Chapter 14 – Standing United
Jaune strode across Vale with a stone in his throat. He knew that he was a Huntsman and that it was his job to protect the common folk (prioritising duty over family and friends), but he was biting his tongue more and more over the fact that he had left Pyrrha on her own, in a rundown city with Grimm running amuck. Pyrrha was capable of defending herself – this fact is not disputed, but Jaune knew her well enough to recognise that something was not right.
If anything bad happened to her, the blame lay on his shoulders.
Jaune could not stand it any longer. 'Ren, Nora, go back to Beacon without me. I need to find Pyrrha!'
They turned around to look at him concernedly.
'I think we should let her come back of her own accord.' said Ren as empathetically as possible. 'She's probably fatigued and needs a little bit of time away from combat.'
'But Ren, I know that she's not okay! Her behaviour is so unlike her! I could hear it in her voice, i-it's all so worrying!'
Ren and Nora said nothing. They showed without words that they understood how he felt but also believed that he himself was not thinking clearly.
'Please guys, my gut is telling me that I've abandoned her and so many crazy things have happened tonight, that she's in danger! There's no telling what might grab a hold of her when she has her back turned!'
'Usually it's me who does the overthinking.' said Nora.
'It's fine Jaune I understand.' said Ren. 'As leader, it is your duty to make sure that all of us are safe. Waste no more time and go and find her.'
Jaune gave a weak smile but a determined nod and ran in the opposite direction, back towards the docks where they had come from.
He picked up the pace and shouted out Pyrrha's name. 'Pyrrha! Pyrrha, where are you?!'
The streets all looked the same in the dark, and even more so now that the once recognisable buildings were broken. Jaune's heart was in a frenzy. He paid no attention to actually where he was going. All that mattered was hearing Pyrrha's voice.
She had just said that she wanted to catch her breath, implying that she would probably walk back to Beacon instead of run. If this was the case, then why would she had gone off the beaten path?
Jaune's head was swimming in despair. If he couldn't find her in the city, then where could she be? If the answer was in the hands of the enemies, then it was too late for Jaune to do anything.
As he slowed down, running out of stamina, Jaune pricked up his ears to hear the sound of metal against metal and multiple people grunting: it was a fight. In an instant he ignored all pain in his lungs and ran towards the source of the noise at full speed.
It sounded like it was coming from a rooftop. He looked up but failed to see a solid metal object rushing towards him. It hit him directly on his forehead and he staggered backwards, dizzy from the lack of oxygen and the collision of metal against his skull.
After he regained his vision, he looked down to inspect the object.
It was Akoúo̱: Pyrrha's shield!
Moments later, another object came flying towards him. This time Jaune saw it coming and dived out of the way. Miló landed, digging itself into the ground like a Javelin.
Jaune was petrified. It wasn't uncommon for Pyrrha to use her weapons as projectiles with her Semblance, but these looked like they had just been tossed away like they were bags of trash. This could not be good!
The weapons had come from above. With panic in his feet, Jaune rushed into the nearby alleyway, hoping to find a set of steps he could use to climb up.
There were none. He clutched his head in agitation, unsure of what to do. Suddenly there was the sound of something falling off the roof coming from the other side. He staggered out of the alleyway, ran past a few buildings and poked his head around the corner to see Pyrrha and her arms being held out by Emerald and Mercury. A lady that Jaune did not know was swaggering towards them. Jaune choked on his own sickness. He wanted to do something, but every muscle in his body had tensed to the point where he could not move, and his throat had tightened so much that he could not even scream to catch their attention.
'It's such a shame that a star pupil's road to success was cut short.' Cinder said gleefully.
'What do you want with me?' Pyrrha asked.
'You didn't kill Penny Polendina as you should have. Whilst it ultimately doesn't matter, you, Pyrrha Nikos, are still a major obstacle in our mission. Your reputation matches your formidability, and for that reason, you are an ally of Ozpin and therefore must die.'
Jaune's legs turned to lead. He fell over backwards, out of their line of sight.
'It's nothing personal, but claiming your head and your life will bring me great benefits. I will rise higher in the ranks when everyone knows that I killed Pyrrha Nikos.' Cinder finished.
'Do you believe in destiny?' Pyrrha asked, almost seemingly randomly.
'…yes.' Cinder replied after one second.
Jaune used all of his remaining strength to crawl on his front and see what happened next. He stared with petrified eyes as a bow and arrow materialised from ashes in Cinder's hands.
She took a step back, drew the string, let go and fired the arrow at her throat.
As her fingers withdrew, Jaune threw up as he screamed Pyrrha's name.
Adam took the deepest of breaths that he could. He had never felt this pitiful and sorry for himself in his entire life. For years he had been spiteful, but had still been in control and had a will to live: fighting for a cause he believed so vehemently in that his very soul had merged with it. Every step of the way since he was a child he battled for the amelioration of the Faunus: to bring justice upon the human race; to give his kin the rights that they had been deprived of for so long.
Humans acted like they were the masters of Faunus: as though they were merely second-class citizens at best, and disgruntled slaves at worst. Humans claimed to have "ownership" over Faunus' entitlements, as though they were property in the same way they could own a horse or a table. 'But I know better!' Adam told himself throughout his life.
The Faunus were better than humans. They had everything that humans had but more. Faunus were intelligent, rational beings with the ability to read, go to school, get a job, live a happy life and pay taxes and bills just like humans. They were nearly identical in appearance too, with the only difference being each Faunus' own animalistic body parts.
What reason was that to push the Faunus under the rug? Faunus often have a distinct advantage with their unique anatomy. The third year during the Faunus War saw the Battle of Fort Castle. General Lagune was the military leader of the Human forces and mistakenly tried to ambush the Faunus in their sleep. But Faunus often have ears with highly acute hearing or have night vision. His army was utterly defeated and Lagune went down in Remnant's history as a failure for humanity and has never been vindicated.
Some Faunus can fly if they are given wings. Others have tails that can prove to be handy and versatile. In many ways, being a Faunus was a blessing in disguise. If only the humans didn't hold such unreasoned prejudice out of ignorance against them.
Adam thought back to how much of an effort he had made for the White Fang and how much weight he had pulled, but so little difference had been made. Up until six years ago, the White Fang had been a pacifist organisation, led under Ghira Belladonna: his beloved's father. He had advocated non-violent protests.
'Such weakness!' Adam believed. The humans wouldn't listen unless a stone was cast; until their own interests were threatened. With a new leader, who knew that violence was justified where it was progressive, change was seen. A dawn of the Faunus finally rising from the stinging ashes was upon then, and Adam had relished in every moment of humans feeling his wrath. He knew that you don't get to the top without stepping on a few heads, and even more humans had to be crushed under his feet for his dream to become a true reality.
But recent months had not been so kind. He was coerced into working with a perfidious woman and her clients. Whilst they had suggested working towards the destruction of a human dominated society by knocking down the three key pillars: government, military and schools, she had asked for Adam and his kin to work – and potentially die – for a human cause. She had offered the rewards of Dust and Lien, but Adam was not driven by materialism.
In the end though, he gave in to the woman's very pragmatic offer, hoping that it would be worth his time.
And look where it got him. The White Fang members in Vale were beaten by the Huntsmen and Huntresses. The Grimm were not having the impact on Beacon that had been hoping for. This chance had been the basket that Adam had put all of his apples into. He wanted to show Sienna Khan that strength and fear of the Faunus was the way forward. The mysterious woman and her associate that he hadn't met for himself had given Adam that opportunity. He was already hesitant that he and his men were aiding a group of humans, but the pay would likely have been worth the price ultimately.
Now he would be the laughing stock of the White Fang: an unfit leader with poor judgement. Adam would surely be banished from the organisation for his incompetence.
Adam himself had been bested by a man who had no right to say what he should and should not do. He had called Adam a coward. He had said that Adam's blade was "stained with evil".
But this all didn't matter for now. Adam was severely injured. His aura had been shattered and was almost depleted. Both of his arms had holes in them and broken bones. He could not put any pressure on his left leg and he was struggling to breathe through his broken nose and bruised throat. And the rotten cherry on top of the mouldy cake was that he had no weapon to defend himself with. Adam had to find a way to get back to the camp.
He had arrived at Beacon via a Bullhead, but there was no way he would find a working one just lying about in a convenient location. He had no idea where his men had gone for that matter. Surely they must have fled to somewhere nearby, for there was no possibility of them making it out of the city on foot.
Adam hoped that those who had survived would forgive him. They had already known how reluctant he was to team up with the humans, so maybe they would be empathetic of how he had been pressurised into making that dreadful decision. He had learned his lesson to never work with humans again.
'Reconciliation can come later.' Adam thought to himself. He had to reunite with his kin. He knew that he would earn back his respectability in due course, but also understood that it would be much harder than it already was to earn the respect of the high leader: Sienna Khan.
Pyrrha closed her eyes. It was over…
But the arrow never found its target.
Pyrrha began to glow as a purple coloured aura consumed her. The arrow was deflected right off the shield and hit Cinder in the left shoulder. She dropped the bow and stumbled back. Pyrrha's energy was replenished almost instantly and she shook Emerald and Mercury off of her. She stood but jumped backwards as she saw a rather tall man dressed like a ninja standing right beside her. His attire was mostly dark blue and purple, with large pauldrons and armguards, a ninja mask covering his face, purple trousers, brown boots and a two short swords on his back.
Something that Pyrrha noticed was how ethereal he was. His extremely large muscles, biceps and elbows were the only part of his body that was exposed, but they kept disappearing and reappearing. What was the most mysterious part of him though was a giant blue sword, which seemed very otherworldly and spiritual in matter, floating next to him, with a tether of blue light connecting them.
The ninja stood with his right hand on the handle of the sword on the right side of his back. He quickly examined the situation, looking at Emerald and Mercury, who backed away with nervous glances at each other. He then looked at Cinder. She pulled the arrow out of her shoulder and glared at him. The ninja then looked at Pyrrha who was also reversing away from him.
'Stay next to the sword.' he said firmly, pointing towards the spiritual sword. It began to emit mildly bright light and created a blue ring around him and Pyrrha.
Pyrrha nodded. She felt pleasantly warm by the sword as it vanquished all the coldness in her body.
The ninja then blinked towards Cinder. His body became distorted and he seemed to dash right through her. She pulled out one of her glass blades and began to attack the Ninja as he appeared behind her, but she seemed to be flailing her arms mindlessly. The ninja used his armguards to block her attacks before pulling out his right blade and precisely cutting into her left shoulder – above where the arrow had hit her – chipping away parts of her bones He then kicked her in both of her knees before she fell to her hands and feet.
The ninja grabbed her right arm and cut the sleeve off. The golden creature inside jumped away and scampered off into the distance. A deep gash had been made on her shoulder and her right arm. But the Ninja wasn't done yet. He took his left sword from his back and slammed it through her left calf. She cried out in pain as the tip of the blade broke its way through her leg and punctured the skin on the other side. He then finally used the hilt of his right sword to bludgeon her head and knock her out cold.
Pyrrha watched in awe. It had all happened so fast that she could not comprehend and replay everything that had just occurred.
She turned around and noticed that Cinder and Mercury were firing at her. Each bullet from Emerald's gun and Mercury's boots were hitting her, but she felt literally nothing. They were not hurting her in the slightest.
The ninja turned around after he had finished with Cinder. Emerald and Mercury didn't even get a quarter of a second to react as once again he became a blur of light as he dashed to them. Emerald was disarmed instantly and on the floor with one brutal punch to the nose.
He then used Emerald's chain to grab hold of Mercury's right boot. He hopped awkwardly on his left leg, trying not to fall over. The ninja grabbed his right sword and thrust it downwards to Mercury's boot, but it did no damage to him.
Sighing, the Ninja summoned his spirit blade. It empowered his earthly sword, making it glow just like the spiritual blade. With magic now behind the metal, the Ninja tried again. This time the sword pierced his leg, and the Ninja twisted the blade to do as much interior damage as possible.
Whilst Mercury did not feel much pain since his legs were mechanical and not flesh, he still yelled in anger. His boots were very expensive and one-of-a-kind.
The ninja then finished his display of skill by pulling Mercury right next to him with Emerald's kusarigama so that he could grab his thigh and punch him directly in the nose with even more force than he exerted with Emerald.
All three of Pyrrha's assailants were on the ground – all three of them completely unconscious – in less than ten seconds. If only Amber had been this swift when she had been attacked by them.
Jaune had watched from afar with his mouth wide open. He threw up again but paid no attention to it as he got up off the floor and ran to his partner. 'Pyrrha!'
She turned around to see Jaune with tears in his eyes. Pyrrha also cried as they embraced.
'Are you okay?' Jaune asked.
'I'm… alright.' She whispered.
It happened all of a sudden. Without any real thought, their lips met. It was for a fleeting moment, but during it, time seemed to slow down to a crawl. It was a warm sensation that coated their souls in passion.
They opened their weeping eyes and noticed that the Ninja was still there. He wasn't watching but clearly knew that Jaune and Pyrrha were kissing. They broke away from each other and looked at him, embarrassed.
'I-I'm very… grateful Sir.' Pyrrha said.
'No need to thank me.' said the Ninja emotionlessly.
'W-who are you and where did you come from?' Jaune asked.
The ninja pulled out his left sword from Cinder's leg and wiped the blood off before returning it to its sheath on his back.
'I consider myself to be a mediator between the physical and spiritual world.' he said. 'Recently there has been a loss of equilibrium between the two and my job of arbitrating both has been very hard. So I came to this world, which has merged with my own, to see if I could find any clues as to how balance may possibly be restored.'
Pyrrha and Jaune had no idea what the Ninja was going on about, aside from the idea of a different world entirely. His talk of metaphysics did not make any sense to them. The ninja read their expressions and understood that they didn't care about this information. 'But I digress.' he said. 'My name is Shen.'
'Thank you, Shen.' said Pyrrha with a smile. 'I'm Pyrrha and this is Jaune.'
'I don't seek praise, but it still brings me happiness to know that I have made someone happy myself.'
'So, h-how did you do all that?' Jaune asked. 'You just beat these guys before they could see it coming.'
'It's a story worth saving for another time to be told in detail,' said Shen. 'but the short version is that I grew up in an order of ninjas who were unrestrained from emotions and skilled in the way of the blade. By using both the physical and spiritual realm as our weapons and battlefield to fight on, those who are adept in only the material world do not stand a chance against me.'
Pyrrha and Jaune took in all this information. It was so unreal, yet it was. They had seen it with their own eyes.
'I saw you from a distance.' Shen continued. 'You were just about to be killed, so I granted you a shield of spiritual energy and teleported to your location.'
'And what about that floating sword?' said Jaune.
'I promise you that the sword you see floating beside me has layers of science and spiritualism behind it that explain how it works, which you won't care to hear about right now. I can see that you are currently in the middle of a warzone, so it is best that we stay on the defensive.'
'Will you help us in that case?' Jaune asked.
'Will I help you fight the battle?'
Pyrrha and Jaune nodded.
'Normally I do not pick sides. It's also not really my business as to what happens in this world.' They looked disappointed. 'But it is also obvious who are the antagonists of destruction and who are defenders of peace.' he went on. 'So I shall fight alongside you.' Their despondency was washed away in an instant.
'Thank you!' said Pyrrha. 'Right now we need all the help we can get!'
'Don't mention it.' said Shen.
Emerald and Mercury were murmuring on the floor like babies, unaware of what had happened. 'What do we do with them?' Jaune asked.
'Leave them.' Shen ordered. 'Do not be swayed by vengeance for what they did to you.'
'But surely we can't just leave them here to wake up and escape.'
'Where is your sanctuary?' Shen asked.
'What do you mean?' said Pyrrha.
'It is far away, therefore it is not worth carrying them all the way there. Especially not when it is under attack from a Darkin.'
'Do you know what that giant thing is?!' Jaune questioned.
Shen nodded. 'It is part of a race of beings, known in the common tongue as "Darkin". The one by your base is probably one of the most ferocious of its kind.'
For the umpteenth time that night, the ground shook violently. This time it was followed by the sound of a building falling over in the distance. 'DESTROY!' EVERYTHING AWAITS DESTRUCTION!' Aatrox roared.
'No… you don't think...' Pyrrha began.
'Nothing will stand in the Darkin's way.' said Shen. 'But if you want to have any chance of stopping it, lead me back to your base and I will help you fight it.'
'Our gang must be back there by now.' Jaune pointed out. 'With you on our side, we might stand a chance.'
'First of all, I need to get my weapons back.' said Pyrrha.
'I know where they are.' said Jaune. 'When I came running to find you, they were just thrown at me. I'm guessing it wasn't you though.'
'Emerald knocked me over and I think Mercury must have tossed both of them away. Perhaps you just so happened to run along their flight path.'
'Yeah, I guess.'
Jaune directed them to where Miló and Akoúo̱ had landed. The spear was still in the ground like a Javelin. Pyrrha pulled it out and reequipped herself with both weapon and shield in hand.
'Alright then, let's go and kick some Darkin butt!' said Jaune determinedly.
The three of them entered a jog. As they went back to Beacon, Pyrrha and Jaune agreed through nodding not to talk about their kiss until much later.
Roman Torchwick climbed down the building he had landed on after he had jumped off Blue Two. He wiped the dust off his clothes, but he was hissing at the mouth. His gloves, suit and even trousers had holes in them as he had scrapped against the stone rooftop. His outfit was far from cheap, so he would need to find another very talented tailor who could provide him with the suit to replace his now ruined one.
He was beginning to wonder if it had been worth the effort working with Cinder and her mysterious boss. Everything had been fine up until she had suggested that they work with the White Fang. Roman knew that working with a volatile bunch of Faunus from one of the most infamous organisations in Remnant was a risky deal to bargain on. This was when their unpredictable behaviour and loyalty started to become an issue with getting things done. They didn't do great job at stopping Ruby Rose, her teammates, their professor and dog from impeding their plans to release Grimm into Central Vale and Beacon. They also had not been able to fight to the Faunus girl, boy and blade wielding girl at the docks when they attempted to steal the Dust containers.
If heists and plans were failing because of their lack of prowess and competence, it would become far less likely for them to remain cooperative if it seemed like results weren't being achieved.
Even though it seemed like tonight's events were causing destruction and mayhem, they were suffering more casualties than expected and the Huntsmen and Huntresses were putting up a remarkably persistent fight. They also had help from warriors of another world, albeit Roman did not know this yet.
Ruby had even meddled with his plans for the fourth time, and had sent Neo off of the ship and Roman had no idea where she was.
He bent his cane in anger. If he ever came across Little Red Riding Hood again, he would make sure that she suffered tremendous amounts of pain. It was only fair considering how much of an inconvenience she had been to him. He would not just taunt her with words like he had done in the tunnels. It would be pure physical torture and he did not care if blood got on his suit, even if it was a new one.
'Okay, calm down Roman.' he said to himself. Ruby was not important right now. He was hopeful that the thing that had destroyed the ship would do some lasting damage to Beacon as well. Despite not being able to see it, he had heard its voice from far away and just simply knew that it was not to be taken lightly.
But as long as he did not lose and ultimately got some decent Lien, the mishaps were not detrimental. As far as he was concerned, if tonight was an overall success, the White Fang could kiss his arse goodbye. The world would be in shock after Beacon fell and fear would naturally rise in the population. This would bring more Grimm to the Kingdoms and leave them vulnerable to more strikes from him and his associates. He had enough contacts to get the job done without relying on the White Fang.
No rendezvous had been established unfortunately, so there was no way of knowing where Cinder and her two punks were, nor could he find Neo without actually seeing her, because heaven forbid that she could contact him via a scroll and speak with her own voice.
Roman was in a mess for sure, but there was positives to come out of this evening: things were not unsalvageable.
For now, Roman just needed five things to make him feel better:
His accomplices, cash, a smoke, a change of clothes and a shower.
Jaune, Pyrrha and Shen arrived back at Beacon. Everyone else had already made it and it seemed that the fight had come to an end. Jaune and Pyrrha stared agape at the sight of the wreckage of Beacon Academy and Aatrox in a golden stasis.
Nora and Ren noticed that their teammates had returned and the four of them went over to each other, together again.
'Who's that guy?' said Nora, pointing at Shen who kept his distance.
'He saved me.' said Pyrrha. 'Come over here.'
Shen walked over to them.
'Ren, Nora, this is Shen. He saved me. Shen, this is Ren and Nora: they're my teammates.'
'It's nice to meet you.' Shen said plainly.
'You too.' said Ren.
'If you saved our dear old Pyrrha, then you must be a good guy!' said Nora.
'I wouldn't say that I'm either good or bad, but if you want to put it in those terms, then I could be considered a protector of sorts: a warden perhaps.'
'Shen, I can't say thank you enough times.' said Pyrrha.
'Once again, you are welcome Pyrrha, but do not show too much gratitude to one person, lest you forget where your duty lies.'
No one on Team JNPR was really philosophical, other than Ren, so these words did not resonate with them.
'I… get what you mean, but healthy amounts of thankfulness aren't bad.'
'I agree entirely.' said Shen solemnly.
They all shrugged and joined everyone else as they gathered around the frozen Aatrox. Goodwitch, Port and Oobleck were just at the side, attending to Qrow, Ozpin and Ironwood.
'Are they going to be okay?' Weiss asked.
'They'll be fine.' Goodwitch replied. 'They've just suffered some rather nasty injuries and will be out of commission for a while.
Ruby and Reese arrived at the scene after Ozpin had instructed them to leave the courtyard. Ruby saw her Uncle lying on the floor and ran over to see him. 'Uncle Qrow!'
He looked up and smiled weakly. 'Hey there kiddo.' he said. Yang came to see them too.
'Where have you been Ruby!?' Yang asked worriedly. 'I haven't seen you all evening!'
'Don't worry Sis, I'm fine. I'm fine. I just had a bit of a run-in with Torchwick again.'
'He's here?!' Blake interrupted, moving closer to them.
'Umm, yeah. He took control of one of General Ironwood's ships. We got into a bit of a tussle on-board it until that thing,' she pointed at Aatrox. 'tore its way through the ship and sent it to the ground. We got separated during the crash.'
'So nobody knows where he's gone?' Blake pestered. 'Where exactly did it crash and how long ago was this?'
'Kids, please…' said Qrow. 'Too much has happened tonight. The Grimm and the White Fang have invaded Vale, and so has this goliath, but they've run away and now this thing is frozen. Right about now it's time we all rest and discuss what happens from here afterwards.'
Everyone engaged in conversation about what they thought was going to happen next. The battle was far from over, but it seemed that right now things were at a ceasefire.
And even though not everyone knew each individual person very well, there was safety in numbers and so far everyone had worked together regardless of who they were and where they had come from.
It was an unlikely composition of teams, but every single person had something to offer. Even Ryze felt a sense of comfort and allegiance that he had not experienced in an extremely long time.
It was almost as though the horrors of tonight had never happened, that the Beacon Tower was still standing and a bloodthirsty monster was not standing right next to them, for friendships were being made as they all stood united.
