[X] Engage the Ifrit. The battle was too close to introduce a new dangerous element near Ruby, and if he used his Aura right, he might be able to hurt it while dancing around the other two (Perspective Change: Ruby)
Blood splattered against the ground, as the heeled boot slammed into Three's stomach. The bloody wound already there opened, even if the purple energy of Three's song covered it and tried to start patching together the flesh. Three's voice raised in pitch for a moment, as the pain laced through it, and a purple barrier slammed out of Three and into her opponent.
Zero broke through the barrier with the hilt of her sword, and pushed on her assault. The angered look on her face sent a chill down Ruby's back, as she charged back into combat.
She could barely remember it, the image all but lost to memory years ago, but that wasn't the expression Ruby remembered on that face. It had barely aged, as far as Ruby could tell from her admittedly vague memory, but that casual disdain, annoyance at her opponent being alive, that cruel look...
It was a far cry from the smiling, motherly expression Ruby wanted to cling to so much right now.
She just didn't understand. How could she understand? What memories she had of her mother were of a kind person, not...
Ruby stepped in past Three, turning the grip of Crescent Rose so that the blade looped through the space between Three and the white-clad woman. The cold mental description Ruby came up with surprised her for a moment, before she pushed the thought out of her mind. Maybe it was a good thing when her brain thought of her as anything other than Ruby's mother.
The blade cut into Zero's Aura, which was somehow still up, and Ruby kept running, dragging her mother away from Three and the rest of the battle. Ruby didn't even know what was going on there anymore. Penny was there, and she had attacked Yang like she had attacked Ruby earlier, but pulled her out of the way of her mother's attack, but hadn't stopped supporting Zero, but...
And then Uncle Qrow had arrived, and the brawl after that got easier. Before he arrived, Ruby was fending off a handful of combatants with whatever this new power was. Now, it was just her mother trying to kill her, and even if that was already a thought that was painful enough, it was at least one person. Even if she was probably the most dangerous.
Ruby's leg came down wrong, and the hole in her leg, where Penny had stabbed her, shook with pain. Her leg fell out from under her, and before Zero could take advantage of Ruby's moment of weakness, she threw her scythe forward. The momentum carried onward, throwing her mother back, and Ruby took the opportunity to return to her feet.
The cut in her leg was hurting, and the hole in her chest was spiking with pain as well. Ruby couldn't recall off the top of her head what would have been stabbed through there, but she got the feeling that wasn't something she should be brushing off.
But then, all this new silver energy, this song, seemed to be doing something about that. She wasn't feeling her wounds get any worse, she was stronger, she wasn't out of the fight just from being stabbed even if it hurt...
Well, a mystery for later, when Ruby wasn't about to be killed by her mother.
Jumping back, Ruby took a moment to go over the resources she had available, while Three charged in.
Whatever her new song power was, it could make barriers and it could help Yang not die-
The mental image of Yang's broken body flashed through Ruby's head, and her grip tightened as she remembered the bloody state she was in. The bloodstained cloth tied around her leg, the outright missing arm from the elbow down, the bloody gash though her stomach that nearly cut her in half...
Why the hell did this keep happening? First in Mountain Glenn, now here, Yang had torn herself apart to try and protect Ruby, and keep her safe. Why did it have to be like this? Why did Yang keep almost dying for her sake?
Ruby spun her scythe, quickly lining up the sniper barrel while planting the blade in the ground to keep it balanced. Her finger pulled at the trigger, and as Three and Zero entered melee combat yet again, the bullet ripped into the side of Zero's head. Her Aura flared up from the impact, and as Three pushed the advantage, knocking her down, Ruby watched her mother pull something out of a belt by her side.
By the time Ruby realised the dagger had been thrown, it was already in her face. She fired Crescent Rose again, pulling it up out of the ground as she did so, and the recoil blasted her back and down. The thrown dagger clipped by Ruby's hair, cutting a few strands away from her forehead, and she hit the ground a moment later.
Three cried out in pain, as Ruby pushed herself up again. Zero's sword was stuck in Three's arm now, twisting around to cut as much muscle as possible. Ruby started singing ago, something resembling the lullaby she remembered as a kid falling from her lips as she charged forward. The silver light of her song surrounded her again, as she twirled Crescent Rose back and fired it to boost her momentum.
...Actually, now that she thought about it, she'd been forgetting something. It'd been ages, but Two had given her that birthday present. Some kind of modified metal that could be treated with Dust so that it'd replicate the effect. She'd used most of it to lighten up the centre of mass on Crescent Rose, make it easier to swing while gravity Dust made sure it kept the force behind each hit, but she had saved a bit for the edge of the blade.
She couldn't remember what kind of Dust it had been treated with, but maybe...
Crescent Rose swept through the air, circling around Zero's eyes. Ruby almost moved to flare her Aura through her weapon, to trigger the reaction at the end, before she remembered she was out. When she had been stabbed, her her mother had torn through it like it hadn't even been there. So, instead, she raised the pitch of her voice, and let the song's silver light flow into the scythe.
The blade around Zero's eyes suddenly exploded into flames, and Ruby heard her mother cry out, as she stepped back and raised her hands to cover her eyes. A makeshift flashbang, essentially, but enough to get the job done.
Using the chance she had, Ruby twisted her grip on Crescent Rose to yank it downwards, and started firing. The rounds echoed off as the momentum pulled at the woman in the white cloak, as Ruby increased the pitch of her song. She felt the silver light flow into her, and the blood flowing out of her leg and chest started to evaporate.
The pitch and volume of her Song pushed the boundaries, until Ruby felt a barrier break, and strength flowed through her body. The power of the Song reached a crescendo, and as Ruby took a step forward, even as her mother pushed against her, she felt something push through.
There was the sound of cracking steel behind Ruby, and then a blur of purple as Three made her move. Ruby looked back just in time to see Three's scissor blade sweep at Zero's knees, sweeping them out from under her and bringing her to the ground.
Letting Crescent Rose fall from her grip, the flames extinguishing as the silver light stopped flowing through it, Ruby ran at the downed woman and hit the ground next to her head.
What was the advise given in the basic hand to hand class? Ruby wasn't the best at it, but it was something to do with...
Keep the elbows pinned, that was the first big one. Ruby's hands came down on her mother's elbows, forcing her into the ground, while her knee pressed down on Zero's forehead to keep her head on the ground as well.
Three, apparently seeing what Ruby was going for, tightened her arms around Zero's legs, bending them forward while stepping down on her stomach so she couldn't lift control her legs or lower body.
"Stop!" Ruby shouted, as she pressed down. The blood in her cloak and bandaged in the scarf around her leg finished evaporating, and as the silver light rushing through her died down, Ruby felt some of that strength fade. "Mum, please, just... Why are you doing this?W-We can work this out if-"
"Dead people don't need answers." Zero replied, as she spat up into Ruby's face. Ruby recoiled as the saliva hit her in the eye, and in that moment of weakness, Zero broke her grip.
No. Damn it, why? Why wouldn't she just give a straight answer? This was her mother, even if she hadn't seen her years, even if she only had a vague memory. And if she was Zero, that meant she was Three's sister too. Family. Family was supposed to look out for each other. So why was she trying to kill Ruby and Three?
Why couldn't she just talk about it? Why was it so hard for people to just talk? Why was it that people found it so much easier to hurt and break and kill, rather than just try to work things out to make everyone happy?
It wasn't fair. But if she wasn't going to stop and talk, Ruby would just have to make her stop. They could talk then, once she was beaten and in a cell or something.
Three pulled at Zero's legs, dragging her across the ground before she could do anything to Ruby, up until a faint whizzing sound soared through the air. Turning to the side, Ruby saw the explosive round flying at the three combatants, and leaped away at the same time as Three.
Zero sliced the side of her hand into the round, and walked through the explosion as she moved to get her sword. Surprised by the sudden attack, Ruby looked towards the source.
Standing by the ruins of the front door of the Schnee manor, above the bleeding body of a brown-clad girl, was someone Ruby vaguely recognised. Gawain. Of course, he had been there earlier, with that green scarf of his, but he hadn't been doing anything and Ruby had forgotten he had ever seen him.
"My apologies, Lady Zero." Gawain called out, as the woman in white glared at him. "I thought it would get those two off your back quicker if I fired."
"I was doing fine." Zero replied. "What the hell have you been doing anyway? You've been standing there since I took the bunny girl out."
"I-" Gawain began, but Zero turned away from him after a second.
"Forget it." She brushed off. "I'll settle this in a second. Go help kill the Disciple or something."
Gawain looked towards Zero for a moment, then nodded, turning off to rejoin the battle. Before he could get further than a step, Ruby leaped into action, running low to the ground so she could scoop up Crescent Rose, shift it into rifle form, and open fire.
The bullet hit Gawain in the side of the head, and he stumbled, but his Aura didn't look like it had taken that much damage.
...Of course. He was the guy from the tournament, wasn't he? The guy who could regenerate her Aura in the sunlight. In that case, Ruby would need to take it all out in one hit.
Or block out the sun or something, but-
Zero turned back to face Ruby, and the girl in the red cloak pushed Gawain out of her mind, as she looked at Zero again.
The ground cracked, as Ruby screamed out her song and charged. A silver barrier appeared in front of Zero, and she charged through it without even noticing. Crescent Rose shifted back into scythe form as Ruby closed in, and Ruby shifted her grip so that the transforming handle slammed Zero in the face. The Intoner shrugged off the hit, as she closed in.
A heeled boot slammed into Ruby's chest, right next to the hole there. Ruby felt the oxygen being forced out of her lungs, as the wound opened further. Blood spat out of the wound, and Ruby felt her heart stop. Her hands fell from Crescent Rose, as they reflexively moved to cover her heart, striking at her chest while flowing the song through her chest. The organ flickered back on, after a moment, and Zero took the moment bought to throw Ruby to the ground again.
Ruby looked up as she fell, and saw as her mother's hands closed around Crescent Rose. Three let her own Song fly, the purple light intensifying in her side of the room, and Zero turned to look at her. As she did, her grip tightened, and Crescent Rose snapped.
Ruby watched, as her precious weapon fell to the ground as a crumpled wreck. The scythe blade, fragmented and useless. The gun barrel, bent and broken. The ammunition, crushed into dust.
No. Not now. It can't be broken now, Ruby sucked at hand to hand combat, she spent too long learning how to fight with a scythe. She couldn't...
...She had to. She couldn't afford to sit out now just because she couldn't use Crescent Rose. And...
Looking around the battlefield, Ruby noticed that Three had fallen back to an intact wall on the Schnee manor, even as Zero tore through that as well. An idea popped into Ruby's hand, and as she stood up again, she took a moment to rub her injured leg.
This was going to hurt, but...
Whispering her lullaby to herself again, Ruby let the silver energy flow through her leg, holding it intact as she started to run. Her speed skyrocketed as she ran into the building, the air behind her following her motion and hammering forward with Ruby. As she ran at the building, she waited until she was a few metres away. Three and Zero turned to Ruby as they heard her approach, and Zero used the opportunity to bring her sword down. Three's head jerked back, but not before the blade cut through her face, right down her right eye.
Jumping into the air above them, Ruby let the slipsteam of air blast into the two of them, knocking them into the wall. Three, unbalanced from the cut across her face, fell to the ground, and Ruby twisted in the air so that her feet hit the wall.
Before the wall could crumble, Ruby was running again. The Schnee manor was absurdly big, which gave Ruby a lot of room to run. The wall kept crumpling past her feet, as she approached the top. And as she did so, she kicked off.
She spun in the air for a moment, flipping her feet so that they were away from the walls, and then screamed out her Song again. The barrier appeared by her feet, and Ruby started running again, down. Barrier after barrier formed in her path, as she struggled to keep herself running downwards. Between her speed, enhanced by her song, and them gravity, it wasn't long before she had reached a new personal best.
The wind tore at her like hungry knives, and Ruby almost missed her chance, before she jumped. She sang, and her silver light coiled around her, a protective shield forming around her.
She struck the ground at Zero's feet, and the impact rattled Ruby's bones. Her arms in front of her head, Ruby could have sworn she heard something snap. But the ground took it was, buckling under the force and cratering like an explosion had hit it, and the silver light coiled around Ruby's arms before long anyway. The dust and dirt thrown into the air because of this lingered for less than a second, before the air current caught up.
Zero would have already been unbalanced by the shockwave of Ruby's landing. When the air blasted into her, it threw her back, catching her off balance and throwing her through the walls of the Schnee mansion as the dust was blasted into the wall with her.
She disappeared from view, as the crashing sound echoed on for a moment, and Ruby turned to Three. The purple haired girl looked up at Ruby, her hand over her right eye as she tried to push purple light into it with her song, and Ruby was at her side in a second, helping her to her feet.
"Are you okay?" Ruby asked.
"Don't waste time with obvious questions." Three replied, a tone of hurt in her voice. "I-"
From the other side of the Schnee manor, Zero started to screech. The right light burst out, visible from the windows and broken hole in the side, and Ruby felt her blood pale as she looked into it.
Up until this point, her mother had been fighting normally, and still outclassed Ruby and Three. Now, she was using her Song as well, the only tool which had kept Ruby alive so far.
And how had the battle gone before Zero used her Song? Crescent Rose was broken, and Ruby could still feel her arm healing from that last trick. Three had lost an eye, and one of her arms was basically useless after the mutilation Zero had given it, which still hadn't healed. And Zero was no worse off then when she had started.
This wasn't working. This entire situation, it was just one big parade of failure, stockpiling up, until eventually...
...If something didn't work, you tried something else until something did work. Right now, fighting Zero like this wasn't working. So time for a new plan.
As the melodic screech got louder, as the woman in white approached, Ruby scanned the rest of the battles.
Over by the entrance, she saw her Uncle Qrow fighting in the smoke. It was hard to see in there, but he had jumped out for a moment to catch his breath, down a weapon and an arm. His combatants lurked in the smoke, as it slowly expanded towards him. Yang was over in the distance, on the ground, still bleeding. Ruby knew in her heart that her Song would keep her brain functioning and her heart beating until this situation was dealt with, but that didn't make it any easier to look at.
Penny, and the orange robot were gone, Ruby noted. Gawain, wearing the same scarf that Penny had worn when she had stabbed Ruby in the leg, was fighting against the green-haired girl and the old man that was Three's Disciple. The girl in the white dress and one leg was lying on the ground near them, but wasn't moving. At Gawain's side, there was Penny's friend, Ciel, throwing around hoops and slowing the passage of time within it, locking the battlefield down. Next to her, kicking the green-haired girl in the stomach, was the boy with grey hair.
He confused Ruby more than anything. He had been the one to let Ruby out of the box in the weapons room, but he was with Ciel and Penny? Why would he have let Ruby go if he was with the enemy? Was he hoping that Ruby would fight Zero?
...Something to be asked when Ruby wasn't about to be killed by her mother, maybe.
As the screech reached a crescendo, and Ruby heard the footsteps slamming into the wall, she looked at Three and told her the plan.
[X] "Zero's here to kill us, and people are getting hurt because of that. Let's go. Let's run, take the battle somewhere else, and let Zero follow."
X] "We can't beat Zero, not like this, but I can buy time. Get your Disciple out of the battle and summon your Angel, I'll hold her off until then."