RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and created by the late and great Monty Oum.
Read, review, and tell me how I can improve, what you liked and what you didn't. Your feedback is appreciated, thank you! Seriously tell me if the story is good or not, I want to know what you guys think because I worked really hard on this chapter and it took a LOT out of me.
RWBY: Destiny of Remnant
Chapter 7: A Matter of Family Part II
Ruby and Jaune finally arrived at the empty construction site, feeling tired but triumphant. Various construction vehicles were scattered about the yard, a few half-empty Dust containers were left to rot in the cold by the careless workers. It was flanked on nearly all sides by half-demolished buildings that were covered with scaffolding and clumsily strewn about steel girders. The only way in for most people would be the front which connected to the main street, which was still flanked on both the right and the left by old buildings. Jaune quickly placed his scroll on a crate near the entrance, in case they didn't make it Ren and the others would know his plan.
"You ready Ruby? I can see their ship, they're coming." Jaune said as he drew out his sword and walked back to Ruby. He had sent a text message to Ren telling him about the scroll, just in case this failed.
"You bet. We can take them until Ashe and the others get here." She said as she flipped Crescent Rose into its main battle mode.
Jaune looked up into the sky as the airship flew into view and hovered over the construction site.
"Attention brats! Give it up and we don't have to tear up the town too badly! I know nice kids like you don't care for collateral damage, but we'd be happy to give some out for free!" Damien called through the ship's speaker.
Jaune held up his sword as Ruby aimed the Crescent Rose at the ship's engine.
"Bring it on!" Ruby yelled as she fired her weapon.
A bullet from the scythe-rifle tore through the engines, creating a small explosion rocked the ship and it began to fall as Douglas struggled to keep it in the air. "Son of a bitch!" he cried.
Lao, Tom-Tom, and Merrick all jumped out in time and landed on the roof of one of the old buildings that had not yet been torn down. Steel girders and bits of scaffolding had been placed on the roof so the three had cover if they needed it. "Take 'em out!" Tom-Tom yelled as his mallet transformed into its gun mode and he began to fire at Ruby.
Ruby easily dodged the blasts and she fired back at him, the blasts bursting the bricks off of the old building and forcing the thug to draw back. Lao grimaced, he considered this pathetic mission beneath him and yet these kids were proving way more difficult than he imagined.
Merrick opened fire on them, trying to hit them with the drugged darts but Jaune and Ruby managed to knock the darts away with their weapons.
Damien and West held onto the same handle as the ship began to land with a harsh fall into the ground and the still going engine forced the ship to collide with an old crane.
"Out there now! Take those kids down!" Damien yelled as his enforcers ran out, followed by their leader. West, however stayed put because he felt like he was going to be violently sick and Douglas had injured his arm in the crash.
Little Steve hoisted up his minigun and laughed "Run little ones, run!" as he opened fire. Ruby grabbed Jaune and the two ducked behind an excavator to shield themselves from the massive man's attack.
"We can't take him as long as he has that gun, we'll be torn apart." Jaune said as he felt the vehicle shake and buckle from the impact of the darts. Ruby nodded as she glanced over the machine and saw the huge man keep a continuous stream of fire on them, but she also saw Trooper, Zhan, and Fireball all going around them. Jaune used the shield of Crocea Mors to protect himself and Ruby from a barrage of fire from the three men on top of the building.
"Got a plan Ruby?" he asked.
"They're coming around to us. I'll take out the big guy and the soldier, okay? You just keep yourself alive and take out the bald one and the flamethrower." She said.
"How do I take on a flamethrower?" Jaune asked.
"With that." Ruby said, gesturing to a small device Jaune was kneeling next to. Jaune saw that it was a fire extinguisher, he grinned and nodded.
"Think we can pull this off?" he asked.
"We'll try, until Nora, Ren, and Ashe get here we're pretty much screwed but I think we can hold our own." Ruby said.
Jaune nodded again and said "Okay let's go!"
Ruby used her Semblance to rocket out from behind the excavator and smash into Trooper, sending him flying into a pile of equipment crates while using the scythe to slash his primary gun in two.
Ruby ran forward to battle Little Steve while Fireball charged at Jaune.
Fireball let out a muffled laugh as he used his flamethrower to try and corral Jaune as the blonde used his shield to protect him from both the fire and the gunshots from above. Jaune sidestepped a burst of flame but his sleeve had caught fire. "Ah!" Jaune cried before his aura bounced the fire off of his arm, which gave Jaune just enough time to dodge a blast of fire from the flamethrower as well as trying to keep himself away from the fire of the three enforcers above.
"Watch it Fireball! We need him alive!" Damien yelled.
Fireball was about to respond when Jaune grabbed the fire extinguisher and smashed the mercenary across the face with it, knocking him to the ground.
"Ah! Little asshole!" Fireball rasped out as he grabbed Jaune's leg and pulled him to the ground as well. Jaune grabbed the extinguisher as Fireball regained control of his flamethrower.
They both fired at once and the flame was put out by the foam. "Ah crap!" cried Fireball as the foam jammed up his weapon. Jaune got back up before Fireball could and used the extinguisher to bash his opponent in the head, knocking him out.
Jaune brought up his shield again as Tom-Tom, Merrick, and Lao all opened fire on him again. "This is getting really old!" Jaune yelled.
"Agreed, so do us a favor and surrender!" Lao called as he tossed another orb explosive at Jaune.
Jaune ran to get out of the blast radius but his retreat caused his leg to get grazed by one of Merrick's shots but luckily none of the tranquilizer drugs got into him. "Damn! Nearly had him! This kid's good." Merrick said as he reloaded.
Ruby spun Crescent Rose around, deflecting almost all of Little Steve's shots and the few she didn't manage to stop simply zipped past her.
"Come here, little girl!" the giant enforcer shouted as he stopped firing his gun and tried to use it as a melee weapon and nearly smashed Ruby into the ground with it. He growled as he tried to sweep Ruby down with it but the girl in red and black easily jumped on top of the huge gun as he did so. She ran up the weapon and kicked Little Steve in the face.
"UGH!" he cried as Ruby jumped over him and grabbed his arms from behind. Despite her enemy's massive body Ruby used him like a puppet and spun him around and forced him to aim up. She then kicked him in his arm forcing his fingers to flex and he started firing upon Tom-Tom, Lao, and Merrick which gave Jaune some relief.
"Get off me!" Little Steve yelled as he struggled.
"Alright!" Ruby said cheekily as she jumped up into the air. Ruby landed on a platform that was held in the air by one of the cranes. She took her chance and began to fire upon the remaining enforcers. She took out some scaffolding above Lao and the others, causing it to collapse and fall on them. "Gotcha!" she cheered, but then Ruby noticed someone was missing, Zhan had vanished.
Just then a bullet zipping by her head caused Ruby to turn around and see Zhan standing on one of the steel girders. "That was a warning shot." He said as he took aim again.
"Bring it!" Ruby called.
Zhan nodded and said "If you insist." He fired again and Ruby stopped the bullets with a simple swing of her blade. Ruby saw the bullets fall to the platform and noticed that the bullets were glowing.
"What kind of bullets are these?" she asked.
"The aura draining kind, gets rid of that pesky healing factor." The illusionist said as he aimed again, not at Ruby but at the cable that was holding her up. He wasn't trying to shoot Ruby, just distract her so he could shoot down the platform, despite his murderous lifestyle he disliked fighting those younger than him.
Ruby cried out as she fell with the platform, she landed with a heavy thud and rolled off the platform to see it had fallen on Little Steve.
"Okay, we're doing good so far... guys where are you?" she asked to herself, she turned to see Jaune fighting Damien. "You can do it Jaune." She said quietly.
Jaune swung the Crocea Mors around, nearly slashing Ante across the chest. "Come on!" he yelled at the crime lord who was trying to shoot the young Huntsman but every shot was blocked by the shield or dodged.
Damien smirked and got an idea; he knew how get under Jaune's skin.
"You know Arc, I looked up that Nikos girl you're so broken up about and boy was she fine! Too bad Cinder killed her, I would have..."
He was interrupted by Jaune screaming in anger and slashing at him with Crocea Mors. Damien held up his right arm to protect himself and Jaune slashed him across his bicep.
"Ah! Son of a bitch!" Damien yelled in pain as blood began to flow out. As his aura quickly began healing the cut Jaune kicked Damien in the chest, knocking him to the ground and forcing him to drop the gun. Jaune pinned Damien down with his foot, mentally thanking Ashe for this tactic.
"Touched a nerve, did I?" Damien joked.
"Where is Cinder? Tell me now!" Jaune demanded as Ruby walked over to them.
"Oh she's on her way right now! If you think you can take her on you're stupider than Tom-Tom." Damien said.
Up above Tom-Tom sighed and asked "Am I just everyone's punching bag today?" as he and the other two struggled to get out of the rubble.
"We have help coming right now." Jaune said as Ruby reloaded Crescent Rose, ready for another fight.
"So do I!" Damien yelled as the sound of cars pulling up could be heard. Ruby and Jaune turned to see ten or eleven cars blocking the main entrance point of the construction site and about forty-five thugs all pouring out. These were not trained fighters, they were minor street punks who had little to no training and very little in the way of aura. They were what cold military strategists would refer to as 'cannon fodder'.
"What took you idiots so long?" Damien asked as he jumped back on his feet.
"I really wish the others could hurry up and get here!" Jaune called, hoping for Ashe or Nora or Ren to swing in with a big dramatic rescue, but no one came.
"We're on our own for now Jaune. I trust you." Ruby said.
Jaune nodded, "And I trust you."
One of the cars, occupied by only the driver, rocketed towards them. Jaune and Ruby held their ground as it got closer and closer. Damien's eyes widened and he yelled "No! Stop! Cinder will have my ass if they're killed!"
Ruby aimed Crescent Rose at the car's tires and fired. The heavy sniper bullet tore through the tire like it was paper and the air inside the tire propelled it up into the air, sending it flying into the excavator Ruby and Jaune had hid behind. There was a mighty crash followed by a fiery explosion.
Ruby's eyes widened in horror as she realized what she had just done. She had taken the life of another person. Not some Grimm or robot, but a person. One whose life she had just taken away. She had beaten people up before, maybe she injured Torchwick's thugs but this was so different. Ruby's legs began to shake as bullets began flying at her, only to be stopped by Jaune's shield.
"Ruby! Snap out of it!" he yelled. Ruby shook her head and nodded, she began to twirl her beloved weapon around to deflect the bullets. Jaune looked down and saw Damien's gun; he ran forward and grabbed it, his shield up the whole time to protect himself. He began to fire at the thugs, aiming for their legs to take them down, their meager aura would heal them, but not enough for them to get up and fight again.
"Jaune! Don't! We can't..." Ruby began to say before she felt a sharp sting in her shoulder. "Ah!" she cried out in pain, getting Jaune's attention as he smacked a thug down with his shield.
Jaune's blood ran cold as he saw one of the tranquilizer darts had hit Ruby. He looked up and saw Merrick, who was now free from the rubble, aiming to shoot Ruby again. He wondered if Ruby's aura would simply render the tranquilizer null and void but he knew that they were probably using a type of drug that could get past aura's effects.
"No!" he yelled as he used the hilt of his sword to knock a thug out. He ran to Ruby and shielded her from the next shot, he looked to her to make sure she was all right as she pulled the dart out.
"You okay?" he asked.
"I...I killed someone Jaune..." she said, her voice sounding weak.
"He was trying to hurt us Ruby, it was self-defense! You're not a bad..." he began to say as Ruby smashed the non-scythe end of Crescent Rose into a trio of charging thugs.
"I know Jaune... guess we'll talk about it later!" she cried as she hit another thug down.
Jaune nodded as he used his shield to cover them from some bullet fire. "Are you feeling drugged?" he asked.
"Not yet, feeling a little weaker though." Ruby admitted as she used her blade to slice their attackers' guns in half.
"Keep it up! We'll make it through this Ruby, I promise." He swore as he blocked an attack from a thug with a sword.
As Ruby blocked attacks and hit enemies with the blunt side of Crescent Rose and Jaune fought the thugs off with Crocea Mors, they were too busy to notice Damien had gotten a rocket launcher from one of the thugs' cars. He aimed at them and then he noticed an old, nearly empty Dust container behind them. The blast wouldn't kill them; just do enough to disorientate them.
"End of the line, brats!" Damien yelled as he pulled the trigger and the rocket flew towards them and hit the Dust.
The resulting explosion sent both teens flying to opposite ends of the construction site.
"Take 'em down and take 'em alive!" Damien yelled to his men as they ran forward.
Ruby got up first, feeling dizzy and tired enough to fall asleep then and there but she forced herself to get up. She couldn't let them win. She looked over and saw Jaune who was on his knees and fighting the oncoming thugs, using his blade to keep them away, aiming at their legs.
"Jaune..." she muttered.
"Come here!" yelled the voice of a thug.
Ruby looked up and saw a middle aged man looking down at her. "Get away!" Ruby yelled as she grabbed Crescent Rose, which was currently in its scythe form.
She swung her crimson weapon upwards and stabbed it into the man's side. The thug screamed out in pain, blood coming out of his mouth as he did so. Ruby's eyes widened in horror and regret as she realized she had killed again! She had killed two men in the span of less than two minutes.
The thug looked down at her with his dying eyes, mouthing something Ruby couldn't understand. Ruby withdrew Crescent Rose's blade from his body and the man fell to the ground, dead.
Ruby couldn't get up; she was too shocked, horrified, disgusted and angry with herself for what she had done. She looked up to see about eight other thugs all looking to her, now hesitant to attack.
Ruby felt sick to her stomach. Emotions and horrible thoughts surged through her mind as her body began to shake uncontrollably and tears streamed from her silver eyes which were beginning to glow dimly. She vomited up the contents of her stomach, feeling the burning taste of half digested food at the back of her throat.
The thugs all continued to watch her, stunned at what had transpired as their fallen comrade's blood began to pool around them.
Ruby looked up and saw that they were still just looking at her. "S-s-stay away from me... don't come any closer! P-please! I don't want to hurt anyone." she pleaded, not noticing someone sneaking up on her.
Ruby cried out in pain as she felt a dart stabbing her in the neck. She collapsed to the ground, struggling to keep her eyes open.
"RUBY! NO!" she heard Jaune scream. Ruby's closing eyes looked up and saw that it was Trooper who had taken her out.
"You fought well. I'm sorry you had to become a killer like me." Trooper said with a sympathetic look in his eyes.
Ruby didn't respond. She closed her eyes and let the blackness of sleep take her.
Jaune ran over and shoved Trooper down as he got in front of Ruby. He looked around and knew his chances weren't good. 'Ruby's down, we've only managed to take out six of these guys, all I have to fight with is a sword, a gun, a shield, my bare fists and legs and my Semblance and the others are nowhere in sight! I really wish those protests weren't bothering the military right now!' he thought, knowing he was outnumbered, outgunned, and out of luck.
Damien stepped forward, grinning like the cat that just ate the canary. "Give it up kid! Your friends aren't comin' and I don't see a way in hell your scrawny ass can beat all of us!" he said as Fireball and Little Steve got back up, both of them looking pissed.
Jaune knew he didn't have a chance... but he had to try.
He thought and he concentrated deeply and focused all his aura into what Ashe had taught him about the emotion Semblance. Jaune knew he had to fight so he thought about the people he loved and cared about. He thought about Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Ren, Nora, his mom, his dad, and his sisters, Ozpin, Goodwitch, Sun, Neptune and Ashe.
He thought about Cinder.
He thought about Pyrrha.
And it all became so easy.
'You can do it Jaune. I'll always be with you my love. Save our friend, I know you can do it. Just please don't give in to your hate. And don't forget; I love you.'
He looked at Ante and growled.
"I'll never give up. I'll take you all on!" Jaune yelled as his blue eyes began to glow brilliantly.
"Get him!" Damien yelled.
The thugs charged and Jaune fought them with every ounce of aura and strength.
He jabbed his sword forward, hitting a thug in the neck with a killing blow. Jaune swung his sword which resulted in another thug dropping dead due to a mighty cut across the stomach that his aura couldn't heal fast enough.
A group of thugs all aimed their tranquilizer guns at him and fired but Jaune created an aura shield to deflect them all.
Jaune kept the shield up as gunfire from above and from around him kept blitzing his aura, but he had to stay strong, he had to protect Ruby.
He remembered what Ashe had told him earlier that day, the thing that led to their spat. 'Pay attention to your surroundings'.
Jaune looked up and saw three thugs charging him; one with a gun, one with a sword, and the other with a club. He dropped the shield and charged the three.
He took out Damien's gun and fired the remaining three bullets inside it, killing the first one.
"Come on!" Jaune yelled as the swordsman attacked. The swordsman swung his blade, aiming to hit Jaune in the chest, but Jaune ducked it and swung his sword up, cutting off the swordsman's right hand.
"My hand!" the swordsman screamed in pain, he was silenced by Jaune's shield bashing him in the face.
The third thug tried to bash Jaune over the head with his club but Jaune easily stopped it with his shield. Jaune then stabbed the thug in the hip and used an aura-charged kick to send him flying.
Jaune felt bad about what he was doing. He didn't want to be a killer but he had to defend Ruby and himself. He did this with no hatred or rage, just with the desire to protect his friend. 'Forgive me.' he thought to himself, hoping Pyrrha could hear him.
He glared at the remaining thugs and his aura surged through him.
'They're already dead. They died the moment they started working with Cinder.' He thought as he readied himself for another battle.
"Who else wants some?!" he yelled.
Jaune felt a horrible pain in the back of his shoulder. One of Zhan's aura draining bullets had gotten him.
He fell to his knees and felt more pain as tranquilizer darts hit him. One in his arm and two in his chest.
Jaune was now on his hands and knees, breathing hard and fighting with everything he had to stay awake as blood ran down his shoulder, the bullet's ability stopping his aura from healing him.
Jaune felt himself being pulled up and he was brought face to face with Damien Ante.
"Sweet dreams, you little bastard." Damien said as he knocked Jaune out with a punch to the face.
Damien dropped the unconscious Jaune to the ground and called "Doc! Get over here!"
West ran over and checked Jaune's pulse. "He's alive but he will need some medical attention for this bullet." West said.
"Relax, I hit him in a non-fatal area. He will live." Zhan assured the doctor.
West wanted to argue with the assassin but just nodded and went over to check Ruby. "She's okay as well, just out of it. Now all we have to do is wait until Lady Cinder gets here." He said.
"Sounds good to me doc. Get their weapons! I think Cinder will enjoy a couple of trophies." Damien said. Trooper picked up Crescent Rose and Zhan took Crocea Mors, admiring the weapon. "It is a good sword, these children fought well." The illusionist said. Trooper could only nod in agreement.
Damien's scroll vibrated so he took it out, looked at the text he received, and grinned. "That was a text from Cinder! Her ETA is five minutes, all we got to do is make sure these kids stay down and we'll reap the rewards!" he yelled to his men.
"NO!" yelled a voice from above.
They all looked up to one of the old buildings and saw Ashe. Ashe stood above them as thunder clashed and lighting lit up the sky.
"Oh hey there Ashe, shame on you for showing up late!" Damien mocked.
Ashe growled and yelled "Let them go!" as he jumped down from the building, landing on his feet like a cat.
"Make me! How about a rematch?" Damien asked.
"You and me Ante! None of our weapons, just a flat out brawl and your thugs don't interfere." Ashe demanded.
"Gladly. You heard him boys, this is between me and him, so back off. We got a score to settle." Damien said as he grinned.
The two men charged one another and collided. Ashe was knocked to the pavement as Damien landed on top of him and flipped over, but Ashe quickly recovered and jumped back up on his feet, his Semblance fueling him like a steroid. He landed a sucker punch across Damien's mouth which caused the crime lord to spit out blood.
Ashe jumped towards Damien but the crime lord caught him and the two fell to the ground again with Ashe kicking Damien in the stomach and sending him several meters away.
Both men got up but Ashe was faster and managed to grab a thin lead pipe on the ground and smashed Damien in the shoulder with it.
"Weak!" yelled Damien as he took out one of his daggers and slashed Ashe across the cheek. No reason he couldn't break the deal now that Ashe had already.
"Look who's talking!" Ashe yelled as he grabbed Damien's arm and twisted the crime lord around, giving Ashe the chance to land a wild punch into Damien's upper back. Damien roared out in anger as he swung a clumsy right hook punch which was made weaker by Jaune's earlier attack.
"Waste of skin and bones!" Ashe yelled as he dodged the punch, following it up by grabbing Damien by the head and smashing him into a bulldozer.
Damien growled in frustration as he slashed Ashe across the shoulder with his dagger but Ashe used this as leverage to grab Damien's arm and pull him close so he could bash his forehead into Damien's. He then punched Damien in the chest with an aura-charged punch that sent him flying into a wall.
Damien managed to recover and strike back by slashing Ashe across the hip. Ashe seethed in pain but kept himself steady, the pain was enough, however, to distract him from Damien's next move which was a kick to the stomach.
Ashe cried out in pain but he was able to grab Damien's leg and deliver a painful punch to the kneecap.
Damien screamed out in agony as his arms shot out and he wrapped his hands around Ashe's neck. He forced Ashe to the ground and kicked him in the face. Ashe tried to get up but Damien jumped on his back and tried to strangle him again.
Ashe yelled out in anger and managed to punch Damien in the face so hard it forced Damien to let go and fall off Ashe. Ashe kicked Damien in the back, forcing him to the ground. Damien grabbed his extra gun but Ashe grabbed his arm so he couldn't shoot him.
Ashe lifted with all his might and flipped Damien over his head, following it up with a kick to Damien's chest as he fell headfirst.
Ashe looked to Damien's thugs as they watched the fight. Trooper, Little Steve, Fireball, and Zhan all stood guard over the unconscious forms of Ruby and Jaune. Lao, Tom-Tom, and Merrick had all gotten down and now stood with the rest of Damien's gang, looking ready to fight.
"Let them go." Ashe demanded before a punch from a not out-of-it Damien stopped him from doing anything to enforce his will. Ashe turned around and drew his head back as Damien aimed his short blade at Ashe's mouth. Damien lurched forward and grabbed Ashe by the head and smashed his face into a crate.
Ashe elbowed Damien in the chest hard but the crime lord withstood it. Ashe did it again and he managed to wrestle himself free although he did receive a slash on his left shoulder in the process.
Ashe twirled around and tried to grab Damien only to be stopped by a punch to his wounded shoulder. Damien grabbed a piece of wood and shattered it over Ashe's head.
Ashe cried out in pain as Damien grabbed him and flipped him over, smashing him into a pile of crates. Ashe tried to get up but Damien kept him down with a kick to the face.
Ashe moaned in pain and spat out blood as he struggled to get up.
"You lose Ashe!" Damien said as he stood over the defeated Guerrilla Huntsman. "Too bad, I actually kinda like your style but there are two kinds of people in this world; victors and victims! And Ashe, buddy... you sure as hell are a victim." Damien said as he took out one of his dagger bombs.
"Victims, aren't we all?" Ashe muttered with a bitter smile.
"Not me." Damien said as he aimed to finish Ashe off.
Suddenly all of the thugs' cars began to explode, getting everyone's attention.
"The fuck?!" cried Damien, before a mighty hit from Magnhild sent him flying into his thugs, he survived the hit but at a cost of most of his aura.
Ashe looked up to see Nora. "Come on!" she cried as she grabbed his hand. Nora pulled Ashe to cover as Ren gave them covering fire with the StormFlowers.
Nora got Ashe behind the safety of a giant crane and looked him over.
"Oh you're hit up pretty bad Ashe... we saw some of your fight and I gotta say you were pretty awesome." Nora praised as Ren jumped down with them.
"There are still about thirty-some thugs out there, some are injured but they can still shoot." Ren reported.
"What about Ruby and Jaune?" Nora asked.
"Out cold, hit with tranquilizers. Cinder wants 'em alive, remember?" Ashe said.
Ren and Nora nodded, "What are we gonna do?" Nora asked.
"We fight." Ren said.
"How?! I'm all for a crazy awesome battle Ren, but even I know this is hopeless!" Nora pointed out.
"We have to try!" Ren said, raising his voice.
"Come on out! We have you surrounded!" yelled Troopers voice. Ren glanced over the side to see they were indeed surrounded by armed thugs. He could also see that Damien's enforcers were taking Ruby and Jaune to the downed ship, most likely to keep them alive during a shootout.
"What do we do?" Nora asked as she readied Magnhild for a fight.
"We fight." Ren said again.
Just then one of the thugs appeared around the bend and pointed his gun at them. "Hands up!" he yelled. Ashe whipped out one of his pistols and shot the thug dead center in the head, killing him instantly.
"You killed him!" cried Nora.
"I'm aware of that." Ashe said as he got ready to jump up and start fighting.
Ren grabbed Ashe and said "We can't fight them all, we need help."
"Ask and you shall receive!" said a female voice.
Everyone looked up to see a group of four teenagers looking over them from one of the rooftops. Arslan Altan, Bolin Hori, Reese Chloris, and Nadir Shiko all stood with their weapons drawn and in battle ready stances.
"Who the hell are you?!" Damien demanded.
"We're Team ABRN; nice to meet you. I'm looking forward to kicking your collective butts." Arslan said as fireballs grew in her hands. Reese's hoverboard split apart into two pistols and Nadir held out his assault rifle.
"Scatter!" yelled Trooper as Team ABRN opened fire. The team jumped down and continued to fight their way to Ren, Nora, and Ashe with Arslan punching anyone in her way along with throwing fireballs, Reese and Nadir blasting thugs, and Bolin hitting them with his staff.
Fireball yelled out as he sent a barrage of fire their way but Reese laid flat on her back on the ground and blasted the pyromaniac in the legs, taking him out of the fight.
They finally made it to cover and Arslan spoke as quick as she could.
"Arslan, we fought together at the Battle of Beacon." She said as she shook Ren's hand.
"I remember, how did you find us?" Ren asked as he took a chance and began firing on the thugs.
"I saw Ruby and Jaune running away from Ante, decided we needed to know what was up." Reese explained.
"Good thing too, we could really use the help!" Ashe said as he peeked out from behind the crane and shot a thug through the kneecaps enough times to drain his aura and end him.
"No! Fuck you!" yelled the thug's partner as he tried to shoot at Ashe only for Ashe to shoot him twice in the chest, killing him quickly.
"No more Mr. Nice Guy." Ashe muttered as rage began to power his aura. He didn't have much left but he was going to use what he had to demolish these thugs.
"Who is this guy?!" Arslan said, somewhat horrified by how casually he killed the thugs.
"Ashe, something of a friend of ours. He's on our side so right now that's good enough." Ren said.
"Okay, we gotta save Ruby and Jaune, anyone got a plan?" asked Nora as she fired a grenade from Magnhild.
"You kids take on Ante and his enforcers, get Ruby and Jaune back before Cinder gets here, which will be in two and a half minutes. I'll take on the mooks." Ashe said.
"Cinder? Did he say Cinder? As in Cinder Fall?" asked Reese, now sounding afraid.
"Don't be crazy! You'll be killed!" Bolin shouted.
Ashe gave the younger man a bitter smile and said "I'm not that lucky. Now go!"
The six teenagers ran out and began fighting their way through an army of street punks while Ashe went to work killing them.
"Take some of them down, make it easier for him!" Arslan commanded her team. Reese and Nadir nodded and they used their guns to blast away some of the thugs, and due to their weapons not being lethal on people they didn't kill them, but simply knocked them out cold. For her part, Arslan used her dagger's rope dart function to tie a thug's legs together and trip him up. The thug tried to grab his gun on the ground but Ashe finished him off with a kick to the neck. Ashe looked up and saw five thugs in front of him, all trying to shoot him. He used his aura shield and waited for them to reload, then he whipped out his rapid-fire shotgun and blasted all five away.
"Why don't you just fucking die?!" Damien yelled as he threw one of his dagger bombs at Ashe, who dodged it but Damien still detonated it. Ashe was sent flying through the air and he landed roughly on his side in front of a thug who he quickly blasted in the legs and stomach. He then jumped up and blasted away another thug, his aura and Semblance driving him all the way.
Damien decided he wasn't going to bother with another fight with Ashe right now so he ran back to the ship.
Ren, Nora, Arslan, Bolin, Reese, and Nadir all rushed to get to the downed airship only to find it guarded by Zhan, Little Steve, Trooper, Merrick, Tom-Tom, and Lao. Fireball had made it back to the ship. He sat near Ruby and Jaune guarding the two captives despite his injury along with Douglas and Dr. West who was healing Jaune's bullet wound.
"You want your friends back? You'll have to go through us first." Zhan said.
"Fine by me." Nora said with a smirk as she charged Little Steve. She smashed him in the chest with her war hammer sending him flying into one of the unfinished building's support beams, which caused several girders to begin falling.
Little Steve got up and smiled "I think I like this girl." He said as he began firing his minigun at her. Nora smiled in return as she fired a grenade at him and it was hit by his minigun but the impact sent him down. Nora rushed forward and began a series of electrified punches on the massive man, slowly but surely wearing him down. He tried to catch her, but Nora was just too fast.
Arslan ran towards Trooper with her fists set alight, she punched at his head but he easily dodged it. Trooper fired his rifle multiple times in a sweeping motion at her but Arslan was nimble enough to weave between the bullets. His clip soon emptied but he easily reloaded as he dodged her attacks. He opened fire on the mocha skinned girl but Arslan used her fireballs to heat up the bullets and reduce them to molten slag, allowing her to dodge them easily.
Trooper grimaced at this; like Lao and Zhan he felt fighting these kids was beneath him. There was also the issue that he didn't really want to do this but he had no choice, less he invoke the wrath of Cinder.
She slammed her fist into Trooper's face, knocking him to the ground. Trooper tried to get up but Arslan used her rope attached to her dagger to tie his legs together. She jumped on top of him and used her enhanced strength to smash his face into the pavement and take him out of the fight. He managed to roll away and used his hands to propel himself up only for Arslan to take him out with a kick to the head.
Bolin charged Merrick with his Bo-Staff in a jabbing form. Merrick fired off three shots but Bolin managed to evade all of them. Bolin swung his staff in a sweeping blow only for Merrick to lean back and dodge it. Merrick aimed his rifle at Bolin's face again but Bolin slammed it away with his staff. Merrick pushed a button on his gun and then he tossed it up in the air as the barrel of the gun retraced like a telescope and a machete replaced it. He wasn't a very talented melee fighter but he knew he was enough to stand a chance against someone not even half his age.
"Come on then!" he beckoned. He slammed his machete down but Bolin blocked it with his staff. The Marksman tried to slash Bolin across the legs but Bolin jumped up, he swung at Bolin's head but he ducked down. Merrick growled as he tried to slam the teen across the back with the blade but Bolin blocked it, grabbed the gun and pulled Merrick close, finishing him off with his staff slamming on the sniper's forehead.
Ashe charged another thug with a gun and jump-kicked him, he then grabbed his head and twisted it, snapping the thug's neck. Ashe attacked the next thug and hit him with a weapon he had kept hidden, a switchblade, and used it to slash the thug across the chest and throat. Ashe put the switchblade in his mouth as he grabbed the thug before he could drop dead and used him as a meat shield to block bullets from the other thugs. Ashe opened fire from behind the dead body and took out four more henchmen.
Ashe dropped his human shield just as another thug rushed him. Ashe grabbed him and threw him into a part of the scaffolding that had taken a lot of hits in the battles before. A steel girder sat on top of the scaffolding and all the shaking forced it to fall off. The unlucky thug looked up and screamed as the girder fell on him and it crushed his body with a sickening 'crunch'. Ashe closed his eyes and winced as blood and gore splattered around the area.
Two more thugs began to charge Ashe, which made him grin in amusement. He spat out his switchblade and asked "How stupid are you guys?" He slashed one across the throat with the blade, killing him quickly. Ashe was about to fight the other thug before seven more thugs on the other side of the site began opening fire on Ashe's position. Ashe quickly ducked down behind a vehicle to avoid the bullets, but the thug wasn't so fortunate. Ashe reloaded his guns and laughed, "This has been quite a day!"
Nadir transformed his gun to its sword mode and held it up as Lao swung his katana, ready to fight. "Throw down your sword and surrender boy." Lao said.
"I'd rather die." Nadir quipped, exaggerating greatly.
"Fine by me." Lao said as he plunged his blade at Nadir who just barely blocked it. Lao swung his sword again and again, each time Nadir guarded against the attacks but knew he wasn't any good at fighting a trained professional like this. Lao attacked again, Nadir guarded just barley avoiding a nasty slash across the chest. Lao grinned as he struck again.
Reese got on her hoverboard and flew at and over Tom-Tom who used his mallet to smash her board in half. "You're so lucky it can reattach!" Reese yelled as she transformed the two halves into their gun modes. She began firing on the enforcer and he tried to take cover behind the bulldozer only for Reese to hit him in the back.
Reese grinned as she reattached her guns back to their hoverboard form and ran over to the downed Tom-Tom. "Not the face! Not in the face, please! Anywhere but the face!" he begged.
"Okay." Said Reese innocently. She then used her hoverboard to smash Tom-Tom in the groin.
"Why does today hate me?" Tom-Tom asked with a high-pitched voice. Reese looked over and saw that Nadir wasn't doing too good. Lao had managed to score a hit on Nadir's shoulder and her pink-haired teammate was fighting back wildly. Reese saw that Arslan and Bolin had started to take down some of the remaining injured thugs so they didn't notice.
Reese grabbed the weakened Tom-Tom and hoisted him onto her hoverboard. She flew over and tossed Tom-Tom into Lao before the swordsman could land a killing blow into Nadir's chest. "Thanks Reese." Nadir said as he got up.
"Anytime my..." Reese began to say before a thug who had gotten to a scaffolding began to fire at them. "Come on!" Reese said, grabbing Nadir and pulling him to cover.
Meanwhile the seven thugs stopped firing their guns at Ashe to reload; Ashe took a look out and saw how close they had gotten to him. Ashe made his move; he jumped up over the vehicle and landed in front of one of the thugs, pulled him close and fired three rounds into the man's chest.
The thug next to them was so close that he was able to point his gun only a few inches away from Ashe's face. He pulled the trigger but nothing happened. The thug's gun was jammed. Ashe laughed as he kicked the thug down and blasted his head apart with the shotgun.
Ashe blasted another thug down with his shotgun before he decided to give his sword a workout. He unsheathed the blade and slashed a charging thug across the waist, spilling his guts. Ashe ran forward and decapitated another thug, but Ashe knew this rampage would soon end as he was feeling more tired than he had in years.
The remaining thug threw down his gun and took out a sword as he approached Ashe. Ashe grinned sinisterly and rushed forward; in a flash he had sliced the thug's arm off with his Semblance charged speed. The swordsman screamed in pain before Ashe ended him with a blade through the chest.
"You're all gonna die!" Ashe screamed in fury. He looked up and saw the gunner who had pinned down Nadir and Reese. "No you don't." Ashe muttered as he took out his shotgun and blasted the thug in the side. The gunner screamed as he fell off the girder and to his death.
Ren fired his twin guns at Zhan who fired back with the aura draining bullets but the two warriors managed to dodge each others' blasts. Ren cried out in pain as one of the bullets grazed his upper-arm, taking some of his aura with it.
Ren took cover behind a stack of crates and slammed the StormFlowers into their combined form that resembled a bow and blasted Zhan in the arm, landing several hits. "Ah! Damn it!" yelled Zhan in pain. Ren took advantage of his victory and rushed forward, using the sharp end of one of the StormFlowers to slash the illusionist across the chest, only for his enemy to dissipate, revealing it be an illusion.
"No..." muttered Ren as he felt a gun at the back of his head.
"Yes." Zhan said as he prepared to fire.
"NO!" screamed the voice of Nora.
Zhan glanced to his right only to see Magnhild as it slammed into him. "Ah!" screamed Zhan for real this time as Ren swung around and slashed the illusionist across the chest and kicked him in the gut knocking him down.
"Word of warning: never try to hurt Ren while I'm around." Nora said as she picked Zhan up and slammed an electrified fist into his face, taking him out.
"Thanks Nora, did you take out the big guy?" Ren asked.
"You bet." Nora said cheerfully, as Little Steve screaming "I am in such pain!" could be heard in the background.
"Now let's get Ruby and Jaune out of that ship and get out of here." Nora said.
"I think we might have another problem." Ren said as he pointed up to the sky. Nora looked up and saw a medium sized ship approaching the site.
Ashe grabbed another henchman and snapped his neck, taking advantage of every bit of strength he had left. Ashe couldn't keep this up, his aura was running low. They needed to end this soon.
He used his shotgun to blast away three more henchmen but a dark feeling, an aura very familiar to him made him stop and turn to see a ship arriving.
As the ship began to land Ashe looked around at the carnage he had caused, all this death and destruction because of him. When Mila died Ashe's soul was hardened, he didn't mind killing those who were against him. Ashe didn't see himself as a hero, just as another shadow of Remnant that made it such a dark world. He hadn't let the hate control him, but he still felt like a monster.
A group of four robotic, black versions of the Atlesian Knights flew out of the ship and began to open fire on the six teenage Hunters-in-training. Bolin cried out as a blast hit him in the back but Arslan jumped in front of her friend before he could get hit anymore and kept the laser blasts at bay with her fireballs which caused the blasts to explode before they could reach them. Reese and Nadir ran over to them and grabbed the injured Bolin. "Fall back!" Arslan ordered.
"What are those things?!" Nadir cried.
"Not friendly, now move!" Arslan commanded.
Team ABRN retreated to the front of the construction site, given cover by Nora, Ren, and Ashe. The ship landed and three more teenagers came out, Damien grinned at them and said "About damn time!"
"Mercury! Emerald! And...uh...other girl..." Nora said as she looked as Neo.
"Nice to see you guys, now do us a favor and drop dead!" Mercury said as he ran forward and jumped up, a gun blast coming out of his mechanical leg, but Nora knocked it away with her war-hammer. Nora used one of her grenades to launch herself at Mercury and she appeared right in front of him, flooring him with a punch to the face.
"This is for Yang!" she yelled as she slammed Magnhild down on his robotic leg, crushing it almost flat, his aura did nothing to stop her in time. Mercury screamed out in pain and Emerald attacked Nora and forced her back, firing her guns at the redhead. "There, now it's broken for real!" Nora said cheekily as she ran back to Ren and Ashe as Ren gave her covering fire, but Ashe was too distracted as he looked up and saw a woman clad in red standing on the ship's ramp, one with glowing amber eyes.
"No... it can't be..." he whispered in horror.
"It's her!" Nora yelled as Cinder came down.
"You actually managed to do all this damage and cause us this much trouble. Congratulations." Cinder said as she raised her hands up.
Ashe felt something powerful spread all around the site. Spent bullets and bits of debris began lifting up in the air and turning into sharp pieces of ice.
"You are all fine warriors, I must admit, but you are in the way." Cinder said.
She began to send the sharp, frozen objects at the kids. Ren, Nora, and Ashe ran for it with Team ABRN blasting away at the icy projectiles trying to give their allies more time.
"Load Rose and Arc into my ship, get what's left of your men in as well. We will handle these pests." Cinder said to Damien as she continued to launch her frozen weapons with mighty gusts of wind. Damien nodded as West, Douglas, and the rest of the enforcers got up and moved to load Jaune and Ruby. Damien looked up and saw a few security cameras around. He'd have to pull a few small strings and make sure that footage never made it to anyone, but he knew it may come in handy for his own personal needs.
"Knights, surround them! Don't let them escape!" Emerald called to the Grimm Knights as she helped up the injured Mercury.
The Knights obeyed her command and took flight. They came down and surrounded Team ABRN, aiming their guns at them. Reese and Nadir readied their own guns while Arslan lit up the palms of her hands with fireballs.
Ashe, Ren, and Nora tried to take cover from the icy debris only for Cinder's winds to blow their cover away. "Get to your friends, I'll stop Cinder!" Ashe yelled.
"Don't be an idiot! Your aura is depleted, you can't possibly take her." Ren said, trying to reason with the older man.
"Who said anything about fighting her?" Ashe asked as he grabbed his mother's whistle, held it up to his mouth, and blew into it.
A loud, shrill series of peeps echoed throughout the slums.
Cinder's eyes dimmed and widened in shock. Her hand spread open and the frozen projectiles fell to the ground and shattered.
"No... it can't be..." she said as she looked at Ashe. She held her hands up and yelled "STOP!"
Everyone paused; some too scared to defy Cinder. They all watched as Cinder and Ashe approached one another until they were mere inches away from each other.
"Ashe... you've grown so much..." Cinder said, her eyes the softest they had been in a long time.
"Cinder... I didn't want to believe..." Ashe said, his eyes softening as well, but they looked sad.
"Uhhh, Ren; what's going on?" Nora whispered.
"I don't know..." Ren said, totally confused, but he feared he knew the answer to her question.
Emerald and Mercury looked at each other, both clueless as to what was going on. Even Neo was watching with interest.
What happened next shocked everyone: Cinder and Ashe hugged each other.
They held that pose for half a minute before Ashe grinned and said "I'm finally taller than you."
"Oh shut up." Cinder said, a smirk on her lips.
Damien looked to Mercury and Emerald who both shrugged, so he decided to ask the question that was on everyone's minds.
"Excuse me, but what the fuck is this?!" he yelled.
"Not gonna lie, we're just as lost as you." Nora called.
Ashe turned to face the two young people he had begun to consider friends and said "Remember how I was coming to Haven to find my sister?" he asked.
Ren's eyes widened and he whispered "No..."
"Cinder is my sister." Ashe revealed.
"WHAT?!" Nora screamed in confusion, hurt, and anger.
"What a twist." Mercury quipped, earning him an annoyed look from Emerald and Neo. "Sorry, couldn't resist." He said weakly.
Ashe and Cinder looked at one another, noticing how much they had changed.
"You've aged quite a bit." Cinder said.
"You've barely aged at all! You were fifteen when you left; you should be thirty-five but you look like you're only eighteen or nineteen!" Ashe cried.
"My Master did something to my genetic makeup to prevent me from physically aging." Cinder said.
"Your master?" Ashe asked in confusion.
"Yes, the one who will purge this world of all its weaknesses, the one who controls the Grimm." Cinder said.
"...Salem." Ashe guessed, remembering that name their parents would only speak in whispers.
Cinder nodded as she said "She offered me so much little brother; she helped me gain these powers." Cinder said as a gust of wind and fire wrapped around her arm. "She helped me make our family's Semblance stronger than our parents ever could." She added.
"Salem's behind all this, isn't she?" Ashe asked.
"Yes. After that night she gave me a purpose and a new life. I was no longer just the pretty but powerful future guardian of the Aura Crystal; I was the future Autumn Maiden. She saw me and how unhappy I was with my destiny so she helped me transform it." Cinder said.
"You... you weren't happy with the life we had? Mom and dad loved us! Dad taught you almost everything he knew! Mom showered you with love! Wasn't that good enough?!" Ashe cried.
"No! I wasn't going to be some pretty face that guarded an old religious bauble that most don't even know existed! I wanted to be more, I was destined to be so much more and Salem helped me achieve that destiny!" Cinder retorted.
"There is no such thing as destiny Cinder!" Ashe said angrily.
"I beg to differ, little Ashe. She helped me become the Fall Maiden, she gave me powers most can't even begin to comprehend. Destiny is oh so real! I am no longer Cinder Kasai, I am Cinder Fall!" Cinder said, glaring at him.
The two siblings looked at one another and Cinder said "You kept mom's whistle after all these years?"
"She loved it. She would always blow into it whenever you and dad left to train. When I left our home that day I took what I could, including this." Ashe said as he showed her his sword.
"Our father's sword..." Cinder said. She looked around at the carnage and death around her and she realized that Ashe had killed nearly all of these men.
"You have a darkness in you, little brother." She said.
"Yes. I feel anger, hate, and rage but I don't want it to define me, and yet I keep letting it out like this. You have no idea how much of it I have." Ashe said.
"You shouldn't hide it, it can give you power." Cinder said with her eyes glowing once again.
"I know, and I hate that power. Look around at these men Cinder. Men who probably had families, they had lives and I took them away without hesitation. We're both monsters Cinder. I've heard about what you've done, you're responsible for so many deaths... I... my life has been so hard." He said, tears forming in his eyes.
Cinder grabbed his hands comfortingly, made her brother look her in the eyes and said "Show me. I remember that our mother taught you the memory sharing spell while father and I were away. Show me what you have suffered through." She begged him.
"I haven't used it in over a decade, but I remember how to do it." Ashe said as he put his right hand on Cinder's forehead and muttered a word no one could hear.
Cinder cried out as she got flashes of a lonely little Ashe living with a kindly old woman from their home valley, training with a sword and guarding over something that shone brightly. She saw him walk far, all over Remnant. She saw him join up with Guerrilla Hunters and suffer through horrible training. She saw the pit of Grimm that slaughtered so many but she didn't see how Ashe had escaped that hell. She saw Ashe's trauma, the many scars he received over the years, the lonely nights in the woods. She saw a rather beautiful blue-eyed girl with raven hair running a book store in a village in Mistral that suffered through many Grimm attacks. She saw her brother taking up the mantle of the village's protector, she saw a love blossom between he and the girl. She saw a dark man... a drug lord... someone familiar. She saw the girl stabbed in the heart, dying in Ashe's arms. She saw her little brother lose control and battle the drug lord with such blind fury and throw him off a cliff to a horde of Grimm. She saw Ashe wander the world yet again with something... the Aura Crystal.
Cinder tore herself away from Ashe before she could see anything else. "Oh Ashe, how you have suffered." She said as tears formed in her own eyes.
Ashe nodded solemnly as he hid something from Cinder, he had gotten a glimpse at her memories as well. Not a good look since it seemed that Cinder had been trained to withstand memory probes but he had looked enough to see something resembling a factory and a figure who he assumed was Salem.
"You... you still have it, don't you?" Cinder said, getting Ashe's attention. Ashe was filled with dread as he realized he had shown her that he still had the Aura Crystal.
"Ashe, my beloved little brother, join me and give the crystal to me." Cinder offered.
Ashe looked at his older sister, not saying anything but everyone could tell he was conflicted.
"Why do you want it? You just said it was nothing more than a religious bauble." Ashe pointed out.
"After I joined her my master told me just how important the Aura Crystal was! She told me how our family and those before us squandered its power and left it to gather dust." Cinder said.
"Did Salem try to get her hands on it?" Ashe asked.
"Yes, but her agents found nothing in the ruins of our home. I always assumed you took it and threw in into a lake or something but now I know you have had it this entire time! If you give it to me, I will be able to do such amazing things..." Cinder said, her amber eyes glowing with anticipation and a small smile on her lips.
Ashe turned around and sighed. He looked to Nora and Ren who were looking at him with looks of worry and anger.
"Just tell me where the crystal is, and together we can do wonders." Cinder said.
There was silence yet again as thunder roared. Rain began to pour lightly.
"Think he'll do it?" Damien asked Emerald. "I don't really know..." Emerald said, feeling very unsure about what was transpiring before her.
Cinder was getting annoyed by her brother's silence and she called "Think of it Ashe! Think of all we can do with the crystal! The magnificent power it could grant us! The things we could discover! If we work together we may even find a way to reverse death itself! Don't you see? It's the chance of a lifetime!"
Ren saw that tears were now falling from Ashe's eyes, his eyes were that of a man trying so hard not to break.
"We can find a way to grant immortality and resurrect the innocents killed in this conflict! We can bring back your love and you can have a life again! You can be with her and have a family!"
Ashe sobbed and said "You have no idea how much I'd like that big sis. To kiss Mila and wake her from death and live happily ever after in a castle just like in a fairy tale... but this isn't a fairy tale Cinder. This is reality. I can't give into those desires because I know it's wrong. I'm not a good man despite how badly I want to be, look at all these people I have killed for proof of that, but I won't give in. I know about what you did at Beacon, the deaths you're responsible for... you killed someone my friend loved... I can't let you take it."
"You are friends with these children? I think that will change now that they know who you really are." Cinder said.
Ashe nodded and said "Maybe, but I won't abandon them. I'll fight with them every step of the way."
Silence reigned again as the rain began to come down harder.
Cinder grabbed her brother with her Maiden powers, spun him around and screamed "YOU MUST LET ME HAVE IT!"
Ashe looked her in the eye. His sister was gone; all that was left was Cinder Fall.
"Cinder... you're insane. I have to stop you." He said.
"Stop me? Brother, don't be an idiot! Your aura is down, you are exhausted, and I can do so much with my powers! You don't stand a chance against me. Now take me to the crystal and I may consider letting Rose and Arc go for the time being." She said.
Ashe considered her offer and knew she wouldn't hold it. He remembered the pit, he remembered how he got out. A spell his mother taught him when Cinder and their father were away.
He had no choice but to use it on his sister that he had finally been reunited with after two decades. He didn't have much aura left but with some luck he would have enough to pull this off.
"What do you say?" Cinder asked.
"Haakskeekah." Ashe answered.
"What?" Cinder gasped.
Cinder was sent flying into the skeleton of a building with a powerful blast of aura.
Ashe began to float in midair as his yellow eyes became violet.
He swung around and shot out his hand to the Grimm Knights who were all aiming their weapons at him. "Take him down!" yelled Emerald.
"Haakskeekah!" Ashe screamed and another blast of aura smashed into the four robots as Team ABRN ducked down. They watched as a purple light surged through the mechanical warriors and they exploded.
"What the hell is this?!" Damien screamed as he tried to shoot Ashe with his gun.
Ashe glared at Damien with a smirk and glowing purple eyes. "All your nightmares rolled into one! Haakskeekah!" he cried out, sending another aura blast at the building, causing scaffolding and girders to fall on Cinder's ship. He knew he couldn't beat Cinder in a fight, even if he had been at full strength, but he had to try.
"Ren, Nora! Fight back, get Ruby and Jaune out!" Ashe yelled.
"Not a chance in hell!" yelled Damien as he, his recovering enforcers, and Emerald all began to open fire on the teens, forcing them to stay away.
An explosion rocked the site as Cinder flew out of the unfinished building, held up by streams of flame; her eyes were glowing with fury and frustration. "You idiot! I offered you immortality! I offered you a place among us! I don't know how you learned the Haakskeekah but you will pay for this arrogance with your life!" she yelled as she summoned up flaming Dust and sent it flying at Ashe.
Ashe tried to summon up an aura shield but the Haakskeekah just took up too much of his aura so he couldn't repel that blast and he was forced down to the ground.
He got up and yelled "Haakskeekah!" again but Cinder withstood it with her flaming Dust and her Maiden powers as she floated in the air.
Cinder created her bow and arrow out of the Dust and aimed at Ashe. She pulled back the string and let go.
Ashe used his emotion Semblance to act quickly and grabbed the arrow with his arm. Cinder grimaced as she made a motion with her fingers, causing the arrow to explode.
Ashe fell to the ground, writing in pain as his arm began to bleed badly.
Cinder used the wind powers to grab Ashe and bring him to her. She took hold of his neck and squeezed it tight.
"You know little brother; 'Haakskeekah' is a very poor choice of last words, and yet it is far from being the worst mistake you've made in the last few minutes." She said as she tightened her grip.
"How about this; I'm glad you changed your last name, you bitch." Ashe snarled.
"That's better." Cinder said as she used her Maiden powers to throw Ashe down to one of the vehicles. Ashe crashed and screamed out in pain as his body collided with the metal, his eyes going back to their natural color.
Cinder dropped to the ground and began to approach her brother.
"Stop her!" yelled Arslan as she began to throw fireballs at Cinder, aided by Reese and Nadir who opened fire on the Fall Maiden. Cinder sighed in annoyance, she turned all their attacks into ice with a simple gesture and sent them right back at Team ABRN, forcing them to scatter.
Cinder made it to Ashe and said "Before I end this Ashe, I want to confess a sin; you remember the night our parents died? I lied to you. I was the one who killed mother."
Ashe's eyes widened in horror and everyone watched the scene play out, all except Nora who loaded up Magnhild with another round of grenades.
"And now..." Cinder said as she reconstructed the bow and arrow out of thin air, "I'm going to finish what I started twenty years ago."
Ashe closed his eyes. 'Jaune, Ruby, Mila, mom... dad... I'm sorry. I failed all of you.' He thought. He opened his eyes and looked to see something he didn't expect. Cinder was hesitating.
"Get away from him!" yelled Nora.
Cinder turned her head just in time for Magnhild to smash into her and send her flying. "That's for Ashe!" Nora yelled as she ran at Cinder with her fists glowing with electricity. Cinder tried to get up but was put right back down with two painfully charged punches from Nora "That's for Ruby! That's for Jaune!" the redhead screamed as she punched with all her might.
Cinder was forced down to the ground as Nora kicked her in the stomach. "That's for everyone who died because of you!" she cried as she lifted up her war-hammer and sent the Fall Maiden flying again. "That's for Team JNPR!"
Cinder collided with some scaffolding and she fell with a groan of pain. How was it possible that this child had taken her so easily?! How?!
Was her reunion with Ashe doing something to her?
Cinder looked up and saw Nora, her eyes filled with furious tears, about to fire a grenade.
"And this is for Pyrrha, you monster!"
Before Nora could strike Emerald ran over and got in front of her. "No!" the mocha skinned girl yelled.
Nora fired the grenade and the explosion blew away an illusion of both Cinder and Emerald.
Nora looked over as she saw Emerald and Neo getting a battered Cinder to the ship as it began to take off with the unconscious Ruby and Jaune, Damien, his enforcers, a few remaining thugs, and Mercury already on board. "No! You aren't getting away!" she yelled as she tried to shoot them down.
A turret came out of the ship's top and tried to fire on Nora only for Ren to grab her and get her out of the way.
"So long kids!" laughed Damien as the ship took off into the stormy sky.
Nora and Ren watched helplessly as the airship left taking Ruby and Jaune with it.
Ren turned to see Ashe on the muddy ground as rain poured on him.
"What just happened?" asked Arslan as she and her battered team came out from their cover.
"They got Jaune and Ruby. Cinder has them... oh Oum... not again!" Nora said as she began to cry.
Ren walked over to Ashe and grabbed him, slamming him into one of the vehicles.
"Explain now or I shoot you." Ren ordered. Ashe looked at Ren with eyes of a man who was trying not to break, the eyes of a man who was so tired he could die.
"Ren, don't." Nora said calmly.
"He lied to us Nora; it's his fault Ruby and Jaune have been captured, it's his fault!" Ren cried, losing his calm personality as tears began to fall from his eyes.
"It's not his fault. He tried to save them Ren; he tried to fight Cinder despite how tired he was. Please Ren; don't force me to be the voice of reason, I'm no good at it." Nora pleaded as she hugged Ren from behind.
"I'm sorry." Ashe said.
Team ABRN watched as Ren let Ashe go. Ashe fell to the ground, unconscious.
"We need to get him to a doctor; all of us could use one after this." Arslan said, trying to take charge.
"My mom's one. We can go to my house." Reese said.
"Then let's go." Ren said as he helped Ashe up and Nora helped him carry Ashe to Team ABRN.
Just then a ringing sound was heard.
"Someone's scroll." Said Bolin, everyone looked at their own but the ringing wasn't coming from any of theirs.
Ren looked to a crate by the entrance and saw Jaune and Pyrrha's scroll, somehow unharmed. He ran over to it and answered it.
"Hello?" he asked, recognizing the caller's voice as Bianca's "Ren! Thank goodness, where's Jaune?"
Ren sighed and said "I'm sorry Bianca. They got him." Ren said. He walked away and began to explain what had occurred as the rest of the group left the construction site with him, all before police or the Atlas soldiers could even get within a block of the place.
Cinder sat in the ship, her powerful aura healing the wounds she had sustained. She watched as West attended to Mercury and the other injured survivors of the battle. Cinder clenched her fist as she looked at the unconscious Ruby and Jaune. "It will all be worth it." she muttered to herself.
"Cinder, was that guy really your brother?" Emerald asked.
Cinder simply nodded.
Blake entered the small room at the Inn she had decided to stay at for the night. She had made it to the village where Claudandus had told her the White Fang were near, but she decided to rest herself and look for them tomorrow at full strength.
She sat down on the bed and took out her scroll, seeing texts from Sun, who never gave up trying to reach her.
"'I'm so sorry Sun, but I have to do this alone so no one else I care about can get hurt like Yang did." she said to herself, going back to sleep and hoping she didn't dream of Adam or Yang again.
Dr. Kimball walked down the staircase of Taiyang's home and saw Yang's father, mother, and uncle all waiting in the living room. Zwei was cuddling up to Taiyang who looked up and saw the doctor.
"Is Yang..."
"She's fine Mr. Xiao Long and the surgery was a complete success. She'll need a check up every six months to keep the prosthetic healthy and well kept but she will make a full recovery." Kimball assured him.
"Oh thank you doctor." Taiyang said.
"You could thank me, I'm the one who brought him here." Qrow said.
Taiyang chuckled and said "I guess I do owe you, thank you Qrow."
"No problem, she's my niece after all." Qrow said.
"What will happen now?" Raven asked.
"Well Yang will probably go out there, try to find her friends and get the team back together. Then maybe they'll have a chance of taking Cinder Fall down." Qrow said.
"What about Ruby? We don't even know what's been going down in Haven." Taiyang pointed out.
"Actually I do have a loose clue. After I went inside to let you and sis have at it I got a message from Goodwitch, tells me Ruby and the Arc kid have been spotted in Haven, fighting some thugs inside the Seras Kalifa of all places. We don't know what happened, they jumped out the window of the one-hundred-and-thirty-eighth floor and got away, but Atlas' boys are facing so much pressure to leave the city that they weren't able to follow." Qrow said.
"We have to go and help them! I..."
"No dad." said the voice of Yang.
The four adults turned to see Yang on the staircase and one of the nurses failing to stop her. "Ruby can handle this, she may act like a little kid but she's the more mature out of the two of us... kinda. Weiss is with her dad, so I need to find Blake." she said.
"Your Faunus friend Sun has already gone off to find her, he and his team left Haven about a day ago." Qrow said.
"Good, I'll call them and meet up with them, I know you can help me out with that Uncle Qrow." she said.
"Indeed I can." Qrow confirmed.
Yang held out her new, robotic arm and flexed it. The fingers moved so naturally that you couldn't tell they were mechanical. "Thanks doc, I really owe you for this." Yang said to the bearded man.
"It's what I do. This arm is stronger than your original and your gauntlet will function the same as it always had, but I advise you rest before you try to do anything drastic." he said.
Yang looked at her mother and approached her.
"Yang, I'm so sorry for every..."
Raven was silenced by a metal fist to the face.
Everyone watched in awe as Yang grabbed her downed mother and hoisted her up.
"You left me, you left dad, you didn't help us at Beacon..." Yang said as she punched her birth-mother for each thing, taking out all of her pent up emotions. "I lost my arm, my partner, my sister!" Yang could no longer continue, she broke down crying. "Why?!" Yang screamed as she hugged her birth-mother.
Tears welled up in Raven's crimson eyes as she hugged her daughter for the first time in years.
Taiyang couldn't keep himself back. He rushed forward and wrapped his arms around his daughter and the woman he once loved.
As Yang continued crying Qrow sighed and muttered "Nice scene. Get some rest kiddo, I'll take the doctor and his staff back to Atlas and tomorrow we'll get you to your friend."
"Don't you need to sleep?" Taiyang asked as the nurses began removing the surgical equipment from the house.
"I don't sleep much anymore Taiyang. See you around." Qrow said as he left the house.
Soon the small, reunited family was left alone. Daughter, father, and mother.
So... lot happened in this chapter, huh? Bad guys won for the time being. Since this is a big chapter there will be a huge notes section!
What did you think about the twist with Ashe and Cinder? I'm afraid I made it too obvious or I didn't set it up enough and people will say it came out of nowhere. I mean; Ashe, Cinder, it was a bit obvious. If you don't like Ashe than you tell me why and if you don't then you're in luck since he'll be comatose for the next few chapters.
Ashe is not a good man, despite how hard he tries to be. Violence will always call him back and he will answer its call. And yes, he did kill thirty one people in this chapter, so he's in a morally dark area as far as I'm concerned. I wanted to show Cinder's range of emotions here; show some softness in her and show us what she's like when she mad, which we haven't really seen in the show properly as so far she's been pretty much in control, the only time she seems to show emotion other than serenity is when Ruby's eyes activate in V3's finale.
There's a big contrast between Jaune and Ashe: Jaune killed in self-defense and Ashe just went on a rampage. I hoped you liked Jaune in this chapter, as I wanted to give him a true, epic badass moment.
Ruby's breakdown will be an important development for her in this story as she has never really killed anyone, seeing as how she doesn't really see the Grimm as living beings, but she had accidentally killed two people and she never wanted to do that.
Zhan's aura draining bullets are why Jazzman's aura didn't heal him back in chapter 2.
There was supposed to be a Yang vs. Raven fight at the end, but I decided a more emotional confrontation was more appropriate.
The word Haakskeekah actually comes from an early version of the great fantasy film 'The Dark Crystal' where the villains of the film, the Skeksis, spoke in a weird alien language with no subtitles and in one scene they debate who will lead them they were to shout out 'Haakskeekah!' but the final version was changed so they all spoke English and they yelled 'Trial by Stone!' instead, but I like the crazy early version so I decided to reference it.
Hope you liked this one; spent a week on it and hours on it and wore myself out with it so I hope my efforts are appreciated.