Chapter 37 – The Ultimatum

Pyrrha

It had been a few minutes now since the Emergency Broadcast System ended, just the normal screen on her scroll. But Pyrrha, Cinder and Penny were just staring at the threat that Killian just sent out to the entire world.

Never before had they felt an entire planet panic quite like this moment.

"He's… really lost it now…" Pyrrha gasped, slowly closing her scroll. Cinder was pacing back and forth, her hands pressed against her head.

"What do we do?" Penny stammered.

"Damn it!" Cinder yelled with fury, blasting fire from her hand into the ground, creating roaring flames. "After all that, the damn bitch was two steps ahead of us the whole goddamn time!" Cinder yelled with rage.

"He was lying, right? He can't be serious… he'd kill everyone in all four kingdoms to make us bring Jinn to Salem? I thought he believed in protecting Remnant, not burning it." Penny questioned whilst Pyrrha walked over to a railing and pressing her hands against it, bowing her head down as she tried to think on all of this.

In the background, Cinder and Penny continued to panic over the Ultimatum that Killian had placed in their hands, but Pyrrha felt the presence and she slowly lifted her head. Before her floated the Brothers Grimm, and they were staring her down.

"Do not give in to the threats of the cowardice of a single man." The Brother of Light warned. She raised a brow at him.

"Killian has lied about many things, but I doubt he's joking here… we can't just stand by and let him burn all those innocent civilians." Pyrrha replied to the glowing Brother.

"Forget them. Their lives are insignificant. If Salem brings the Relics together, she will be able to destroy us, and existence itself will fragment into something we can't even imagine." The Brother of Darkness replied, but that took her aback, and she stared at the two Brothers.

"Forget about them? Their lives are insignificant? I already knew the two of you were ruthless hypocrites, but this? Don't think I can't see through what this really is." Pyrrha stated, shaking her head in disgust.

"Our existence is the only thing holding the universe together… life and death would-"

"You're afraid… a pair of cowards who would rather let millions of your own creations die to save your own skin." Pyrrha snapped back, and they both remained silent as they stared back at her.

That's a first…

"I will not stand by and let Killian commit genocide on a scale that the two of you are more than familiar with. Complain if you wish, but you can't stop us from doing the right thing." Pyrrha growled, and she turned to walk back over to Penny and Cinder who were both debating what to do even though Pyrrha had already decided.

But the Brothers were not done with her yet.

"Bravery born from the dance of ignorance and naivete." The Brother of Light spoke up, which made her stop.

It was usually the Brother of Darkness who goaded her, not him. Yet it was Light that she distrusted the most. She saw what he did to Salem all those years ago. To Ozpin as well, he was the most untrustworthy of them both.

He floated around her, glowing almost as bright as the sun. "If you do this, and if you fail, then it will not just be Remnant which will suffer. Everything we have ever created, every world, from now to the future and in the past? Everything will be corrupted, trapped in an unending loop of suffering. Life and Death will have no meaning… everything will cease to continue." The Brother of Light begged, but Pyrrha just walked past him, not even giving him a second glance.

"Then we won't fail." Pyrrha replied.

Suddenly the Brother of Darkness appeared directly in front of her, taking the form of his Dragon, slamming his massive hand down right at her feet. But this time, Pyrrha did not fall to the ground. She did not even flinch. She just stared back at the giant glowing purple dragon that roared at her face. "BE UNDER NO ILLUSION! SHE WILL DESTROY US IF SHE GET'S US! A-And… we're afraid." The Brother of Darkness roared, but his voice mellowed into a whimper.

Pyrrha's expression never changed.

She just walked through the Dragon's ethereal body, causing it to burst into black smoke, forming back into the hobbling hunched forward Brother of Darkness behind her.

She didn't look back at them. "I know."

The two gods watched her walk away and felt their power over her fade away, and they both disappeared. Pyrrha returned to her team. She still felt the Brothers' presence within her soul, but they were no longer as apparent.

"If we go there, we will lose everything we've fought for…" Penny said as she paced back and forth, chewing at her nails.

"SHE HAS AMBER! I… I can't lose her… she'll burn the entire world down and I will lose my daughter as well." Cinder stammered, but Pyrrha spoke up.

"We're going to face Salem. We have to… we're Huntresses, it's what we do." Pyrrha said, and Cinder stared at her.

"Pyrrha… I agree with you… but you know what will happen if we fail. We don't even know what reinforcements are even coming to help us? If anyone is coming. We can't defeat Salem on our own." Penny explained, then she turned to see Ruby stumbling through the doorway, wiping the blood from her nose. She was still battered and bruised, but had regained consciousness despite it all.

Penny gasped and ran to her, immediately wrapping her arms around her girlfriend, lovingly kissing her a few moments after. Pyrrha smiled to see Ruby standing up once again, but Cinder was too afraid for Amber's safety to smile right now, but inside she was aloof, like the others.

"W-What happened?" Ruby groaned. "Where's the Relic? J-Jaune?"

Pyrrha approached Ruby, and they helped her walk outside into the sunlight, and they showed her the Relic inside the room she was just resting in. "We lost the Relic of Creation, but saved her. But… Salem and Killian had already prepared for that eventuality." Pyrrha explained.

"What do you mean?" Ruby winced, touching the side of her head, which was still throbbing after the brutal beating she endured. Then she saw what remained of Arcadia. Her silver eyes widened, and she turned to Penny immediately, knowing for certain it was her.

Penny nodded. "I could control it this time… it didn't kill Jaune… I don't know how… but he survived it, so did the other Praetorian Knights." Penny confirmed.

Ruby held her hand and turned to Pyrrha. "What… did they do?"

"Killian released a live threat across the entire planet. Everyone saw it… he threatened us – as in the four of us here now – that if we don't bring Jinn to Salem, if we don't respond to Killian's threat in the next hour… he will destroy all the Kingdoms." Pyrrha explained to her.

Ruby's eyes widened with horror.

"He's really gone that far, hasn't he?" She sounded mortified by this. "H-How? How is he even able to…"

"There are bombs buried underneath the Kingdoms… he flat out admitted it live." Penny answered.

"Powerful enough to destroy them all at the press of a button." Pyrrha clarified. "And… not only that…" She looked at Cinder, who was pacing back and forth. Ruby still felt great concern for Cinder's health. She knew something was going on with her. "Salem has captured Amber… and now her life is in danger."

Ruby stood as tall as she could. Time would help heal her wounds from Jaune, but she was strong enough to stand on her own now.

"Then we do it…" Ruby said, and Pyrrha smiled, nodding her head in agreement. Penny smiled as well, and she nodded her head.

They all turned to Cinder, who had her arms crossed. "Yeah! Now come on… we can't waste time." Cinder said as she stormed off, but they all heard her voice was hoarse.

"Cinder?" Pyrrha called, but Ruby walked forward, and suddenly shot forward in a flurry of Rose Petals. Penny reached out, but Ruby appeared in front of the Fall Maiden, stumbling a little.

"You… good?" She asked her.

Cinder didn't stop, but Ruby saw her face was looking pale. She shoved past Ruby without even looking at her. "Never better."

Ruby watched her walk towards the woods, and fireflies surrounded them as they followed her into the forest. "Yep… definitely not good…" Ruby whispered. Cinder created a powerful blast of wind that parted the trees so she could get moving. "Cinder, wait, let's just figure this–"

"WHY? SO SALEM CAN FILL MY DAUGHTER'S HEAD WITH MORE LIES?" She yelled.

"No… Cinder, I'm not saying that…"

"THEN WHAT ARE WE DOING, RUBY?"

"We're figuring it out, okay? Let's just breathe. We just need to respond with our scrolls. That's all we need to do." Ruby explained.

"Every second we waste… we don't have time to… breathe…" Cinder sounded like she had been running a marathon from the way she was panting between breaths.

"Look, I know you're scared Salem's gonna kill Amber but-"

"THAT'S NOT WHAT SCARES ME, RUBY!" Cinder yelled. Her voice sounded more fragile by the second. "I know Salem… I know her better than most people do… she raised me after I slaughtered my family… and I know how she twists people. Especially children… and she's good at it… even my little Amber… I… I know she's doing this to lure me back. She wouldn't have needed to threaten Remnant to do it. All she needed was her. I know it's a trap… but I can't let her do what she did to me, to Amber." Cinder explained.

Penny and Pyrrha both caught up to Ruby and Cinder and listened to what she was talking about. "I can't, Ruby… I can't just… let her do this again…"

Ruby cushioned her shoulder. "It won't. We won't give her the chance, okay?"

"I've failed so many people in my life… Emerald, Mercury… the Branwen Tribe… even Salem in a way… but I can't fail her. Because I know she will be… just another monster like me if we fail."

Cinder looked at Pyrrha and then at Penny. "Just another vengeful, hateful monster with a desire for power, a desire Salem fed into me. And the only thing that changed me was Amber… a girl named after the very woman I murdered for this… power." Cinder sighed, forming a flame in her palm. Then she scoffed, shaking her head. "Power…"

She looked up and saw only in her head the form of Jinn, who was floating in the air behind them. She softly smiled at her and nodded her head.

Tell them… they should know…

She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out… she just felt her throat burn and she gasped for air. "Cinder?" Pyrrha's eyes widened.

"Yeah… n-nothing's…" She couldn't lie to them anymore, as a full attack throttled her. She felt liquid trickle from her only eye, and she reached up to it, touching the claret, knowing it was coming.

"Are you okay?" Penny stammered, shocked to see her eye bleeding like that.

Her eyes bled more and more, followed with the weight of the world crashing down on her shoulders, dizzying her and nearly knocking her out, and then she dropped to one knee, coughing a spluttering blood.

"Oh gods! Help her down…" Ruby cried out. The three of them supported Cinder as she had yet another attack. It felt like her lungs were on fire, and she staggered towards a rock that overlooked the beautiful ocean as the sun started to rise. She wheezed, coughing more, but the pain faded, but the red mist around her eye remained, and bruising formed around her eye as well.

They all felt immense panic and concern for her health, and they stayed close to her, Pyrrha on her left, Penny to the right and Ruby in front of her. "What's wrong?" Penny asked.

Cinder spoke through her raspy throat. "I uh… I'm dying girls." She finally confessed, and their hearts sunk at the news.

"W-What?" Pyrrha stammered.

"Yeah… I've got Noctis Putrida… I got it… the day I killed Amber and stole the Maiden Powers… and it cursed me… gave me this disease." She then laughed about it, shaking her head as she wiped away the blood from her eye. "It's fitting… it really is… a savage crazy woman like me dying like this… after a killed such a kind woman… all for a power that's destined to kill me."

Those words stuck with Pyrrha… she never forgot Cinder's answer to her question on that tower…

… this was not the destiny that woman imagined back then.

Cinder chuckled lightly. "I've lived a bad life, girls."

"We've all lived bad lives, Cinder… when I was a kid, I never wanted to believe I'd ever have to do bad things to survive…" Ruby said. She then turned and smiled. "But we know you… the real you."

"No… no you don't…" Cinder sighed.

Penny shook her head, gently holding Cinder's. "Forgive me, Cinder… but that right there is exactly your problem! You don't know who you are." Penny said, and Cinder looked at the Android with a raised eyebrow.

"What… do you mean?" She asked, coughing in between.

"In the time we've been travelling together? Yes, we've seen your bad sides, but you never shied away from what we're doing. Or why we're doing it. And whenever you think of Amber… all I see on your face is a smile. You're not a monster… we've seen monsters. And that's not what I see you as." Penny explained.

Cinder smiled, and she stared out at the ocean as Seagulls rode the wind. "That night? After you froze the Wyvern on top of the tower?" Cinder said to Ruby, looking at her and Pyrrha. "When I rolled off that tower… I did it to die. I knew Salem would have either killed me or punished me in a way that I'd beg for it anyway if I returned. And all that went through my head was this one question: Was it worth it? Killing my family who tormented me every day, only to be adopted by another mother who did the same? Killing my way to become that woman? Stealing a power that shouldn't have been mine? Trying to murder a beautiful young woman with an amazing life ahead of her?"

Pyrrha looked at Cinder with surprise. There was a time where Pyrrha wanted to kill Cinder for what happened between them on that tower. "And then Raven saved me… I thought I was gonna end up in yet another prison like before. But… she just expected one thing of me… to not make her regret saving my life." Cinder explained, closing her eye and wiping the rest of the blood away. "Ever since that day, I have been fighting so hard to make her proud. She gave me a new chance… and thanks to her, I met Amber… I met Vernal and Oscar… despite everything she did… she made me better." Cinder explained.

Ruby nodded her head. "I was… so angry with her… and my Uncle… when we found out what they did to my mom… but I don't know what I feel for them anymore. I know they never wanted to do it… Valravn gave them no choice…" She then reached into her bag and held Qrow's letter, that was still sealed in her hand.

"We've… all forgiven someone at some point, haven't we?" Pyrrha chuckled, looking at Cinder, and Penny looked at Pyrrha.

Cinder sighed, shaking her head. "But… despite how far I've come… I'm still suffering for my mistakes. There are some sins… that just can't be forgiven. It's like the world just exists to… punish me… like this is the last joke in a long line of cruel jokes and ironies."

Pyrrha looked distantly, nodding her head. "I know what you mean… when I lost Jaune… it felt like such a cruel joke. Why did he die, and I get brought back? Life is full of pain… but there is also love and beauty." Pyrrha said with a kind smile. Cinder sighed, staring ahead.

"What am I gonna do now? I can feel… my body eroding from this. Every single attack is making me weaker and they're happening more and more. Soon… I won't even be able to stand up…" Cinder shrugged, slapping her arms against her knees.

"You're not gone yet, Cinder. You still have time to do great things." Ruby said with a smile.

"Sure…" Cinder chuckled.

"See all of this… as a sign, Cinder. To try. Try to do the good thing." Penny sweetly and supportively said.

She sighed. "But… I still don't believe in anything…"

"You have Amber, don't you? She's not gone yet, Cinder. Do you believe in her?" Pyrrha asked her.

"With everything I am." Cinder answered.

"Then take whatever faith you need… and find it in her. Sometimes… that's all we need to keep going." Pyrrha said.

Cinder chuckled, slapping her knee as she looked at the three of them. "You girls are really something, y'know that?" They smiled and chuckled with her. Then Cinder sighed. "I guess I…"

She looked at them with tears welling in her eye. "I'm afraid…"

The words cut deep. To hear Cinder sound so vulnerable, finally admitting that she was afraid to die? And yet despite that fear, still willing to fight Salem to protect the only family she has left? There was nothing more inspiring but also heart-wrenching than that.

Ruby held her hand.

"There is nothing to be afraid of, Cinder. You're not alone, and we will be by your side to the end. No matter how this plays out. We're a team. And we look out for each other." Ruby promised, which made Cinder smile back at her.

Cinder pressed one hand against the rock and forced herself back onto her feet, and they all stood with her. "Okay…" Cinder agreed.

Ruby pulled her scroll from her pocket and she found the message from Killian, waiting for their response. They all nodded, prepared to do this.

They knew the risks…

… but this was it.

No going back.

Ruby hit the button.

Blake

They all lowered their scrolls the moment that the Emergency Broadcast System shut down, and they were left with that chill in their bones.

Like they had been out in the cold for hours on end, and it was not leaving them. Blake closed her scroll and put it away whilst Sienna walked around the area, thinking about the threat Killian had just sent out. "He's bluffing, right? He wouldn't do that…" Ilia stammered with terror in her eyes.

"No… I don't think so. He looked like he was dead serious." Yang answered.

"All those people… he'd reset our entire civilisation for Salem…" Ren couldn't even fathom someone doing such a thing.

"Do you think they'll do it? Bring the Relic of Knowledge to Salem?" Sienna asked them curiously.

"Ruby would never hide when lives are on the line… she'd face Salem down herself." Weiss stated, knowing who Ruby Rose was. She was never the kind to back down from a challenge, and that was exactly what Killian and Salem had laid down before her.

One hell of a challenge.

"She's done it before." Yang remembered.

"We have to help them… they won't stand a chance against Salem on their own." Weiss said, her nerves firing off.

"We haven't got an army, kid. And with the window that Killian just gave them, we don't have time. We can't even get from here to the Sanctum within an hour. We're dead in the water." Sienna explained.

"Damn it!" Ilia yelled with anger. "We finally get you on board and the son of a bitch pulls this?"

"Weiss is right, we can't let them die alone there. They can't beat Salem, and everyone and everything else she has at her disposal, we have to try." Blake agreed.

"But we have no reinforcements!" Sienna argued.

"No… but the entire world saw that message. You can feel the dread in the air now. Everyone in every kingdom is panicking now that they know they could all be blown to pieces in the next hour." Blake explained, walking around as she came up with a plan. "So we'll send out a message of our own… across the entire planet. I know the Kingdoms are locked down by Black Gallows, but there are other places. Here in Menagerie, in Argus? And even then, people are going to fight back against the Black Gallows. It may already be happening as we speak."

"That's a whole lot of maybes." Sienna pointed out.

"That's never stopped us before, Sienna." Yang defended, standing beside Blake. "And Ruby? Pyrrha, Penny and Cinder? They're tough. They'll keep Salem busy long enough for us to get there."

"And in that time, we send our own message out. With you with us and we let the Faunus out there know there is a chance? They will fight, they will join us. When you have a knife to your throat, you have a choice. To either try to fight back or let them kill you. I know what I'd choose to do in that scenario." Blake explained.

"Where would we even be able to broadcast a message like that? We can't just do it right here with our scrolls." Nora shrugged.

Sienna's eyes widened. "Our old Headquarters here in Menagerie…" she realised.

Oscar walked over to her. "I thought the White Fang never operated out of Menagerie?"

"We didn't, not officially. But our broadcasts always came from here, and sensitive meetings were here, in a secret base near the town." Sienna explained. "We stopped using it, though, after Ghira left the White Fang. It became too predictable a place for our enemies to find us, so we moved to Mistral instead, right underneath their noses."

"Clever." Yang chuckled.

"It was, for a time at least." Sienna said. "Until Adam ruined that."

"You remember where this place is?" Oscar asked Sienna.

"I do, but to keep the place secured, we double locked the doors with our handprints. My hand… and Ghira's… we're gonna need his help if we're going in there." Sienna explained. They all turned to Blake, and she nodded her head.

"He'll help us." Blake promised.

"What about this jerk?" Yang asked, gesturing to the tied up White Fang Lieutenant.

"Leave him here, let the Menagerie Police come out here and grab him. He's not going anywhere." Sienna shrugged, and they all walked away, towards their Gravity Bikes.

It took them some time to make their way across the Desert of Menagerie, but they returned to civilisation soon. The urgency of Killian's threat made them move even faster than before. The Bikes drifted to a stop when they arrived at the gates of the town, then they ran inside, hearing the people panicking inside.

"Gods…" Blake stammered, but then they heard the roars. The Grimm were clawing at the walls, and every now and then they heard a gunshot when the Police were culling the beasts trying to get inside and feast on the panicking people inside. They ran across the path and turned to see the big manor in the centre of the town, but people were not just afraid.

They could feel the anger.

"Calm the hell down!" They heard a Feral One yell, but they were being surrounded by a furious mob.

"You see what your precious Queen is gonna do? What that Black Gallows Bastard will do? They're gonna kill millions of innocent people! When are you gonna accept they don't give a damn about you?" The crowd of furious Faunus roared.

When they were last here, the people were afraid of the Feral Ones, but now the tables had turned. One of the Feral Ones pulled his gun on one rioter, but they suddenly swamped the loyalists to the Grimm Queen. Fist fights and more vicious clashes broke out in the streets against the Feral Ones.

Their hold over Menagerie was falling apart.

And it made Sienna smile.

"Good… tear them apart." Sienna softly said with a grin. Then they kept on moving, avoiding the fighting in the streets. Even the Police were fighting back against the Feral Ones now, instead of just taking orders from them out of fear. As they ran closer to the Manor, a Feral One stumbled round the house and stared at them. He gritted his teeth and hissed with a long serpentine tongue slithering out.

"Belladonna!" He yelled, and he aimed his gun at her, only for a gang of Faunus to suddenly tackle him to the ground. They beat the hell out of the man together, punching and kicking him, pushing the gun away as they punished him like the rest of the Feral Ones.

"This Island doesn't belong to you anymore!" The men and women roared.

They ran past them and approached the steps towards their house, finding two Feral Ones banging on the doors. "Open up, Chieftain! You need to stop this uprising! Stop this now!" The Feral One yelled.

The door opened, and revealed Kali, aiming her pistol at the man's head and firing, blowing his brains out. The other jolted before being shot in the head as well. She lowered her gun with a scowl as their corpses tumbled down the steps at the feet of Blake. Kali gasped when she saw her, relieved that her daughter was okay. Blake ran to her mother and wrapped her arms around her.

"We all saw Killian's threat… I don't think the Feral Ones were expecting our reaction to be like this… it must be like this everywhere now…" Kali explained. She then looked past her daughter and saw Sienna walking up the steps. "Sienna… so you found her? I really thought you were dead by now."

"Don't sound too disappointed." Sienna chuckled, which made Kali smile. She walked down to Sienna and embraced her.

"It's good to see you again, old friend." Kali whispered into her ear.

"You too."

"Kali?" Ghira's worried voice called. He ran round the corner and down the entryway, only to see her perfectly fine with her gun still smoking. She looked back at him, with Blake and Sienna beside her.

"I've been wanting to shoot some Feral Ones for a long time now." She shrugged.

"And you thought I was ruthless." Sienna chuckled. Ghira smiled when he saw Sienna.

"You saw Killian's message, right?" Ghira asked them.

"We did… looks like the people of Menagerie have had enough of what the Feral Ones have been doing?" Yang assumed.

"Something like that." He admitted. They all walked inside of his house. "It's… a strange feeling to let these riots happen. But in a good way, the Feral Ones don't stand a chance. I haven't seen our people this united since… well… since the White Fang was formed in the first place."

"Why would Salem do this? I know she's capable of it… but… I thought she was smarter? I thought she knew this sort of thing would destroy her rule?" Kali questioned.

"I don't think it matters to her anymore. She and Killian threatened Ruby and her team to bring the Relic of Knowledge to her… she would only make a threat like that if she now had Creation. And if she gets all four… well… I don't think any of this will matter. She'll win." Blake explained to them, and the idea that Salem having four relics was more terrifying than destroying the four kingdoms with giant bombs?

It was a constant reminder of how things can always be worse so long as Salem was alive…

Blake turned to her father. "We need to send out a broadcast of our own… we don't have time to amass an entire army of White Fang anymore. Killian has changed things. And Ruby will take Jinn to Salem. She won't stand by and let them kill millions. But we need to give her some backup." Blake explained.

"Well, if anyone was afraid of fighting before, that definitely changes now. A broadcast will bring everyone together." Ghira explained.

"We know how to send it out as well.. and we need your help to do it, Ghira…" Sienna explained. "Our old Headquarters, the underground one? On the outskirts?"

"Yeah, I remember… you need my handprint to open it as well… and I'll do it." He instantly agreed. "And… if you'll have me… I would like to be beside Sienna when we release the broadcast."

"I thought… you didn't want any part in the White Fang anymore?" Yang asked him.

"I didn't – not at first. But seeing what the Feral Ones have done? They were nothing more than a splinter group of extremists who served a mad man once. Now they're massive and have unlimited funding, thanks to Salem. I want to see them burn for how they have tarnished our name." Ghira growled, clenching his fists.

Sienna turned to Blake. "This will be even better than just me… a lot of Faunus abandoned the White Fang after Ghira stepped down. Fearing I wasn't right to lead them or not agreeing with my methods. Seeing the two of us working together again will give us the best of both…" Sienna explained.

"You're right." Blake agreed.

"There's… also another thing… on the ride here I was thinking about it. There's one more person I think we need for this broadcast." Sienna explained.

"Who?" Blake asked, and Sienna just looked at her and smiled. She then pressed her hand on Blake's shoulder.

"You." Sienna answered.

Blake gasped, her ears perking up. "M-Me?"

"Without a doubt. The daughter of Ghira Belladonna, who was tormented by Adam Taurus and blinded by him? Lost the man she loved to him? Had to go into hiding with her blindness for six years? And despite everything that brave woman has suffered – here she stands, fighting back against Adam, the Feral Ones, and Salem alike? What could possibly boost morale more than the hero that you are?" Sienna asked her, and she sat there, blushing at the kind words said, but also understanding how much it would help for propaganda's sake.

Then… she felt Yang's hand cradle hers. "You can do it."

Yang smiled back and tightened her grip. "Okay… the three of us… we'll do it…"

They all smiled, ready to do this.

Then Ghira pointed at Yang, holding Blake's hand. "How long has this been a thing for?"

"Uh… what's the time?" Yang asked.

"Five in the morning?" Kali answered.

"Yeah, about five hours, I guess." Yang shrugged.

Eryka

Whilst the Vasillias Cartel prepared for war against Salem…

… Winter looked over their weapons on the table. For her, Eryka and Dutch – alongside Dulcis stood on the bench next to her. They had a map of the Vacuo Desert drawn roughly, with the current location that Killian's tracker was saying he was. She sighed, wiping the sweat from her brow. Now it was daytime in the desert. The heat was back with a vengeance. "We've only got the three of us and an Eagle with an attitude…" Winter said, which got a harsh squeak from Dulcis. "… and Killian's got a small army, most likely. And we don't even know if the tracker has been tampered with since he got away."

Eryka was sitting on a crate, sharpening Slice 'N Dice with Winter's whetstone. Now that she had made all her arrows for Constantine Damascus, the blade was the only thing left. Winter looked up at Dutch, who was looking at the desert, and he exhaled. "Dutch?"

"I'm just thinking about something Killian once said to me… it's ironic that this comes to my mind on the day we're going to kill him." Dutch said.

Winter walked over to Eryka with Dulcis comfortably on her shoulder, and they sat together. They listened to what Dutch had to say.

"A healthy human mind doesn't wake up in the morning thinking this is their last day on Remnant… very few understand the luxury of such a feeling." He quoted, which made him chuckle. "It's funny… I never really understood what he meant by that until now."

He turned and walked around the table as he spoke. "There is no feeling quite so freeing as seeing the finish line… after you have come so far, there it is. You will give it your all for that one last push to cross that line. What we will do today is no different… no matter the outcome." Dutch spoke.

"Outnumbered, outgunned, out of our minds on a suicide mission. We all know that there is an even higher chance of us dying and failing today, that our efforts may be forgotten and buried in the dunes. But no matter what… the sand and rocks here stained with a thousand years of warfare… they will remember us… for this." Dutch explained with a smile on his face, tapping the table.

"Because, out of all our vast array of nightmares, this is the one that we choose for ourselves, we go forward like a breath exhaled from the Gods. With vigour in our hearts and only one goal in sight…"

"… we… will… kill him."

Eryka and Winter nodded their heads in agreement.

"So… are we ready? Ready to cross the finish line?" Dutch asked them.

Winter and Eryka both stood tall.

"Yeah… this has been a long time coming."

Dutch smiled, picking up his rifle.

"Good – now let's kill the son of a bitch."

For the Record…

A tearful Saphron tucked Adrien to sleep. He had a hard night, and he could finally go to sleep.

But losing the love of her life was still fresh. She walked away and down the hall to get something to drink… but she stopped when she looked into the armoury where Eryka, Winter and Dutch just were.

And now they were gone, with only Winter's scroll left behind.

She approached it and saw the title of the file on show.

For the Record

Saphron hit the play button and listened to what Winter had left behind, in case they don't make it back.

"This is for the record.

History… we all believe it to be the truth, but it is filled with more lies and omissions than anything else we read.

And if we fail… the same will happen here…

If Killian lives, and we die, his truth becomes written, and ours is lost.

Salem, Killian, and all the other Children of Salem will become heroes to the next generation. Remembered as the people who removed the scourge of us… the real heroes who tried to stop them.

Because all you need to change the world is one good lie and a river of blood. Salem did it already, and they will do it again. But this time there will be nobody left to challenge her truth.

Killian will finally get the world he has always wanted – a world without Huntsmen or Huntresses – a world with a peace forced on, and not chosen.

Killian's truth will be THE truth.

But only if he lives.

And we die…"

Author Note - Here we go...

Either Killian dies, or we lose Dutch, Eryka, Winter and Dulcis next chapter. Or we lose all of them and they all die together. I hope you're all prepared, the next chapter... oh boy is it gonna be fun. Been waiting a long time for this one.

This was a fun chapter with a bunch of great moments. From Pyrrha standing up to the Gods and walking away (I LOVED WRITING THAT PART) and Cinder's emotional confession of her sickness to her new friends. That whole bit was very emotional to write, but it was fulfilling to finally have her tell them the truth.

And then we have the Feral Ones being rebelled against by the people of Menagerie, and now the chance for the White Fang to return full force against Salem and her forces.

And the end - time for a suicide mission.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please review, follow and favourite!

Stay tuned for the next chapter - For the Record

- Matt