Yangs' eyes slowly opened and her vision slowly came into focus, a dark figure was doing something on the other side of the room, slowly turning to her they looked kinda like Blake as they stepped into view though it was someone she really didn't want to see
"You failed everyone. Your friends, your family, yourself. You. Are. Weak." he said causing her to flinch away "That's probably why your mother abandoned you..." he said his eyes quickly meeting hers as he spoke the final words of his statement "She was ashamed of you." and he vanish as darkness once again over took her. To Blake though, Yang began to thrash around crying out for her mother, before falling limp, she had upset her wound and began to bleed once more, Blake just sighed before moving to re-wrap her wound, she was scared that Yang wouldn't wake up, but from what the doctors had told them she was just recovering from trauma... but when she wakes she'll only have more, Sephiroths 'gift' didn't go unexplained by Ruby, no one on their team had seen her so angry before, to be honest Blake was pretty certain that she was gonna tear apart the world to hunt him down. Some noises from down stairs did earn her attention though, walking towards the door she rested her ear against it, shattering glass earned her worry, quickly flinging the door open she began to make her way down stairs, her heart began to race as she heard voices from below
"You cant just-"
"I know what I saw-"
"Well you clearly didn't do anything, just get out of here."
"I can't leave you two in horrific danger like that."
"But you'll leave your brother."
"I didn't want to, but that... thing isn't something you can fight. He killed that Wyvern, with ease."
There was a silence that followed after that the two stopped talking both were silent
"If you think that I'll believe that, then your crazier than before. Now leave I-"
"Tai please! I want... I want to see yang grow strong, this is the perfect way to help the with that, now that Qrows' gone... she's all I'll have."
"So what am I? A fuckin' paperweight?"
"You know it's not like that."
"Well that's how you're making it sound."
"She can't stay in the civilized world anymore, not with that thing, I'm even extending this offer to you. Please, you both can come with me we can be safe."
"All you want to do is say 'I told you so', but guess what, we don't need you! We never did! Just leave!"
Tais' anger was clearly rising and the other woman was silent for a few moments before the sound of furniture moving violently was heard as well as two bodies hitting the floor, quickly running down stairs a purple wave of energy careened through the building causing Blake to duck as the wood splintered and the lights went out, the splinter that went through the building began to glow a dim orange that began to grow brighter, the sofa quickly began to gain flames as Zwei quickly vacated the surface whining as the two in the kitchen rushed out, Tai quickly looked around until his eyes landed on her
"Grab Yang, take her to the village, then find Ruby and get out of here!" he ordered as Zwei ran upstairs, the front door was thrown from it's hinges striking Tai and threw him into the kitchen
Without words Sephiroth stepped into the building causing Blake to pale and take a step up the stairs as his eyes landed on her, taking a step towards her the woman stepped in the way and removed her mask glaring at the man who smiled
"You killed my brother." she growled drawling her weapon which was a long red bladed katana, preparing herself to attack the mans smile widened
"I don't recall, you all look the same to me." he answered causing her glare to intensify "Perhaps my present reached you too?" he questioned as he raised his hand launching a wave of purple energy at her which she failed to dodge and was sent into the wall unable to move as he walked towards the kitchen, Blake quickly bolted up stairs barely avoiding getting cleaved in half as he walked towards the kitchen, smoke was already filling the building, as the undeterred flames began to grow larger, as she made her way down the hall and quickly pushed open the door to Yangs' room, Zwei was no where to be found, quickly Grabbing Yang from the bed she began to move towards the door out when it was blocked, not by Sephiroth, but by Pyrrha who still seemed worse for wear
"What's happening?" she asked as the dog continued to pulling at her pant leg
"We have to go, now! Tai told me to grab Yang and run, now lets go!" she quickly explained as she pushed past Pyrrha and towards the stairs, soon she was helped by said woman to carry Yang, making their way downstairs the flames have already begun to engulf the whole first floor of the building making their way outside they began towards the forest to avoid being followed, and maybe to find a place to hide
(o)
Tai suffered a strike to the jaw before being impaled his vision blurring then faded as Raven screamed his name. The woman on the other hand was causing him to waste his time, she had quite a diverse number of blades that were imbued with different elements, not that he really had much to worry about, blocking all her strikes was easy enough, she is strong for a human, but just for a human. He was far greater than any of them could fathom, and thus she would fall too. As he broke her aura he waited for her to land, but she was far craftier, as she flew through the air a black and red tear formed behind her and she fell into it as it snapped shut behind her
"Interesting." he muttered as the building began to collapse inward, the sounds reminded him of his true birth, in the flames of Nibelheim, walking towards the entrance he smiled at what he saw on the other side, stepping out as the doorway as the building collapsed inward behind him he found Ruby tears running down her face as she stared past him at her home as it smoked and grew into a massive flame
Dropping to her knees Ruby hugged herself as she began to sob, smiling down at her he spoke
"Looks like you failed again." he said causing her to clench the sides of her head trying to ignore his words
"Why? Why this?! What happened to make this what you are?" She questioned with a broken voice, as she looked up at him with reddened eyes her face wet with tears
"Why." he paused turning on his heel and stared into the flames "Because you humans made me, all while lying to me, saying my mother was a human. I am what humanity made, your people constantly search for reason in the universe, thus you made a god. Me. You all believed that such a being could be controlled and for that arrogance I will wipe your kind from all worlds, a crusade against the arrogance of man." he explained as ash began to rain from the building and sky, turning back to her he smiled once more "You though... you showed my what humanity can be, and for that I show my gratitude." he explained gesturing to the flames behind him the orange glow silhouetting him against the ground before her where she was staring unable to look him in the eye
"Be proud of this, your God is giving you his utmost attention." he added as he began to walk past her looking down at the weapon she dropped and smiled at it in recognition, then kept walking leaving the girl alone to listen to the glass shatter from heat and the building to eventually collapse entirely.
(o)
Her vision was blurred and her ears were ringing, slowly sitting up she began to look around her whole body cried out for her to stop moving as if the effort was going to kill her, reaching up she began to rub her eyes allowing her vision to focus, removing her hand she found Ruby across the room, she had changed quite a bit, her hair was tied back in a messy ponytail and she replaced her cape with a sleeveless trench coat with two metallic pauldrons on her shoulders, what struck her the most was the fact that Harbinger was slung over her shoulder, Qrow never let that thing go, no matter what.
"Rub-" she began but found her voice painfully failed her, quickly clearing her throat she began again "Ruby? What happened?" she questioned causing the girl to turn and face her finally uncrossing her arms on which she had a pair of silver gauntlets
"The school's gone... and you were right about Sephiroth." she said her voice struggled to maintain it's calmness, walking towards the woman she sat down and leaned on her knees staring at the floor
"What'd he do?" she asked struggling to do the same, her legs screaming in protest
"The house is gone. He burned it to the ground." Ruby answered looking away from her sister "He also killed Professor Ozpin... Uncle Qrow and... … and dad." Ruby slowly added her voice failed to keep itself in check
"I- I don't... … where... where do we go from here?" Yang asked her voice just as careful as to not set either of them off
"I'm going after him. JNPR are coming with me, Blake wants to stay behind to watch over you and Glynda, then once you've recovered she be heading to Mistral." Ruby answered after a few moments of silence, she didn't want Yang to follow, she already failed her so much in the past few days, she couldn't handle any more of it.
"You're not going without me-"
"Yang. Look at your hands." Ruby snapped causing Yang to raise her arms only to find one to be a stump, that caused her to begin to hyperventilate, her vision unfocused and she began to shake as Ruby pulled her into a hug and speak calmly in her ear as her unfocused vision grew wet with tears, this was all... too much for her to handle right now, and her mind knew it as her vision faded and she fell unconscious once more, lying her back down Ruby sighed, Blake said that they had that conversation twice already, it seemed like Yang was trying to suppress what happened.
Rising to her feet she walked to the door and pushed it open, walking out and clicking the door shut she turned to Blake who looked worried still
"See if you can find a therapist in the safe zone, I need to go round up the others." Ruby ordered as she began to walk towards the stairs, thankfully Port was more than willing to allow them to use his room, and she was beyond grateful for that, the kindness of others was something she could rarely rely on, but luckily Port was one of the kindest people she had ever met.
(o)
Jaune watched as Pyrrha tested her new hand out, the bronze colored metal shifted and moved robotically but it was better than nothing, her weaponry had been destroyed due to Sephiroth... again, but this time she felt a change was in order, partly due to her new hand not moving as she wanted it to when she needed it, she asked around a bit until Ruby offered to make her a Jian, the offer of a shield was declined though, Pyrrha said that she didn't want to hide this time, after receiving the weapon she used her robotic hand to hold the blade while using the sheath in her off hand for defense, it proved to be a rather capable match up, blocking and parrying attacks and striking back with extremely powerful counter attacks made her quite the force to deal with
"Jaune... are you okay?" she questioned pulling him free from his thoughts
"Yeah! Sorry, I was... distracted." he waved off earning a chuckle from the woman
"I could tell, Nora has been throwing pebbles at you for a while now." she explained causing him to quickly turn to the red head who was whistling 'innocently' Ren who was seated next to her quickly stood and turned, behind him and Nora, Ruby walked in and began to make her way down the stairs
"Hey. You guys ready?" she asked earning nods from all of them "Alright then. The boat leaves tomorrow, tonight we should gather our previsions and prepare to move."
"Are you sure you wanna leave now?" Jaune asked sheathing his blade while turning towards her
"I don't see why not. With how things are right now... it'd probably be safer." she reasoned crossing her arms, after what happened at her house she had been doing that more often, the vibrancy and happiness that she used to exude vanished rather quickly too
"Alright... I guess we'll meet you at the docks?" he stepped back not wanting to upset her in any way, and given the fact that she and Yang were related it probably didn't take much. Turning around Ruby made her way back up the stairs and out of the Signal training grounds, as she walked she shook free the thoughts of her fathers' fate and the role she played in such events. All the carnage up until now was on her, and she would never let herself forget that.
(o)
Far away, somewhere dark and dangerous Cinder carefully paced outside the main hall waiting for Salem to call her in, she had succeeded but only because of that man... he toyed with Ozpin, and that was frightening, she had studied his fights from his previous lives as well as his current one, and that man seemed to have already know his every move. She didn't want to fight him either, he had a way to lower someones Aura and that scared her more than anything, he didn't need to touch them like Tyrian needed to and he was far stronger than he let on, her thoughts were cut short when the door slowly opened allowing her entry, placing her hand over the bandaged wound on her gut she felt her hand begin to tremble, she was scared of the judgment to soon be delivered onto her, entering the room she was greeted by the other members of Salems' council
"Cinder, you say you failed. How so?" Salem questioned resting her chin on her fingers as she eyed Cinder carefully
"I... Ozpin lays dead, and the tower is destroyed-"
"Then what happened to the Wyvern?" Watts interrupted looking up from his scroll for the first time sense she entered
"I... Sephiroth did. He killed Ozpin, he destroyed the tower and he killed the Wyvern." she answered her eyes were locked onto the ground as Watts let out a chuckle
"Seems to me that we should have employed him instead of you." he goaded earning a glare from the woman
"Watts, I have asked you before and I will not do so again, Cinder is of value to me still, keep your tongue in check. Or I will." Salem threatened causing the man to pale a bit as he returned to his scroll
"What can you tell us about this 'Sephiroth'?" Salem questioned, Cinder turned to Emerald who pulled out her scroll and handed it to Cinder
"The information we gathered was limited, he is... well... the strongest person at Beacon, his semblance seems more akin to magic than anything else, flying, summoning his weapon, from what was left of the surveillance cameras could pick up he was even able to summon ice and lighting without dust... but only yourself, Ozpin, and the maidens have magic correct?"
"Are you sure he doesn't infuse dust into his body?" Hazel asked without even looking over to her nor opening his eyes
"No he doesn't, no scaring, and he exchanges the power easily just by waving his hand... but the frightening part isn't that he was able to do it without dust... it's how powerful it was. All the camera's around the cafeteria went dead after a single use, and the cameras in the courtyard were destroyed by shards of ice. We need to be careful when dealing with him, he was even able to break into Ozpins' mind... as well as my own." she explained realizing what she said she took a small step back
"Why omit such a detail from before?" Salem questioned her tone losing its calmness in favor of coldness as she rose from her seat and began to stroll towards Cinder, Tyrian all the while began to laugh
"I... if...- he did many things to my mind. I just wanted to make sure it was something of significance first-"
"He was able to infiltrate your mind and take your secrets, and you believe that wasn't NOTEWORTHY!" Salem questioned grabbing the woman by the jaw and yanked her off her feet and into the air
"I'm sorry! Please forgive me!" Cinder begged and was suddenly dropped causing her to collapse to her knees
"Do not forget such details again, and you needn't worry about my wrath." Salem said her voice returning to the calm tones from before, as Cinder tried to recompose herself, the laughter growing louder
"Aw, our little maiden is scared of the big bad man, if it were me I'd just cut his throat out for such a thing." Tyrian goaded causing Cinder to roll her eyes, he had no idea what he was talking about
"Of course you would. Be my guest."
"He's nothing but a student at a huntsman academy, sure he killed old and frail Ozpin but that doesn't mean he is as powerful as you say."
"And the Wyvern?"
"A fluke, such a large creature would have weaknesses to exploit, he just found them, nothing to worry about." he waved off again with a happy chuckle
"While he is a threat, we must continue the search for the maidens, Tyrian you will track down the Spring maiden, capture her and deliver her here to Cinder, Cinder you will continue your recovery, while Hazel and Watts take over your former duties until you recover." she ordered placing her hands on the arms of her chair taking in the eyes of each of her council before smiling and waving her hand ordering them all to leave.
(o)
It was scary leaving home for the first time... even if there was no one to see her off, JNPR were with her so that was a major plus to her confidence, having a group of friend with her made her confident that they could do anything. Her thoughts soon returned to Sephiroth... and her boiling hatred began to rise once more, gripping the railing of the ship she felt it start to give under said pressure
"Ruby, were all set up... how about you?" Pyrrha asked as she walked over and leaned on the railing next to her
"I didn't have much to bring." she answered finally releasing her tight grip on the rail in favor of leaning on it "How are you getting used to the whole... hand thing?" she asked after a few moments causing Pyrrha to look at the appendage and began to flex it
"It... is definitely strange. I'm not too sure how to handle it." she answered her eyes glued on each digit that moved, forcing herself to look at Ruby she spoke again "I know that all this is... hard, but look at it this way, you'll have us to help you along every step of the way."
"I guess... it just... feels like we might have bitten off a little bit more than we can chew. Don't you think?"
"Kinda... but if we're not gonna do this then who will?" Pyrrha asked with a smile Ruby looked at her for a few moments before turning back to the ocean in front of them, her reflection in the water below stared back at her and she smiled, they were the only ones who could do this... looking closer now her reflection seemed weird, something was off about it leaning closer she still couldn't quite tell
"Pyrrha? Do you see something weird with the water?" Ruby asked ripping her eyes from herself to look to the woman who was gone, as was everyone else leaving Vale, quickly turning back the ship had stopped flowing through the water as it grew more and more still "Guys?" she asked looking around a bit, when no response came she reached for Harbinger letting her hand rest on the hilt
"Hello!" she called, leaning back over she took a look at her reflection, staring back was the vestige of the man she hated gasping in fright she noted that the reflection didn't all it did was smile "You... I guess this is all an illusion then. You coward."
"For the most part." his voice answered from behind her, slowly turning around she found him standing behind her calm as ever. Intimidated is one of the only words she could bring to mind, each time she saw him all she could see was her home burning... her father... dead. In an instant she snapped and with a shout of rage she drew Harbinger and swung only for the illusion to fall and she barely stopped herself from cleaving an elderly gentleman in two, quickly dropping the weapon she began to apologize over and over again, trying to find a way to explain why she did what she did, luckily for her the man was understanding enough to let it slide, taking up the weapon again she turned and began to walk heading for her room, if he wanted to mess with her head she would make sure no one would be around to get hurt.
(o)
It had been a little over three days and no one had seen hide nor hair of Ruby, Jaune had elected to search the ship, Pyrrha on the other hand went for the girls room, it was a small cabin little more than a box with a bathroom and closet, pulling open the closet she found Ruby sitting hugging her knees to her chest and eyes closed, she was breathing softly
"Ruby?" Pyrrha whispered, lightly placing her hand on the girls shoulder her breathing immediately froze and her eyes snapped open "Are you okay?"
"Oh- I- I'm... yeah. Just... sleepin', you know." Ruby waved off tiredly as Pyrrha helped her out of the small closet space and to her feet
"Have you been having nightmares?" she asked as the two sat down on the bed causing Ruby to sigh and look towards the porthole out of her room, she had seen a figure reflected in just about everything shiny to the point that she was jumping at shadows, Pyrrha seemed to be handling their situation a little better though
"Yeah... I... Sephiroth has been haunting me, I trusted him... I put my faith in him... and... he- he has taken so much from me. I just wanted to show him that I was a good friend... and he repaid me with the destruction of everything I held dear. Now all that's left is... to chase him down." Ruby explained placing her head in her hands to avoid looking to Pyrrha
"I saw that he could have been a wonderful rival, he looked at the praise he earned the same way I did, and he wasn't arrogant about it either... he even proved that I wasn't invincible, he gave me cause to train harder than before, because I knew he soared so much higher. Even still I want to prove that I am able to go toe to toe with him, and if helping you hunt him will allow me to help you avenge those he killed then it's all the better."
"So... we'll be hunting him together?"
"Together. Jaune also wants to find out more on Cinder and her team when we get to Mistral so we shouldn't have too many problems with them objecting." She reasoned lying back on the bed resting her hands on her stomach
"Pyrrha, do you mind training with me? I used to train frequently when Sephiroth was around, and I need to train even harder to learn how to use Harbinger properly."
"I've been meaning to ask, why not use Crescent Rose? Isn't it good enough?"
"Of course!... but... Uncle Qrow struggled to keep up with a sword, and a scythe is much more... unwieldy... so I plan to use Harbinger, no need to recreate Crescent Rose, and no need to worry about breaking it in anyway, plus I know this thing inside and out." she explained pulling the weapon into her lap, there was also a personal reason she carried it. She wanted Sephiroth to die on it's blade, a nice twist of irony would make his defeat all the sweeter.
"Fair, oh and I finally thought of a name for the blade you forged me; Apódeixi Dýnamis." Pyrrha said patting the sheath on her hip earning a smile from Ruby
"What does it mean?"
"Proof of Strength." she answered with a reminiscent look in her eyes "I failed, and my father taught me that failure requires twice as much effort to correct, so this is my proof that I am working towards the future I want, instead of stagnating with the strength I have." she explained after seeming Ruby's confused look, after she finished Ruby rose to her feet
"Come on, lets go get something to eat... I haven't in a couple of days." Ruby explained that caused Pyrrha to laugh as she followed the girl, the two were more than happy to ignore the growing feelings of guilt building within the both of them.
A/N And the first three Volumes is over with, the whole of the world is now open to explore, after I finished I started to think... maybe Pyrrha surviving the fall of Beacon would be much more interesting, Pyrrha, the invincible girl, completely defeated and failed to protect Beacon, it would have been nice to see how she would deal with that situation, thus I shall explore a bit of that in this story, the suffering will return... probably soon.
I should also mention that Rubys' new outfit is based on Ulysses from fallout New Vegas as well as Clouds from Advent Children and Remake, so it's a health mix of FF7 and a more utilitarian design from fallout, in a future chapter I'll go more in depth into the look of it, but for now there'll be a little glimps