(Reader Discretion Advised - Sexual Content)

Chapter 40 – No Turning Back

Ruby

"Ruby?" Sun's voice… it was a voice she never thought she'd hear ever again.

"You're alive…" Ruby gasped, and she crawled over to hug him.

Ruby wrapped her arms around Sun, but it took him a few moments to really react and return the hug. He sobbed into Ruby's shoulder.

And seeing the state he was in, who could blame him for not hugging straight away? Nobody else other than Tyrian Callows could have carried out such cruel torture on another person. His eye had been gouged out, a brand of the Salem Eye burned into his neck, countless slash marks in his back, burns and whips… he had been through so much. All of their hair was shaven off as well. In fact, it looked like it was aggressively cut off, judging by the fresh blood and old scars. Seeing all of them like this was heartbreaking.

But the most shocking… was the noticeable lack of his Monkey Tail. "I'm so sorry." Ruby sounded like she was going to cry as well when she saw the state of him and the others. Tyrian had a lot of fun with them, judging by the scars and signs of torture. "I should have been there, I should have been there to help you all fight at Beacon… I'm so, so sorry."

"It… it's okay…" Sun whimpered, tears streaming from the only eye he had left. She then looked over and saw Neptune in the corner, hugging his knees. They were all so much thinner than she remembered, especially Sage, the huge Huntsman she once knew was a fraction of what he once was. They had been malnourished and also looked dehydrated. "There was nothing you could have done… Salem… she was…" He stammered, his hands were rattling. He was shaking so much, and he crawled back into the corner. They were all only in their underwear as well, their clothes long gone and all their scars on show.

All of them had something horrible on their backs…

… a carving of the Salem Eye Symbol.

Definitely from Tyrian, like some dark reminder that they were now some sort of sick trophy of his, or Salems.

I know Salem is a monster…

… but I never expected she'd allow this.

"Did… did Cardin find you guys?" Russel whimpered, shaking in the corner. It was only when Russel said that did they notice that Cardin wasn't amongst them.

"Cardin?" Ruby asked.

Penny crawled over to them so she could scan them and see how they're doing internally, but they all reacted and crawled away with wide eyes. "What the hell? How is she…" Sage whimpered, and Penny's eyes widened.

"She didn't die that night. She was repaired." Pyrrha calmly explained. Her soft voice was soothing compared to the maniacal laughter they had become used to alongside the scraping of his blades.

It was like they were staring at a ghost. They couldn't believe if she was real or not, if any of them were real. Neptune then glared at Cinder, who was leaning against the wall, breathing weakly.

"Amber? Where…" Cinder whimpered. "I couldn't… ask Salem… the damn…" She began coughing more and more. She was growing paler and paler. Blood leaked from her eyes and her mouth. It was basically constant at this point, and she could barely even stand up anymore.

"Penny… could you check on Cinder? She's… not doing well." Ruby softly asked her and Penny nodded, getting up and walking over to her, sitting down and doing a scan.

"It's okay, just breathe." Penny whispered, soothing her nerves.

Ruby could barely find the words, but she just focused on one of the last things they said and turned to Russel. "You said something about Cardin? Where is he?" she asked.

"We… tried to make a break for it. Someone opened the door for us, I don't know who. We nearly made it, but Cardin was the only one to make it." Russel explained.

"Tyrian was… well… I thought he was gonna kill us. If… if we try to run again… he will… Salem said he could… kill all of us…" Sky whimpered, leant into the corner.

"Gods… Salem really… let him off the leash… it was never like this." Cinder revealed.

"What do you mean?" Pyrrha asked.

"He was… always crazy, but… she only unleashed that side of him when it was necessary. It's like she's just letting him be a monster all the time." Cinder explained.

The others remained quiet despite hearing this, perhaps knowing that didn't help one bit. Or maybe they were still afraid of Cinder Fall, since she was the one who lead the very first attack on Beacon Academy. None of them knew Cinder had changed her ways and was a better person now.

"Is…" Sun softly spoke up. "Is Blake alive?"

"Yeah… what about Weiss? My sister?" Neptune whimpered.

"They're okay. I promise. I haven't seen Eryka or Winter in a while, but they've been getting us help. Weiss and Blake too. We're taking Salem down." Ruby promised.

"You can't… it's impossible… we saw Cardin smash her head in and she shrugged it off…" Scarlet stammered, shaking in the corner.

"The Relic of Destruction, the weapon she used against us? That's the key. We have to stop her before she can use all of them. It's… a really long story, and it'd take me forever to explain it… but we can kill her with it. It's designed to." Ruby explained, and their eyes widened, but the hope was long gone.

"You can't… even if that's true… we can't leave. We'll be slaughtered." Dove replied, and Ruby looked at him, but Pyrrha held her shoulder and whispered in her ear.

"Ruby… they're in no shape to fight. They've been locked in here, tortured in the worst ways… for six years straight. We can't expect them to help us." Pyrrha explained.

"I'm not expecting them to, but we can't just sit in this cell. We need to get out there." Ruby explained.

"We don't even know if help is coming, Ruby. For now… it's just you three…"

"What about you?" Pyrrha asked.

"Her condition… it's worsening. I don't know if she will even be able to walk." Penny explained.

"Heh… don't hold back, I like it." Cinder joked.

"Oh… I'm sorry." Penny apologised.

Ruby pushed her hands through her hair as she tried to make a plan. "We need to find a way out of this cell."

"Don't you get it? We've tried… we only really got out once – with help from someone we never saw – and… that lead to us being nearly killed by Tyrian. He gouged out Sun's eye and cut his tail off as a punishment." Sage explained.

"This isn't over yet." Ruby refused, shaking her head as she paced back and forth, and then she approached the bars of the cell door, looking around. "Jaune's gone… for now… we should take the chance while we have it."

Her mentioning Jaune's name got a very different reaction than any of them were expecting. They all stared at her and recoiled back, merely at the sound of his name. "You… you know about him?" Neptune stammered.

Ruby looked at them, and she nodded her head. "Yeah… he attacked us when we found the Relic of Creation… he nearly killed me." Ruby explained, rubbing at one of the still healing cuts and bruises on her face.

"He… betrayed us…" Sun stammered.

"What? No, he didn't." Pyrrha defended.

"Pyrrha, I know he was your boyfriend but…" Sun stated.

"Salem brought him back with dark magic. We saw her do it for Ozm-we've seen her do it before." She wisely corrected herself from mentioning Ozma, avoiding that long explanation.

"He remembered us…" Russel stated.

"What?" Ruby asked.

"He… he approached our cell and was talking to us and said he was gonna help us get out of here. He opened it and said we needed to follow him. And we did… we saw he looked different, but… it was Jaune. Our buddy." Sun explained, shuddering as he remembered it.

"What happened? What did he do?" Pyrrha asked.

"We didn't know the layout of the castle, so we thought he was taking us there… but he took us to Tyrian's torture room. And he smiled… and watched as Tyrian tortured us all… for three days straight. He smiled the whole time and threw us back in here when Tyrian had his fun and locked the door." Neptune explained, with tears streaming down his eyes.

Sky gritted his teeth in anger. "That is who your boyfriend is, Nikos. We should have beaten him to death when we had the chance back in Forever Fall."

Pyrrha couldn't look at them knowing this, but she closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. "Damn you, Thaddeus… you twisted motherfucker."

Pyrrha sat down next to Cinder, who was just staring up at the nightlight where the Shattered Moon watched over them. She exhaled softly, shaking her head. "All these years later… and I'm back here in this place. Feels fitting that it ends here."

"It's not ending, Cinder."

"Pyrrha… look at me."

Pyrrha did exactly that and saw the blood was still leaking from her eyes, nose, and mouth. "I can feel it coming… I don't know how much longer I have… but… I'm not surviving to tomorrow."

Hope had fallen through their fingers like grains of sand.

But what they didn't know was that outside the door where they could not see them were Emerald and Mercury, listening to all of this. The two of them looked at each other and they walked away.

Eryka

She stared out the window of the moving Dreadnaught. They were over the ocean from Sanus, meaning the next landmass would be Salem's Sanctum.

It put things in perspective, it really did.

Heading directly into the Heart of Rage.

But none of that was what was on Eryka's mind. Not the Grimm. Not the Black Gallows. Not Salem. Not the Children of Salem…

And whilst she was always thinking about Dulcis, her mind was only focusing on Neptune, now that she knew he was still alive. Winter walked back in after Eryka heard the door open. She was doing better than she was a few hours ago, though her limp was still there after being shot in the leg. She approached Dutch and checked on him. He was still unconscious, but was recovering.

Albeit slowly.

"How is he?" Eryka asked.

"As well as can be expected… I'm proud of him, though. For years, he was always looking the other way, not wanting to be involved in what Killian was doing. But he stood with us, tried to kill him. Robyn would have been proud of him." Winter said, gently caressing Dutch's shoulder.

"He's a tough bastard, I'll give him that. Shot in the face and still kicking. He better get a medal if we survive all of this." Eryka chuckled.

"I just hope he recovers well enough. They think his eye is gonna go blind from the trauma. Let's just hope that's the only major damage done outside of the scar." Winter explained. She then looked over at her girlfriend, who was not facing her. Eryka was still laid on her shoulder, staring out the window constantly.

"Hey… how about you? How's your wound?" Winter asked.

"It's fine… ow… okay, still hurts a bit, but… it doesn't matter." Eryka answered, which made Winter chuckle.

"Ah, there it is. I know you too well, Vasillias. Spill it." Winter said as she walked over to her, sitting on the end of her bed with a smile.

But Eryka was still quiet. She glanced over at Dulcis' body, still covered in the sheet. "Have you… seen him?" Winter asked.

Eryka just shook her head. "I will… I just…"

"It's Neptune… isn't it?" Winter asked.

Finally, Eryka nodded her head. Winter affectionately stroked her shoulder. "I told you I know you, Eryka. Please… don't blame yourself. It's not your fault that he was taken." Winter said.

"I was supposed to protect him." Eryka answered.

"How could you have? We were captured by Valravn when it happened. There was nothing we could have done." Winter said.

"I could have stayed… like he asked me to." Eryka stated. She sighed, closing her eyes and shaking her head. "I shouldn't have disappeared from you in the night… hell… maybe I should have stopped him from going to Haven. Maybe he wouldn't be where he is right now."

"Okay, now that's stupid." Winter said. "He made his choice. Do you really think you could have stopped him? He's as stubborn as you are."

But Eryka didn't laugh, and Winter closed her eyes. "I'm sorry… I never was great at making jokes."

Eryka was quiet for a few seconds, but then she spoke up. "When Nep and I were little… it was always just the two of us, really. Especially when I took him with me after I ran away from mom. Some nights we'd stay in rooms at Inns or just camp out in the woods. I always did my best for him, the best I could ever manage to do. I was never motherly material." Eryka shrugged.

Winter smiled and laid down behind her, gently wrapping her arms around her from behind. "I wouldn't say that." She revealed, which made Eryka blush.

"Some nights, we'd always play games together, and we always liked the Warrior game. Where he was a Huntsman and I was always the Grimm, since I was bigger." She explained, which made Winter chuckle lightly. "And we'd act out the craziest battles together, where he's the heroic Huntsman who saves the day to save his beautiful princess, and I'm the beast who is trying to gobble them up. Every time I tried to make myself a bigger and crazier monster. But… he was always clever enough to figure out my weaknesses… until one time."

"What happened?" Winter asked.

"I made myself a Grimm… that couldn't be killed, a monster that always regenerated its body, no matter what he did. And… I gobbled him up. But I kinda got a little carried away and… he got scared. He started crying, so instead I had the monster throw him up, and that he got me from the inside." Eryka explained.

Winter smiled. "I wrapped him up tight that night, and we were by the campfire, and I promised him that no monster would ever get close to him. I'd always be by his side, and together, we'd take them down." Eryka's voice trembled as she continued, tears streamed from her blue eyes. "And then a real… unkillable monster showed up… and I couldn't save him… she took him away from me."

Eryka turned and faced Winter, but her girlfriend still smiled affectionately and wiped the tears away, caressing her cheek. Winter wrapped her arms around Eryka in a warm and loving embrace.

"We have to find him… we have to make it right…" Eryka stammered.

"We will." Winter promised.

As they embraced each other, Dutch's hand twitched, and his eye slowly opened.

One tough bastard indeed.

Blake

She sat on the sofa in her large home, with the old photograph she brought with her of Team R.W.B.Y. Her thumb caressing Yang on the print, and she sighed, wishing she could actually see the picture in her hands.

Yet… she could see it so clearly in her mind.

The door opened, and she lifted her head to the sound, seeing the auras of everyone else coming inside. "The riots are over, and the Feral Ones have had to retreat. But by the sounds of it, they're being summoned somewhere. I think they're headed back to Salem's Sanctum." Ghira explained.

"She knows we're coming. The entire world saw that broadcast. And she knows people are going to act." Oscar explained, his hands atop the Long Memory.

"So what now?" Nora asked, leaning against the wall with Stomur Skeggox rested on her shoulder.

"We wait. I have called in some old favours, and some of those include transportation, including a few Dreadnaughts we can use to cross the sea to the Sanctum faster than boats could. It's not exactly the most well coordinated invasion… but… what other option is there? We can't let them destroy the world for Salem's goals." Ghira explained.

"I told you, holding onto those numbers was a good idea." Kali lightly slapped his big arm, making the much larger man jolt, his eyes widening.

"Yeah, yeah…" Ghira grumbled.

Sienna looked around, and she smiled. "You know… I never appreciated how beautiful your home is, Ghira." She said.

"You can thank Kali for that. She's the artist behind all this." Ghira stated, shrugging his shoulders.

"It's true!" Kali called from the other room.

Blake chuckled. Her parents really didn't change one bit, a comedy duo through and through. Ghira turned to everyone here. "Alright, Kali, Sienna and I need to sort all of this out. Gonna be a long night for us. The rest of you need to get some rest, it's gonna be one hell of a bigger day for all of you…" Ghira's hand trembled when he looked at Blake sat there, knowing his little girl was headed into the front line with all of them.

But he also knew that convincing her not to go was a losing battle. She was just as stubborn as her mother. "The house is large and there are multiple rooms and places you can get some sleep." Ghira assured. He walked with Kali and Sienna and they walked out with Ilia, who was going back to her house for the night to be with her wife.

Blake stood up and walked up the stairs, sliding her hand across the railing, perhaps knowing Yang was watching her go. She followed the rooms whilst everyone made themselves at home down below, and she felt her way back to her old bedroom. She slowly opened the door and found it. Despite her blindness, she knew this was it. The smell alone brought back so many memories.

What she didn't know was that it was left exactly as it was the last time she was here, since Ghira and Kali thought she was gone up until a few days ago. She walked by her old table, which had her makeup, mirror and hairbrush sat on it. As she slid her hand across it, her finger tapped against it and she picked it up. A small smile formed, then she touched her much shorter hair. "It's been so long since I started cutting my hair…" she said to herself, though she hadn't missed it.

She always preferred having her hair be shorter. She walked past her old wardrobe, then finally found her bed, pressing the mattress and sitting down on it. Still just as comfy as she remembered. But the last thing that was on her mind right now was sleep. She was buzzing with adrenaline and fear about the battle they were about to head into.

Rightfully so, as well.

She knew Salem was waiting for them, and she had more than enough defences in place. Alongside the Feral Ones and the Black Gallows?

The odds are still stacked heavily against them.

Blake pressed her elbows against her knees and sighed, burying her head in her hands, shaking her head. Then a tap on the door got her attention, and the golden aura of Yang Xiao Long got her attention. Her heart fluttered when she saw her face formed of aura. "Can I come in?" She asked.

"Of course." Blake answered, before hanging her head once more.

Yang walked around her bedroom, and she smiled. "So, this is your old room? Wow… did you and Ilia used to play in here as kids?" Yang inquired.

"All the time. I used to have a rocking horse over there. We used to try racing each other with them… until we both fell off them." Blake explained, making Yang chuckle.

"I would have paid to see that." Yang said.

"We were very young!" Blake laughed. Yang looked at her table, then touched her hair.

"Gods, I need to get one of these when all of this is done. Haven't properly tended my poor hair in ages… never had the right stuff. Living up on a freezing cold mountain kinda does that to you." Yang explained, shrugging her shoulders.

"I know what you mean. Not in the same way, but Oscar and Vernal could only get so much from Vale without arousing attention." Blake explained. Yang looked at Blake, then she approached, sitting down next to her on the foot of the bed.

"You okay? Or is that a dumb question?" Yang asked.

"Not dumb… but… well…" Blake sighed.

"Yeah… I know how you feel. I won't pretend to act like I don't. We all know what we're heading into." Yang explained.

"So many lives are on the line, Yang. And we've asked even more to come help us fight. And Nora… she's pregnant and coming with us… I…" Blake sighed, burying her head down in her hands once again.

"Do you really think you could convince her to stay?" Yang asked.

Blake paused.

"Good point." Blake sighed.

The two sat next to each other. Then Yang affectionately held her hand, kissing her cheek. "We're gonna do this. I can feel it… it's gonna be hard, but we're gonna take Salem down." Yang promised, and Blake looked at her with a soft smile.

"I wish I had your optimism." Blake sighed.

"That's the first time anyone's accused me of optimism." Yang chuckled, making Blake laugh as well.

"Yang…" Blake began. "Last night…"

Yang's expression changed to nervousness. "I'm sorry… I…"

"No… I want this to be something… something real. For a long time after… after I lost Sun, I… I didn't want to get this close to anyone. But… when we kissed? That was something else. I… I didn't realise how much I wanted to feel like that again." Blake explained, and she looked at Yang. "Do… you want this?"

"Of course I do… the truth is, Blake… I've felt this way about you for a really… really long time. Ever since you helped me that night when I couldn't wear the arm… you were the one that helped me the most." Yang explained. She smiled, remembering what Blake said. "Get up, and show Fear… what happens when you mess with Yang Xiao Long." Blake turned to Yang and smiled when she said that.

"And I meant every word." Blake said.

"So why the hell not? Let's see what happens, huh?" She asked, squeezing Blake's hand tight.

"We just have to survive Salem, first…"

Yang rubbed her thumb across the top of Blake's hand. "We still have tonight."

Sex Scene Begins

Yang caressed Blake's cheek as she looked at her, pressing her head against hers. "I… want more time…" Blake softly stammered, afraid of losing yet another person she loved. But Yang just smiled, and she kissed her affectionately on the lips.

"We have tonight… and if we survive this? If we win? Then… we have time." Yang promised, and Blake looked at her with a smile. She then took off her blindfold, showing the scars left behind from Adam when he cut out her eyes. She then held onto Yang and kissed her in return.

It was a rush. They both felt the same emotions.

Desperation but also desire, and they couldn't hold it back anymore.

They frantically kissed one another, laying down on the bed together as they shared this moment together. Yang sat atop Blake, and she took off her shirt, revealing her yellow bra underneath, and Blake pulled off her crop top. Yang lifted Blake up to her as they kissed, and Blake looped one arm around the back of her neck, fiddling with her shorts, undoing them and pulling them from her legs, throwing them across the floor.

Blake giggled. It was the first time in a long time she ever felt this rush of emotions like this. And it wasn't a feeling she wanted to go away. They both panted into each other's mouths, trying to catch their breath from how many times they had kissed. Yang undid Blake's bra, and took it from her breasts, whilst Blake did the same for her, and they pulled their pants away. The two sat together, arms around one another, and Blake stammered.

There was no going back for either of them…

… and they didn't want to.

Blake pulled Yang to her lips, moaning into her mouth as they fell onto the bed together. Yang stroked her metallic hand across Blake's leg, and she kissed Blake's neck. Blake sighed from the ecstasy as she felt Yang kiss her, working her way down from her neck and finding her breasts. Yang pulled her closer, kissing her enormous globes, and Blake felt her entire body pulsate with joy. Blake stroked Yang's golden locks, feeling every kiss, every lick as Yang made her way further down her body. She kissed her stomach and abs before finding her womanhood, tucking her head between Blake's legs.

Blake gasped, a smile growing across her face as she felt her. Yang kissed and tasted her, stroking her legs and reaching across her chest up to her breasts, massaging them with her hand. Blake pushed her chest up, stroking Yang's hair as she kissed her. Yang turned and kissed Blake's leg as well, running her hand across them, before returning down. Blake bit her lip, barely hanging on, feeling desperation in her body.

She squeezed her legs around Yang's head ever so gently, then she sat upright, reaching across Yang's head and stroking up her back, but Yang was relentless. "Oh, gods… don't stop!" Blake cried out.

She didn't, continuing to orally pleasure her. Sweat beaded from Blake's skin as she reached across the bed, gripping onto the headboard. Blake moaned loudly, then Yang made her way back up to Blake, kissing her. Blake wrapped her arms around Yang as they made out. She held Blake down and grabbed onto her with one arm, and with the other, she slid her hand down and tucked her fingers into her womanhood.

Blake gasped, biting her lip again as she felt Yang in there. Yang thrusted back and forth, kissing Blake and muffling her moans. Yang could feel Blake's legs quiver as she continued to finger her, kissing her warm neck as Blake wrapped her arms around Yang, holding on tight. Yang reached across the bed and grabbed onto the headboard. Blake suddenly grabbed a hold of Yang and flipped her over, now atop the blonde brawler.

Yang's lilac eyes widened as Blake sat atop her, admiring her stunning naked body. She then reached down to Yang and did the same to her, which made Yang stammer. "Oh, fuck…" she gasped. Blake rocked her hips over her as well, arching her back as she continued to tuck deeper and deeper inside of her. Yang closed her eyes, then reached up to Blake's breasts, squeezing and fondling them, and stroking across Blake's slender neck. Blake sighed and panted as Yang slid her hand across her curves and down to her hips.

Yang let out a loud yelp of joy as Blake continued to probe her, and she sat upright, one arm around Blake's back and one against the mattress. Blake kissed her again and again, unending passion coming from her mouth.

"I love you, Yang…" Blake whispered between the kisses.

"We have all night to prove that to each other!" Yang panted, pushing her hand through Blake's hair.

"Even that isn't enough time!" Blake yelped, both hands around Yang as she kissed her again. Yang kissed down Blake's neck and found her breasts, which ended as Blake forced her back down.

Didn't realise she was so dominant!

Blake kissed Yang's breasts, and Yang stroked her hair, feeling Blake's warm chest against hers. The two held onto each other, then Yang flipped her back onto the bed. Yang tucked her fingers deeper this time, thrusting back and forth as Blake moaned even louder now.

"Yang… I'm so close!" Blake cried out as she grabbed onto Yang, holding on tight, feeling her cybernetic hand stroking across her side and holding onto her leg. Yang kissed her neck and then her breasts once more, running her tongue up her collarbone and finding her mouth once more. Blake moaned into Yang's mouth as they kissed.

Then… it was like an explosion of ecstasy as Blake reached her climax, letting out a loud pleasurable moan and pushing her back upwards into Yang. Her partner rested her head against Blake's chest, then rolled off her, Blake still panting. They both laid there and glanced at each other.

"Well… I guess our friendship is officially over." Yang joked, which made Blake giggle.

"It was worth it." Blake assured with a smile, looking over at Yang. They huddled close, but Blake knew that Yang still had a bit more in her. She smirked and climbed atop her, and Yang smiled. Blake leaned down and kissed her, locks of Black Hair smothering against Yang's face. She then kissed Yang's neck, which the feeling of Blake kissing her anywhere was enough to get her closer.

But feeling her lips work her way down her neck and breasts, tentatively kissing her abs and then feeling her head between her legs like she did for her at the start? That was something else entirely.

Yang gasped and found Blake was better at it than she was.

Yang bent her leg, but Blake held onto that leg, and kissed her more and more, forcefully, which made Yang cry out with joy, arching her back and holding onto Blake's head. And within moments, Yang finished, letting out a laughing moan. Blake crawled up to Yang and kissed her once again. The two held onto each other tight, then pressed their foreheads together.

That night had been a long time coming.

Sex scene ends

Ruby

Team C.P.P.R remained in the cell with what remained of Team S.S.S.N and Team C.R.D.L, with Cinder barely able to stay conscious of her sickness getting worse and worse, and her time running out. But Ruby was still pacing back and forth, trying to find a way out of this cell.

Pyrrha rested her head in her hand, watching Ruby. "Will you stop pacing?" Pyrrha finally snapped.

"I pace when I'm nervous! We need to stop her! If she uses the Relics and kills the Brothers, then we're all finished!" Ruby argued.

Teams S.S.S.N and C.R.D.L stared with confusion.

"Well, pacing back and forth like an animal isn't gonna solve anything, is it?" Pyrrha responded.

Suddenly, the door opened, and Ruby's eyes widened.

"Do not tell me I just jinxed us…" Pyrrha said.

Emerald and Mercury stepped in and Mercury kicked Ruby in the chest, knocking her off her feet. The prisoners all cowered fearfully in the shadows from them whilst Emerald pointed her revolvers at them. Ruby rushed forward to attack, but Emerald pointed her guns at her head.

"Come on, Salem's waiting for you." Emerald said.

"What?" Ruby questioned.

"Get your ass moving!" Emerald argued, grabbing her and shoving her out the door. She stumbled through the open doorway whilst Penny and Pyrrha followed. Cinder remained on the ground and Mercury stood beside her.

"Come on Cinder… get up." Mercury told her, and she chuckled.

"So now… you're the one giving me the orders." She chuckled.

"Things change… come on." He sounded softer, and he crouched down, taking her arm and putting her arm over his shoulder, carrying her out of the cell, and she closed it behind them.

The two of them watched as two Black Gallows soldiers walked past them during that entire exchange, then their demeanour changed.

She looked back at the others and whispered. "Hang tight… we'll be back. And believe them… Salem dies tonight."

Ruby stared at the two of them in disbelief.

"C'mon, we're getting you to your weapons." Mercury said. "Act like we're taking you somewhere."

"What about Cinder? Her sickness…" Pyrrha whispered.

"There's something we can use… it'll help her walk for whatever time she has left." Mercury strained as he carried the weak Fall Maiden.

Emerald looked at her old leader with sadness in her eyes. Seeing her this way stung.

They made a break for it, and Ruby smirked.

"I guess you jinxed us."

Author Note - We're in the Endgame for Act 3

I love me a double barrelled chapter name, No Turning Back. Both for Bumblebee now being fully official, and for the fact this is it, the final day. And it's gonna be one hell of a final battle. Very excited to show the carnage that is about to happen.

Seeing Teams SSSN and CRDL like this is so heartbreaking and chilling, especially Sun. The poor boy has been mutilated monstrously by the monster that is Tyrian Callows. And all of them are in no better condition. But thank god for Emerald and Mercury making the right decision to help now, lets hope this goes well!

Eryka and Winter's scene was so sweet to write. I love Eryka's little emotional moments like this. She's usually the bubbly and jokey one, but at the moment the roles have been reversed. Let's hope she can see her baby bro again.

And Bumblebee did the deed!

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

Stay tuned for the next chapter!

- Matt