.
Sore Losers
.
It takes a certain amount of courage
To meet the eyes of our defeat
Without blinking away.
.
.
"Destiny, huh?"
Yang did a cursory scan of their three opponents.
Never in her wildest dreams—or nightmares—did she imagine anything like this coming to pass. Sure, the idea cropped up once in a while, during old practice spars as teammates. But to fight in the truest sense of the word, with their lives on the line? Yang expected to feel more apprehensive, but only felt exhilaration at the aspect.
She was excited, ready, eager.
The girl observed her former teammates and saw they didn't appear to hold anything back either. The sentiment fired her up more.
"Not gonna try to convince me to surrender this time round, Blake?"
"No. I'll stop you by defeating you."
Yang looked to Ruby and Weiss, and saw the same steely resolve.
"—Hmph," Cinder scoffed. "And I thought this would be a significantly messier affair."
"Psh!" Yang snickered. "Like you can't feel the bad blood stuffing this place up. Come on, let's throw this down."
"Very well. Shall we move to a more proper venue for our battle? It's a bit too cramped in here for a fight between fellow Maidens."
Without warning, Cinder snapped her fingers.
The whole chamber warped and twisted. Walls and occupants shifted in and out, folding like colorful patterns in a kaleidoscope. It was enough to make anyone delirious.
When reality ceased altering, the occupants found themselves in the ruins of an underground city. Lava waterfalled from broken partitions in the sides. Rivers of molten core ran through the grounds. Intricate stone buildings lay barren and in open defiance of its environment. It was like the remains of an ancient civilization built inside a living volcano.
And at the opposite ends of an elevated bridge, five combatants stood.
Though, they'd never been to this place in particular; Ruby, Weiss, and Blake knew intuitively what this place was.
"We're in the Never Realm…" Weiss squinted at the surroundings.
"I thought it an appropriate location for us to battle to our heart's content," Cinder answered.
"No collateral damage. No limits. No worries," Yang called across the gap. "Let's go wild!"
The Spring Maiden let out a bang from her gauntlets and bolted forth. Likewise, Cinder materialized a bow in her hands with a smooth motion. A flurry of arrows loosed in turn.
Ruby trained her sniper rifle and shot the crystallized projectiles. Blake and Weiss rushed to meet Yang head on, swords drawn with a crisp ring.
And the grand battle for the Tower began.
.
X
.
Qrow leapt into the air, arching his back as far as his spine would bend.
Adam prepared a counter technique, but Raven suddenly kicked him out of the way. The two backed off, voluntarily or involuntarily, from the massive blade's descent.
It was as if thunder struck indoors. Qrow sent ruptured scrap metal flying from the crater he created. Without pause, he dragged his claymore across the floor towards Raven.
A violent upswing collided with the samurai's guard, as well as shaving some grounded shrapnel her direction. The force was so powerful, it blew Raven to the ceiling, where she ran back and down the wall to safety. Even though she had blocked the blow, her hands stammered briefly from the impact.
Raven hated fighting Qrow like this. Being so far past his usual threshold of drunk lent a certain uncanniness to his motions. He also wielded his full strength without reservation. Out of all those she encountered in her extensive fighting career, only one other ever displayed such frightening levels of raw power. It didn't matter what defenses she employed. It didn't matter if Qrow's attacks were telegraphed way in advance. Sometimes, finesse simply paled in the face of such brute strength.
She saw her brother's eyes dart to Adam. In the next breath, Qrow lunged his sword in a spear thrust. Like holding the tail-end of a shark, his weapon dragged his body across the lobby. It knocked Adam away back, causing him to lose his footing while blowing open his guard. It wasn't an opportunity a certain girl was going to miss.
Neo slipped out from Qrow's cape. The tip of her sword collided with the side of Raven's sheath, which only barely received the blow.
Cinder and Yang thought this combo thoroughly…
Raven gritted her teeth.
As soon as her revolver clicked a white blade into place, a slash of blinding light followed. When the brightness dimmed, Raven and Adam retreated a generous number of paces back.
"Remember what I told you about my brother, if you should ever encounter him?" Raven asked.
"You told me to run like hell the other way," Adam answered.
"And if you couldn't?"
"…"
The former apprentice nodded his understanding, and the two kicked off towards their mutual foe. In response, Neo grinned as she disappeared into Qrow's shadow once more. The veteran Huntsman hefted his buster blade against the pair of incomers.
Their violent clash made the lobby grate and shudder with screeching shock. Meeting with Qrow's blade were Raven and Adam's katanas overlapping each other. Only through their combined strengths were they able to match the one.
The three recovered from the recoil at roughly the same time, but Raven and Adam made the most of their advantage. Adam applied immediate pressure to Qrow, while Raven preyed in the space between.
A series of slashes kept the Huntsman off his feet. Any of his heavy-handed attacks required a firm footing with the ground, and the pair erred to provide him the chance. They pursued, hounding him like pack wolves baring their fangs.
It was then, Raven spotted the faintest glint in the corner of her sight. She felt wind pass the tip of her nose and parted the front of her bangs. The swordsman stepped back with a scowl, narrowly dodging Neo's mischievous blow.
At the same time, Qrow smashed his sword into the ground right on top of Adam's katana. From his back, he pulled a familiar-looking cane that shifted into a sleek scythe. Green Aura pulsed from its awakening and Raven's sixth sense triggered.
She activated her Semblance, and saw the red threads around Adam's silhouette thin. Something ominous loomed in her brother's second weapon. A power that was not his.
Raven called upon the wicked nature of her sword once more. Her thumb traced its edge, paying its blood tribute.
The moment Qrow's scythe came down, a cross of red brushstrokes bloomed at the point of impact.
…
The two sides parted once more to their respective territories.
Raven's lips twisted into a frown.
Was that Ozpin's Aura?
Across from her, she could see her sibling baring the same bitter expression. Again, Neo was nowhere to be seen.
A difficult combination. Very difficult.
But not unbeatable.
The result of a match between two combatants so well-versed in each other's styles, usually boiled down to a convoluted chess game. Superior predictions would be the determining factor. Who could perform the correct set of moves first. Who possessed the foresight to identify what those moves were.
And there was the calculation of uncertain elements. In this case, being Neo, Adam, and whatever abilities Qrow and Raven honed in secret.
…
Raven tapped the pummel of her grip testily.
She didn't like it.
Under normal circumstances, she welcomed long drawn-out fights. It could be said they were part of her and Adam's specialties. They favored psychological warfare and possessed an array of techniques tailor-made to the circumstance. In contrast, Qrow patterns were more simplistic and could be dialed in with enough exposure. Neo was the trickier of the pair, but lacked the raw threat against Raven.
The problem was the timetable.
"Adam." Raven stopped tapping her grip. "We only have one chance to end this quickly. If we don't, this fight will take too long."
After being under her tutelage, the young Faunus was able to interpret his former mentor's meaning. Along with long fights, their styles excelled at one other thing—assassination. They possessed an arsenal of singular moves, keyed towards executing perfect kills. The specialty that lied at the opposite end of the spectrum.
Adam took a polished shard of Bane and popped it into his mouth. Raven focused her breath, counting the steps between them and their foes.
A single clash would decide victory or failure.
Win, and they would be able to descend the Tower.
Lose, and they may die, or at the least, stalled on this floor.
The decisive battle for the Tower lay elsewhere. This moment here, was only the turning point of whether they would have to right to participate in the ultimate fate of the Kingdom or not.
The answer lay beyond the next few seconds.
.
X
.
Emerald winced as the bare skin of her shoulder grinded across the floor. She ducked into a roll, back onto her feet, and continued to run. The pair of hunters still hot on her trail.
Fox and Ren traded sides interchangeably. The sheen of their weapons flickered with deadly flourish. It tolled all of Emerald's mental faculties to keep up with the swift bladework.
Green sparks sprayed with each parry. She knew any careless moment spared meant being diced up like a vegetable. In spite of that, the girl kept her calm. It wasn't the first time she faced overwhelming odds. Her team's borderline sadistic training regiments made her mentally hardy.
Emerald bided her time. She only needed one opportunity—one sliver of chance.
There, in the rapid pace exchange, Emerald felt a slight feedback on her weapon. She spotted the miniscule wound appear on the back of Ren's hand. A shallow, superficial graze, if there ever was one. It was nothing compared to the damage they had already inflicted on her.
But true to the grifter's nature, any small opening was an opportunity for profit.
"Penny," Emerald called.
According to her signal, Penny activated the Godmother device transferred to her. Though a certain distance away, Emerald felt the enhancement of her Semblance. She grinned openly, as the wound on Ren's hand pulsed with sickly green vibes.
After Team ENMY's battle with the previous Spring Maiden and the awakening of Emerald's true Semblance, Masa crafted her a new weapon.
The Absinthe Mamba.
Her jade-colored sickles glowed with vibrant color. The blades channeled Emerald's Aura, allowing her to embed it into her foe's slightest abrasions.
Like a snake's venom sinking into its meal, Emerald activated her Semblance through Ren's wound. Hallucinations bombarded him in consecutive frames. Never allowed so much a chance to dispel them, before the next started. Slot visions of his teammates, a happy future with Nora, a living Pyrrha, a home with his parents that never became came to be—all assaulted his mind at once. A roughshod, but effective paralytic.
Emerald cast herself into a circular saw motion. The vicious spiral aimed for the hallucinated Ren, when Fox tried to cover for him. The blind fighter was repelled, but he accomplished his task.
By the time Emerald restarted her motion, Jaune had already stepped away from his own fight to act as his teammate's protector.
"Tch!"
Seeing the futility in resuming her attack, Emerald launched her chains to one of the foundry's walkways, rappelling herself there. Looking down, she saw Jaune use his Semblance to heal and correct Ren's mental state.
I really hate these guys…
"Ren, are you alright?" Jaune asked.
"I'm fine." Ren held his head. "I understand how her weapon and Semblance work now. You should return to your own battle."
"Got it. Don't be afraid to fall back on us."
At Ren's nod, Jaune set off against his designated opponents once more.
Penny activated Godmother to enhance Mercury's Semblance.
While midair, winds and gales gathered to the young man's heels. Silver wings unfurled from his ankles and a growling typhoon packed into his kicking momentum. The storm released in concert with Penny's countless swords.
Coco, Velvet, Yatsuhashi, and Nora readily took position behind Jaune, whereupon he cracked his enlarged shield against the ground. A white sphere engulfed his immediate vicinity, shrouding all within his Aura.
The cyclone released by Mercury and Penny's combo wrought havoc on the divine barrier. But after weathering the onslaught, Jaune's group came out with only a few deep scratches.
Hm?
Jaune tilted his head at the pause in the pair's movements. Paranoia and experience taught him their enemies were not the type to let anyone catch their breaths. An angle was always being played. Some type of deception or misdirection.
He and his allies were still completely engulfed in his Resilient Semblance except for—
"…!"
Jaune quickly cracked his shield against the floor once more. His Aura fortified the ground beneath them—just in time to deflect a chain of Penny's swords bursting from below.
"—Triforce!" he ordered.
On command, Velvet traced two shields identical to Jaune's for Yatsuhashi and Nora's usage. The three interlocked them together, snapping a few of Penny's swords in half. The rest of the swarming projectiles fell on the barrier, like water on rock.
"Advance!"
Staying in turtle shell formation, they bolted towards Mercury. The large shields helped hide their frames, and most importantly, their weapons.
Mercury ended up with a number of close calls, because of his opponents' obscured motions. And when he tried to break the formation with a kick, the force was simply nullified.
The flyer tried to swing in from a different angle, but Jaune's group rotated seamlessly. This time, Yatsuhashi's sword cut a groove in his prosthetics.
Okay, this is really annoy—!
In the brief moment Mercury complained to himself, his adversaries zoned him into close space. The triangle of shields took up his whole vision, and a single eye peeked out the middle. On Jaune's signal, the three swung their weapons around their defensive walls.
Mercury had no choice but to lift this legs to his chest to block the triple attack. He felt his prosthetics stutter from the impact. And when he saw they were going to move for a second round, he paid a good chunk of his Aura to escaping at top speed.
That was way too close!
But not cl—!
Even as Mercury built distance, Velvet and Coco's gatling guns tracked him with a hail of bullets.
Desperation mounted as Emerald observed the other side's tactics. In-between catching glimpses of her teammates' situation, Ren and Fox dogged her relentlessly.
Electing to forgo fighting completely, she retreated between vats full of Dust and speeding conveyor belts. Anytime her pursuers closed the distance, she wrapped her chained sickles to a container to spill its volatile contents in their tracks.
This is going really bad.
Why are most of them focusing Mercury and not me?
…
…Oh, these assholes!
Emerald tapped her ear radio impatiently.
"Mercury! Fall back!"
"Wait, me? Are you kidding?"
"They're focusing you!"
"So, what? I'm the hardest one to hit!"
"And they're still hitting you. They trained this exact scenario, I know it! They're trying to cripple you, cripple boy!"
Emerald's words hit Mercury like a sudden brick of realization. Evasion was one of his strongest points, but Jaune and his allies were zoning him smartly—driving him into corners whenever they could. His prosthetics weren't meant to take a significant amount of damage. It was only now, he saw how stressed his mechanical limbs were.
Pock marks and dents littered his steel shins. Armored plating was chipped, protruding like peeled skin. Every time he kicked the air to avoid an attack, the machinery gave a fragile whine.
"…That's so fucked," he murmured.
"What I said or their thing?" Emerald asked.
"Both."
"Yeah, well. I guess they got tired of losing to us all the time."
"The goody-two-shoes actually learned how to fight dirty!"
"They picked it up from the best. Only figures we'd be our own worst enemies!"
But Emerald knew it was deeper than that. Being on the losing end of things taught her lessons she would never forget. People feared defeat by nature, but defeat was the best fertilizer for growth. Victory taught next to nothing.
And she knew with every cumulative lost the other side suffered at their hands, the stronger they became.
"This is why I hate rematches!" Emerald vented. "Screw Yang! We should've killed them when we had the chance!"
"This sucks!"
"Yeah! Sure fucking does!"
Emerald whipped around a corner and came to a stop.
Oh, shit…
She looked back the way she came, and only saw Dust containers and machinery flying by. No signs of Ren and Fox whatsoever.
Where the hell'd they go?
Emerald felt a cold bead of sweat. She was currently not running. She was standing still, looking around like she was lost. The girl saw herself in third person and thought what an appetizing target she made.
She blurted a mixed syllable of curses, as she forced her legs to move. More a trip than an actual dodge. But it allowed her to avoid the pair of fighters dropping out of the ether.
"Friggin' fuckers!"
Emerald fired off rounds from her dual pistols, but Fox and Ren had already turned invisible once more.
"Dammit!"
She turned around, and sprinted in the other direction. The situation was becoming harrower by the second. Her senses were the least acute of her teammates, and even if she did possess such a gift, could anyone really detect an invisible enemy dropping from midair, with no sounds or steps to give them away?
They were sapping her stamina and Emerald knew it. Could she meet up with her allies? Or would Fox and Ren head her off? They probably positioned themselves to keep her isolated from Mercury and Penny.
Emerald could only continue to run from the invisible ninjas.
"Not just ninjas. Invisible ninjas!" she panted. "This. Friggin'. SUUUUUCKS!"
"—We need to regroup," Mercury's voice came over the comms.
"Think I don't know that, Merc? You think they haven't planned for exactly that?"
"I can send Penny."
"She's barely keeping them off you!"
There was a tense silence that followed a few seconds.
"…Bank towards me."
"What?!" Emerald asked.
"Limbo."
"…I hate Limbo, especially when I'm the one doing it."
"Do you wanna live or not?"
"…Synch."
"Synch."
Without another moment's hesitation, Emerald skidded into a right-angle turn, towards her partner and Penny. Her sight drifted up in some vain hope of catching Ren or Fox. No such luck.
More walkways came into view and she deduced that was where they would come from—and she just happened to be a few steps away from being directly under one.
She had no proof they were there, but paranoia told her they were. It told her they were descending on her at that exact moment. Blades poised to put an end to this little rabbit hunt.
Still, she continued to run. Her team showed unwavering faith in her time and time again, entrusting her with their lives at a single command. Emerald understood that sentiment. Under pain of death, she would never admit it, but she cherished it.
How could she not do the same in return?
"—Sending it down range, Em."
"Copy!"
Emerald broke her stride and slid onto her knees. Her body bent back as low as she could go. She felt the hair on the back of her head barely scrape the floor behind.
A tidal wave of wind tickled her nose, as a massive aerial slash passed from Mercury's kick. The girl only centimeters short of being hit by the weaponized gust.
Emerald hopped back up to continue running. All around her, the machinery had been leveled to a height few meters off the ground. She glanced back and saw the carnage wrought by her partner, just in time to get a face full of Dust igniting from the destruction.
It blew her off her feet and into a tumble. She rolled until she stopped flat on her back. Her face coated in soot. A narcissistic grin glowered above her.
"Great, the gang's all here," Mercury greeted. "Now, we can die together."
"They weren't there, were they?"
"Nope." Mercury pitched his thumb in another direction.
Emerald looked over, and saw all their adversaries gathered and accounted for. Ren seemed to be handing a chemical container to Nora.
"They read our move," Emerald muttered in disbelief.
"Yep."
"So, all that was for nothing?!"
"Any other schmo would've fallen for it. These guys, 'Gee. I wonder why Emerald's making a break for her devilishly handsome partner? They must be planning something!' or whatever."
"Wasted that move on nothing!"
"It got you here."
"…Fair enough. Help me up."
Penny and Mercury helped the girl to her feet, and she began patting herself off.
"How do you wanna play this?" her partner asked.
"Penny, what percent are we with Cinder's control of the Tower?"
"88%!" she chirped.
"Just… spect-tacularrrr," Emerald slurred. "Keep me updated from now on."
"Roger, ma'am!"
As Team ENMY's side gazed at CFVY and RNJR, their opponents appeared to be discussing something.
"Not a fan of that," Emerald scrunched her nose. "What did the ninjas just hand the pancake addict?"
"Looked like a container of Dust. Maybe, they're refueling?"
"Probably something they found while chasing me…" her glare narrowed. "That Dust's element wouldn't happen to be lightning, would it?"
"It's tough to see from here, but if you want to bet it isn't…"
"It DEFINITELY is. Merc, go! Penny, I need you to…"
As Emerald explained something to her android teammate, Mercury jumped into the air. His left boot pulled back for the activation of his Semblance.
Coco immediately smirked and brandished her gatling gun.
"How many times you think we've seen you do that, punk?!"
A long roar of gunfire filled the refinery, as a stream of rounds unloaded near Mercury. From the range and size of her target, it was difficult for Coco to be accurate. But the fact of the matter was, she didn't need to be.
The shells combusted midair, spreading a multi-colored cloud of Dust. The energy particles floated briefly, before being sucked into Mercury's prosthetics.
By then, it was too late for him to stop. The mixing of reactive compounds erupted within his legs. Wind stopped gathering and Mercury plummeted to the ground.
Not sparing a moment of mercy, Nora stepped forward, sparking with electricity. With Emerald fatigued and Mercury in freefall, they were prime targets for her super-charged assault.
Nora hefted her maul with a nasty smile, and leapt into the air. Lightning trailed her wake. Pink Aura coalesced and the rockets on her hammer flared with the downswing.
A violent chain of shockwaves resounded the point of impact. Then, thunderstorms broke out. Pink pillars of pure energy circuited every surface of the refinery, frying everything until it was charred black.
.
X
.
Never a sure thing, when it comes to fighting you, little brother.
Raven grimaced to herself at the thought.
How many times have we fought?
And you've never beaten me once.
…
But it still feels like a gamble every damn time!
…
Reminding me too much of Athos, these days…
Dark wisps touched the spine of Raven's blade. She eyed the mark of death's presence pulsate Qrow's body. His mortal flaws outlined with the red threads of fate. It sparked her bloodlust.
As Raven faced her brother with the resolve to take his life, she maintained the coldness and solitude of a warrior trained. The picture of calm and detached. She was a weapon. And a weapon only sought the death of its foe. Nothing more, nothing less.
All she would need to do was cut.
As if it were so simple.
Qrow transformed his personal weapon into its alternate form. In each hand, he held his outstretched scythes. His breath went heavy, his muscles strained as he built his Aura. The contrast with his sister was obvious. So full of emotion. Of rage, of sorrow—and of course, love.
He was the very image of a maddened god of death.
His Reaper Semblance showed him the alternate timelines of how Raven would die. Her body cut apart, limp and impaled through the midsection, or her neck severed and her head sent flying. The paths were endless. But only one prophecy would come true, one timeline would transcend the rest and come to fruition before his accursed eyes. And it would show him how to render his own flesh and blood sister.
In the middle of the stare down between siblings, Adam became bestial under the effects of Bane.
"You only need to hold your sanity for a second, Adam," Raven said to him without looking. "You can manage that, can't you?"
The young swordsman frothed at the mouth. His horns grew a full length longer and his hair more emblazoned.
"I aM ReAdY…!" he snarled.
"Very well, then." Raven adjusted the grip on her katana and stared ahead. "How many times have we fought, little brother?"
…But this will be the last.
Her hair stood on end, like spiked feathers. An embodiment of dark omen.
"RAVEN!" Qrow cried, with tears in his eyes. "RAAAVVVEEENNNN!" His voice distorted with the tone of bird's heartbroken melancholy.
The three charged at the same moment. Their blades set to clash in the middle of the ruined lobby.
.
X
.
In the aftermath of Nora's attack, Jaune released the Semblance protecting his allies.
"…Did we do it? Did we win?" he asked no one in particular.
"I wouldn't celebrate just yet." Coco scanned the landscape of havoc and destruction. "You never know it with these guys."
"True."
"What's that?" she pointed.
The group's attention drew to the wide chemical vat that stood where Emerald previously was. Blackened in the same soot as its surroundings, smoke trailed from its outer layer.
"No way." Coco and her team walked over. "Everybody on guard! Fox?"
The young man approached and rested his palm against the steel cylinder for a moment.
"They are injured," he reported.
"How injured?"
"…Enough."
"Yatsu."
With Nora's help, Yatsuhashi tipped the chemical vat on its side. Underneath, were a thoroughly injured Emerald and Mercury, along with a short-circuiting Penny.
"You could've killed us, assholes!" Emerald yelled.
"That was the point." Coco crouched down and tilted her sunglasses. "But if anyone could survive that, guess it would be you cockroaches."
The mint-haired girl could only sigh. Speaking alone was painful enough. Moving the slightest was excruciating.
"So, Penny shielded you with the vat. Like putting a cup over some bugs. But by the looks of it, she couldn't protect you from all of it," Coco gloated.
"Yeah, blah blah blah. You win."
"Seriously? That's it? No clever quip? No final comeback play? You expect me to believe you don't have anything else up your sleeves?"
"Geez, I thought you guys would be happy. You win. Defeat admitted. It's still two wins to one, by the way."
"Sore loser."
"I am, I really am. I hate losing more than I hate rematches. But, all things considered, we did our job."
"Oh, and how's that?"
"Cause…"
Emerald side-looked the short-circuiting Penny. Although glitching, she uttered a quiet, mechanical repeat.
"N-n-n….N-ninety ….P-p-percent…"
"So, did you get that?" Emerald asked.
Coco twisted her mouth and replied, "No, what's that supposed to mean?"
The girl chuckled.
"Wasn't talking to you, sweetie"
.
X
.
"So, did you get that?" Emerald's voice came over Neo's radio.
She made a tapping noise twice in response, and went to work.
The moment Qrow, Raven, and Adam were about to collide, they found themselves suddenly displaced. Their legs carried them a few steps forward from the momentum. In the full immersion of unleashing their ultimate techniques, none of them reacted in time to Neo's faint Semblance, which warped their bodies ten feet ahead. Their positions effectively switched.
As they turned around to see what was going on, Neo strutted between the two sides with a spring in her step.
.
X
.
(A few days ago. In a conference room at Halftone Rime HQ.)
Various maps and diagrams strewed across the table. Intelligence reports listed details of the Alliance armies, as well as the Atlesian Fleet. There were classified blueprints of the Tower's structure. And in the middle of the mess, were dossiers of each member of Teams CFVY and RNJR. Including personnel files on Weiss, Blake, Adam, and Raven.
And sitting among the messy paper work, gorging themselves on junk food, was Team ENMY and company.
"Well, that hashes out the details for our in at the Tower," Emerald mock conducted with her french fry. "Throw the Ball, rig the battle for Atlas and the Alliance, it attracts Weiss and Raven's groups, we walk easy into the facility—money."
"Now, we just have to figure out how to hold the Tower long enough to take full control." Yang chugged her soda loudly. "How sure are we that Weiss and my mom will team up?"
"The scenario is highly likely. They will at the very least, enter a pact of non-aggression," Cinder added her input. "At that juncture, they will have already deemed our group the highest-priority threat. I doubt they're foolish enough to think otherwise. Weiss Schnee will see the clear necessity. As to our siege defense, the obvious choice would be to set your Uncle against Raven. She's by far the largest threat, and Qrow should prove an effective match."
"…Neo," Yang added. "We'll send Neo with him."
"Are you sure about that?"
"No one better. Besides, you and me are the only ones who should hold the lowest room."
"Hm," Cinder huffed an impressed tone. "Exactly what I had in mind."
"—So…" Emerald crossed her hands behind her head and leaned back into the luxury executive chair. "That just leaves me, Merc, and Penny to deal with whoever doesn't push it to you guys. Going by the forecasts, that would be…" She breathed a loathing sigh. "The full roster of Team CFVY and Team RNJR minus Ruby. Ugh!"
"Is it possible to manage victory?"
"Not a chance." Emerald waved her hand. "They have the numbers advantage, they've seen our moves, know our beat. I'd wager anything they trained exactly how to fight us before they even came to Atlas."
"How unlike you to sound so unconfident."
Emerald twitched a bit at that, but knew Cinder was only teasing her. The Fall Maiden saw the Fragility in All Things, not only in her enemies, but her allies as well. Sometimes, the outcome of a fight didn't come from the comparing strengths, rather the contest of least weaknesses. And as formidable as Emerald, Mercury, and Penny could prove, their vulnerabilities stacked heavier than their counterparts. The paths to their dismantlement, far too many.
Emerald picked up the dossiers on their projected enemies, scanned them, then tossed it away in annoyance.
"We also don't know what they're capable of. They're stupid, but they're not that stupid. They'll change it up when we fight again."
"Few things more dangerous than a sore loser, as defeat is the greatest teacher of life," Cinder pondered.
"Us knowing that better than anybody."
"Indeed."
Cinder tapped her chin in thought.
"Defeat…turned into strength."
"Cinder?"
Her devious smile curved from cheek to cheek. "I have an idea."
Everyone at the table recognized the look. It was the expression Cinder wore, when she found the solution. The fragility in the otherwise impenetrable conundrum.
"The Tower possesses an array of special properties. It can manufacture memories and events to frightening degree. Originally, it was meant to train its students through reliving certain experiences."
"...What are you getting at?" Yang broke in.
Cinder twisted two glass totems in her hands, blew them into polished shape, and touched them to her forehead. Upon making contact with her skin, something of her Aura transferred into the artifacts. A kind of fire stoked in the heart of each with the same letter of Runes.
She placed one before Emerald and Neo.
"There truly are fewer things more dangerous than a sore loser," the young woman smirked to herself.
"What is it?" Emerald picked up the piece to examine.
Cinder answered simply,
"Defeat turned into strength."
.
X
.
As Emerald and Neo readied themselves on their respective floors of the Tower, Cinder's words echoed in the back of their minds.
Two conditions must be met in order for my memory to play to its fullest effect.
First being, the Magic can only be activated within the Tower. This specific event took place at another, so the synchronizations of the timelines will be reinforced.
The second condition, is that I must possess at least 90% control of the Tower. A guessed figure, but my intuition tells me anything less, and the Magic will fail to produce.
…
*Tap*
*Tap*
*Tap*
Neo's heels skipped across the floor between Qrow and Raven.
*Clink*
She set down what looked to be a darkened glass chess piece. It encapsulated the essence of Cinder's memory in the form of ash and flame. The light flickered like an accursed lantern, revealing some ominous thing.
At the same time on the lower level, Emerald flashed Coco a nasty grin. Her lips puckered as she kissed the tip of her fingers. When she revealed her hand, an object covered in soot was there.
With a wink, Emerald blew her kiss to Coco, along with the charred residue covering Cinder's chess piece. Its glow matching the same luminescence as Neo's. The Magic imbued in both—activated.
"Do you believe in Destiny?"
A great echo bounced throughout the Tower as its systems came to life. The memory awakened, playing at a reality-bending level that had rarely been explored.
"Yes."
They could all feel it, smell it, taste the ash of Beacon burning with every inhale. They stared with confusion at their surroundings.
All knew what came next. It was half a step later that only Lie Ren discerned the plan with deftly insight. If he was right, he had to act quickly. He had to make a hard decision in this instant.
"Jaune!"
"Pyrrha…" the boy stared at the disintegrating projection of a scarlet-haired warrior.
"I'm sorry for this…!"
Ren placed his palm against his leader's back.
Cinder's memory continued its course. A past Ruby appeared with tears in her eyes. The tragedy dawning on her as she fell to her knees.
"PYRRHAAA!"
As the blinding light swallowed everything, Ren blasted Jaune across the room to the exit.
…
The memory ended.
Everyone frozen in time by the effect of Ruby's silver-eyed effect, like Cinder not so long ago.
…
All except perhaps one.