October 18, 2015

"Ugh," said a tired Blake as she lay in a hospital bed at around 12 in the morning, staring at the clock on the wall of the dark room. "I can't fucking go to sleep." She then wiped her eyes with her right arm as she used her left arm to feel a stab injury she sustained earlier on her abdomen. "Yang... I wonder how surgery's going?"

3 hours earlier

As Yang slowly opened her eyes, she saw that she was on the ground and that Blake was laying next to her, crying. She tiredly said, "Blake... What's up?"

Blake immediately gasped and said, "You're awake already?!"

As Yang looked around her in the dark night, she began to feel an intense pain in her right arm. She lifted what she thought was her right arm into her field of vision. "Huh? What? What the fuck happened to my arm?! Half of it's missing?!"

"No," Blake said as she showed Yang something that made her look on in shock. "I have it."

Yang used her left hand to reach out to grab the severed half-arm Blake held. "Who... Was it... Was it Adam?"

Blake nodded sorrowfully. "I grabbed it as soon as I left."

Yang then noticed Blake had been stabbed in the abdomen. "Holy shit, that had to hurt... Nevermind my arm, that can be reattached. That wound needs to get disinfected." Yang then began to get up, using her remaining left arm as leverage as the full extent of the pain hit her. "Agh shit... Agh fuck... My right arm hurts..."

Blake also began to get up as 2 volunteer firefighters from the Beacon Fire Company rushed over in their turnout gear. One of them, who was wearing a yellow helmet, thus indicating he was a lieutenant, said, "Follow me to the air ambulance now!"

Blake nodded as they were both helped along by the 2 firefighters. Yang said to her as the 4 of them walked, "You know where Ruby and Weiss went?"

"I think to go get Pyrrha or something," Blake tiredly replied before yawning.

"That's it," Blake suddenly said as she began to get out of bed. "I'm not sitting in this God damn hospital bed any longer." As she got to her feet, she scanned the room to find replacement clothes to get out of her hospital gown. After she found none, she said, "Hmm... What if I stole some from a nurse?"

Outside, a nurse walked by her room, carrying several papers with him down the lighted but still dark hallway. Then, Blake opened the door, startling the nurse. He said, "Who is that?"

"Just me," replied Blake as she stood in the doorway. "Uhhh... My bed stopped moving and its remote won't work, nurse. Can you come here and take a look?"

"Sure thing," said the nurse as he walked in. As he did, Blake closed the door behind them before suddenly punching him in the back of the head, knocking out the nurse cold as he hit the floor.

"Alright... Time to get changed and get the hell out of here... First up, I need to find Simon, and I think I know just where he is..."

In a safehouse in the city, Simon sat in a chair in an empty room as he looked out of a window, overseeing the damage done in the attack. However, despite the serious damage done, he was not happy. "I can't believe the Valeanian Army came in and ended up taking back Beacon... To make matters worse, that Pyrrha girl survived because Cinder decided she didn't have time to kill her..."

3 hours earlier

As Cinder raised her arms up into the air to form a bow and arrow made of rubble, she stared down at a defeated Pyrrha, smiling at the thought of killing a well-trained huntress such as her. She thought to herself, "Pyrrha, I must say, you put up a better fight than I imagined. Even without the Fall Maiden's powers, you certainly threw me off-guard a few times. For that, I deeply respect you as a worthy opponent. Because of that, I shall make sure you meet the mighty warriors that came and died before you..."

Suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the landing of feet upon the tower the 2 stood upon. As Cinder looked over in surprise, a defiant Ruby yelled, "Leave her alone!"

Pyrrha looked at her in desperation as Cinder made her bow and arrow dissipate into the wind and said, "So you interrupt me..." She then laughed. "I commend you, both of you, for getting this far. It is almost a shame that this is where you will both die."

"No we won't," Ruby told her as she readied Crescent Rose. "It is not our destiny to die here."

"Really? It isn't?" Cinder then laughed again as she formed fire in her hands. "Do you realize how powerful I am even without the power of the Fall Maiden? What I'm doing now is something I have done ever since I unlocked my semblance!" Then, her eyes lit up, indicating her Fall Maiden powers had activated as she lifted slowly into the air. "It's a good thing the Fall Maiden grants you fire powers, 'cause that's right up my alley, little girl!" She then launched 2 jets of fire at Ruby from her hands.

Ruby quickly dodged them as she aimed Crescent Rose's gun at Cinder and fired 2 shots at her. Both shots bounced off of a shield Cinder quickly formed to deflect them. Pyrrha could only watch, having been almost immobilized.

Then, Cinder told Ruby, "Say, you wanna hear just how much I thought this whole thing through, Ruby Xiao Long Rose?! Well, let me start off by saying I know a guy who's made your little friend Blake's life a living hell!"

Ruby, confused in her anger, replied, "Was it that Adam guy?" She then fired 2 more shots at Cinder.

"Nope, it goes further!" She then lowered herself to the ground. "You see, the leader of the White Fang is a good associate of mine. He was Adam's mentor, and he's the one who made Adam and the White Fang into what it is today! I struck a deal with him that lets me use his cronies whenever I want."

"And how is that relevant to all this?" Ruby then readied Crescent Rose's scythe mode.

"Simon murdered Blake and Adam's parents and pinned it on Weiss's family's company to get them to do his bidding," Cinder told Ruby, leaving her and Pyrrha in shock. "He also was responsible for turning Adam into the creep he is today towards Blake! Let me tell you, he didn't come up with shit like, "Why must you hurt me, Blake" and, "I will destroy everything you love" by himself! Simon goaded him into it, and I helped him every step of the way!"

Ruby, shocked, shut down for several seconds. As she stared a Cinder in shock, she angrily thought to herself, "So she's responsible for what happened to Blake and... She did this to Yang! She and that Simon creep did this to my sister!" She then closed her eyes and clasped her stomach in pain as she began to growl.

Cinder continued to goad her. "What's the matter, Ruby? Can't handle the fact that my minion Adam turned your sister into a cripple? Oh, I know about that. I know about it all. How about that robot Penny I helped destroy? Wasn't she your friend or something? Pfft, who cares?"

"Shut... Up," Ruby quietly said to Cinder, who looked at her and laughed in response.

Then, it happened.

Ruby flung her head back as 2 white lights flew out of her eyes and she gave a earsplitting yell of, "SHUT UP!" She then began to levitate off the ground, her eyes now fully encased in white, as she angrily looked down upon Cinder, who was now, for possibly the first time in the attack, frightened.

Pyrrha looked up at Ruby, amazed. She said to herself, "What is this? What is this power?!"

Ruby then gave a loud yell again as she descended upon the Grimm Dragon that had watched the fight with content beside its master, her right hand curled into a fist and surrounded by a blinding ball of light.

Cinder yelled in shock, "What?! No! She's gonna kill the dragon!"

Then, Ruby's right handed fist met the Grimm Dragon's head with a loud explosion of light that blinded Cinder and Pyrrha temporarily. Ruby herself suddenly was knocked unconscious as the Grimm Dragon roared in searing pain. Then, Cinder and Pyrrha were both blown back by the blast. Pyrrha quickly grabbed a piece of rebar sticking out of the tower, just barely holding on as the wind blew her back intensely.

Cinder tried to do the same with another piece of rebar, but she slipped and tumbled off of the tower. As she fell rapidly towards the ground, Cinder tried to use her Fall Maiden powers to stop the fall. Eventually, just a few seconds from hitting the hard ground, she stopped herself rather abruptly in mid air with a sheet of flame. After levitating slowly to the ground, she brushed herself off and looked up at the tower. She said to herself, "Well, this puts a dent in my plans..."

Back on the tower, Ruby woke up on the roof, laying down on her side as Pyrrha knelt next to her. Pyrrha said to her in amazement, "Ruby... I don't know how, but you... You destroyed the Grimm Dragon!"

Ruby rubbed her eyes and looked around, saying, "Huh? I did?" As she noticed a conspicuous lack of the Grimm Dragon anywhere, she said, "I did!" She then hugged Pyrrha. "Oh my God, we won!"

Pyrrha returned the warm hug silently. After the pair split, she began to cry.

Ruby noticed this and asked her, "What's wrong?"

"I... I kissed Jaune because I thought I was going to die..." Pyrrha then buried her face into her hands. "I don't know how he'll react after he sees I'm alive... Ruby, listen to me, I love Jaune, I really do, but I don't want to ruin our friendship if he doesn't return my feelings..."

Ruby smiled and said confidently to Pyrrha, "I'm sure he returns your feelings, Pyrrha. I'm sure of it." Then, both of them suddenly heard many, many helicopter blades in the distance, indicating the arrival of the Valeanian Army. "I think the cavalry's coming, Pyrrha."

Back at the safehouse in the present, Simon said to himself, "I'll need to find Cinder and Adam to see what we can do next." He then thought to himself, "Say, I wonder what became of Blake?"

"She's right here, motherfucker."

Simon immediately swiveled around and saw Blake standing before her, Gambol Shroud unsheathed in its katana form. "So you are..." He then drew his own weapon, a sword used by his father that he had modified with red dust running through the center of the blade and at the tip. "Tell me, how was your little fight with my student?"

Blake angrily told him, "You poisoned him, you son of a bitch! You're the reason why he's like this today! You turned my boyfriend into a psychopath, just like you!"

"Wow," Simon said to her. "Nice to pin the blame on me and not him, Blake. Way to go. You sound just like a sufferer of Hostage Syndrome (A/N: Remnant equivalent of Stockholm Syndrome). Some abuse victim you are."

Blake, enraged at Simon's callous remarks, charged at him. Simon replied by blocking her, their swords clashing loudly several times. She told him, "Don't ever call me that again!"

Simon laughed as the two split before saying, "Say, wanna hear something before I straight up end your pathetic life?" He then grinned as he happily said, "I murdered you and Adam's parents. It wasn't the SDC. Also, the old White Fang leader never attacked me. In fact, I planned for the White Fang to become violent months, if not years, before 2010."

Blake paused in horror as Simon's lies came crashing down upon her, her mind almost shutting down from the shock of the revelations. Then, she fell to her knees and screamed loudly, "NOOO!"

Simon laughed again before saying, "How does it feel to know the awful truth, Blake?"

Blake silently stood back up, not replying at all to Simon, before charging at him with Gambol Shroud. This time, Simon let Blake impale him through his chest, the blade piercing his lungs and ribcage and spilling blood all over Blake's clothes and Simon's clothes.

Simon smiled and raised his right hand up to Blake as blood poured out of his mouth. Then, he slowly raised his right middle finger at Blake as one last act of defiance before the last ounce of life exited his body, and he fell limp.

Blake emotionlessly pulled Gambol Shroud's blade out of his chest, letting his body fall to the floor. As she looked upon it, she spit on the body and said, "You... You heartless bastard... You deserved every last bit of what I did to you..."