms with her legs. She tried to push her back, but Cinder easily stood her ground. Pyrrha took her stance and used her semblance to get back her weapons as Cinder floated into the air.
Cinder then smirked, swinging her arm and sending a wave of flames at Pyrrha, who blocked it, before dodging a beam of fire the monstrous woman shot at her and narrowly side-stepping a stream of fire, blocking another one with her shield and rushing forward, trying to stab her with her sword, but Cinder easily caught the blade, holding Pyrrha up and in place long enough to blast her in the stomach, sending her into a wall. She then flew in to try and slam into Pyrrha, but the Spartan girl managed to expertly dodge, locking Cinder's arm with hers and getting her feet on the wall, jumping off it and managing to throw Cinder to the ground.
Unfortunately, the bitch got back up with a couple of handsprings, only looking a bit surprised. Pyrrha then rushed in and hit her with her shield, trying to strike a few more times, but Cinder blocked them with her aura, before blasting her into the air with a wave of fire. Pyrrha managed to recover in midair and flung her sword at Cinder, who unfortunately blocked it again as well as her shield, before catching Pyrrha as she slammed into her. The two glared at each other as they spun and slammed into the ground, making an explosion of fire and magnetism... somehow. We now see Pyhrra dominating as she's got her arm around the bitch's throat and is trying to bring her sword up to it as Cinder struggles to hold it back with both hands while Pyrrha's only using one.
She glared out the window, somehow signaling for the Dragon to take off, before she started heating up Pyrrha's sword. She then smirked, looking out the window. Pyrrha followed her gaze and looked in horror to see the Dragon flying towards it, not slowing down in the slightest. Cinder then broke Pyrrha's sword and elbowed her back just as the Dragon slammed into the tower, easily shattering it, sending pieces flying everywhere.
"No!" I shouted as I looked up, knowing Pyrrha was in there. But then I realized we had a bigger problem as the debris came right at us as they fell. "Dammit!" I cursed, preparing to stop it, but just then, Damion flew in and started knocking them away.
"I'm not letting anyone else get hurt as long as I can help it!" He said, easily smashing through more and more of the derbis and sending it away from where it could hit people, but then as he broke another piece, he was unprepared for a gear the same size as him right behind it, hitting him in the face and stunning him, leaving him open as the clock hands stabbed into his chest and sent him to the ground.
"Nooooo!" Selene and I shouted together as we ran up along with Serena.
I reverted back to my human form and held his upper body up. "Damion, hang on. We'll figure something out, you're gonna be okay." I said.
"No... This is it..." He said.
"No, it's not it, don't say that." I said worried and frantically, looking around, trying to think.
"You're gonna survive Damion, you have to!" Selene said, starting to cry.
"Sai...continue to protect every innocent person you can...don't give up on the way of your family... You are still my greatest friend...I trust you with my sister and Yang...Don't let what you love die again...Please don't." He started, then looked at Selene. "... Selene... stay strong for me... Never lose your way... Stay on your path to redemption... keep fighting the good fight, but that's... not… all... you... have... left..." He said, finally looking at Sernea. "Serena... Make sure you take care of my sister..." He said with his last few echoes of breath. He then lost all signs of life.
"Damion... No..." I wept, holding him close.
"Brother..." Selene said, starting to cry, Serena holding her close.
"He was my best friend and my teammate... and I failed him... but I won't fail him again." I say, looking at the Grimm. "Everyone get back to the docks. NOW!" I ordered, everyone returning looking at me worriedly, but taking off to the docks, somewhat scared of my sudden aggressive tone. I watched them take off, before looking back at the Grimm. I picked up Damion's Shinigami Destroyer and took up a new stance: a stance my family uses purely for nearly hypersonic offensive fighting, known as the Shadow Stance of Death, standing in with my legs bent so I was a few inches shorter than when standing regularly, my left leg and arm forward in front of my face, my right leg and arm back, wielding the sword backhand and my leg down and bent as if I was stretching it, or similar to someone in a racing stance. "Alright, you ugly sons of bitches. Time to die." I said, rushing in and slashing through them almost faster than they could see.
Back up in the tower...
Pyrrha was down against the remains of a wall, but managed to crawl back to her shield as Cinder floated in the air, still looking completely unharmed. She desperately looked around and found some debris she used her semblance to fling at Cinder and knock her down, rolling to reach her shield and picking it up, preparing to defend. Cinder blasted away the debris and rose once again, flinging more fireballs and apparently trapping Pyrrha in a small ring of fire, to which she smirked. Suddenly, though, Pyrrha flung her shield through the flames. Cinder easily knocked it away, but then realized Pyrrha had been buying time and surrounded her with the massive gears of the clock of the tower, knocking her off-balance with her shield again, before slamming a gear down on her, proceeding to do the same with the rest of the gears.
But even that wasn't enough to keep down the black-haired bitch, who blasted away all the gears, sending one back at Pyrrha. She blocked it, but it still sent her back against the remains of the wall she had been knocked against earlier, depleting her aura.
Back with me...
I sliced through 5 Ursai in a row, turned Shinigami Destroyer into its guantlet from, spun and delivered a backfist powerful enough to decapitate a Griffon, turning the gauntlet into a pistol and and nailed a headshot on the rest of the Grimm as I slowly moved in a 360, finally killing all the Grimm that surrounded me. I then looked back up at the tower. "Alright, Cinder... You're next..." I said, running up the side of the tower.
Back with Pyrrha...
Realizing she could no longer win, Pyrrha attempted to escape, flinging her shield at Cinder and trying to run, but the bitch shot an arrow that would've collided with and bounced off the shield, but somehow, it broke up into pieces, passing around the shield and flying into Pyrrha's ankle, bringing her to her hands and knees. (BULLSHIT, BULLSHIT, BULLSHIT, BULLSHIT!)
Pyrrha held in the pain and tried to stand once again, but the arrow and the pain prevented her from doing so, only managing to get back onto her hands and knees as Cinder circled her. "It's unfortunate you were promised power that was never truly yours." She said, stopping to crouch enough to lift Pyrrha's head to look her in the eyes. "But take comfort in knowing that I will use it in ways you could NEVER have imagined." She said.
"Do you believe in destiny?" Pyrrha asked.
Cinder narrowed her eyes at this, before standing. "Yes." She said, stepping back and readying her bow.
I reached the top just in time, my eyes snapping open to see the arrow fly into Pyrrha's chest. "NO!" I shouted, dropping to my knees in despair. As Pyrrha struggled to breathe, Cinder stepped forward and put her hand on Pyrrha's head, in a flash, she appeared to have turned to gold and scattered in the wind as golden dust, her Tiara clattering to the ground. "Pyrrha... No..." I said, dropping onto my hands as well, crying at the loss of my fiancee'.
"Such a shame. You had proposed to her, correct? And now she's dead. And you were powerless to do even a single thing about it." Cinder said, walking up to me, readying her swords, crossing them in preparation to cut my head off.
"Penny... Damion... Pyrrha... They're all dead... And it's all because of YOU!" I shouted, getting back onto my knees and shouted in rage, a pillar of regular fire, hellfire and demon energy spiraling around me.
Cinder had JUST managed to jump back and avoid the flames. "WHAT?!" She demanded, readying her swords for a fight.
I now stood there in my majin form, the highest level of power I could possibly reach, more than enough to destroy her. I glared at her with piercing red eyes, a look of death emanating from them. "You shall pay for all that you've done here. WITH YOUR LIFE! I will make you suffer for the pain you have cause everyone today. The dead, the injured and those who have lost someone dear to them... I shall make you pay for all you have done to them!" I said, my voice demonic and terrifying.
She was shocked at this, but still managed to smirk. "Impressive, but for generations, the goddess have had the power to destroy demons by the hundreds. You will be no different in the face of my power." She said.
"But neither you or any of the maidens before you have faced a demon like me." I said, rushing in.
Background music: "Warrior Inside" by Leader (the first verse is LITERALLY PERFECT for this scenario)
I rushed in, claws at the ready, slamming them into her swords as she defended, pushing her back about a foot and leaving her trembling to hold me back, forcing her to jump back to avoid my attack, my hands slamming into the ground and leaving bowling ball-sized craters. We glared at each other for a moment, both of us recognizing this wouldn't be a battle, but a war. I lunged in, ready to strike again, but she threw a fireball at my face, different from the others, pure white. I stopped and brought my arms in front of my face, my forearms blocking the fireball and taking the blast. It didn't stagger me, but it did manage to cause me some pain. "Light Fire." I said, looking up at her.
She smirked once again. "I told you: the Maidens developed ways to deal with you demons. All the elements they had at hand were available: fire, LIGHTNING-!" She started, stopping and pointing at me, a few lightning bolts coming down from the sky at me, but I jumped back to avoid them. "And, in cases like yours, they developed ways to control light and darkness and harnessed that into fire as well. It seems poor Amber could only do light magic, but let's see if I can do better." She said, holding her hands out, a huge stream of black fire shooting out at me.
"Damn!" I spat, holding my hands in front of my face again and plowed through the fire. It was unnerving to actually feel the burn of fire when I control it so easily, but I wouldn't let anything stop me from making Cinder pay. I reached the end of the streams of fire and lunged, grabbing her shoulders, headbutting her and kicking her off the tower.
"How dare you! You beast!" She shouted angrily, firing an arrow that blasted me in the chest and knocked me to the ground on my back, creating hundreds of glass shards around her, an orange glow around them. She then sent them raining down at me, causing an explosion each time they hit. I was jerked about my each blast the same way regular people are when they're hit with a lot of bullets. She landed hard back on the tower after the onslaught ended, creating shards of Earth and sending them at me as I got up. I rushed forward again, ignoring the shards as they slammed into me and clawed her stomach, cutting through her dress and into her stomach enough to draw blood, delivering a punch to the face hard enough to knock her down, at which point I leaped forward, slamming my foot down on her chest and breathing a stream of hellfire down on her face.
She screamed in pain for a moment, before shouting in rage and blasting me back with an explosion of light fire. I skidded to a stop and looked up in time to see her fly in with a furious look on her face, swinging viciously with her swords. I blocked a few strikes, but she still landed a great many which, while they would leave no lasting damage, still managed to hurt me and allow her to keep attacking before I finally ducked my head and brought it up, slamming into her chin, ripping her swords out of her grasp before delivering another kick to the chest that sent her skidding a ways back. I rushed in again, but she smirked and shot her hand forward, stabbing it into my chest and grabbing my heart. "I told you. The Maidens can slay demons with ease and you would be no different." She said, squeezing my heart tightly.
"And I told you... You've never faced anything like me before!" I said, grabbing her head and headbutting her again, staggering her and forcing her hand out of my chest. I then delivered a powerful right hook to her face, followed by a vicious left claw, an axe kick from my right foot, which knocked her head downwards, but didn't bring her down, allowing me to swing my right claw upwards, knocking her into the air. I then made a hellfire ball the same size as her and threw it as hard as I possibly could, the powerful explosion finally depleting her aura.
End music
"Now it's time to do, you wannabe Maiden BITCH!" I shouted, preparing to shoot a beam of hellfire at her and vaporize her, but I then heard a scream from the side and turned to see the Dragon right upon me, chomping into me with its teeth, flying in a fast circle around Beacon and flinging me back down onto the tower hard, turning the area that used to be Ozpin's office and the arena for the fight against Cinder into caved in bowl. "You're next, motherfucker..." I said, growling. It would probably kill me, but I knew what I had to do.
Background Music: The Skyrim Theme
I focused deeply and lit myself on fire, increasing the temperature as much as I possibly could, to the point I was twice as bright as the sun, people near the docks even feeling the heat and sweating. I looked down at my body and saw my large spikes starting to burn away, the wind sending the ash drifting the same way Pyrrha's dust had went. "I'll have to do this quickly." I said, flying into the air and slamming into the Dragon's neck, easily putting a hole through it and coming out the other side. It screamed in both pain and panic, trying to fly away as I circled around and slammed into its body over and over, putting holes in it each time I went through it, before flying way up high and looking down at it, before looking back at my body, seeing the main parts of my body starting to chip away and burn.
(I don't think I'll survive the final hit... But if I can save everyone who's left...) I thought.
"I'm okay with this." I said acceptingly, diving down straight towards the top of the Dragon's head and slamming into it, everything going white. (end music)
Darkness... All I could see was darkness... But then, I slowly began to see color around me. I looked around and started seeing a road and buildings, but they were still coming into focus from out of the darkness.
Background Music: "Sound of Silence" by Disturbed (my favorite version)
I started walking through what started to look like a city and realized it was in shambles. The road was broken in several places and many of the buildings were destroyed. "Hello?! Is anyone there?!" I tried to call, but my voice didn't come out. Suddenly, I saw people running from the Grimm, but the monsters were easily catching them and tearing into them. "No!" I shouted, pulling out my swords and rushing in, swinging them at the Grimm, but they simply past through them like air and the Grimm were unfazed, continuing to tear into their kills. "What?! This can't be happening!" I said, trying to shoot them, but still, nothing happened.
Suddenly, I looked to see many of my other schoolmates: team JNR, RWBY, CRDL, CFVY all fighting the Grimm, but were easily being pushed back by even the weakest of the Grimm. Jaune was easily cleaved apart by a Grimm and Nora was being ripped to pieces by a King Taijitu and Ren was tackled to the ground by a beowulf. He then looked to me and reached out. "Sai!" I saw his mouth move, but still no sound came out. I rushed in, shooting and slicing, but still nothing happened. I even tried to straight up pull the Grimm away, but my arms simply passed through them. Nothing I could do was having any effect as everyone was slowly being torn apart.
"What are you doing?!" I saw Weiss mouth, before she was brought down by a boarbetusk.
"Why won't you help us?!" Ruby demanded/pleaded, before Cinder appeared from nowhere and grabbed her by the throat.
"No!" I shouted, trying to rush in again, but everything went black again. It cleared up much faster this time, but now I saw an even worse sight: everyone now bowing before Cinder, who had Ruby chained beside her on all 4's. "No! I won't let this happen!" I said, trying to rush in, but now saw I was chained in place. "Guys, what are you doing?! Stand up! Fight!" I shouted. Everyone looked back at me, shaking their heads, looks of fear being the only thing on their faces. "I won't accept this! This can't be real!" I shouted, holding my head and shouting, before dropping down onto my hands and knees. As I did this, I noticed I was now on sand. I looked around and saw I was in an arena, still chained, with an army of Grimm rushing in at me. I still had my swords and tried to fight back, but still nothing happened. Soon, the Grimm had overwhelmed me and the last thing I saw before darkness came back was my hand drop down, the sword falling from my grasp.
End music
I was now standing in the darkness, when suddenly I saw a light to my right and saw... "Pyrrha." I said, reaching out towards her.
"How could you?!" She demanded, both sad and furious.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"You said you loved me! You wanted to propose, but you let me die!" She screamed.
"There was nothing I could do!" I told her.
"Just like you couldn't do anything for me?" Damion's voice rang out as he appeared from nowhere.
"Damion..." I said in shock.
"You were supposed to be my best friend, but you didn't do anything to try and save me. And with my dying breath, I told you to save everyone and you promised. But all that happened was more death and destruction." He said accusingly.
"I... I couldn't..." I started, before dropping to my knees and hanging my head low.
Suddenly, I heard a voice. "Sai... Wake up, son..." My father said.
Then, I saw a flash of light and moved towards it. I then shot up from my bed and looked around to see my family all around me, even Selene. "What happened? Damion?! Pyrrha!" I asked frantically.
He sighed as he sat down. "They're dead, son. There wasn't anything we could do." He said.
"You mean there wasn't anything I could do." I said, looking down.
"No. DEFINITELY not. You stopped a lot of bad things that day." He said.
"Yeah! You wiped out all the Grimm and even killed that big Dragon thing!" Serena said.
"Serena was the one who found you after it was all over. She also found these." My mom said, placing the remains of Pyrrha's sword on the bed, along with her shield and all of Damion's swords.
"Well... Lance, you can bring them back, right?" I asked hopefully, looking at him.
"I'm sorry, Sai, but the Maiden's power is a pain in the ass. I won't be able to bring them back until Cinder is dead. Her power has this strange grip over their souls, preventing me from bringing them back." He explained.
"They're dead because of me. I didn't do enough. I could've done more... You should've left me there, Serena. Let a couple of beowulves pick me off." I said, hanging my head down again.
Selene growled at this, walking up and smacking me. "Don't you remember what Damion said?! He told you to save as protect all the innocent people you could and you DID! He told you to keep following and believing and what your family stands for and you DID! He trusted you with me and Yang and you got us out of there! He told you to protect the people you cared about! You cared about everyone that was there that day and you saved damn near everyone!" She snapped.
"Yeah... Damn near..." I said, looking at Pyrrha's sword and shield.
"You should've been able to see yourself. We all thought no one could stop that dragon, but you made it seem like child's play. You practically roasted yourself, too. You just barely healed from all of it yesterday. You were out for 3 days. When I found you, your heart wasn't beating and you were already dead. We saved you, but when we got you back to the house, your heart stopped again and you died again." Serena said.
I looked down and sighed. "Big deal. I killed some Grimm. Give anybody a pistol and they could do that. I couldn't save my best friend or the woman I love." I said.
"You're being too hard on yourself." My mom said.
"No, I wasn't hard enough on myself before. All I've ever done is half-ass everything and now 3 people are dead." I said, getting up. I was a little shaky, but managed to stay standing.
"But when you were out there, you were more serious than you ever were in your life." Nightshade said.
"Yeah, but imagine what would've happen if I had been that serious before." I said, grabbing Damion's swords and walking off.
"Where are you going?" Selene asked.
"I don't deserve these swords. But I know someone else who does and might want them." I said before leaving. After a few hours, I arrived at a quaint little house in the woods on Patch and knocked on the door. A man who must be their father opened the door. "Hey. This is where Ruby and Yang live, right?" I asked.
"Yes. From the look of you, you must be Sai. Ruby's told me a lot about you. She says your quite the hero." He said.
I looked away at this. "She's way too nice. I'm no hero." I said.
"Well, you saved both of my daughters from what I here, so as far as I'm concerned, you are." He said, stepping aside to allow me in.
"Thank you. Where is Yang's room?" I asked.
"Right down that hall. You've got good timing. She just woke up a little while ago." He said.
I walked down the hall just in time to see Ruby walk out. "I love you." She said back to her sister.
"Aww. That's sweet." I said.
"Sai!" Ruby said, running up and hugging me.
"Hey... How's it going?" I asked.
"Well, it hasn't been easy, but... we're recovering." She said.
"You wouldn't HAVE to be if I had done more." I said.
Ruby put on a bit of a glare at this. "You need to stop that! That giant Grimm is dead and Vale is clear! And all of us who did get out of there got out because of you!" She said.
"Yeah, but two more who could've gotten out of there didn't when I could've gotten them out." I said.
She sighed at this. "All wounds heal in time." She said, putting a hand on my chest. "This will, too." She said, walking off.
"Hey there. How you feeling?" Qrow asked as he walked up.
"Like shit." I said.
"Well, you shouldn't. I heard what Ruby was saying to you. I can't think of anything to add to that, but everything she did say was right." He said, walking off.
"Sai?" Yang said from in her room.
I sighed before walking in. "Hey..." I said.
"It's good to see you." She said.
"Yeah, you too." I said, walking up. I reached into my pockets and grabbed out Damion's sword, placing them down on her bed. "He'd want you to have those." I said, looking down. "I'm so sorry... truly I am... He's gone and it's my fault." I said. To my surprise, she reached up and pulled me down into a hug.
"No, it wasn't. NONE OF IT was your fault. It was Cinder. She's the only one to blame here. You got us all out of there. I'm alive because of you. My baby sister is alive because of you. I can't thank you enough for what you've done." She said.
I sighed at this. "Alright. I'll TRY to stop being so hard on myself. It's gonna be a LONG road ahead, though." I said, then looked at her missing arm. "I'll get you fixed, Yang. My brother is a genius. I'll have him make you the best gods-damn arm he can." I told her.
"See? You're already jumping at the chance to help me again." She said with a half smile, before tossing me Shinigami Destroyer. Here. He'd want you to have that." She said.
I looked at it and nodded. "Thanks." I said before leaving.
I would return a few months later in the Winter, meeting up with Ruby and the remains of team JNPR. I gave Ren and Nora a small smile, before looking at Jaune. "Hey..." I said.
"Hey..." He said a little angrily.
"It's... Good to see all of you again." I said, to which Jaune snapped, rushing in and punching me in the face, turning my head in the direction of the punch.
"Jaune!" The girl's said, but Ren held them back.
"Is that all you can say?! After Pyrrha died?! You promised me you'd save her! You promised! You promised..." He said, repeatedly punching me in the chest, but the punches getting weaker and weaker before he stopped and put his forehead on my shoulder, crying.
Before this, I never thought I'd do this, but I hugged him after that. "I know... I know I promised and I failed you. But here and now, I'm making a new promise. No one else is going to die and I'm never going to stop until we get revenge on Cinder and see Pyrrha again." I told him.
This seemed to calm him down and we all looked back to Ruby. "Haven's a long way to go." Ruby said.
"Yeah, but it's the only way we have." Jaune said.
"So we'd better get moving." I said.
"And you're sure you want to come?" Ruby asked.
"There's nothing else in this world I want to do." I said.
"The journey will be perilous and whether or not we find answers at the end is uncertain." Ren said.
"But we wouldn't be here if we weren't up for it." Nora said.
"Then let's get started." Ruby said, the 5 of us taking off. We have a few glimpses to see what everyone else is up to: Yang is still recovering in bed, Glynda is in Vale, trying to fix broken buildings, but was too weak to do so, Blake was jumping across rooftops and Weiss was on a plane with her father... Hey, he kinda looks like Carter Pewderschmidt. Someone get to work on a RWBY/Family Guy crossover, Lois clearly has a long lost sister!
"A smaller, more honest soul. It's true that a simple spark can ignite hope and breathe fire into the hearts of fury. The ability to derive strength from hope is undoubtedly mankind's greatest attribute. Which is why I will focus all my power to snuff it out. How does it feel? Knowing that all of your time and effort has been for nothing? That your guardians have failed you. That everything you built will be torn down before your very eyes. Your faith in mankind was not misplaced. When banded together, they are a noticeable threat. But divide them... Place doubt in their minds... and any simple glimpse of power they once had will wash away. Of course, if they realize it like you, they'll cling to their fleeting hope. Their aspirations. But this is merely the first move. So send your guardians, your huntsmen and huntresses and when they fail and you turn to your smaller soul, know that you send her to the same pitiful demise. It's the beginning of the end, Ozpin. And I can't wait to watch you burn." A scary-ass woman who used to be the narrator said, looking at the camera, her eyes glowing red.