I do not own RWBY or any of the characters.
Victory
Fox leaned on the railing in silence. They'd be at Haven's dock shortly, and Adam's White Fang troops would undoubtedly be guarding it. That was fine with Fox. He was starting to get restless from being on the boat. Blake leaned on the railing beside him, remaining silent. Neither spoke. Neither had to. They were going to fight Adam and the White Fang. There was almost definitely going to be losses. But neither would let anything happen to the other.
"It's weird," Blake finally said. "Any time I imagined myself one day dealing with Adam, I never imagined I'd have anyone to help. I never imagined myself with friends."
"And now you have friends, a boyfriend who loves you, and an entire army willing to fight for you," Fox smiled. "I don't think you're very good at planning for the future."
Blake laughed. "I guess I shouldn't become a fortune teller after this then, huh?"
Fox laughed, shaking his head. "Yeah, no, I doubt that would work out well. You could probably pull off Gypsy, but you'd be terrible at telling the future."
Blake smiled, leaning on his shoulder and slipping her hand into his, lacing their fingers together. "What do we do if Cinder's there?"
"Ozpin should have reincarnated by now," Fox said. "His new form won't be able to stand up to the full power of the Fall Maiden any more than his last did, probably worse, but he'll be able to back me up against her."
"You're out of your mind if you think I'm letting you anywhere near her," Blake said.
"If she's here, I'm the only one who can fight her, Blake," Fox said.
"And if she's here, we're leaving," Blake said. "Even if I have to tie you up and drag you back to the ship myself."
Fox sighed, looking up as Haven's port came into view out of the darkness. Even with night vision, they could only see so far. Just as Fox had through, the port was lined with White Fang members, some in Atlas heavy mechs. Fox drew his sword, switching it to a bow and pulling it back, the arrow pulsing.
"Honestly, I'm really glad I had my memories during my fight with Cinder," Fox said. "This'll be easy now."
He released the arrow, which sped off into the air over the port before flashing, breaking apart into dozens of smaller arrows, each about the size of a normal one, and raining down on the port, slaughtering the White Fang members and shredding the mechs. Once they ship had stopped at the port, and the ramp was lowered, Fox sprinted away from the ship, his skin crawling and his aura reacting to something. He wasn't sure exactly what, but he could sense...something.
"Fox!" Blake shouted, she and Fox's teammates running after him.
"I think we're too late!" Fox shouted. "I can...sense something. Head back to the others! Bring them with you and meet me there! I'll be fine!"
The others slowed to a stop and turned back. Fox pushed on ahead, soon leaving the trees to find a relatively small group of White Fang members, to include Adam, standing around Haven Academy, which was covered in bombs. Fox slammed his sword into the back of Adam's knees as he passed, not bothering to cut through his Aura, but making Adam fall backward and slam his head into the ground. Then, Fox sprinted forward, focusing energy to his free hand and punching the door as he reached it, sending both doors spinning through the entry hall. One slammed into Hazel as he was moving to attack a young boy with brown hair, freckles, and a white shirt with brown pants and orange suspenders who was holding Ozpin's cane. The other door missed everyone, embedding itself int he wall on the far side of the room. Fox saw Weiss on the ground with blood on her dress and with Jaune's white aura flowing over her, strengthening her own to heal her. Besides that, Yang was facing Emerald and Mercury, Ruby was barely conscious and being woken up by Qrow, and there was no sign of Cinder, whose aura he could now clearly sense.
Fox sprinted to Jaune and Weiss, Pyrrha kneeling beside Jaune as well. "Where is she?"
"Down there," Pyrrha said, looking to a hole in the floor at the base of a raised section in the back of the room where a hallway led deeper into the school. "Raven Branwen, Yang's mother, and the Spring Maiden are both with her. Trust me when I tell you, you can't fight them all."
"No I can't," Fox agreed, standing and picking up his sword. "But I'm going to anyway."
"Why do you have such a vendetta against Cinder?" Pyrrha asked.
"Because she's a threat that needs to be dealt with," Fox said. "And besides that, she tried to cook my brain."
"I can go with him if it would help," a voice said off tot he side, Fox looking to find Penny kneeling there, Fox not having seen her at all as he was entering.
"Where the fuck did you come from?" Fox asked.
"The door," Penny said.
Fox sighed, shaking his head. "No. Help Yang with Mercury and Emerald. I'll deal with Cinder."
Penny nodded, turning and sending her blades at Emerald and Mercury. As she did, Fox sprinted to the hole and jumped in, driving his sword into the side and carving a spiraling gash along the inside as he descended. Finally, he dropped to the ground, looking up to find the vault was much smaller than Haven's. This one was just an underground cavern with a large tree with a rock formation in front of it. There were three glowing blue circles on the ground in a trail to the large golden door, and Raven, a woman wearing a black and blood red kimono shirt, black pants, and blood red vambraces with a katana that had an entirely Dust blade was actively fighting against Cinder, pink flames reaching out of her eyes as she did.
"Help Vernal!" Raven shouted, still slamming her sword into both of Cinder's.
Fox turned to the third woman, a girl with short brown hair, red pants with black leg sleeves from just above her knees to her ankles and with her right pant leg rolled up to above the black sleeve, a dark grey shirt, and a pair of chakrams lying beside her. She had five stab wounds in her abdomen, claw marks, and Fox jogged over, kneeling and using his semblance to amplify her aura, as Jaune was doing for Weiss, only stronger. Within moments, Vernal gasped for breath, opening her eyes and lunging for her chakrams, only for Fox to trap it to the ground with his sword.
"Attack me, and I kill you before I kill Cinder," Fox warned before standing, green energy forming over him instantly. "Cinder! We have some unfinished business to attend to!"
A moment later, Cinder crashed down on the platform they were on, glaring at him, her hair had been cut short with bangs hiding the left side of her face, except messy enough now to expose it, her left sleeve had been ripped off to reveal her arm had been amputated just below the shoulder, leaving a grimm arm with clawed fingers in its place. Additionally, there was a scar across her face, and what looked like stone encasing her face around her right eye, with a hole that she could have seen through if she hadn't lost the eye like Fox suspected she had. He certainly hadn't done this to her, so he assumed it was whatever Ruby had done to save him.
"You have an interesting semblance," Raven said, landing lightly beside him.
"Save it," Fox growled. "The way I see it, you owe me a favor for saving Vernal. You can repay me by helping me kill this bitch."
"I thought you wanted to settle the score," Raven said.
"If she dies, it's settled," Fox said. "After that, you and Vernal are going to walk out of here, leaving that vault door closed, just like it always has been."
"We'll see," Raven said, raising her sword and pointing it at Cinder.
Cinder snarled in rage, a pair of swords forming instantly before the three of them charged. Fox and Raven slashed rapidly, and to her credit, Cinder actually fended them off very well. They darted around and around the platform as they fought, cinder and Raven's blades shattering every half dozen hits, only to instantly be replaced. As they continued fighting, it became increasingly apparent that fending them off was all Cinder could do. She could take them one on one, and beat Fox, but together, they were beginning to rapidly overpower her. Finally, she flipped over Fox's sword, slashing at him only for Raven to block the blade and extend an arm, a bolt of lightning flying out of her palm and blasting Cinder away. Cinder flipped, landing on a stalactite and firing a massive beam of magic energy at them. Fox instantly, stabbed his sword in her direction, a beam of green energy exploding out of the blade and crashing into Cinder's as Fox shouted in effort. As he did, Raven charged, leaping to the stalactites and then at Cinder, forcing her to end the attack and block Raven's slash. As soon as she did, Fox sent an arrow flying at her, Cinder moving to avoid it only for it to re-amputate her arm. Cinder screamed in pain, falling to the platform and landing hard before pushing herself up.
"What happened Cinder?" Fox asked. "You were so powerful the last time we fought."
Cinder snapped, leaning backward and screaming in rage, an arm made of flame forming as the platform around her exploded, jagged chunks of stone flying at Fox, ignoring Raven altogether, and shattering against the barrier he had formed. Cinder swiped an arm and dozens of bolts of lightning appeared around her, flying at Fox, who sprinted to the side, only to be blasted int he back. He flew through the air, crashing down hard as Raven charged at Cinder, only fore her to stop, a jagged spike of stone exploding out of the ground in front of Raven, crashing into her gut and throwing her away. Then, Cinder slammed her hands into the ground, fireballs beginning to explode out of it in miniature eruptions, Fox only barely able to avoid them, only for those same fireballs to begin to rain back down all around the cavern. Fox formed himself a barrier again, but the fireballs blasted through rapidly. He reinforced his aura with his semblance, but as the attack ended, his aura faded.
Fox groaned, slowly pushing himself up, staring at Cinder, then looking toward Vernal, who Raven had shielded, causing her own aura to be weakened. "Okay, fine," Fox sighed. "You're still powerful. Now will you please just die?"
"You first!" Cinder snarled, forming a spear out of flames and hurling it at him.
He slashed upward, deflecting the spear, then a second, before sighing and placing the tip of his sword back on the ground, smiling.
"What's so funny?" Cinder snarled.
"You never learned to watch your back," Fox said.
Suddenly, Raven appeared beside Cinder, slamming her hand into Cinder's face, a flash of blue light going off and launching Cinder away, over the edge of the platform. As she began to fall, ice formed over her. Then, she disappeared into the darkness below the platform. Fox walked over to the edge, staring down into the darkness before spitting.
"Good riddance," Fox growled. "Thank you for your help. I'm heading upstairs to clean up the rest of Salem's servants. Do not open that door."
Fox walked to the elevator shaft and ran up the wall using his semblance, his aura slowly beginning to regenerate as he did. Finally, he reached the top and leapt out, landing in time to see Hazel, now with lightning and fire Dust crystals both in each forearm, charge at Pyrrha, who was struggling to keep him distracted. Since he wasn't using metal, it wasn't an easy task for her.
Fox formed energy around his feet and kicked off the ground, streaking through the air as he shifted the energy to his fist, drilling it into the side of Hazel's jaw and sending him crashing out of the school through the front. Outside, the White Fang members had been captured by the faunus from Menagerie, but Adam was missing. Hazel roared, charging back in at Fox only for the boy Ozpin had regenerated into to slam his staff into Hazel's shins, tripping him. As Hazel crashed to the ground, Fox lunged, only to flip away from him as Mercury crashed down where he had been.
"You went to fight Cinder," Mercury snarled. "Where is she?"
"Dead," Fox said, everyone staring at him. "Yang, go and deal with your mother."
Yang nodded, sprinting to the shaft and dropping into it. As she did, Emerald charged at Fox screaming.
"You're lying!" Emerald shrieked.
"If she were alive, would I be?" Fox asked.
Emerald froze, tripping and falling to her knees as Blake walked over to stand beside Fox. The others walked over as well, all forming a line facing Emerald, Mercury, and Hazel, the other person that had been fighting alongside those three, a lion faunus, having disappeared at some point.
"Emerald, get up, we need to go," Mercury said.
"He's lying," Emerald said, sounding like she was trying to convince herself. "Cinder will be fine."
Just then, the lift returned, Yang being the only person on it, holding a fancy golden lamp with a blue jewel as the center. Everyone stared at her before Emerald began to sob.
"Emerald, we have to go!" Mercury shouted. "Now!"
Emerald screamed in pain and rage, and suddenly the room darkened, shadows swirling together on the ground before Fox and the others. Then, they rose up, forming a massive woman in a black robe with white skin covered in glowing red cracks like a grimm's armor. She had a black jewel-like object on her forehead, white hair in several bundles sticking out of her head like the legs of a spider, and as she rose her body distorted and bent unnaturally. Dread filled Fox and he fell to his knees, staring up at the monster before them. Then, it roared, its black eyes with glowing red pupils opening, and swooped down to the floor, flying at them. Fox recoiled the moment Salem began to move, raising his arms to defend himself, the others all bracing to be hit as well, but after a moment of nothing happening, they all looked up, seeing Salem was gone.
Fox stared at the spot she had been, shaking. He knew her. He remembered her. In one of his lives, he had gotten drunk on his power and gone after her. Horrible mistake. After being brutally beaten to a bloody pulp, he had spent twenty years being tortured before finally managing to kill himself and regenerating.
"W...What was that?" Blake asked.
"An illusion," Ozpin said. "But an accurate one. That...was Salem."
Blake looked down at Fox and knelt, wrapping her arms around him, holding him against her as he trembled, eyes still wide with terror and struggling to hold the memories of being tortured, both in the life where Salem had done it and then when the racist humans had done it, at bay. As the memories slowly settled, along with his panic, he pushed himself up, looking around to see Yang walking toward them with the huge genie lamp.
"What is that?" Fox asked.
"It's a relic," Ozpin said. "One of four. I'm sorry, I have to release control."
Yang passed the lamp to Qrow and knelt beside Ruby, who was resting, Weiss sitting beside her.
"So Blake, what are you doing here?" Ruby asked.
"I...was going to ask you three the same question," Blake said.
"That's...a loooooong story," Ruby said.
"Well...I'm not going anywhere," Blake said.
"That's all that matters," Ruby said. "That we're all here together. Right?"
She and Weiss both looked to Yang, who was staring at the ground.
"Yeah," Yang finally said, smiling up at Blake.
Blake smiled in relief and Fox smiled turning to leave the building to check on the others only for his legs to give out, Fox catching himself on his hands and knees.
"Fox!" Blake gasped, kneeling beside him.
"I'm fine," Fox said, sitting up on his knees. "I'm just exhausted from fighting Cinder, again."
"What happened down there?" Yang asked.
"Your mom's the Spring Maiden, first of all," Fox said. "She helped me fight Cinder then froze her and sent her over the edge of the platform down there."
"So, we're not sure Cinder's dead?" Yang asked.
"If cinder survives being frozen and falling into a bottomless pit, she deserves to survive this fight," Fox said. "Besides that, I'm too tired to go finish her."
"We all are," Qrow said. "So, Oz, what's next?"
"He had...a message," the boy said, barely able to keep himself conscious through his own exhaustion. "We must...get the lamp...to Atlas."
Then, he keeled over, Qrow catching him and setting him down gently before looking down at the artifact. Fox looked to Penny, who stared at it then nodded.
"I'll call for a ride," Penny smiled.
"Tell them to send Ironwood himself," Qrow said. "Have them tell him it's Oz and Qrow asking."
Penny nodded and pulled out her scroll while Fox fell onto his back, groaning.
"I think I'm going to sleep right here," Fox said.
"Sounds like a plan," Jaune groaned. "Weiss, don't get me wrong, I'm glad you're okay, but you're exhausting."
They all laughed.
"Thank you, Jaune," Weiss said. "I owe you my life."
"No," Jaune said. "No. No life debts. Just let it be."
Weiss smiled and nodded. Fox looked to the door, seeing Wulfe and Ava walking over and raised a hand in greeting before letting it drop and yawning closing his eyes.
"Good night everyone," Fox said before allowing himself to black out.
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