After a surprising encounter with Roman and Neo, and finding out both are her side, Ruby landed somewhere around the school and tried to find where the others were. It didn't take long as she managed to spot the other students and civilians in a large safe area, she was relieved to see Weiss and Zwei safe.
The little dog spotted his owner and barked happily as it caught the others attention and saw where he was facing! It was Ruby! She's safe!
"Weiss!"
"Ruby! You're safe!" Weiss hugged her in relief that her teammate was alive!
"Yeah, you too!" She replied, breaking the hug.
"Ruby, where have you-"
"I was on Ironwood's ship, found and fought Roman Torchwick and his partner, later to reveal that he's on our side! And friends with my dad! Now he's out there saving lives!"
Weiss was speechless, Roman is on their side? And he's helping?! After all the mess he caused?! What has the world come to? No. Wait. She rather not know.
Out of the loop, Ruby asked.
"Weiss, what's going on? Where are the others?"
Suddenly a familiar voice was heard. Actually, two voices!
"Well, look who's here! Been a long time since we've seen you kid!"
"Sorry we haven't visited! Been busy!"
Facing two familiar women, Ruby replied.
"Aunt Trish? Aunt Lady?"
One wearing a black outfit with long blond hair holding a large sword. The other was wearing a white suit with short black hair with a rocket launcher with a large blade. Trish and Lady saw their niece unharmed.
"Hey kid!"
"Wha-What are you two doing here?"
Sun spoke for them
"They helped us out with the mechs! Oh man you should've seen them! They kicked their metal cans like it was nothing!"
"And didn't even break a sweat! Sadly they somehow shut down before things got good." Said Lady.
"Yeah, Your aunt and I had a bet going on to see who took down the most! Might have to call it a draw." Trish added.
"*Tsk* Show offs." Sun replied.
Ruby smiled. Good to see them again. When was the last time she saw them? Anyway…
"Ok, no more distractions! What's going on? Where are the others?"
Trish and Lady frowned. That didn't look good.
"We're helping out with the evacuations. As for your friends..." Trish pointed to those she mentioned.
Ruby looked in horror to see her friends and teammates' condition. Ren and Nora were ok, just exhausted with some minor injuries. Yang and Blake however…
Her sister laid on the ground unconscious and with her right arm missing. Blake was next to Yang by her side with her abdomen heavily bandaged. She was also apologizing over and over.
"I'm sorry Yang...I'm sorry…*Sob* I'm sorry…"
The young huntress stood frozen. What happened to them? To Yang? Her sister. How many people were suffering like this? Why can't this nightmare end already!
Lady placed a hand on her Niece's shoulder and said, "They'll be ok, and so will Yang, she's strong you know that right?"
Ruby tried her best to hold back the tears from her eyes. She can't let her emotions get a hold of her right now.
"*Sniff* Y-Yeah."
Trish spoke.
"Come on, we gotta get you and the others to safety. Atlas is bringing in ships you and the others can use to escape."
"But Jaune and Pyrrha are still missing!" Nora spoke as she groaned in pain. "We can't leave without them!"
"What?!" Jaune and Pyrrha aren't here? Where are they?
"Look guys," Sun interrupted." that giant Grimm keeps circling around the school. Even the White Fang are pulling out! We all have to go now!"
"We're not leaving without them! Argh!" Ren tried to stand back up, but his injuries weren't helping as he fell back down.
Everyone stayed silent. What could they do? The Grimm have taken over the city, the White Fang has caused a lot of damage! The battle here is a lost cause! They have to escape if they want to survive!
Ruby however didn't want to leave. Not yet.
"I'll find them. I'll find them and bring them back!"
Weiss felt a headache coming. There's no way she's leaving. Not without her.
"No. We will find them."
"Weiss?"
"You'll need help with this one." Weiss looked back at Ruby's Aunt's. "Watch after our friends please? We'll be back."
"We got this, you two be careful." Said Trish.
With that, Ruby and Weiss went out to find their friends. Hopefully they are still alive. Moments later during their search, they received a call from their scrolls, it was Jaune! Weiss answered the call.
"Jaune! Where are you?"
"Weiss! Please, you have to stop her!" He replied from the scroll, he sounded worried!
"What? Stop who?"
"It's Pyrrha! She's going after that woman at the top of the tower! She doesn't stand a chance!"
Both girls looked ahead of them to see the tower he was talking about. The headmaster tower? Why is Pyrrha there?
"Jaune, what are you talking about? Where are you?"
"DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME DAMN IT!" Jaune scream startled the girls. "Please...you have you save Pyrrha…"
The connection was then cut off.
"Jaune? Jaune!" Weiss couldn't get a hold of him!
Suddenly the area shook, a large Grimm dragon appeared and landed near the tower! It then flew up to the top! Not good! But something caught their attention, someone jumped off the tower! Who is that?
"I got this!" Ruby activated Pennys weapons on her back as transformed the swords into thrusters and flew towards the falling person.
Witnessing what happened, Weiss just stood there in shock. Since when the heck did Ruby get that thing?! And why did it look familiar? All she could say was.
"Since when did she have a jetpack?"
Meanwhile in the air.
Pyrrha was panicking after being thrown off the tower! What was Dante thinking! There's no way she'll survive! All she could do was to close her eyes and say to herself.
"Well, this is it. Not how I imagined I would die like this. Maybe hoping to die in a fight or on my deathbed as an old woman. With my family and friends next to me. With Jaune right by my side. Well, at least I got to kiss him. I just wish we had more time together. My only regret was being on the box of that stupid cereal! Ok maybe it was cool to be on the box. I still regret it!"
"Wow! You kissed Jaune? Congratulations I guess? Never knew you were into him!"
"Huh?" Pyrrha opened her eyes and saw her in the arms of her savior! "Ruby?"
"Yup! That's me!"
Pyrrah was very much relieved that she was saved from becoming paste on the ground. But then she blushed as she realized what Ruby said about kissing Jaune.
"How much did you hear?"
"Only to the part where you kissed Jaune and regretted being the cover of Pumpkin Pete's."
"Oh. Good! Because there wasn't much to say."
"Right."
"Wait. How did you save me?"
"By flying."
"Huh?" Looked around as she and Ruby were still in the air! And she was Right! Ruby is flying! "A-Amazing!"
"Cool huh?"
"Yes. And I would like to be on the ground please."
"Oh! Sorry!" Ruby uses her thrusters to safely float down to the ground where Wiess was waiting for her. "Here we are! Thank you for flying Rose airlines! I hope you enjoyed the flight!"
"Pyrrha?" Weiss said in surprise. "What happened? What were you doing at the tower? And why did you jump off?"
Carefully being placed on the ground, due to her injury from her fight Pyrrha answered.
"It's...It's a long story. But, Ruby, your father, he's still up there!"
"What?! My dad is up there? Why is he-"
"Ruby, there is no time! He's fighting against that woman with unimaginable powers! You have to help him! Hurry! He doesn't stand a chance!"
Ruby was in shock! Her dad is on top of the tower? And fighting someone who's more powerful than him? No no no no! NO!
"Weiss, get Pyrrha to safety! I'll save my dad!"
Without another word, Ruby used her backpacks thrusters to full power and flew to the top of the tower to save her dad! Hopefully there's still time to save him!
Beacon Academy, Tower.
Dante flew back and crashed into a wall, breathing heavily as his battle with Cinder was not doing so good. Going against a maiden, even with the powers of a demon, and all the arsenal at his disposal, was not enough! He and Vergil took on many types of demons and defeated them all. Hell, they even took on Mundus, the king of the demon world, and won! But against a maiden, here on remnant? He was getting his ass kicked! It doesn't make sense! It was as if some cosmic force was doing this on purpose just for the giggles!
Speaking of giggling, Cinder walked towards Dante laughing at how his battle against her was pathetic! The power of the fall maiden is incredible! More powerful than Dante himself!
"Hahaha! Look at you! Where was all that bravado you showed earlier? Don't tell me it was all for show? Can't believe 'she' labeled you as a threat."
Dante used rebellion as a support to lean on as he carefully stood up and said.
"*Groan* Would you believe today is not my day? I mean, everybody has one of those days that things don't go their way. So, how about we-"
Cinder grabbed Dante by the neck and raised him in the air! She slowly crushes his throat and watches him suffer.
"Just stay quiet and die already you fool! It's pointless to resist!"
Much to her disappointment, the man was too stubborn to die!
"*Cough* You're into this sort of stuff huh? Like to...to show your partner who's the dominant one huh? Heh, *cough* If you're expecting me to say 'harder mommy', Y-You're wrong! I'm not into that kink! Also, I'm a married man!"
Cinder rolled her eyes as she despised this man even more! The woman tossed Dante aside and picked up rebellion from the ground. It was time to finish this!
Free from her grip, Dante gasped for air and stood back up! He heard a loud screech, he turned around and saw a large Grimm land near them! Oh that's not good!
*Shink*
"Urk!"
Dante looked down to see the rebellion, his own weapon impaled into his chest! He looked at his attacker with a satisfying look on her face. Dante tried to remove the sword, but he didn't have enough strength to do it. He began to lose consciousness, and then, he went limp, his hands slid off from the sword and hit the ground as his head hung backward…
Cinder has finally eliminated Dante! Her master will be pleased to hear the news! Honestly, how could she label this man as a threat? First Ozpin, now Dante, no one is a match against her, a maiden at that! Now with him out of the way-
"DAAAAAAD!"
Hearing a familiar voice, Cinder turned to see someone she didn't expect to see who it was.
"Ruby...?"
The young teen looked in horror to see her father had been killed by the woman that Pyrrha mentioned. Ruby fell down on her knees and instantly cried as she couldn't hold back her tears any longer! She lost her mother years ago, now she lost her father in front of her just now! Why does her family have to suffer so much?! What have they done to deserve this?!
Isn't this a surprise! Ruby just called Dante her father! Since when did he have time to start a family? No matter, this won't settle well with her master! Better do something about the girl. Cinder took a step forward and-
"*Gasp*" The woman froze. The area around her began to feel...uneasy! "What is this…?"
The dragon Grimm roared as it's attention was drawn toward Ruby. The emotion she was emitting! It was intoxicating! So much sadness, so much anger! The large creature hovered in the air and flew towards the human and opened its large mouth to devour her! As it got close.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
A bright light consumed the area and engulfed the dragon Grimm! Cinder saw what happened and was shocked to see where light was coming from! It was from that girl! That light was coming from Ruby's eyes!
"WHAT?! ARGH!" Cinder felt her right side of her body in pain! As if...as if it felt like it was lit on fire!
The light died after a moment, Cinder fell down on her knees and breathed heavily. She looked at her right arm and saw it was burned! Her whole right side of her body was burned! What happened?! Why did that light burn her?!
*Crack*
The woman looked up and saw the large dragon Grimm frozen ice! Cracks started to appear around it and began to break apart!
*Shatter*
Piece by piece, parts of the dragon Grimm had fallen to the ground and shattered as it covered the area in a cloud of dust. As the dust was settling, Cinder could see a glowing red light, focusing her eyes on it she could see that it was Ruby, standing there covered in that red aura and crying with her eyes closed. Cinder didn't like this, not one bit! Especially that mysterious red aura! She had a bad feeling about this!
The woman carefully stood up as she fought the pain and began to silently back away until…
"No." Said Ruby. The aura surrounding her began to swirl violently causing Cinder to freeze in place. "I won't let you get away. You caused this mess. You ruined people's lives! You killed Penny! And what's worse, you killed my dad! You're gonna pay...You hear me? You're gonna PAAAAAAAY!"
*Play Dante's theme from MVC3 its best to start it at 0:05*
The young girl's scream caused the red aura surrounding her to grow larger and blow away the dust that covered the area! Cinder nearly fell from the shockwave and finally saw a clear view of Ruby! Her eyes indeed glowed, but the light was glowing yellow instead of the silver light! What the-
Without warning, Ruby took out Crescent Rose and dashed towards Cinder and swung her scythe at every angle, every direction at her! Cinder did her best to dodge the attacks Ruby threw at her! But due to the wounds she received, she was barely able to move around! Ruby's semblance made her fast, but that red aura made her faster!
Cinder knew she couldn't evade the attacks for much longer, having no choice and having to deal with the pain from her right side, she summons her swords and begins to fight back! Ruby dodged the attacks with ease, the girl wasn't even putting much effort into dodging her attacks! As Cinder continued her assault, the teen blocked one of her attacks, locked it in place and taunted the woman.
"That's all you got? Come on! You can do better than that! You killed my dad so easily, but you can't kill me?!" She taunted the woman.
Cinder's eyes glowed like a flame in anger! She shoved Ruby away, forcing her to lose
balance, threw one of her swords and impaled her in the chest. Cinder's arm burst into flames, and fired a large fireball at Ruby at her face! The Impact blew the girl away and crashed onto the ground. Cinder took this moment to take a breather. Damn it! This pain on her right side of the body was beginning to irritate her! Why hasn't her aura kicked in?!
"Ugh…"
Cinder quickly looked back at the girl to see her standing back up! Oh god...she's still alive?!
"That...hurt…"Ruby replied as she stood back up and pulled out the blade from her chest and the wound began to heal quickly. "That really, really, hurt!"
She looked back at Cinder, who got a clear view of her face. What was left of it for the moment. Ruby's face was showing her facial skeleton to the woman, in seconds, it was beginning to grow back the veins, the muscles, the skin, everything! The young girl's face was now completely healed, as if nothing had happened!
("The pain, it's gone!") Thought Ruby. ("This power, it's just like when I fought that large Grimm back at the arena. Only better! If this thing can power me up and heal me from anything, then I don't have to worry about getting hurt!")
Taking advantage of the situation, and angered from being blasted in the face, as well as stabbed with a sword, Ruby readied her scythe and said.
"Alright, you wanna play with Rough? Let's play Rough! Because I won't hold back!"
"DAMN YOU!" Cursed Cinder as she summoned her swords once more.
Both women charged at each other and attacked once more!
Ruby swung her scythe horizontally, but Cinder slid underneath the weapon and slashed toward the girl's back. But was blocked just in time as Ruby finished her swing! She then kicked the woman away, stabbed the blade into the ground, and fired A couple of rounds.
*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*
Hearing the gunshots and the bullets heading her way, Cinder quickly raised one of her swords to block them. However, the impact caused her to fly back and shatter the blade! While in the air, Cinder threw her other sword towards Ruby! The teenager saw it coming, no way she was gonna get stabbed again! the girl stepped aside, grabbed the sword just as it was about to pass her, and threw it back at the owner!
Landing on her feet, Cinder summoned a wall to block the incoming sword.
*Shink*
The woman moved back just in time before the blade stabbed her in the head! God's that was too close! Cinder used her powers to destroy the wall and sword, turning them into sharp objects and launching them towards Ruby.
Seeing them heading towards her, Ruby Spun her scythe to deflect them! As the salvo ended, Cinder smiled, why would she smile? The woman then raised her hand and snapped her fingers! A bright light came from below her! Ruby looked at Crescent Rose and saw some of the shrapnel was impaled in the weapon!
*Boom*
The explosion caused Ruby to fly back and slid on the ground! Quickly, she punched the ground to slow down and prevented her from falling off the tower! She looked up and saw Crescent Rose, her own pride and joy, destroyed! Oh that does it!
Seeing the girl now defenseless, Cinder ran towards her, summoned a sword and brought it down on the child's head!
*Clash*
"What?!"
Cinder's sword was blocked by a sword that came out from behind Ruby! Suddenly another sword appeared and-
*Pew*
"ARRRRGH!" Cinder placed a hand on her right eye as a laser bolt fired at it! She backed away and opened her eyes. One of them at least, and screamed. "You…YOU LITTLE BIT-"
*Pow*
A fist connected to Cinder's face, and from what she was able to see from her remaining eye, was a very angry Ruby! The force of the punch knocked her away a couple of feet.
Ruby mentally opened her backpack and unleashed all of the swords that were stored inside. Wanting to end this fight now, the teen was tempted to use these blades to finish Cinder off, but that's too easy! Why bother when it's better to use your own hands and get the satisfaction of beating them to a bloody pulp! Positioning the swords behind her, she fired it's thrusters and flew towards Cinder.
Still recovering from the punch Cinder opened her eyes and saw Ruby facing towards her! The girl made a quick spin and punched her in the stomach! The strength poured into the punch caused Cinder to crash into the ground that caused a small crater! But that didn't end there, as the woman laid on the ground, Ruby grabbed her head and began punching Cinder in the face!
*Pow* *Pow* *Pow* *Pow* *Pow* *Pow*
Ruby grinned in pleasure as every punch felt satisfying, as she began to to hit harder, harder and harder! And the proof was her fist covered in Cinders blood.
She couldn't take this much longer! The burns on her right side were still unbearable, which held her back, and getting punched in the face non-stop was not helping! That's it!
Raising her fist to land another punch-
*Shink*
"GAH!"
Ruby pulled back her hand that had a knife stabbed into it! Now distracted thanks to the knife Cinder created, her body glowed for a moment and a burst of flames blew the teen away from her! Standing back up she summoned a bow and a hand full of arrows and aimed it at her target!
Using her thrusters to rebalance herself and pulling the knife out of her hand, Ruby angrily and blindly charged towards Cinder without a care in the world except beating the living snot of that woman!
"Hmph. Idiot." Cinder released the arrows.
*Fwip*
*Shink* *Shink* *Shink*
"Argh!"
The arrows impaled into Ruby caused her to lose control of her flight, giving Cinder a chance to attack! As the teen was in range, Cinder raised her bow and swung it like a baseball bat into Ruby's face!
*Smash*
The bow was shattered into pieces, Ruby was sent flying back! Cinder didn't stop there, she chased after the girl with the maidens power to fly above her, grabbed her head and slammed her into the ground! Still not done, the woman began to slam Ruby's head against the ground again and again!
*Slam* *Slam* *Slam*
While getting her head slammed, Ruby was starting to get annoyed, the fight was starting to drag on long enough! Time to end this by fighting dirty! She stretched her arm towards Cinder's head, after a couple of tries, Ruby grabbed the woman's burned side of the head and jammed her thumb into the eye!
"AAAAAAAARGH!" Cinder screamed in pain as her right eye began to bleed!
Quickly, Ruby transformed her swords into blasters and blasted Cinder off of her. Getting back up, the teen suddenly falls down on one knee as she breathes heavily! The red aura surrounding her began flickering on and off.
*Stop music*
("Dang it! Not good! This power is running out! Without it, I'm not gonna last long against Cinder! My guess is I have only a few moments left! Better make it count!")
*Play Devil's Never Cry, the choir part only, here's the link to help: /fcUiOSonDZA *
Only able to see from her left eye, Cinder looked at Ruby, down on her knees, and that red aura was beginning to fade! She's vulnerable now! This was her chance to strike back! Summoning a sword, Cinder wasted no time and charged towards Ruby! Time for this little brat to die!
Using whatever strength she has left, Ruby stood back up, pulled out a sword from her backpack and ran towards Cinder! The destruction of Vale,Yang losing her arm, and the deaths of Penny, and her father. That woman is gonna pay for what she has done here tonight!
Both women screamed from the top of their lungs as the hatred towards the other could attract any nearby Grimm. They looked into each other's eyes and saw the murderous look on their faces. After what felt like an eternity, Cinder raised her weapon in the air, while Ruby was about to swing her's! This was it! This final attack will determine who will leave this tower alive!
And then…
*Slash*
"RUBY!"
Dante woke up. Everything was quiet now at the top of the tower, except for the noises down in the City. How long had he been out? Minutes? An hour? What did he miss? He looked down on his chest and saw Rebellion impaled into his chest. Well, that's nothing new. Happens all the time. Dante carefully, but still painfully pulled out Rebellion from his torso. After pulling out the weapon, he felt relief while his wounds began to heal, now it was easier to breathe.
Dante stood up, sheathed Rebellion, and looked around.
"Sheesh what a mess, seems like I missed quite a bash. But who caused this- oh no…"
Looking in the middle of the area, was a kid laying on the ground in a pool of blood. It was HIS kid.
"RUBY!" Dante ran towards his daughter in panic. As he got close he carefully raised her head and said. "Ruby! Ruby! Come on kid, wake up! Don't do this to me! Please!"
No Answer.
"Ruby! If…If you don't wake up, you…you won't have your favorite cookies until you graduate! And no pizza too!"
Again, no response.
"Damn it, no!" Dante hugged her body close and held it tight. "Not…Not again…I already lost your mom! I don't want to lose you too! I've lost enough people! D-Don't leave me…*Sob* Please…"
…
…
…
…
"...ad?"
Dante froze, he looked back at Ruby and saw her barely opening her eyes.
"Ruby…?"
"Ugh…D-Dad? I feel like shit."
Dante chuckled. He never heard her curse before. That's a first. More importantly, she's alive! His baby girl is alive!
"Yeah. Me too kid, me too."
Quickly, Dante pulled out his scroll and contacted someone. After a moment.
"Dante?!"
"Trish, I'm gonna need a pick up for two, and get a team of medics. Ruby is not feeling so well."
"Oh god, is she ok?"
"She's alive, barely, so get over here quick! I'll send a signal to my location, now hurry!"
"On it!"
Hanging up, Dante pressed a button on his scroll and it flashed red on the screen. Help is on the way.
"Ruby, how are you holding up?"
Feeling sore all over, and barely any strength left, the girl answered.
"Tired, sleepy, and everything hurts."
"Then take it easy, but don't close your eyes just yet! Not until help arrives. Got it?"
"...Ok."
Nothing to do but wait, Dante looked around and saw the damage, who or what caused this? The last thing he remembered before passing out was Ruby arriving. Now here she was in his arms under a pool of blood and covered in it! He looked around more and saw what appeared to be a severed arm on the ground. Whose arm is that? Why did it look…Wait. Is that the woman's arm? Did Ruby and that woman cause this mess? Did his daughter cut off that arm from that woman?
He looked back at Ruby once more to see her struggling to stay awake.
("Kid, you owe me an explanation.")
To be continued…
Author's Note: Hey Everyone hehehe…It's been a while! Sorry for the crazy long wait, life got in the way and had a writer's block with the fight between Ruby vs Cinder. I tried to make it entertaining like the previous chapter. What did you think? Lastly, the next chapter will be the aftermath and the final chapter…for Vol 3! After that we'll get to Vol 4! Again sorry for the long wait. I did say don't expect frequent updates. Writing takes time, you know. See you in the next chapter!