The Darkling Thrush

by Depthcharge2030

Russel Thrush is no Knight in Shining Armor. He's an unapologetic delinquent in a world where the only thing keeping the monsters out is a positive atmosphere. This is the story of a guy who knows exactly who he is. And he's not sorry about it. (Current Arc: Days Gone Bye).

53. XLV: The Fall of Vale: Conclusion

Hello everyone! Welcome back to the startling conclusion of the current Arc of 'The Darkling Thrush'!

This chapter has been a long time coming. We've finally reached the Volume 3 finale. This will probably be the last time we see anything familiar. This is also the longest chapter to date, and befittingly so!

Before we get started, I'd like to thank everyone who left a review last chapter. Thank you Vostok2142, jin0uga, noone297, Nordlending, ZHsteven, Baoh joestar and MagisterShiryu for the kind words and input and especially thank you to all of you who've been here from the beginning. Thus chapter sort of closes a bunch of long running plot threads. So, full circle.

Anyways, onto the chapter.

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XLV

The Fall of Vale: Conclusion

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In less than two hours the city of Vale was brought to its knees. Pillars of achievement such as Amity Coliseum had fallen. Soldiers made to defend mankind, built in factories and handed gun, turned tier sights on those whom they'd been charged to protect. Marvelous warships of Atlesian origin, swatted like insignificant flies. The streets ran with crimson, the airways crowded with dying screams. And a far off indomitable beats its wings, gliding through the air, awoken by the fear and doubt owned by every soul across the land.

The city of Vale, the crown jewel of the Kingdom which shown throughout the world. Settled by those brave enough to leave their cave dwellings, built by carpenters, and armed by blacksmiths. It was here where Kings made warded off wars, where great generals turned back the tides of defeat, where men and women lived without fear of the monsters beyond their borders. A city that stood the bombing raids of a Great War, that wouldn't budge against the last Vacuan offensive, a city that brokered the controversial peace between man and faunus. It took decades if not centuries to build Vale up, to become the marvel it was today. And yet, it only took two short hours to topple it over.

That was a fact not lost to Russel, not while he ran across a rooftop, dragging daggers like icepicks, about to clash with a mint green haired woman. The city of Vale was dying all around him and Russel and Cardin had failed in their mission to get word out to the world of goings on within its ruined walls. So the very least either CRDL boy could do now, was raise their weapons and charge at their adversaries. There would be no saving Vale tonight, but the very least they could do is walk away with the killer's heads.

Cardin and Russel met Emerald and Mercury at the center of the roof. They clashed their blades, their mace and weaponized footwear, shaking the very foundation of the building they stood on. Russel stood his ground, holding his daggers against Emerald's sickles. The two glared at each other for a moment, but Russel could tell something was off, Emerald was smiling, and that worried him.

"I still can't believe they sent you two to stop us." Emerald said mockingly. "Was JNPR too busy? Did RWBY get caught in traffic?" She taunted, earning a matching dagger like glare from her mohawk sporting opponent.

"Saving the School, I hope." Russel spoke with an air of sincerity to his words. From where Russel stood, looking past Emerald out to the city behind her, he could see Beacon Academy in the distance. The swaths of Grimm were like shrouds, draping the very steps of Main Avenue. But Russel couldn't afford to look on after the school any longer, he needed all one hundred percent of himself, or at the very least what remained after his earlier bouts with The Ursa, Team STAG and The Iron nail. Here and now in this fight with the ones responsible for Vale's sorry state.

Slowly, Emerald turned one of her interlocked sickles and tried her best to aim it at Russel. The wheels in Russel's head began to turn as he studied the pair of weapons in each of his opponent's hands. There was a solid rule of thumb in the land of Remnant that when it came to Huntsmen or fighters in general, aside for the odd exception, every weapon turned into a gun. Noting the structure of the weapons, Russel's eyes shot open wide as the sickle Emerald aimed at himself as the blade folded in and a gun barrel emerged.

Jerking his head to the side, but at the cost of losing his footing, Russel avoided a point blank headshot. The bullet streaked the air as the gunshot rang out. The Thrush flanked her, hitting the floor rolling into a crouch, getting a little distance away from his opponent. But Emerald was lethal at all distances. She quickly spun around, morphing the second sickle into its revolver configuration and took aim. With the pull of her weapon's triggers, a pair of dust rounds shot out, dead on to make contact with Russel.

But Russel was far from helpless. As one Pyrrha Nikos could attest to, the Thrush had a habit of blocking bullets with his daggers. Spinning the face of one of his blades outward, Russel rose his dagger, protecting himself from the pair of bullets. The resulting dust explosions shook Russel, but he held firm and leapt to his feet, charging forward in order to close the distance with Emerald. But seeing the Thrush's approach, Emerald let loose a barrage of weapons fire.

While Russel and Emerald fought, not too far away, Cardin and Mercury came to blows. Swinging at Mercury with his mace, Cardin let out a rage filled cry. Over the course of the night, Cardin had seen so much, seen good people die and watched as the city he grew up in was ripped apart and set ablaze. When he'd arrived with the intention of battling the mastermind of Vale's current plight, he couldn't have imagined the culprits being anyone he knew. But then he'd found Emerald and Mercury, two people he'd shared the same room with time and time before.

The Winchester boy felt as if his blood was boiling beneath his skin. The way he kept swinging his mace at Mercury was tactless, only wishing to hit the silver haired man, not at all caring how. And Mercury simply dodged his attacks, seemingly without any effort.

"You're getting sloppy, Cardin." Mercury commented as he avoided another one of Cardin's attacks. "I thought you were supposed to be better than this, being a Winchester and all." He smirked before feeling the force behind Cardin's clenched fist striking him across the jaw. Mercury stumbled backwards, almost stunned by the action. He raised a hand where he'd been struck. "Heh. Almost felt that one."

"Shut up and fight." Cardin glared.

"Fine, but you asked for it." Mercury shrugged. He then ran forward and kicked into the air, activating the underslung projectile launcher attached to his boot, shooting a dust slug Cardin's way. But before the projectile to hit the Winchester, Cardin swatted it out of the air with his mace, sending it rocketing off to the side and blowing a hole in the roof.

With an unamused look on his face, Cardin charged forward to meet his opponent head on. Mercury did the same, sprinting forward to meet the CRDL leader head on. He leapt in to the air and kicked once more, sending another projectile Cardin's way. But this time, Cardin didn't even attempt to swat the attack out of the air or even attempt to dodge. He ran forward, letting it strike and explode against his left shoulder armor. But he remained unimpeded by the attack and continued forward.

Now with the distance between them nothing more than a few feet, Cardin raised his mace and struck at Mercury once more. Mercury dodged, spun around, gaining momentum and kicked upward, smacking Cardin against the side of his head. Mercury smirked as it appeared he'd delivered a powerful blow against Cardin, watching as the Winchester budged against the force of the attack. However, Cardin reached outward catching Mercury's leg with his hand.

Shooting a menacing glare Mercury's way, Cardin raised his mace, intent on bashing his opponent's skull in. But before he could capitalize on the advantage, a projectile screamed out of the conspirator's boot, striking Cardin in the head. The blast knocked the CRDL leader off his feet on skidding across the gravelly rooftop. Mercury retracted his outstretched leg and scoffed, he then raised a hand to his opposite shoulder and flicked at it, as if he were dusting it.

"I can't believe you didn't see that coming." He laughed.

Cardin quickly found his way back onto his feet, his semblance having took the brunt of the blast. He raised a hand to his cheek and wiped away the blood and then reached to the ground reclaiming his mace. Without another word, Cardin rose his weapon and then slammed it onto the rooftop. A streak of volcanic fire shot forth, cracking through the very foundation of the roof as it sped towards Mercury.

But the fiery light show did little to worry Mercury. Some time ago, Mercury, as well as Emerald and Cinder had read Ozpin's personal files on each and every one of his prized students. As it happened to be, Ozpin was exceedingly thorough in his examination of his student's fighting capabilities, even including a detailed list of their means of attack. Already familiar with the specifics of Cardin's long range attack, he side stepped the streak and got some distance. He then turned to face Cardin and shoot the young man a taunting smile.

To Mercury's surprise, however, he found the Winchester standing there with a smile of his own. The magma streak continued forward, past Mercury, shooting to where Emerald currently stood as she attempted to gun down Russel. And before Mercury could warn Emerald, the burning magma shot reached her, detonating under her feet. Emerald was forward over the air, sending her flying over Russel and over the side of the building.

As Cardin watched Emerald fly over the side, Mercury opted to attack while he was distracted. With his mace firmly bashed into the roof, Mercury had little to worry about Cardin raising it against him. He ran forward and kicked at Cardin, sending another projectile rocketing towards him. But it never made contact as familiar dagger found its way in the projectile's path. The projectile exploded against the face of the dagger, leaving a cloud of smoke in its wake. And there stood Russel, right by Cardin's side.

"I could've taken the hit." Cardin muttered as he pulled his mace out of the floor.

"Just because you can take a bullet doesn't mean you have to." Russel retorted as he rested the blade of his dagger on his shoulder.

"Argh!" Emerald shouted angrily as she hauled herself back onto the roof through the use of her weapon's third configuration of a kusarigama. She then reached out for the blade she'd anchored to the roof as she went over the side and removed it before retracting it into her weapon. She then jogged to rejoin Mercury where he stood starring down the pair of CRDL boys.

"I couldn't help but notice a lack of concerned cries." Emerald muttered angrily in Mercury's direction.

"I knew you'd pull through." Mercury simply shrugged. He then leapt forward into another kick, sending another projectile at the pair of Cardin and Russel.

Responding to the attack, Russel rose his daggers once again, forming and 'x' and blocked the attack. But with Russel positioned forward, Emerald jumped at the chance to attack form the side. She quickly moved herself into position, reconfiguring her weapons into revolvers and fired on the duo. But Emerald's repositioning did not go unnoticed by Russel, who quickly danced the blades in his hands in order to block her attacks.

Emerald gritted her teeth at the sight, watching as Russel repelled every shot. She then reconfigured her weapons again, switching the revolvers into kusarigama. Swinging her blades on their metal chains, Emerald ran forward. Cardin met the challenge by striking the roof once more, shooting another explosive streak across the surface. But this time, she could see the attack coming, and sidestepped, allowing it to continue onward, detonating against the side of the building. She swung her kusarigama, letting the blade and chain fly at the pair.

The blade at the end of the chain came sweeping by. Russel raised another of his daggers to block, only for the blade to swipe past him and wrap around Cardin's neck. The Winchester quickly reached out for the metal chain that choked him, attempting to pry it off. Seeing this, Emerald dashed forward, leaping over a swipe from Russel's blade and pounced on the Winchester. She reeled in her kusarigama's chain just enough as to better strangle the larger man.

Cardin flailed about, attempting to lash out at Emerald. But the thief kept her distance, poised behind the CRDL leader while the blade of the kusarigama still edged against his neck as the chain links tightened around his throat. Cardin gagged, gasped for air and swung his mace in a desperate attempt to swat the woman behind him. Seeing his partner's plight, Russel turned to aid Cardin, only for Mercury to kick him from behind.

Russel spun back around to face Mercury and leapt at the man. He struck forward at an angle and then across with both of his blades, but Mercury danced through both attacks. The Assassin's son then launched a kick forward, completely bypassing Russel's defenses and connected with the Thrush's gut. All the air in Russel's lungs left him, completely knocked out of his body and causing him to double over slightly.

What little aura remained in the Thrush's body was quickly diverted to the area in which he'd been struck and set on the task of remedying any internal injuries he'd sustained. But Russel could feel himself waning, as if he was losing his edge. He didn't have too much aura to go on as it was, the night and the events that had transpired beforehand had robbed him of his bite. But Russel remained resolute and pushed himself against Mercury's leg. At any moment his opponent could launch a point blank projectile at him, time was of the essence and from the sounds of Cardin's nearby hoarse gagging, he was needed elsewhere. So Russel shot a dagger into the air and brought it down through Mercury's outstretched leg.

"Argh! No, my leg!" Mercury overtly shouted in agony, causing Russel to pause for a moment and stare at the wound. Much to his surprise, he found no blood spewing from the gaping cut, but rather, he saw wires and exposed circuitry. With his attention fixated elsewhere, Russel was left open for an attack and was smacked aside by Mercury, who then reached down for the hilt of the dagger and grasped it. Then he promptly removed the blade from his leg. "Aw, man." Mercury frowned as he inspected his leg. "There's a hole in my jeans." He then broke out laughing and chucked the dagger back at Russel, striking the Thrush against his left shoulder.

Russel let out a pained wail as he recoiled backwards. What little aura the Thrush still possessed was too busy elsewhere to prevent his own dagger from breaking the skin. Thankfully, however, the manner in which Mercury had thrown the weapon had diminished the possibility of the weapon impaling itself through Russel, so the dagger simply fell to the floor to be reclaimed by its owner. Inspecting the weapon closer, Russel found that the only blood on its blade was his own.

"You never were hurt during the tournament." Russel muttered as he looked up from the blade. "You couldn't possibly have been hurt, not when your leg isn't even real."

"No shit, Captain Obvious." Emerald spat as she continued to strangle Cardin with the chain of her kusarigama.

Russel cast a glare in the mint green haired woman's direction. He then tossed one of his daggers into the air, testing its weight while he eyed the chain she'd roped around Cardin's neck. Once catching his weapon, Russel quickly threw it across the rooftop, its blade piercing through one of the links of the chain, piercing through it completely. Emerald just stared at both parts of her weapon, the part of the chain with her blade in one hand, and the chain attached to the hilt in the other, all while Cardin caught his breath. The Winchester then spun around and elbowed Emerald, knocking her back.

"Bitch." Cardin spat hoarsely as he rubbed his throat. He then reached down for the thrown dagger and tossed it back over to his partner who caught it by the handle.

"Heh, if you hate that," Emerald smirked as she holstered her weapons. "You're gonna hate what comes next." She said before pressing her hands together and focusing intensely.

Before either Cardin or Russel could fathom just what Emerald was up to, the entire landscape around them began to change. The roof cracked apart and malformed hands burst out, thrusting into the air in an attempt to reach out and grab both CRDL boys. Cardin let out a sharp yelp in surprise as he felt a hand latch against his leg. He quickly raised his mace and swung at the hand, but it retracted into the roof and the Winchester wound up hurting only himself.

Russel leapt backwards, dodging a wave of hands that began to sprout upward. Cardin did the same, fleeing from the nightmarish hands until they were back to back. They raised their weapons to ward off the encroaching hands. Suddenly, the hands receded back and pressed their palms against the floor of the roof. Using the roof as leverage, a hundred fractured Emerald's emerged. Ghoulish in

"This is absolutely fucked." Russel cursed as he raised his weapons for the oncoming assault. All the Emerald's cracked a crooked smile and then began to shamble forward, converging on the pair. Both the original Emerald and Mercury were lost in the sea of abnormal manifestations as Cardin and Russel quickly set on the task of cutting them down.

"If you'd have told me we'd be fighting undead looking roof people today, Cardin, I would have laughed. Now I'm pissing my fucking pants!" Russel shouted as he thrusted one of his daggers forward, impaling it through an Emerald's chest. But the Emerald remained active, unaffected by Russel's attack and screamed in his face.

"Keep fighting, we can't let up!" Cardin shouted as he hit the switch on his mace's handle, causing the jaws to open so he can grab an approaching Emerald. He then raised the malformed manifestation into the air before bashing it into another Emerald. He then raised his brow at the sight of the pair shimmering out into nothingness.

Cardin paused for a moment, while the Emeralds continued to press forward and Russel fought on. The Winchester thought back to his earlier conversation with Velvet at the diner, how they'd spoken about Yang's arrest and Coco's so called 'stress induced hallucinations'. That they'd seen things that weren't even there.

"How are these things even real?!" He shouted before kicking the Emerald off his blade and into a group of them.

"Because they're not." Cardin gritted his teeth as the Emerald's struck at him. He felt nothing, no pain when they raised their blood soaked hands against him. "They aren't real. Like these so called 'stress induced hallucinations' that Coco and Yang have experienced. They're just illusions, created by one woman." He sneered.

"Well don't you think you're so clever." Emerald's voice could be heard from amongst the mob of malformed images of herself. "But just because what you're seeing isn't real, doesn't mean you can't be hurt." She said as the familiar sound of Mercury's projectile launcher rang out. A rocket shot out, cutting path through the faux Emeralds and heading towards Cardin and Russel.

Seeing the projectile, Russel quickly struck out, intent on cutting it down before it could make contact. But the projectile split into five spate pieces and continued onward. Russel could only block two, while the remaining three struck is chest. With his aura nearly depleted, Russel couldn't protect himself from the entire barrage, two exploding against the shield his soul provided. The third of the trio of unblock projectiles found itself imbedded in his left thigh. Russel let out a sharp pained cry and heaved loudly as he removed the sharp segmented projectile from his leg.

"Only seemed fair." Mercury's voice could be heard as he hid amongst the mob. The sound of his launcher rang out again. The projectile cut across the sea of Emeralds from a completely different direction from before. Russel turned to block the oncoming projectile, but Cardin's hand shot out and caught it, before proceeding to crush it in his palm.

"I don't like not seeing my opponent." Cardin muttered as what remained of the projectile fell like dust from his hand. He then lowered the head of mace, placing it between his feet. "Russel, on my back, now!" He shouted as another projectile came screaming through the mob of Emeralds.

Russel cut the projectile in two, letting its parts veer off over the side of the roof before exploding in the clear open air. The Thrush then turned to face his partner, wondering just what he had in mind. But then he saw the mace aimed at the ground. So Russel nodded, attached his daggers to his belt and hopped onto Cardin's back.

"What the hell are they doing?" Emerald questioned, as she did her best to keep her concentration, lest she break her illusion.

"Burn." Cardin threatened lowly before stabbing his mace into the roof. The magma dust crystal at the center of his weapon glowed to life. A shockwave of magma fire burst out, washing over the entire roof and knocking both Emerald and Mercury off their feet. With Emerald's concentration broken, the nightmarish manifestations of herself dissipated, revealing only the open and ruined rooftop with their two enemies on the ground.

"How long you been holding back that one?" Russel inquired as he hopped off Cardin's back.

"Never a time when it was appropriate." Cardin shrugged. He the raised his mace to inspect the magma dust crystal within. Where there was once a solid brick of molten powered dust, was now a pebble. The night had raged on and thrown all manner of obstacles in Cardin's way, his dust crystal was now almost depleted. "We've need to finish this."

"Agreed." Russel nodded as he removed his daggers from his belt.

"You got somewhere to be?" Emerald laughed as she and Mercury picked themselves up off the floor. "I find that very unlikely." She said, gesturing out to the city under siege around them. "Besides, you really believe you can keep going? Look at yourselves, your messes." She pointed to their current states, worn by battle in the case of Cardin and soaked in his own blood in the case of Russel. "How much longer do you honestly think you can keep this up?"

"As long we need to." Russel sneered as he raised his daggers once more. Then without a word shared between them, both Russel and Cardin took off sprinting towards Emerald and Mercury. The pair of thief and assassin then took off running, meeting them down the middle and clashed.

Mercury kicked at Cardin, launching another projectile, only for it to screech past the Winchester boy who bashed him against his chest with his mace. The magma crystal burned to life and blasted him, sending him spinning backwards. But Mercury used the momentum of the attack to get of another kick, sending another projectile at Cardin, which exploded against his chest armor.

Russel slashed at Emerald with his dagger, but the thief blocked with her sickle. She then reconfigured one of her sickles into its kusarigama form and kicked Russel away. With some distance between them, she began to spin the blade in the air before throwing it at the Thrush. Russel in turn raised a dagger to block the attack, only for the blade and chain to wrap around the dagger. With a smile, Emerald then pulled back on her weapon, ripping the dagger out of Russel's hand.

Emerald then whipped the dagger through the air before finally slinging it back at Russel. With his eyes wide, Russel rolled forward to dodge his dagger, which struck the open and free damaged floor behind him. He rushed forward in order to close the distance between himself and Emerald, but the thief switched her weapons into their revolver form and let loose a barrage of weapons fire.

But that didn't stop Russel from closing the distance, from edging closer towards his opponent. His brain rang out and bashed against his skull, the familiar thumping and pain of migraines past coming into memory. He then moved through the oncoming weapons fire with precision, weaving side to side past those that could be avoided and swatting aside the ones he couldn't with his dagger and pushed on. Emerald stared out in alarm, watching as Russel got closer and closer.

"Y-You-" Emerald stuttered angrily. She then changed her weapons back into their sickle forms and moved to strike at Russel. She brought her weapons down on the Thrush, who blocked a sickle with his dagger and grabbed ahold of her other arm with his free hand. They then stood there with interlocked glares fighting for dominance.

Emerald then reeled back her head and struck forward, colliding it against Russel's. She then looked up and stared in surprise as Russel remained unfazed, not once budging despite the flow of blood leaking from his nose and onto his chin. She then reeled her foot back in a desperate attempt to get away from the Thrush and firmly placed her foot against his groin. Russel coughed out in pain, but he pressed on by head-butting Emerald, knocking her back.

The four fighters then took to standing on their opposite sides of the roof, all heaving in pain except for the exception of Mercury, who stood calmly cracking his neck. It became apparent to both Russel and Cardin that Emerald was reaching the end of her rope, just as they were, no doubt that illusion based semblance of hers had taken its own toll on the thief, just as the constant battling had done to themselves.

As much as Russel and Cardin's bodies screamed for them to rest for a moment longer, they knew in their hearts and minds they couldn't let up, not even for a moment. They couldn't let Emerald and Mercury walk away, not after what they'd done. It was all or nothing to the CRDL boys. They just picked up their weapons from where ever they lay and started again, determined to fight on to the bitter end.

But the night was still young, however, and there were surprises around every corner. A nearby gust of wind turned into a furious gale. Both sides stood firm against the imposing howl. And then they heard the roar. All four combatants then slowly turned their heads to their north, and much to their shock, found a massive Dragon Grimm heading towards the merchant district.

"You've got to be kidding me." Cardin muttered as he and the others stared in disbelief as the Dragon Grimm slammed through nearby buildings, heading towards them.

"Run!" Russel shouted, causing all four of them to race towards the exit. The ruins of destroyed buildings flew over their heads as they raced, but it was already too late. The Dragon Grimm was a force of nature they'd never seen before. Powerful winds beat from wings and it speared through buildings at unprecedented speeds.

The Dragon Grimm slammed into the building, cutting through it and sending the four of them flying into the air. Russel and Cardin let out a shared panicked cry, but their fall to the streets below was detoured as they slammed onto the armored back of the Dragon. The massive Grimm let out a haunting shriek before turning its course towards Beacon.

Russel held on as best he could to the Dragon. But he found no grasp around where he'd landed and found himself being flung against the winds further down against the Dragon's back.

"Russel!" Cardin shouted after his partner as he held firm to a crevice between the Dragon's armor plating.

"Argh!" The Thrush panicked He then whipped out one of his daggers and stabbed it against the Dragon's back, hoping that maybe he'd hit something fleshy. The blade then sank against the Dragon, slowing Russel's descent and causing the massive Grimm to let out another roar into the heavens. Russel allowed himself a moment's reprieve, to let out a sigh of relief as both he and Cardin rode on the back of the Dragon.

But Russel and Cardin weren't alone. A dust round struck the area around Russel's hand, causing the Thrush to jolt to attention. Both Cardin and Russel looked ahead and found Mercury and Emerald up ahead, holding to the back of the Dragon just as they were. Despite the change of location, their argument raged on. And Emerald continued her onslaught of weapons fire.

Cardin activate his semblance once more, leaving him unharmed by the assault. But the Winchester wasn't Emerald's real target, it was Russel, who lacked the semblance and aura to brush off her attacks.

"You fucking bastard!" Emerald shouted against the deafening high speed winds.

"Hrn." Russel muttered in an irritated manner and raised his second dagger to block the weapons fire. "Cardin!" He shouted to his partner. "Light 'em up!"

Cardin looked back to his partner and friend, straining to hear his words. But he heard, he heard and acknowledged. He then raised his mace into the lashing air and struck the Dragon, causing a magma shot to shoot forward across the Grimm's back lengthways. Emerald's eyes shot open wide at the unavoidable sight. The magma detonated right under Emerald, sending her flying into the air.

"Ahhh!" Emerald screamed. And yet, still, the thief did not relent. She switched her weapon back into a kusarigama and flung back onto the Dragon, intent on hooking back on and continuing her fight with the Thrush. But then a projectile struck her blade, causing it to undershoot and hook onto the back of Cardin's armor.

Cardin was then yanked off the back of the Dragon by Emerald's added weight. Russel attached his dagger back to his belt and reached out to his partner to catch his hand. But another projectile struck Russel, blowing his hand back and preventing him from catching Cardin.

"Cardin!" Russel shouted after his partner and friend over the pain he felt in his hand. He then watched in horror as Cardin and Emerald went over the side of the Dragon, falling down to the fairgrounds nearby Beacon Academy below.

Russel then cast a glare up ahead to Mercury, who stared back. The Dragon let out an ear-piercing cry in response to Cardin's earlier attack and began to climb upwards through the sky above Beacon. Russel began to shout incoherently as the force of the climb bashed against him. Mercury himself found their predicament troubling, and felt crushed by the same weight of gravity.

Up in the sky where the air was thin, Russel began to struggle to breath. Never before had he thought his sleeveless style of clothing was so ill-conceived than now up amongst the chilly night and uncaring wind, his teeth clattered and body shook. And despite his hand numbing to the cold, Russel could feel his grasp slipping. He'd given too much of himself, gone and pushed himself too far. He had barely anything left in himself to keep going and it just wasn't enough.

Without a sound, Russel began to fall to the ground below. He just stared out up to the starry night sky above, watching as those far off stars got further away. But he never hit the ground, rather, he slammed into Beacon Tower, crashing through the roof and smacking against the turning clock gears, he bounced and fell again, bashing into Ozpin's desk before finally rolling off and hitting the floor.

Russel let out a pained groan before slowly attempting to pull himself back onto his feet. But he stumbled and fell face first back onto the marble floor. He lay there for a moment, unable to prevent himself from breaking out in a fit of laughter. Despite all the pain he felt in his body, he'd somehow survived, hitting practically everything to slow his descent. But that was alright with him, he was alive after all. He then began to run in his head the next several course of actions he should take, such as finding Cardin whom he knew could've survived that fall, he had that semblance of invulnerability which was nothing to snub. Then, they should link up with the rest of Beacon's defenders and give the Grimm a fight to remember.

But for the time being, he decided to lay for a moment longer and rest. Russel felt like closing his eyes and falling asleep. It'd been a long time since he'd felt this worked, back to days on the old farm when he and his Father would have to bring in the season's harvest all on their own. He laughed at the memory, a sad smile forming on his face. To think he'd come so far, from Oakwood to Vale, just for everything around him to get burned to the ground. It was disheartening.

There was a sudden clang up above which snapped Russel to attention. The Thrush looked up and frowned. There standing on one of the turning gears above was Mercury. Russel then watched as the assassin leapt down, landing some feet in front of him. With a sigh, he unclasped his remaining dagger from his belt and stabbed it into the floor, using it to leverage himself back to his feet. He breathed heavily, feeling as if he'd run a marathon. Fatigued by action, he could barely even raise his damn blade.

But it didn't matter, Mercury was swift, faster than Russel could ever dream to be. Disarming the Thrush was probably a child's game to the assassin, who simply kicked the dagger out of his hand before kicking Russel over Ozpin's desk. "Have a seat." Mercury said coolly as Russel landed in the vacant armchair. He then stuck out a hand and caught his dagger, before raising it at the Thrush. "Don't get up." He said as a fact, not needing to threaten Russel. It was clear the Beacon student was outclassed.

"Just get it over with." Russel said as some last act of defiance.

"You misunderstand." Mercury said, lowering the dagger. "I don't want to fight, I wanna talk."

Russel raised a cautious brow. "About what?"

---

The battle around Beacon raged on, with students taking up arms to fight the oncoming Grimm and the few rogue Atlesian machines that still ran amuck. Nebula took aim with her crossbow, launching an arrow through an Ursa's eye. The Grimm let out a dying roar as the arrowhead pierced through its brain before finally dying and dissipating into nothingness.

"Great shot Neb!" Gwen shouted as she tossed a pair of knives at a charging Creep. The dust tipped knives exploded on impact, completely destroying the Grimm's face and causing it to crash into the student's makeshift barricades.

"Not bad yourself there," Velvet commented, shooting a smile Gwen's way.

"We're doing it! We're actually doing it!" Nadir shouted with glee as he shot a pouncing Beowulf off of a Beacon student.

"I'd hold off on the celebrating." Coco muttered grimly as she pointed up to the sky above. Every single Beacon defender looked up in that moment as the long shadow of the Dragon Grimm fell over them against the night sky.

The Dragon Grimm let out a pained roar and up above all could see a pair of individuals in freefall. Cardin hit Main Avenue hard, leaving a massive crater in his wake. The Winchester boy pulled himself out of the rubble, shouldered his mace and stood tall before the watchful defenders.

"Is that who I think it is?" Nora asked aloud, eyeing the crater as she climbed atop the statues at the center of Main Avenue.

"Cardin!" Velvet exclaimed, recognizing the Winchester's broad frame in the smoking crater.

"Holy shit, was he riding that Grimm?" Marie-Anne wondered aloud.

"Damn." Bolin muttered as he watched as Cardin emerged from the crater, his tattered and broken armor falling off around him.

Seeing the student's dug in at the front of the school, Cardin made his way towards them in order to join in the defense of their school. He walked amongst Grimm, batting them from behind and crushing their heads beneath his boots. He reached out and grabbed the back of a Beowulf's head, yanking it backwards off its feet before running it forward straight into the stone pavement. A Creep launched at him from the left, leaping up and clamping its jaws around his forearm.

"Cardin!" Velvet called out to the CRDL leader as she made her way to the front to meet him. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Velvet." Cardin managed a smile as gunfire from Willa's gun emplacement tore apart a Beowulf to his side. "Does anyone know who the officer in charge is?" He asked aloud as he reached the student's position. "How far along evacuation are we?" The students of the four kingdoms all looked to each other and shrugged, not knowing the answers to the questions he asked, causing Cardin to sigh.

"Uh, communications are still down? We've just been holding them off until we can get some relief." A Mistral student spoke up, quickly earning Cardin's ire.

"Relief? Look around people, we've got a goddamn Dragon flying over our heads!" He jotted a thumb up into the air. "There isn't going to be any 'relief'. We need to get everyone out, now. Before that thing starts making attack runs!"

"You're too late, Cardin." A familiar feminine voice caught Cardin's ear. The CRDL leader, along with Velvet, Team NDGO and a myriad of other students turned to find Emerald limping towards their position. The Thief chuckled lightly as she approached, her deathly glare fixated on the CRDL leader. "It doesn't matter anymore, you're all already doomed."

"She's hurt! Someone help her!" Nora called out from where she was perched atop the fountain statue at the center of Maine Avenue. An Atlesian student wearing silver body armor with a red cross painted onto his chest stepped forward, producing a medical kit from his hip pocket. He then jogged forward to aid Emerald.

"No." Cardin held out a hand, halting the student. "This woman is our enemy." He then rose his mighty and slammed it onto the stone tiles of Main Avenue, intent on sending a magma shot at her. But nothing emerged from the mace, no searing hot explosive, nothing. Cardin cursed under his breath, realizing he'd used the last of his dust crystal.

"Oh? No more fire, eh?" Emerald taunted as she drew her weapons. "Don't worry, I've still got some."

"Emerald…?" Nora muttered in a confused tone. "What's going on?"

"Shut up." Emerald sneered before turning her gun on Nora and pulling the trigger. The 'Queen of the Castle' let out a sharp 'yelp' before ducking behind the head of one of the statues she'd perched herself onto. The dust round struck the head of the stone Huntsman wielding a sword, exploding on contact and raining the ashy remnants all over the area. "By far, you're the most aggravating people I've ever known."

"I could say the same to you." Cardin sneered as he quickly closed the distance between himself and Emerald. He reeled back his mace and swung forward, aiming to swipe the thief off her feet.

But Emerald was quick, she leapt up completely avoiding Cardin's attack and whipped her weapons forward. With her revolvers trained forward, she pulled back the triggers and blasted Cardin point blank in the face. The dust shells exploded and send the Winchester rocketing backwards.

The students overcame their shock and quickly made up their minds over the situation. Nadir and Bolin charged forward at Emerald, but she proved herself more capable for the duo. As Nadir charged with his bayonet, Emerald kicked it out of his hands. Bolin swiped at her with his staff, only for Emerald to duck and causing Bolin to strike Nadir instead. She then lifted a revolver and aimed low, blasting Bolin in the gut. The Bo staff wielder fell over in pain, his hands reaching for his stomach to halt the bleeding.

Before Emerald could finish either of the ABRN boys off, she found the rest of the students gunning for her. Not taking kindly to her teammates being smacked around, Arslan sprinted at Emerald, reeling back a fist and launching a fireball at Emerald. But the thief merely scoffed at the action and stepped aside, letting the fireball pass her by and strike an attacking Grimm, setting ablaze.

Arslan pulled out her dagger and uncoiled its rope. Within seconds the ABRN leader was spinning the dart at the end of her rope in the air and flinging it at Emerald with expert precision. Emerald met the challenge by uncoiling her kusarigama and using it to block Arslan's attack by severing the dart from the rope with her blade. Next, Emerald whipped her blade and chain around Arslan's leg, once it went taught, with all her might she threw the woman into the air before finally slamming her back into the ground.

"Get her!" Octavia shouted as both she, Gwen and Brawnz launched forward to fight Emerald. But before either of them could get close, Emerald raised her revolvers and opened fire, warding off the trio. A slight smile crossed Emerald's face as she saw the trio back off. But it was quickly disappeared following a surprise punch to the face.

Emerald was sent flying backwards off her feet and skidding across Main Avenue. She wiped the blood off her mouth and found her bearings before shooting a glare at her attacker. There standing unamused was Velvet, a hard light construct of Ember Celica around her forearms. Seeing the constructs around Velvet's arms, however, caused Emerald to laugh. "Oh, you do illusions?" She remarked, causing Velvet to stiffen with uneasiness. "I can do that too."

Emerald then closed her eyes, channeling her semblance and creating a mirage Beowulf. The faux Grimm lurked forward and began approach Velvet. Seeing The Grimm appear out of thin air cause Velvet to jump back. Believing it to be real, the CFVY girl went out of her way to avoid its attacks through magnificent flips through the air. Emerald just watched with a smile as she forced the Huntress to wear herself down on an intangible object. But then then a sharp pain surged through her shoulder, causing Emerald's concentration to falter and the Grimm to dissipate.

The thief glanced at her shoulder and her eyes widened at the sight of an arrow sticking out of it. She looked up and found Nebula staring back at her. Emerald quickly raised one of her revolvers, but before she could get a shot off, Nebula shot an arrow through the barrel, causing the weapon to explode in her hands. Emerald let out a sharp yell, recoiling her hand and holding it to her chest. And then, the next thing she knew, Emerald was being driven into the ground.

Cardin let out and angered shout as he reached out for Emerald. Gabbing her by the wounded shoulder, Cardin then slammed her into the ground, rocking it slightly. With his enemy stunned, Cardin lifted foot and placed it against her chest, pinning her in place. He then rose his mace and held it up high, intent on slamming it down on Emerald.

Emerald closed her eyes in fear and winced in anticipation for the inevitable strike. But it never came. She opened her eyes and looked upward, finding Cardin staring down at her, the mace shaking in his hand. She stared for a moment, but then she cracked a smirk. "You don't have what it takes." She taunted. "For all your bluster, this alpha male bravado of yours, you can't even bring yourself to kill? Pathetic."

Cardin then lowered the mace, letting it fall to his side. He removed his foot from Emerald's chest and took a step back. Cardin was many things, such as a brother. It wasn't too long ago when that fact had brought him to the man responsible for his sister's death's door. And he'd held him at gun point, just as he held Emerald in place for a killing blow. And just like then, he couldn't follow through now. So he let out a shaky breath and backed away from the thief.

"I'm not a killer." He declared. All around him, students from Beacon watched as some first year student refused to take the life of a woman who'd played a role in the destruction of their very city. There were some murmurs of disagreement, some chants jeering for Cardin to put aside morality and just end her. But then there were people like Velvet and Coco, and Fox and Yatsuhashi and Nora, as well as Ren, people who knew Cardin. And all they could do was smile.

"Tough." Emerald sneered as she quickly raised her remaining revolver at Cardin, holding gunpoint. "There's rule to this world, eat or be eaten. That's how you survive." She said as she picked herself off the ground. "And your self-righteous arrogance is why you and yours will always lose."

And then she moved to pull the trigger. But then, before Emerald could, a light construct dagger struck the ground beneath her. Energy surged through the cement and the soil beneath. Before Emerald could react, the ground beneath her exploded, blasting her into the air. Cardin just turned to his right, to the source of the thrown dagger. And there stood Velvet, wielding a light construct of Russel's dagger.

All eye then shot up to the air, watching as Emerald began to fall back to the ground. "…C-Cinder…" The thief managed to say. As Emerald collided with the ground, her body broke apart, seemingly incinerating on contact. Bright golden ashes bathed the pavement before scattering to the winds. The students stared for a moment in confusion, Emerald was gone.

"So that's what they do." Velvet remarked in amazement. She then turned to find Cardin approaching her, an unsure look on his face. "Uh, Cardin, she was going to shoot you." She said, raising her hands in defense.

"I know, I know." He nodded in understanding. "…You alright though?" He asked, having finally closing the distance between them.

"Yeah…" Velvet paused, realizing how close Cardin was. "How about you?" She lifted a hand, placing it over one of his.

"Good." He answered as he stared down at her, an affectionate smile crossing his lips.

"That's good." She smiled back.

"Hey, guys!" A voice shouted from above, catching their ears. All the students looked up once more and to their surprise, they found Dove flying towards them with Ruby in his arms. "What'd we miss?" The RWBY year old questioned as the CRDL boy landed on the ground.

"Dove?" Cardin raised a brow in surprise. "You can-?"

"He can fly like Superman!" Nora shouted, a wide grin on her face.

"Urgh…" The youngest member of CRDL groaned before setting Ruby onto the ground. "So, what'd we miss?"

As if to answer Dove's question, The Dragon Grimm let out a ferocious roar up above, signaling another wave of Grimm to charge at the students.

"Admittedly, not much." Cardin said as he raised his mace, bracing for the oncoming horde.

---

"Okay, I think I have Glynda's number." Jaune spoke aloud as he desperately searched his person for his scroll. "Oh, where is it?" He muttered before looking to Pyrrha, finding the Invincible Girl staring back to Beacon Tower. He watched her for a moment, noting the soft look of regret she held.

Jaune was a simple young man with humble beginnings. He had a family with seven sisters and broke into Beacon to strike out his own heroic journey like the rest of his ancestors. And at the end of the day, despite all the hard work and determination to become better than himself, Jaune was just a man. Everything he'd just seen down below Beacon Tower haunted him in a way, confused him and left him with burning questions that needed answers. "Pyrrha? What was all of that?" He asked.

Pyrrha snapped to attention, hearing Jaune's voice. She turned to her partner, this young man whom she'd have liked to have been more than just friends with and stared into his bright blue eyes. She thought over the words in her head, tripping over them. What exactly was she to say? That she was supposed to sacrifice her humanity and become something other than herself? And for a cadre of teachers and figures who worked behind closed doors to 'protect' humanity. Pyrrha didn't know where to start.

"I…" She started to speak, only for a loud roaring noise to catch their attention. Both Jaune and Pyrrha spun around to back to Beacon Tower's lobby, there, they could see the woman Cinder blasting through the elevator shaft and ascending up the building.

"But... Ozpin..." Jaune muttered in concern, his eyes dashing back to the direction they'd come from.

There was an unasked question between them, whether they should abandon the task of they'd been assigned by The Headmaster or go back to his aid. But Pyrrha acknowledged how futile their efforts would be. "There's no time." She sighed, turning to face Jaune fully. "Go. Get to Vale and call for help."

"Huh?" The Knight raised a confused brow at Pyrrha's wording and the implications. "What are you gonna do?" He asked, but his partner didn't reply. Pyrrha simply looked back toward Beacon Tower. And He followed her gaze, the wheels in his turning, Jaune realized her intent. "No... no, Pyrrha, you can't. You saw how powerful she is! Pyrrha, I won't let you do-"

But suddenly, Jaune's pleas for reason were silenced, by a pair of lips mashing against his. The Knight froze in his feet, staring forward mind numb as Pyrrha held him close, deepening the kiss. For the first time in what seemed to be forever, Pyrrha was taking control of her life. And after a moment of hesitation, Jaune pulled her in close and reciprocated the kiss.

This was everything the Invincible Girl wanted. To be held by someone she trusted and knew wouldn't judge her. And to think it took such mental anguish on her part to finally work up the nerve to act on her own desires, something no amount. Now if only she had more time, Pyrrha found herself somberly thinking as she pulled away from Jaune.

"I'm so sorry." Pyrrha cried, a tear descending down the side of her cheek. She then pressed her palm against Jaune's chest plate and activated her semblance. Jaune let out a yelp in surprise as he found himself flying across the courtyard, slamming into a nearby locker, which then shut closed from the impact.

"Hey! Wait! Stop, stop!" Jaune pleaded, bashing his fist against the locker door. "Pyrrha, please don't do this!"

But Jaune's cries fell on deaf ears, Pyrrha walked over to the locker and began typing coordinates into it. She paused for a moment, looking to Jaune and staring past the locker and into his bright blue eyes one last time. Jaune cried out one last time, attempting to reason with the Invincible Girl. But with a teary eyes, Pyrrha hit the activation button before stepping back and watching the locker fly away. She hung her head low, unable to watch the locker vanishes into the distance. Pyrrha clenched her fists and a look of determination found its way across her face. Taking up arms, she turned on her heel and began for Beacon Tower.

Stepping through the entrance of Beacon Tower once more, Pyrrha ran to the nearest elevator. She then raised a hand and activated her semblance of polarity, forcing the metal doors open. Inside, she found a large gaping hole in the roof of the elevator created by Cinder on her way up to the top, as well as the control panel totaled. Realizing she'd need every ounce of strength she could muster for her inevitable showdown with the mastermind behind Vale's fall, Pyrrha took to the nearby stairs. Kicking in the door access, breathing a heavy sigh, she began her long ascent upwards to the top.

---

"I read your file, front and back. Twice. All the little notes Ozpin left, all the details of your past. And I've committed them to memory." Mercury tapped the side of his head as he stared out to the Thrush seated in The Headmaster's chair. "You never knew your Mother, who died bringing you into this world. Your Father was abusive and beat you, attempted to make a soldier out of you by starting you on the path to becoming a Huntsman."

"There a point to this, Mercury?" Russel questioned between shorten breathes.

"I haven't killed you have I?" Mercury spoke calmly before violently stabbing the dagger he'd confiscated from Russel into The Headmaster's desk. "Then please, allow me to continue uninterrupted." Russel remained silent at the display, his eyes wandering to a nearby cabinet then back toe Mercury.

Recomposing himself, Mercury continued. "You see, Russel. You and I are kindred spirits."

"You better not be fucking proposing to me." Russel shook his head. "For the last time, I don't swing that way."

"What did I just say?!" Mercury shouted before reaching for Ozpin's desktop computer and chucking it at Russel. The Thrush attempted to raise his arms to defend himself, but he barely had the strength and wasn't quick enough. The computer slammed against him, loudly breaking into pieces, creating a dazzling display of glass shards and internal components to scatter around. Russel jerked back in the chaos, screeching the chair legs against the floor, and thus concealing his opening of one of the desks cabinets. "Now shut up and listen."

"My Father was an Assassin, one of the greatest killers the world of Remnant had ever known." Mercury said, pressing the palms of his hands against The Headmaster's desk. "But to me, he was a drunken bastard who beat me every stepped out of line. Sounds familiar, no?" He eyed Russel before pushing off the desk and turning to pace back and forth.

"My life was very much like yours, Russel." Mercury spat bitterly as he sauntered through the office space, regarding the moving clock gears above and the moonlight to his back cascading off of the green marble floor. "I never knew my Mother and my Father was a coldhearted bastard just like yours. "My Father was an Assassin turned drunk. He beat me, day in, day out, verbal and physical abuse, all in an effort to mold me into being something I never had a say in becoming." He said, sparing a knowing glance over his shoulder at Russel.

The Thrush remained silent, watching Mercury pace back and forth, paying as minimal attention to him as he could possibly spare. Russel was no idiot, he knew very well the only thing keeping him alive was his cooperation. Mercury didn't need weapons, he could easily punt Russel through the glass window behind him and he wouldn't be able to stop him. So he remained attentive, listening to what Mercury had to say, while at the same time he peered into the open drawer, searching for anything of use. But he paused for a moment, a slight smile crossing his features.

"What's so funny?" Mercury questioned, turning to face Russel fully, having caught sight of his growing smile.

"Nothing." Russel chuckled lightly.

"Was I not conveying enough emotion?" Mercury questioned, raising a brow as he motioned to himself and then to Russel.

"Just realized it's taken me a couple months to get around to vandalizing Ozpin's office." He laughed, lazily throwing a hand up and gesturing to the wide hole in the ceiling and the trashed desk. "I'm losing my touch."

That actually got a laugh out of Mercury. The young Assassin lowered his head, shaking it slightly. "That is pretty funny." He admitted before glancing back up to the seated Thrush. He followed Russel's gaze, studying his body language, trying to get a grasp of what the young man was thinking. But all he saw was a defeated boy, soaked in his own blood and quietly resigning himself to whatever came next. So, content that he wouldn't be interrupted again, Mercury continued. "I was Homeschooled, the only hazing I ever did were the jokes I'd pull on my old man."

"Heh." Russel couldn't help but lightly laugh. He glanced away from the open drawer, having found nothing of use and turned to look out to the side, off into some distant void and reminisced of days long past back in Oakwood and all the little jokes and he'd make to irk his Father.

"Call it the boldest claim to have ever been uttered, but I wasn't lying, we really are two of a kind. We're the bastards of the world." Mercury said with a knowing tone as he eyed Russel. "My Dad never liked it when I'd whistle, he thought it made me weak. So whenever I whistled he'd bash me over the head with a rusty pipe."

"I'd poke fun at the weapons he'd trained me to use," Mercury gestured to his footwear. "I'd call them 'ballet booties', and he'd just sock me." He said, gently raising a hand and pressing his palm against his jaw, as if the punch and following bruise were still fresh. "All the time, we'd get punished, berated and hurt. But we didn't care, right?" He said before turning away and continuing on with his pacing. "We didn't give a damn because we'd already won. We got a response out of them."

"That was our way of getting even. Our means of making sense of it all." Mercury muttered as he glared off into the empty room space. "How to make up for years of psychological torment, for being molded into their twisted vision? You take what you can get, any chance at showing them how fallible they are. Be out our petty little jokes or intentional quirks, anything was better than nothing."

"My Father molded me to become his 'heir', to be his successor, in the art of killing for money." Mercury spat in a disdainful tone. He then turned back over his shoulder to look onto Russel. "Just as your Father set you on the path to becoming a Huntsman. Even in death, their shadows loom over us." Russel looked up at Mercury, his eyes widening slightly. Now things were starting to make sense, he thought to himself as the young Assassin set off on another tangent.

"You don't understand how happy I am to have met you, Russel, to know there's someone else out there like me." Mercury looked upwards, through the hole in the ceiling Russel ad left behind, out to the open and free night sky. "It gets lonely, having all these words and thoughts in our heads. And there's no one else around who could possibly sympathize with you. And it hurts, it hurts to be like us, to be so alone and forever shackled to those bastards, to know that no matter what we'll always be our Father's sons. Both of us, their little 'Killers'."

Mercury paused for a moment, thinking over the words that had left his lips. He said them again in his head and quietly cursed. He then turned on his heel to face Russel once more, and as expected, found the Thrush glaring daggers at him. "Poor choice of words?" Mercury asked.

"Something like that." Russel glared. Already conscious of Ozpin's supposed 'files', coupled with Mercury's exuberance in having read them, there was no doubt in Russel's mind Mercury's wording was a coincidence. This whole time, Mercury had been trying to draw these similarities between the two, but that wasn't the case, that was how he was presenting it, not what he truly sought. And he'd finally overplayed his hand.

"You said 'their', their shadows'," Russel muttered. "How did your Father die?"

Mercury paused at the question, seemingly stunned by it in fact. He shook it off, however, and eyed Russel with curiosity. "One summer ago, it started like any other night, me and my old man having dinner by the fireplace." He said, a sense nostalgia to his words. "But he'd been drinking as always, just like every other night." He shook his head before beginning to turn away once faced with the memory. But realizing his mistake, he stood his ground and continued to speak against Russel's gaze.

"But it's not like any other night like before, is it?" Russel questioned, what little aura remained circulating through his body quickly diverted from healing his open wounds and funneling into his brain. The cranial muscle began to pound in his head like a heartbeat, bashing against his skull. "You're older, you're Father's had years to train you and now after all those years of taking his abuse, you finally boiled over. You killed your Father that night." He glared.

Mercury met Russel's glare with one of his own. The young Assassin, could've killed the Thrush then and there, kicked up a leg and blasted a projectile through his unprotected head, splattering the window behind him in red. He could have ran and kicked the desk forward with such force it would cut Russel in two. Mercury, with all of his training and speed, he could've ran up to Russel and grabbed him by the collar of his blood stained green sweater and flung him through the window to his death below. And yet, Mercury did neither of those things. Instead, he merely laughed.

Russel stared, an unamused look on his face as he continued to sit in the admittedly comfortable armchair.

"I'm sorry, it's just so goddamn funny!" Mercury sneered as he taunted Russel with his hyena laugh. "You of all people? You're honestly attempting to bring morality into this? Ozpin's files were thorough. He knew all about your black deeds." He continued to mock the Thrush. "You led three White Fang members to their deaths, ruined the lives of two of your so called friends, were party to the blackmail of a fellow student, and then you assaulted a night club with the intent of murdering the owner's son. And those aren't even the worst of your failings, Russel."

"Hegemony Marlowe. That was his name, right? I thought it was a typo or something, I couldn't believe there was someone actually named 'Hegemony'." Mercury scoffed, earning a deathly cold glare in response from Russel. "Ozpin knew the guy, you know? Called him a one of kind and was surprised to find out you'd axed him. Even more surprised to find out you'd killed your own Father too."

Russel stared forward, his mouth gaping in shock from the revelation, that Ozpin had meticulously looked into his life to such an extent was both unnerving and angering. But that wasn't what bothered him so much, the truths never bothered Russel. His brain still rattling around in its boney cage, the Thrush thought back to the days spent in Oakwood.

He thought of Ruddy and Burgundy, as well as the secrets they kept. He reminisced of Marie-Anne and their outright disdain for the other. He recalled the hundred pairs of glares that jammed into his back from his peers, who believed he'd robbed them of their validation in their own beliefs. He thought back to the night The Iron Nail had come to burn their farms and how Russel had put his subordinates in a position to die.

Russel then thought to his time spent in Beacon, how he along with the rest of CRDL had discovered Jaune's falsified transcripts and the resulting fiasco that followed. He then thought of the time he'd gotten roped up in Cardin's own issues, and the part he played goading his best friend to kill a man. And then he thought of Marlowe.

That caused Russel's features to soften, thinking of the old man who'd been practically family. But perhaps that was all a lie, he'd never know the truth. He thought of the final time they'd been together, how Russel ultimately left the man's fate in his own hands, placing a dust bullet into the barrel of a loaded gun. He'd walked out fully well knowing Marlowe would turn it on him, he couldn't afford letting the Thrush to live, not after he'd figured out his involvement with The White Fang.

"It's funny, kind of," Mercury chuckled knowingly as he watched Russel contemplate his life up to this moment. "People always tend to die around us."

There was a measure of truth to Mercury's words, that neither of them were the saintly type. A moral checkmate of sorts. But there were lines Russel would never cross. And the Thrush looked up and met Mercury's mocking glare with a look conviction, causing the Assassin to pause.

"I won't give you the absolution you seek." Russel declared defiantly. "I didn't kill my Father, Mercury." Mercury's mouth hung open slightly, staring in disbelief. "I didn't kill my Father."

"You're lying," Mercury shook his head, calling Russel's bluff. "Ozpin's files were thorough, he even knew about The White Fang stuff."

"My Father died of a heart attack. Died right in my arms in an open field." The Thrush frowned, recalling the memory of looking down into The Elder Thrush's lifeless eyes. Russel couldn't forgive the man for all he'd done, he couldn't change the past. But in his time here in Beacon, he'd learned more about his Father than he'd done so in the time he'd spent with him alive.

Russel knew the man was once filled with compassion and love for his Mother, and it was with her death that he became the empty shell of his former self. It was through Ozpin that Russel had learned these things, seated in the very arm chair he sat in now, The Headmaster told him stories of his parents whom he'd known to an ambiguous degree. And seated opposite from the old gray haired man, where Mercury now stood, Russel would sit and listen, finally able to understand the man who'd raised him, well, at the very least, he'd come to know who we was before.

And it was then that Russel faced an inescapable truth, that he never hated his Father. After all, how could he? He never went hungry, he always had a roof over his head, and he wouldn't be the man he was today without him. If anything, he felt pity, but he felt remorse. That just the one thing Russel couldn't do, he couldn't feel sorry, he just couldn't. Here seated in The Headmaster's chair, with the city of Vale burning all around him, Russel couldn't look back, he had to look forward, with his brain beating against his skull, the last of his aura being drained by his semblance.

"I loved my Father." Russel said, knowing fully well there was no going back now. His brief reprieve from battle has ended, now began the fight of his life against a man who hadn't broken a sweat once in their long battle from fight dragged through on the back of a Dragon to here, Vale's shining beacon of hope.

"You don't even know what you're talking about." Mercury shook his head, not once attempting to hide the angered expression on his face.

"No, the question is, do you?" Russel shot back, his eyes quickly darting to his dagger stabbed into the table in front of him while he dug his thumb against his ring finger's nail. "You actually regret killing your dad, don't you?"

"I wasn't going to kill you, Russel, honest." Mercury muttered lowly in a cold gravely tone, dropping all civility. "But now I've reconsidered."

It was a 'blink and you'd miss it' moment, with Mercury lunging forward into a kick, he couldn't have expected how Russel would respond and found something jammed into his eye. Mercury winced, his vision blurred by whatever now resided against his eye and launched a projectile from his boot. The projectile whizzed past Russel, who reached out for his dagger, drawing it from the desk. The Thrush then placed his boot on the end of the metal desk and shoved it with all his might forward into the path of Mercury.

The Assassin connected with the desk, accidentally ramming his leg through it. He cursed under his breath and raised a hand to his eye in an attempt to remove whatever Russel had lodged in it. But before he could, Russel was already upon him. The Thrush struck forward, smacking the blade of his dagger against Mercury's forearm. But Mercury's raised arm was protected by his plentiful amounts of aura.

Mercury let out an annoyed sigh and blasted his leg up out of the desk, shooting him up into the air. He then spun in midair, swinging a leg down at Russel. The Thrush attempted to doge, but he wasn't fast enough, he just didn't have it in him to avoid the attack and found himself being slammed into the floor. He tried to pick himself up off the ground, but he faltered and soon found one of Mercury's hands against his throat.

Russel then found himself lifted off the ground by Mercury and in an attempt to fend off the man, he stabbed forward with his dagger. But Mercury caught the blade with his free hand and wrestled it away from Russel. Without a word, Mercury flung Russel across the room, causing him to crash against one of the nearby stone pillars. With Russel momentarily indisposed, Mercury set on the task of removing whatever it was that resided in his eye and to his surprise, he found a finger nail.

He shot Russel a surprised looked and eyed his hands, finding that he'd removed the nail himself in a bid to counter him. There was a part of Mercury that couldn't help but be impressed by the lengths Russel seemed to be willing to go, but ultimately, it proved futile. He tossed the nail aside and weighted the dagger in his hand. And then, aiming for the nail-less finger, he chucked the dagger at Russel.

"Got to hand it to you, Russel. You keep me guessing." Mercury laughed as he watched Russel squirm in pain.

Russel let out a pained cry as he recoiled his hand, holding it closed to his chest. He glanced at the dagger impaled into the marble floor, staring at its metal blade smeared with his own blood and his left ring finger resting severed beside it. He then looked up and shot a glare at Mercury who smirked in response. Reaching out for his dagger, Russel removed it from the ground and pocketed his finger. The Thrush then charged forward, pushing past against his screaming dehydrated muscles and raised his dagger for another run at Mercury.

"Don't you learn anything?" Mercury questioned before leaping forward and kicking past Russel's defenses and sending the Thrush flying backwards, his dagger skidding beside him. "Best get to rid of any more ideas." He muttered before kicking forward, shooting a projectile at the dagger. The projectile connected with the dagger's dust container, igniting the few grains that remained, exploding the weapon.

Russel went limp in order the ensuing shrapnel and just watched with his face against the floor as smoke rose from the resulting crater of where once his dagger rested. He glanced forward and found Mercury stalking forward. "Look at you. Defeated." He sneered before reeling back his leg and kicking Russel in the stomach, sending him flying once more and crashing into a wall.

The Thrush hit the ground once more in a coughing fit. He'd given it his all and more, the last of his aura spent thinking on his failed final gambit. "What a shitty semblance." He murmured quietly. For all of his thinking, he always seemed to overlook one crucial detail with all his meticulous planning, whether it be Cardin's high standing moral character or not laying down enough dust to the left to blow Team PSYK out of the arena.

"I thought we were the same." Mercury said, staring down at Russel with contempt. "Guess I was wrong." Russel just laughed hearing those words, causing Mercury to glare. The Assassin then dashed forward, punting the Thrush into the air and then with his speed, dashed behind him in midair and kicked him towards the office door. Russel slammed against the door, breaking it off its hinges and collapsed onto the ground. "Brainwashed idiot." Mercury sneered.

Russel laid there for a moment, just wishing to rest to close his eyes. But how could he with Mercury running his mouth off. "You actually think men like our fathers should be loved." He sneered as he gazed upon Russel's battered and wounded form with judging eyes.

"You think…I liked growing up the way I did?" Russel spoke, trying his best to catch his breath. "But I can't go back. I can't change what happened. All I can do is move forward." He said as he pushed himself to his feet once again. He then shoved a hand into his pocket and then withdrew it and aimed his hand at Mercury like a gun.

The Assassin raised brow at the action as he eyed the drawn hand. Russel had three fingers extended forward, and another two held in place by his thumb. "You really are an idiot." Mercury scoffed. "As if that'll change anything."

"Well the, come on, you bastard," Russel taunted as he reeled his hand back to his chest. "Fight me."

Mercury just scoffed in response. He then ran forward into a kick, aimed to launch a projectile at Russel. But before the projectile could even leave the chamber, Mercury's prosthetic leg exploded in a blinding light, sending the man flying backwards and smacking his back against the cold marble flooring. "H-How?" Mercury muttered in disbelief as he stared at the obliterated prosthetic. Russel merely raised his hands in response, giving his fingers a good flex. "Oh, you bastard." He shook his head as he turned his eyes to his discarded boot and the destroyed launcher attached to it. Amongst the wreck, Mercury could make the remains of a charred phalange.

"You must feel like a real asshole right now." Russel muttered, taking a step forward. But he couldn't manage that, he lost his footing and fell forward, face first, hitting the floor again. Sighing, Russel threw his arms forward, and proceeded to crawl across the marble floor.

Mercury just stared, watching Russel slowly approach. He didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. It was pathetic, seeing this young man who not too long ago he'd labeled as an equal of sorts, reduced to crawling on his hands. But, at the same time, it was startling, to see Russel with such resolve, to continue on relentlessly.

Russel heaved as he crawled, dragging himself across the room towards Mercury. And then it began to dawn on the Assassin just what Russel intended to do. The Thrush reached out and grabbed ahold of the remains of the ruined prosthetic and dragged it with him, glaring at Mercury the entire time.

"No." Mercury said, staring wide eyed as Russel got closer. "You don't even…you can't-" Before he could even finish his sentence, Russel was already upon him. Mercury lashed forward in an attempt to fend off Russel, but the Thrush fought through his defenses by bashing his hands with the blunt end of the prosthetic.

Climbing on top of Mercury and straddling his chest, Russel held him in place. He then reeled back and began to wail on the man with his own leg. What remained of the leg broke apart, chipping away piece by piece every time Russel bashed it against Mercury's aura protected face. Soon enough, Russel just started punching with his one good hand until it went numb, and still, he continued on until Mercury looked like a swollen tomato.

"C-C-Cinder!" Mercury called out in agony.

Russel reeled back his fist one last time and ran it forward. But as soon as it connected with Mercury's face, the Assassin's body exploded into bright golden ash. The Thrush just stared wide eyed as it began to swirl around him, dancing over his head. The ashes of Mercury then shot backwards for the door, exiting the room, leaving the Thrush alone.

On his knees, Russel breathed a sigh of relief. It was over, he'd done it, he'd won. By some miracle he'd won. But before he could become comfortable with this new arrangement, the sounds of high heels echoing through the outside hallway caught his ears. Russel slowly turned his head to the door and let out tired sigh.

There, standing in the doorway, with the bright golden ashes dancing around her, stood Cinder with an unamused look on her face. They met each other's gazes, acknowledging the other's presence. The ashes continued to dance around Cinder, before finally running through a tattoo in the back of her neck. She then let out an irritated sigh before addressing Russel fully.

"So, you're Russel?" She said, sounding somewhat disappointed. "You're a nobody."

Russel then glanced to his side, to his surprise, he found another one of Mercury's prosthetics left behind. He reached out and claimed it with his four digit hand, the one that could still feel, and grasped ahold of it. Slowly, he began to turn on the floor to face Cinder and reeled back his arm. Russel let out a sharp yell and prepared to throw the prosthetic at the woman in front of him.

But he never got the chance. Cinder casually lifted a finger, unleashing a powerful blast that struck Russel and sent him flying through the window. Russel let out no sound, he merely fell to his death.

"Like I said," Cinder eyed the hole in the glass. "A nobody."

---

Continuing her long ascent up to the top of Beacon Tower, Pyrrha remained steadfast and sure of her convictions. But even then, nothing could prepare her for the sudden appearance of the Dragon Grimm. Outside Beacon Tower, the Dragon crashed against the building, sharply cleaving away an entire portion of architecture, and raining debris on top of Pyrrha.

Pyrrha raised her shield, blocking the chunks of wall. The Dragon let out a screech before then flying upward. She lowered her shield and stared out through the enormous hole left in its wake. There, Pyrrha was greeted with the sight of the city from afar. And it pained her to see Vale in such disorder, to see its monumental buildings fallen, to see Amity Coliseum a wreck in the middle of the city.

There was a faint crashing noise, the sound of glass sharply breaking. Pyrrha glanced upward, finding shards of glass raining down from above and then she saw Russel. Her eyes shot wide open at the sight of the Thrush plummeting downward. She quickly reached out of the gaping hole in the wall to catch the young man, but he was too far and he passed her by.

"Russel!" Pyrrha shouted in horror as the falling boy remained unresponsive. She then activated her semblance of polarity, funneling it through her hand and aimed it at Russel in hopes of magnetizing anything metal on his body. There was a certain measure of danger to her actions, though she'd save Russel from becoming a messy splat on the pavement, she also ran the risk of hurting him. So with the expertise gifted to her through years of training, she magnetized his belt buckle and slowly began to reel him back. Pyrrha grabbed ahold of Russel and placed him gently onto the stairwell. She looked over him, noting his cuts and bruises, his blood stained clothing and his lack of breathing. "Russel?"

The Thrush then began to cough, spewing spittle across his already stained green jacket. "…Where am I…?" He asked weakly as he attempted to sit up.

"Beacon Tower." Pyrrha answered simply as she tried her best to help Russel. "What happened?"

"…Got the crap kicked outta me…" He coughed. "Then some woman in heels showed up…"

"Cinder." Pyrrha said before glancing up towards the top of the stairwell.

Russel just stared at the JNPR girl for a moment, reading her features before recognizing that reluctant look of determination she wore. "No, Pyrrha, don't do it." He shook his head, a look of fear on his face.

"I have to." Pyrrha muttered before continuing up the stairs.

"No you don't, Pyrrha!" He shouted as he struggled to move his body. He threw a hand forward, grabbing a hold of Pyrrha's leg. "It's suicide."

But Pyrrha brushed his attempts to dissuade her aside, simply walking onward up the stairs. "When you can, get back to the others. They should be evacuating soon."

"Pyrrha!" Russel shouted after the Invincible Girl as he watched her continue on up the stairs.

At the top of the tower, in Ozpin's office, Cinder confidently strode towards the window across the room, a smirk on her face. As if sensing her presence, the Dragon climbs up to the top, peers at her through the window, and screeches.

"Shhhh... This is your home now." Cinder spoke in a gentle tone.

The Dragon stared at the woman and uttered a short, quiet screech. Cinder backed away from the window, holding a sinister smile on her face. But then the sound of footsteps caught her ear. Cinder turned to face the office doorway, only to fin Pyrrha's spear flying towards her. Seeing the attack, Cinder casually leaned to her right to dodge with an amused smirk on her face.

Stepping into the office, Pyrrha threw her shield before backing it up herself by racing forward to kick at Cinder. The mastermind of Vale's fall raised her arms up, blocking Pyrrha's shield. She then quickly spun it around, using it to block Pyrrha's incoming kick. With little effort shown, she then pushed forward, knocking Pyrrha backwards. Another smile found its way onto Cinder's face as she tossed the shield aside before producing fire from her palms and jetting into the air.

Pyrrha then called to her spear and shield through her semblance of polarity. The weapons flew to the four time Mistral champ who then stared down the flying woman, ready to fight. Seeing this display, fiery orange glow began to emit around Cinder's eyes. She swiped her hand through the air, shooting out an arc of fire at Pyrrha. The Invincible dived forward into a roll, avoiding the streams of blaze and continued on undeterred.

A series of fireballs formed in a circle behind Cinder, who continued her onslaught of flame by sends another streak hurdling toward Pyrrha. The Invincible Girl dashed to her side, barely avoiding the attack. Cinder didn't let up even for a second, blasting another stream of fire at Pyrrha. However, anticipating the attack, Pyrrha raised her shield, blocking it. She then, powering through the fire leaping toward Cinder.

A sudden look of surprise flashed across Cinder's face as Pyrrha met her in the air. The Invincible Girl she spun around and slashes Cinder across the arm with her spear, cutting deep into the skin. But the brief victory was cut short as Cinder's fresh wound rapidly healed. Cinder caught ahold of the blade and pulled, turning Pyrrha towards her. She then reeled back her palm before slamming it against Pyrrha's stomach, with fire bursting forth and blasting Pyrrha away.

Pyrrha slammed into a wall, falling to her hands and knees. She simply shrugged off the attack, standing back up and facing Cinder, determination still in her eyes. Cinder propelled herself forward, fire jetting from her hands, and attempts to slam into Pyrrha. But she leaped into the air above Cinder, dodging the attack and then followed through by wrapping her arm around Cinder's. As Cinder slowed to a stop, Pyrrha positioned herself to place her feet onto the wall behind them and pushed off, flipping herself over Cinder. Using this momentum, Pyrrha then sent Cinder flying across the room, smacking into a pillar.

Pushing herself off the floor, Cinder found Pyrrha charging forward, ready to slam her shield into her. Unprepared by the attack, Cinder stumbled backwards. Pyrrha didn't let up, proceeding to hit Cinder's right hand with the blunt end of her spear, then striking Cinder's left hand with the spear's blade. She then spun around, delivering a series of swift slashes across Cinder's chest and legs.

She then spun around to attack again, only for Cinder backflip out of the way and kicking Pyrrha with flames trailing behind her foot. The kick had sent Pyrrha flying through the air, but she remained coherent and quickly reoriented herself. Flipping her spear in her grip, holdding it back, she flung it toward Cinder while firing the gun mechanism. The series of fireballs appeared behind Cinder again, surging power through her body. And with a simple backhand, Cinder slapped the spear away. Seeing this, Pyrrha flung her shield at Cinder once more. But Cinder simply smacked it aside as she'd done to the spear earlier. She idly glanced to side, watching the golden shield skitter across the ruined floor, an amused smile slightly forming. She then returned her attention to Pyrrha, finding The Invincible Girl looking upon her in irritation.

Pyrrha launched herself toward Cinder, throwing her arms around the woman and tackling her to the ground. Charging her attack with aura, upon colliding with the floor, the room shook violently. Before the dust could even settle, Pyrrha held Cinder in a choke hold, desperatley attempting to stab the woman with her spear. But Cinder proved to be adept enough ward the fatal blow off as long as need be. The Dragon Grimm outside let out a furious roar and began to fly away. At the same time Cinder's eyes began to burn orange. She then raised a hand forward against the spear. Once grasping it fully, she tightened her grip and superheated the weapon, burning Pyrrha's hand.

Upon hearing Pyrrha's resulting pained screech, Cinder turned her gaze ahead and smirked while Pyrrha gained a look of fear. Out there in the sky, The Dragon was coming back, poised to strike the building with its mighty wingspan. While Pyrrha focused on the Dragon flying toward the tower, Cinder finally melted the spear's blade, letting the liquid metal ooze to the ground. Just before the Dragon slammed into the roof of Ozpin's office, Cinder elbowed Pyrrha in the gut, causing her to loosen her hold on the woman and allowing Cinder to escape. The room rocked and the windows shattered. Pyrrha was sent flying across the room by a mighty gale as the Dragon ran through the building. Giant clock cogs and debris crashed down around the office, and the structure containing the CCT's transmitter fell to the ground outside.

Pyrrha crawled across the dust covered marble floor, pulling herself toward her shield, while Cinder watched on from where she levitated off the floor. While looking for a way to distract Cinder, Pyrrha noticed Ozpin's collapsed metal desk. Using her polarity, Pyrrha threw the chunks of desk at Cinder, striking the woman and knocking her to the floor. She then quickly grabbed her shield and rolled across the floor. Once poised on her knees she held the shield up, ready to counter anything Cinder threw at her. With a torrent of flame, Cinder erupted the metal desk off of herself, sending it flying out of the now open room. Without a word, she then resumed her place levitating off the ground.

Cinder let loose another stream of flame, causing Pyrrha to roll out of the way. She sent out another stream, forcing Pyrrha to attempt to block. However, the force of the attack sent Pyrrha tumbling backward. The series of fireballs reappeared behind Cinder, surging power throughout her body. She then created a wall of flame behind Pyrrha, boxing her in. With nowhere to run, Pyrrha was forced to attack. She lunged forward, throwing her shield at Cinder, who simply backhanded it away.

She then looks up in surprise to see a multitude of giant cogs floating in the air around her. Using her polarity, Pyrrha directs her shield to knock into Cinder's feet, causing her to spin in midair. With the woman disoriented, Pyrrha called upon a metal cog laying off to the side and slammed it down on Cinder, pinning her to the floor. She calls her shield back to her arm, then brought all remaining cogs and miscellaneous metal objects ranging from copper wires ripped out of the walls to that of fallen steel bars together. With a sharp yell, Pyrrha buried Cinder under the accumulated metal.

Pyrrha let out an exhausted breath as the flames around her died. But just as it seemed she'd bested the woman, Cinder blasted her way out of the metal grave with a powerful burst of fire, shooting shrapnel in all directions. One of the cogs flew toward Pyrrha, who raises her shield to block in vain. The force of the impact slammed her into the remains of a fractured wall, knocking the air out of her.

Cinder emerged from the grave and formed an obsidian bow in her hand. As she raises it up and draws back an obsidian arrow. Pyrrha picked herself up and charged forward. She spun around, gaining as much momentum as she needed and threw her shield at the woman. Cinder, however, released the arrow, which cut through the shield and continued on its path directly into Pyrrha's ankle. She let out a sharp yell before collapsing in pain. Pyrrha attempted to pull herself to her feet, but the pain was too much. She turned over onto her hands and knees as Cinder moved to stand in front of her.

"It's unfortunate you were promised a power that was never truly yours." Cinder said, kneeling down. She raised a hand against Pyrrha's chin, gently raising it and staring into her eyes. There, she found a tinge of orange surging through her emerald irises. "Take comfort." She smiled. "I will use it in ways you could never have imagined."

Pyrrha pulled away, attempting to raise her hand against Cinder, but the woman dashed away. And Pyrrha just sighed, releasing a shaky breathe and looking at the fracture floor. This was it, she thought to herself, this was how it ended. "Do you believe in destiny?" She asked, looking up to meet Cinder's gaze.

Cinder narrowed her eyes. "Yes." She said, before taking a step back and forming her obsidian bow and arrow once more, lowering it at her weakened opponent.

Nearby, Ruby Rose finally reaches the top of the tower, having been propelled to the top by her Partner Weiss. Cinder, however, paid her no mind, it was already too late. Pyrrha just sat there, her eyes closed, accepting the fate. Cinder released the arrow, planting it firmly the center of Pyrrha's chest. Ruby watched in horror and Pyrrha gasps in pain.

"That's in your aorta artery," Cinder whispered quietly as she approached her fallen foe. "I wouldn't remove that if I were you." She muttered before placing a hand on Pyrrha's head. Pyrrha instantly ceased all movement, her body seizing up and glowing orange. She then broke apart like ashes, scattering to the winds before funneling into the tattoo in the back of Cinder's neck.

All that remained of Pyrrha was her headdress, which Cinder took into hand before tossing it to the floor. With that business concluded, she turned to give Ruby her undivided attention. Instead of an enraged warrior, she found a dismayed fifteen year old girl. Ruby's silver eyes became filled with tears. She clenched her fists, curled her arms to her body, and then suddenly released them to her sides, beginning to levitate slightly off the ground.

Cinder just stared wide eyed at the scene, as did the Dragon as it perched onto the building once more. Brilliant white light shot out from her eyes as Ruby cried out the name of her dear friend. The white light then consumed her, before spreading to the Dragon and Cinder.

---

A white light streaked the sky over Beacon. All the students outside turned to look up to its source above Beacon Tower. A shockwave then sprang forth, knocking the remaining defenders off their feet and sending the Grimm running backwards.

Cardin picked himself off the ground and reached out to pull Velvet to her feet. "What was that?" Velvet asked, looking to Cardin in concern. They'd already seen enough surprises for one night, the last thing any of them wanted was another crazy Grimm type appearing and parting the heavens.

"look!" Dove shouted pointing upward. All eyes looked up to Beacon Tower, where the Dragon stood screaming. It then began to freeze in place, its cries dying.

"What in the world just happened?" Marie-Anne questioned.

Cardin stared up at the frozen Grimm and then turned to his fellow Huntsmen. "Let's go find out." He said, before running off to the tower.

Velvet exchanged a glance with Coco, who shrugged. "Go on ahead, we can hold down the fort 'til you get back." She said, gesturing to her mighty machine gun. Velvet just nodded, a thankful smile on her face, before taking off after Cardin.

Soon enough, more students came running, following Cardin's example. Danny and Marie-Anne, followed closely by Dove, as well as Bolin, Nebula, Nolan and Flynt sprinted off after the pair in order to provide back up. The bunch of huntsmen ran into the tower's main lobby and were greeted with the sight of the elevator's out of order. They then set their sights on the stairwell and quickly began to ascend.

Fifty flights of stairs would have been child's play to any Huntsman in training. After all, they had their auras. But the group of Huntsmen had been run through the gauntlet, forced to face all kinds of odds and dangers throughout the night. Every step taken felt like a hundred, every flight a thousand. But they powered on through.

But in their ascent up to the top of Beacon Tower, to their surprise, they found one of their own struggling to climb the stairs. "Russel!" Cardin shouted, recognizing his partner. He then quickly ran to the Thrush's side. "What happened? Where's Mercury?"

"Dead, I hope." Russel spat, his face currently laying in a puddle of his own drool. "What took you so long anyway?"

"Got held up." Cardin said, trying to make light of the situation. He looked over his friend and frowned, noting his fresh injuries. "Any idea what's been going on up top? We saw a flash of light."

"Pyrrha." Russel muttered as Dove came to his aid, helping the Thrush to his feet. "Went off on her own to fight the woman behind all this."

"We'd better get up there, quick." Nebula said, raising her crossbow.

"Agreed." Danny nodded, raising a handgun.

"Let's move!" Cardin shouted before leading the group of Huntsmen up the steps.

"You want me to take you to a ship?" Dove questioned, looking to Russel in concern.

"No." Russel muttered bitterly. "I want to see this through."

"Alright," Dove shrugged before throwing an arm under Russel's legs, taking him by surprise before finding himself being carried bridal style. "But I'm gonna have to fly you up there."

"Eh," He shrugged indifferently before Dove took off, flying after the rest of the group. "Beats walkin'."

Reaching the top of the tower, they didn't know what to expect, what they would find. They stepped into the hall hearing the sounds of frantic heaving. Cautiously, they approached Ozipn's wrecked office and stepped inside. There, they found Ruby unconscious on the floor, and Cinder bloodied and burned, standing over the RWBY leader, about to deliver a killing blow with her obsidian blade.

They didn't need an order to heed the call to action, Nebula and Danny instantly stepped forward, drawing their weapons. Danny pulled the triggers of his pistols, blasting the obsidian blade out of Cinder's hand while Nebula put an arrow through her other hand, preventing her for reaching for her secondary blade. Cinder scowled as she faced the huntsmen, who stood there with equal looks of determination.

"Well then," Cardin stepped forward, shouldering his mace. "Make a move, I dare you."

"Arrogant, you're all so damn arrogant." Cinder spat weakly.

"Least we don't look like road kill." Nolan sneered, gesturing to Cinder's facial scar with his cattle prod.

"Until next time." Cinder smiled. A vibrant orange flash shot forth, blinding the huntsmen. Once they regained their vision, they found the woman gone.

They exchanged unsure looks before Cardin stepped forward and began to approach Ruby. He knelt down and scooped the RWBY leader off the ground as well as recovering Crescent Rose from floor. "Now," The CRDL leader said as he turned back around to face his comrades. "Any one see Pyrrha?"

"Dove." Russel pointed to the center of the room, catching sight of a familiar golden object. Spotting the object as well, Dove flew over before setting Russel down on the ground. The Thrush then leaned over, plucking the headdress off the marble floor and holding it up to the rest of the group.

"…Pyrrha." Velvet placed a hand over her mouth.

"Oh no." Nebula said, as she looked on in defeat.

"What do we do now?" Nolan asked, looking up at the massive Dragon Grimm frozen in place. But not all of the Dragon remained still, it's bright red eyes glowed with activity, staring at the group of Huntsmen.

"Unless anyone brought a bomb? We're done here." Cardin said before turning back the direction they'd arrived from. They all looked to each other, searching for some reason to stay, but they could not, so then they followed Cardin's example and began to depart.

The descent down the stairwell was silent, with all members of the group quietly reflecting on the loss of life and how somber their situation appeared to be. Stepping out of Beacon Tower, the group caught the final Airbus, with the last of the defenders piling in.

"About time you guys showed back up." Octavia greeted them as they entered the ship. She then turned to the front of the cabin and hollered to the pilot. "They're here! Punch it!"

"Consider it punched!" Neptune shouted from the front. The Airbus then took off into the air, soaring through the Vale sky.

Russel propped himself up against one of the viewports, staring out to Beacon Academy as they left it behind, making out the distinct hordes of Grimm running across its grounds. And here he was, with less than what he initially had when he arrived to Beacon. "Where to now?" He asked aloud, unable to take his eyes away from the academy.

"The only place in the city where its safe, I suppose." Nebula muttered as she took a seat beside the Thrush. She stared at Russel for a moment before her eyes drifted to the headdress in his hands. "Do you really think she's gone?"

He paused for a moment, thinking back to all he knew about Cinder and Mercury. "I don't know." He quietly said as the Airbus converged on its destination.

The Airbus landed on a makeshift landing strip with its occupants pouring out. It was then that Russel and the others were greeted by the sorry sight of the so called 'safe zone'. As far as the eye could see, people from all four kingdoms sat around in defeat in make shift refuge from old cardboard boxes. They could even hear the distinct sounds of sobbing and far off pained wails from a wounded civilian undergoing operation.

A stretcher manned by two medical personnel and overseen by Qrow approached the airbus. The old Huntsman walked up to Cardin and relieved him of the burden of carrying his niece. After placing Ruby onto the stretcher, the orderlies and Qrow walked off, not a single word exchanged between them.

"Can't help but notice the lack of medical attention for the rest of us." Russel muttered as Dove aided him out of the ship.

The CRDL boys walked off, seeking refuge by the side of a nearby building. Setting themselves down, they soon were joined by others such as Team ABRN and NDGO, even Team CFVY. They all just sat there, starring back towards the rest of the city in utter defeat.

"I can't believe this actually happened." Cardin sighed. "What're we going to do now?"

"Hmph." Russel scoffed, earning an odd glance from his partner. "The only thing we can do Cardin…Rebuild." He said before falling over into unconsciousness.

"Anyone know what happened to Sky?" Dove asked, looking around to all the surrounding faces.

---

It had been three days since Sky had been assigned his mission. And for three days he'd traveled along the sea coast towards his destination. Though his mind lingered elsewhere, back to his friends, back to the school and to the city he'd left behind. He'd packed in a hurry, taken all that he could such as water and rations from the dining hall, as well as a pocket radio. But everything he'd heard since that night has been static.

Sky would be lying if he said he didn't fear for those whom he'd left behind. His life was in Vale, yet, instead of standing with those whom he'd been privileged enough to know and call friend and ally, he'd gone on this merry expedition of his. He could've turned back at any moment, and yet he didn't, because he knew deep in his heart that no matter how much he wanted to go back and help the people of Vale, what he was doing was more important.

So Sky carried on over the hill and reached his destination. He'd finally made it. The town of Venezier was finally within view. The beginning of his journey had reached its end, now came the hard part of actually accomplishing his task.

Leaping down the hill, Sky began to enter the town. But then, suddenly, he felt a sharp force smacking the back of his head, forcing him to the ground. Sky yelped as he was turned over onto his back and found a quartet of men standing over him. Ranging from a burly fellow to an astute thin man and even an action figure personified, it was the fourth member of their group which earned Sky's immediate attention. Standing over Sky weilding a rifle was a man wearing a helmet with horns grafted to the plating and possessed a rotting odor that clung to his duster.

"Mr. Lark, I presume?" The thin man inquired. Sky gave no definitive answer, he was still too caught up in the situation and didn't know what to say. "I'll take that as a yes." The man said before stepping away. "My name is Dr. Kruger. Welcome to Venezier."

---

In the opening fight scene with Russel, Cardin and Mercury and Emerald, the only reason CR actually does well is because they approached the battle as a team. That was something important with the duo, that even in a fight they've got one eye looking out for the other. That aside, it was full on madness writing the fight scenes for this chapter, but I think I pulled it off.

During the last arc, Mercury read up on Russel's past and had since attempted to get close to him. The implications drawn is that Mercury is regretful for killing his Father, something established in canon but I took a redressed in Interlude: Black. And, since learning of Russel's similar past, he's gone to him searching for someone to tell him that what he did was okay, to validate his claims of his Father and that he was in the right for killing him. But Russel's gone through a lot of shit in the past forty five chapters, so that doesn't go as Mercury planned.

I've also implied Russel's semblance through his headaches throughout the story until now. It really does have to do with his brain and thinking, as remarked in the chapter above.

When approaching the notion of revealing what Russel's daggers did, I thought it'd be at least somewhat comical if it was someone else who'd figured it out. Originally, it was going to be Cardin who'd recovered one of the daggers off of the Dragon. But I thought it better if it was Velvet due to her semblance and weapon.

And Pyrrha has seemingly died, just like in canon. Yes, send me your hate filled messages, how dare I kill Pyrrha, again. But, if you'll recall, she's alive in an interlude set in the future. So, now we're faced with the question of, how is that possible? Well, stick around for a little bit would you? There's a lot more story left.

And finally, Sky. If you would all kindly look back to the Nebula arc, you would find we've met these four gentlemen before.

Next update will be another interlude and then we'll start up the next Arc. 'Til then, thank you all so much for reading! It's been one hell of a slog through but now we're finally going places!

Until next time! Later days!