New Divide
The moment man devoured the fruit of knowledge, he sealed his fate.
Entrusting his future to the cards, man clings to a dim hope.
Yet, the Arcana is the means by which all is revealed:
Beyond the beaten path lies the absolute end. It matters not who you are…
Death awaits you
-Nyx Avatar Persona 3
"Your father and uncle should be very wary of him." Blake commented as they had sat back down and listened intently to her. The scene had been switching between the tragedy and devastation of Beacon before going back towards the fight between the leader of the White Fang and the two hunters, "He may not look like much, but his abilities and skills are on par with that of a highly skilled Huntsman. There are multiple occasions when I would be with him that he could cut through Atlesian Knight-130s with ease."
Weiss's eyes widened at this, "But they are advanced military robots."
Blake scoffed, "Please those things were so easy to beat. No offense, but if that was the best that Atlas had to offer at that point I think we wouldn't have the problems we are having with your kingdom." Weiss's eyes narrowed, reminding Blake of the old heiress that they had the pleasure of meeting. So to rectify the situation, she added lightly, "Hey think about it like this, you should be thanking us."
"Really? How might I ask?"
"Without us, there would have never have been a more advance robot to build up security. As we can see from this broadcast, Atlas has come a long way…not to make too much light on the situation of course." Weiss snorted, but conceded to Blake's point. The 130 knights were outdated. Clearly the ones Ironwood brought in looked much more high-tech, suitable for better security and more conformed to provide some sort of comfort for the humans they were designed to protect…at least that was the idea had it not been for the virus they had seemed to be infected with.
Blake just watched as Weiss settled down and nodded, having thought her words over. Seeing that there wasn't going to be anymore interruption she continued, "His main form of combat is sword fighting, however he is also adept in unarmed combat. There is something else though…something that makes him really dangerous…"
"What's that?" Yang asks, not sure if she wants to know the answer or not.
Blake looks away and stares into the fire. She sees Adam and his movements, the flickering light playing out her memories. They are on the train and she sees very vividly Adam slashing at their enemies that are seemingly out of his blade's range. How in synch they used to be together during a fight, the way he would fight with his sword making saw like moves that would cut their opponent down with little to no effort. Much like her, Adam has advanced endurance; showing no signs of fatigue during an extended battle.
However for all those moves, she sighs deeply and says, "He is able to absorb or block the energy from an enemy attack and re-emit it again in powerful energy strikes."
They looked at each other and Jaune leaned forward, "What does that mean exactly?"
"Adam would absorb multiple strikes and then unleash his semblance in one high powered strike." Blake explained as she moved her focus to reach out for Yang's scroll. The blonde hands it over slowly. It shows Tai and Qrow fighting in what remains of their cafeteria. She sees that Adam has a red glow about him and knows that he is getting ready to release it, "This ability is like Yang's semblance;" Yang snaps her look towards her partner, "but with two major differences: his semblance enhances attacks not himself. He can absorb the energy through his sword, as well as he does not feel the pain of the blows. The only drawback is that time is required to prepare this ability."
"How devastating can this be?" Pyrrha asks slowly as she sees that Yang now refocuses on the scroll in Blake's hands.
The cat faunus doesn't answer right away as she watches the fight, however the camera that was recording switches scenes and is now recording the sky. A powerful roar is heard and they see a massive Grimm flying closer to the school before showing the black droplets falling to the ground and more Grimm forming from those droplets, "It depends on how much energy he absorbs with his sword honestly. I once saw him absorb a continuous beam of energy from a spider robot before he annihilated the thing. The point of this, none the less, is that I hope," she looks right into Yang's lavender eyes before continuing, "your father and uncle do not take him lightly and they are as good as you say they are."
Yang looks into her partner's amber eyes, but doesn't say anything. Blake hands the scroll back to her and watches as it shows the fighting again. After hearing everything that Blake had just described, she doesn't know who she should be more worried for; her father and uncle or her sister? Then of course there was her mother, who they had just had gone to Beacon. Just what the hell was happening?
-SNOOPYKID-
Ruby hadn't given a response since they entered the Beacon vault after getting off the elevator. She was jolted out of her shock when her silver eyes landed on the Aura transfer machine and seeing the comatose girl inside. Ozpin is on the keyboard, rapidly typing in codes for the machine and the pods. Without looking away from the monitors he says, "Ms. Rose there isn't much time; I need an answer. Will you be the new Fall Maiden?"
"Oz I can't." Ruby says eventually.
Ozpin's eyes widen as he stops typing and turns to face her, "What why?" Ruby looks away and doesn't answer right away. Ozpin's eyes narrowed now as he glares piercingly at his student, "Ms. Rose if this is out of selfishness-"
"It isn't. By natural magical law, I cannot be the Fall Maiden." Ruby says gently trying to not be offended of his presumption.
Ozpin looks at her and then asks, "Which season?"
Ruby looks away, "Part of Spring."
"Part?" Ruby gave him a look, "You cannot tell me." Ozpin surmised. He sighed and continued typing on his keyboard. He frowns deeply and says, "Well I am the wizard from the myth." He admitted and quickly glancing at the reaper, he saw that she wasn't at all fazed at this.
Looking back at the monitor, he typed in a few more codes before the second pod opens, and Ozpin turns his head to look at Ruby, "What I mean is that desperate times call for desperate measures. We cannot move her, she is far too critical."
"Oz-"
"I am also saying that you, Ms. Rose…have a choice to make." Then he narrowed his eyes at her, "So I suggest you re-evaluate your answer."
Ruby looks at the pod, hesitating. She looks away and closes her eyes with her fists clenched, "I can't." She growls out.
Before Ozpin could say anything to that, there was an explosion and an arrow went flying between them that pierces the glass of Amber's pod, striking her in the chest, "NO!" Ruby yells out as Amber gasps, and her eyes open, then begin to close again, while the machine begins beeping in alarm.
Looking in the direction that the arrow came from they turn around to see Cinder Fall standing halfway down the corridor from them, an obsidian bow in her hand. She lowers the bow, a tiny smirk creeping across her face, "Oh yes, you may not be able to; but I can." She drawls out seductively. Ruby's eyes widen now as she moves closer to Ozpin trying to shield Amber from any more harm, scythe at the ready.
-SNOOPYKID-
The camera moved into position and they saw the fight that was happening between the leader of the White Fang and the two hunters. They watched as Qrow raises his sword and lunges at Adam, who blocks just as Tai aims for a punch; Adam quickly dodges, "This day is for the faunus!" They hear Adam yell triumphantly.
"I never wanted this. I wanted equality. I wanted peace." Blake whispered as she watches the struggle between the hunters and her former leader.
Yang places a hand on her partner's shoulder, "It's alright. It'll be alright."
Jaune sighed, "What I do not understand is how Ruby seemed to know about all of this."
"Does it matter anymore?" Ren asked subdued as he looks at his leader, "It's happening and already too late to do anything. We are stuck here." They watch as Qrow shifts Harbinger into his first shotgun mode. He starts firing at Adam, who blocks both bullets with his sword.
"His semblance isn't doing anything." Yang notices.
"What is his semblance?" Pyrrha asks.
"Misfortune." Yang says, "However unlike most semblances it is always active and uncontrollable; it also…does not discriminate…" Her eyes widen as she watches the seemingly losing match, "Oh no…"
Weiss connects the dots at Yang's explanation, "His semblance could be affecting them."
Tai once more lunges towards Adam to deliver another punch. The faunus leader once more dodges and Tai unfortunately brushes passed him and unable to stop himself, he ends up punching Qrow causing him to be knocked down and Tai tripping over himself, "Too bad Blake is not here like my intel had told me." Blake's eyes widened at this revelation, "Nonetheless I will still take great pleasure in destroying what she seemingly cares about which is your kind."
"No." Blake whispers and Yang moves her hand from her shoulder and grabs her hand and squeezes it.
Qrow and Tai are still on the ground, their auras seemingly depleted. Adam draws his sword and lunges straight towards them when a portal opens suddenly and Raven runs out of it causing both their swords to meet with a deadly ring in the air, "It's your mother." Nora gasps out, "Vernal was telling the truth."
"But then where was she this whole time?" Weiss asks looking at the blonde.
Yang's eyes narrowed, "I do not know." She goes quiet and watches as Adam jumps away to reset himself as her mother straightens and Tai and Qrow regather themselves seemingly relieved for the backup and shocked at who this back up was.
Adam just smirks lightly, not at all fazed by this new development. He sheathes his sword and crouches low. No one makes a move for a moment or two. Through the audio of whoever was broadcasting this fight, explosions and screeches could be heard. Suddenly, both sides lunge forward and Adam draws his sword, swinging it through the air as his Semblance activates; the scene going black as another louder explosion is heard, "NO!" Yang yells now, grabbing the scroll, "Bring it back!"
"Yang-" Blake stated.
"No I need to see what happened! Come on you mother-" She is cut off when the camera shows the tower, Grimm surrounding it and a range of hunters-in-training, Atlas soldiers, and actual hunters fighting them off.
Pyrrha leans forward, "Whoever is controlling the camera wants us to see the tower for some reason."
"I do not care! I want to see what is happening to my family! To Ruby! Damn it what the hell is happening?!" No one answers her or tries to offer her comfort, knowing that it would be futile. Only one thing was certain, the feeling that they had since the beginning of all this only worsened as a piercing screech resonated through the scroll, echoing as everyone around them tuned into the same broadcast as if signaling this was going to be over soon.
-SNOOPYKID-
Ruby hears the tale-tell sign of imminent death. She turns and watches as Amber struggles to breathe. The girl's eyes are wide, the machine's alarm still playing. It is a moment that Ruby had seen far too many times: all breath leaving the body, eyes drifting closed, and finally head leaning to the side, the whole body going limp. The green flames that light the torches throughout the vault suddenly snuff out.
There is a sudden glow around Amber that bursts outward, shattering the glass in its way, and enters Cinder. The murderer glows, begins floating, and gains long trails of flame around her eyes, with orange energy swirling around her. Ruby lets out a growl of anger. Anger at herself, at this bitch in front of her, Salem, Ozpin, and even the Gods. Gripping Crescent Rose, she lets out a furious yell and charges towards the woman, "Ruby no! Stay back!" Ozpin yells in warning.
Cinder casts a large fireball towards her. Ruby swung her scythe in an attempt to block it; however she is then blasted backwards, crashing on her back. Getting up quickly she makes a move to charge towards her enemy once more, "No!" Ozpin yells again, this time throwing up a shield to stop her.
"Let me go! I need to-"
"Get out of here!" Ozpin orders, cutting her off, "Find Glynda! Ironwood! Qrow! Your father! Bring them here right away! The tower cannot fall!"
"You don't think I know that?!" Ruby demands making no move towards the exit, still trying to fight her way through his shield, "I can help!"
Ozpin looks at her and says, "You've had your chance to help. You'll only get in the way. Now go!" Ruby stops fighting against the shield and looks at him. She sees the disappointment and sadness in his eyes. She swallows thickly, but obeys reluctantly. Using her semblance, she escapes out of the tower, knowing what will happen and at least where she can ambush Cinder.
Cinder descends to the floor and watches the younger reaper leave, with the glow, the swirling energy, and the flames around her eyes all disappearing. Cinder turns her attention back to Ozpin, her eyes still glowing for a moment, "This whole time... right beneath our feet. She was right about you."
Ozpin turns his cane in his grip, staring hard at Cinder. He cannot help but feel slightly betrayed in the moment. He would have figured Ruby coming back to Beacon meant that she would at least take responsibility and accept the Fall Maiden's powers, but then to find out that she had the partial powers of the Spring Maiden…yes it was true that no one person should hold all the powers of the four seasons and he had not intended it to be that way; it still did not mean it was impossible for one person to hold that power. Even with the powers of the Silver Eyes, he trusted that Ruby would have been able to handle them.
He watches as Cinder shakes her head slightly, "Such arrogance."
He didn't give her the satisfaction of a response. He only met her gaze for a moment before they both lunged forward. Cinder with her sword and Ozpin with his cane. Both weapons clash against each other time and time again until after a clash that sent Cinder sliding backwards. As this happened, she used her hand to melt the floor below her. She then summons ice crystals from the newly-formed substance, and hurls them towards Ozpin.
Ozpin deflects them all by moving at superhuman speed, and then darts forward and delivers a bunch of strikes at Cinder with his cane, with the last blow launching her back. Unleashing her newly acquired Maiden power, Cinder floats in mid-air, getting ready to summon her next attack. Sensing this, Ozpin slams his cane into the floor, forming a spherical force-field around him. Cinder unleashes a powerful fire blast, with Ozpin leaping into the attack with the barrier protecting him.
-SNOOPYKID-
Ruby hides in the shadows once she hears and feels the explosion at the base of the tower in Ozpin's office. Counting backwards from five, she suddenly sees a large amount of smoke flowing out from the elevator, masking the entrance of Cinder Fall. The woman confidently strides to the window across the room, and Ruby sees a smirk on her face. Just as her memory served, Ruby watches as the Wyvern now appeared at the window, and screeches, "Shhhh…" Cinder says comfortingly and gently to the dark creature, "This is your home now."
The Wyvern stares at her and utters a shorter, quieter screech, "Like hell it is." The creature pauses and Cinder turns as Ruby comes out the shadows, scythe gleaming with the reflection of the broken moon and the fires in the distance, "You will pay for everything."
Cinder backs away from the window and holds her hand out to the side, creating a fireball in her palm, "Really now? Everything you say? Well how could one person do all of this?" She motions to the window, "Surely I cannot be responsible for 'everything' as you claim."
"Perhaps, but half of it is your fault." Ruby stated, "The other half? Well before I kill you, you will tell me where I can find her."
Cinder's eyes widen briefly at this before her face slips into arrogant confidence, "I do not know what you are talking about."
"Forgive me if I do not believe you. No matter though, you will tell me eventually." Ruby slips her hood up and uses Crescent Rose's sniper form and fires one shot.
Cinder dodges with a smirk on her face, "That is supposed to make me tell you?" She asks lightly.
"That was just a warning and I am giving you another chance to surrender."
"Over my dead body."
"Have it your way." Ruby stated and lunges forward, sniper form entering scythe mode.
Cinder summons her sword, which connects with Ruby's scythe. Pushing Ruby back, Cinder then uses fire to hover in the air, Ruby takes a moment to stare down her opponent. Cinder gains a fiery glow around her eyes and swipes her hand through the air, attacking the reaper with an arc of fire. She then shoots a stream of fire, which Ruby uses her semblance and dives over it.
Six small fireballs form in a circle behind Cinder, and she sends another streak of fire toward Ruby, who once more uses her semblance to avoid the assault. Once again, Cinder sends what seems to be a stream of fire towards Ruby. She keeps dodging inferno, but this time stops and then lunges forward, scythe ready to swing.
Using a bit of her Spring Maiden powers, she channels it into Crescent Rose and swings at the stream of fire. Surprised at this, Cinder loses focus, giving Ruby enough time to react and slash Cinder's arm with her scythe. However, Cinder catches the blade just in time with her own sword. Using her other hand, Cinder slams her palm into Ruby's stomach, and fire bursts forth, blasting Ruby away, the scythe landing across the room.
Ruby slams into a wall and falls to her hands and knees. She then stands back up and faces Cinder with determination still in her eyes. Cinder propels herself forward with flames jetting from her hands, smirking once again. She attempts to slam into Ruby's abdomen, but Ruby leaps into the air above her and wraps her arm around Cinder's. As Cinder slows to a stop, Ruby positions herself to place her feet on the wall behind her and pushes off, flipping herself over Cinder. She uses the momentum to flip and toss Cinder across the floor.
Cinder lands on her front and, as she slides, she pushes off the floor to get back on her feet and perform a back-handspring. Her smirk turns into a look of slight concern upon the sight of Ruby charging forward, scythe back in her hands, to slam the dull end into Cinder's abdomen and push her over. As Cinder stumbles backwards, Ruby then switches to her scythe's sniper mode and starts to fire off rounds. As Cinder is dodging, Ruby switches modes quickly, throwing her opponent off, she then spins around and slashes across Cinder's abdomen and legs.
Just as Ruby was going to attack again, Cinder performs a backflip whilst kicking Ruby, with flames trailing behind her foot. The kick knocks Ruby into the air, and quickly rights herself.
The two pause in their fight. Ruby trying to keep herself focused and not give too much of her abilities away. After all if this does go south and she doesn't end up killing Cinder here and now, she doesn't want Salem to know anything about what exactly she is capable of. However the more fighting she is doing, the more control she feels herself losing, especially now that her is versing the Fall Maiden once more. Taking a deep breath, Ruby is about to launch herself towards Cinder when there was a loud screech, Cinder turns her gaze ahead and smirks, while Ruby is struck momentarily by fear.
With the Wyvern that is flying toward the tower, Cinder blasts Ruby's scythe away from her then she quickly elbows Ruby in the abdomen just before the Wyvern slams its wing into the roof of Ozpin's office. The room fills with a green glow as the windows shatter and Ruby goes flying across the room. Giant cogs and debris come crashing down in the office, and the structure containing the CCT's transmitter falls to the ground outside, in pieces.
Recovering, Ruby crawls toward her scythe, while Cinder watches on from her position levitating off the floor with flame jetting from her feet. While looking for a way to distract Cinder, Ruby notices Ozpin's collapsed metal desk. Thinking quickly, she once again tries to channel her aura into her scythe and using the blunt end, takes a swing like a bat at the desk. It goes flying knocking her to the floor. Ruby then dodges as Cinder creates a burst of flame to throw the desk off herself and levitates in the air.
Once more in her semblance, Ruby dodges the two streams of fire that Cinder sends her way and attempts to block a third with her scythe. However, the force of the third sends her tumbling backward, and the floor momentarily catches fire while Ruby rolls to her feet. From behind the wall of flame, Ruby finds part of the wall and attempt to throw it at Cinder as a distraction, but Cinder confidently backhands it away. Before Ruby could do anything else, Cinder creates a powerful blast of fire towards Ruby. She tries to dodge the blast, but it was too large and she ends up taking the brute force of the force impact. It slams her into the remains of a wall, taking away a very large chunk of her aura.
"You fought gallantly," Cinder compliments as Ruby tries to get up, "I really appreciate that. Truly I do. Now I believe in the spirit of you giving me a chance earlier, I suppose I should give you one as well."
Ruby curses herself, "Oh yeah? How generous of you."
Cinder forms an obsidian bow in her hand. As she raises it up and draws back an obsidian arrow, Ruby manages to channel the remaining energy of the Spring Maiden powers that she has and charges forward, spinning into her semblance while picking up another piece of debris to use as a type of shield, quickly coming out of her semblance, Ruby throws it. Cinder lets loose the arrow, which shatters upon impact with the side of the debris. However, as the fragments part ways above and below the debris, they glow orange and rejoin each other on the other side.
The fragments melt into each other and cool into the shape of an arrow, which continues on its path directly into Ruby's ankle. By the time Ruby realized what had happened, she collapses in pain. She attempts to pull herself to her feet, but the pain is too much. She turns over onto her hands and knees as Cinder moves to stand in front of her, "Well I guess my offer is off the table now. I was going to say that a talent such as your own is a shame to waste, and offer you a place on her side. However I can see that you would not take it." She kneels down and lifts Ruby's chin, staring into her eyes and smiling, "At least you can take comfort in knowing that you have fought bravely and have died honorably."
Ruby looks into her eyes and pulls away, sitting up, "Do you believe in destiny?"
Cinder frowns, narrowing her eyes, "Yes."
Cinder stands back up and forms an obsidian bow and arrow again. She pulls back the arrow, lowering the bow to aim at her weakened opponent. Something clicks in Ruby's mind and everything in front of her slows down in this moment as her fight-or-flight system kicked into overdrive, but her body refused to move. Instead her brain brought forward a flashback and all of a sudden she was seeing this moment in a different perspective…a different timeline: A borage of voices, the smell of death, the arrow flying and landing its mark, a gasp of pain, flash incineration, and the ringing of a headdress falling to the floor.
Her heartbeat was racing, and suddenly her body was wet with sweat as her breathing picked up. Cinder paid no mind to this and just as she was about to let loose the arrow, Ruby let out a devastating yell as her body finally reacted. Cinder moves away as she senses this renewed energy coming off her opponent.
Ruby clenched her fists, curls her arms to her body, and then suddenly flings her arms out to the sides as she called forth the remains of her energy. She levitated slightly off the ground as a brilliant white light flows from her eyes as she screams. The white light envelopes her, spreading out to the Wyvern and Cinder.
-SNOOPYKID-
The flash of white was all that they had seen before the scroll went black. All around the campsite, bandits were yelling, cursing, and even panicking at the blackout. Everyone except for Weiss had pulled out their scrolls and tried to look up anything about Beacon, but the message was all the same: Local Communication only.
Yang tried calling out to her father, but the call failed. She then tried Qrow, and once more the call failed. Finally she tried calling Ruby, but that failed too. Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, Ren, and even Blake tried calling relatives and family, but each came back with the same response, "Don't you get it?" Weiss asked after Nora had asked why Weiss didn't have her scroll out, "Without the CCT, there's no point." She then took out her own scroll and showed them the same message that was on everyone's scrolls, "Atlas developed the Cross Continental Transmit System to allow the four kingdoms to communicate with one another. It was their gift to the world after the Great War. That thing destroyed Beacon's CCT which means that all communication is now rendered impossible, as the entire system is dependent on all four towers being active."
They sat there for a moment, pondering over Weiss's words, "So when you say 'all communication is now rendered impossible'; that means just us contacting people in Vale or the entire outside world?" Nora asked.
"Everywhere outside the local range as it says on our scrolls." Weiss responds.
"This is bad." Jaune says, "We have no way of knowing what is happening now."
A portal opens in the campsite and everyone quiets down as Raven steps through alone before it closes. Yang stands up and slowly make her way towards her mother followed by her teammates and the rest of the bandits. Vernal comes out of the tent and immediately goes to the woman's side, "What-?" Yang starts to ask.
"Beacon has fallen." Raven says cutting Yang off, face stoic and unrevealing. Everyone was shocked at this, "The Grimm have taken over the academy, and all those that were able have evacuated; including most of your classmates. Ironwood, Goodwitch, and the rest of your teachers saw to that."
"What about Yang's father and her Uncle Qrow? We saw part of your fight with Adam." Blake said, "He-"
Raven put her hand up to stop Blake's statement, "Once I got there we managed to fight him off. Unfortunately he got away when the explosion at the tower happened." Taking a breath and trying to remain indifferent, she added, "Your father and uncle are alright. Injured, but not mortal. They'll heal."
"Do you know what happened with Ruby?" Weiss asked as she stole a look at the brawler.
"No, once Taurus got away my job was done. Tai and Qrow took off to go to her." Raven then looked at Yang, "I already gave them my warning, just as I gave your sister hers and now here is your warning: Do not expect my generosity again." With that she turned away and started walking towards her tent.
Yang noticed the slight limp in her mother's gait, but made no move to say anything in response, "Well that is slight good news." Nora said eventually as Yang turned to head back to their area as the rest of the bandits went to their own way to digest the news of the events.
"What do we do?" Blake asked, "Adam is still out there, he is going to be after me. You all are in danger, I-"
"You are not leaving us." Weiss stated furiously, "After what just happened, no more splitting up."
"Then we have to find some way to Beacon. We do not know what happened to Ruby." Pyrrha stated, "Besides we have to check in with our families. If we cannot reach them, then they cannot reach us."
"Raven just said that Beacon fell." Jaune pointed out, "If it has fallen, then there is no way to get to Vale. The kingdoms are going to be closed off after this, especially after witnessing the malfunction with the Atlas robots."
Weiss's eyes narrowed at this, "He is right." Ren said intervening now at the heiress's look, "However there has to be some way to see if Ruby is ok."
"We go to Haven." Yang said softly and they looked at her, "She said she would meet us at Haven, and that is where we will meet her. We will leave early tomorrow morning."
"You sure?" Pyrrha asked.
"Yes. Besides," Yang started to say as she looked towards her mother's tent, "I have a feeling we overstayed our welcome anyway; and if anything maybe in the next town we can get her a message the old fashioned way." Nothing else was said as they looked at her, and soon the fires were dying out and everyone started to fall into a severe uneasy sleep about the certainty of the world around them.
