I do not own RWBY. All rights go to Rooster Teeth.
Daughter of the Gods
Chapter Twenty-Two: Truth and consequence
I was in Ozpins office the next day, as there were only two solo competitions each day, and the one after my fight with Mercury didn't interest me. I had left, after taunting Mercury about his father. Probably cruel, but I needed Cinder to worry that somehow she had been caught or had slipped up. A worried and paranoid enemy was sloppy, and often made mistakes. IF Emerald and Mercury both went to Cinder saying that someone knew about their pasts and semblances, well she might think the worst.
Again, she had two choices, stay and risk death or capture, or run and risk punishment from Salem. I had a hunch she'd choose to stay and complete the mission, no matter the cost.
So here I was, telling Ozpin my official plan.
"That was risky." He said with a somewhat aggressive tone.
"I'm a thousand and fifteen years old, not some naïve fifteen-year-old. I knew it was risky, but they get closer and closer every day to completing their mission here. With this, we might be able to cause them to slip up." I explained again.
"And if they don't think the goal is worth the risk, if they run back to Salem rather than risk capture?" He asked. I cocked an eyebrow at his question.
"You're telling me you'd go running back to her saying you failed?" I asked sarcastically. He sighed. "You were married to her. Surely you've seen how she treats those that failed?"
"Fair point." He conceded with a sigh. Standing up from his desk, he walked over to the green tinted window, his hands crossed behind his back.
"It's fortunate you were able to bring Terra back from the brink." He said after a few minutes.
"Of course, but I fail to see how that's relevant at this moment." I said as I moved to stand by his side. I could feel him looking at me when I stopped.
"I had a…contingency plan for Terra, should the worst have happened." He said hesitantly.
"And what would that have been?" I asked, not looking at him.
"I was going to have Miss Nikos take the remaining half of Terra's power. Bind Terra and her together in order to keep Cinder from getting the whole thing." He explained. I looked at him briefly then laughed.
"What's so funny?" He questioned in amusement.
"You would've been fine. At least until Saphron got the powers and realized what had happened. Then she probably would've come after you." I explained. Ozpin looked at me with wide eyes.
"Honestly, did you really think Saphron isn't in Terra's every dream or waking thought in some way shape or form. Who do you think taught her how to make sure the powers went where she wanted them to go? I wasn't just doing a whole lot of nothing while in hiding. Of all the maidens I've taught, only a few have ever truly understood the full scope of their power." I explained. "Women like Terra for example. She understood from the very beginning how powerful she was. How dangerous the power is. When I felt her powers building, I took her to my cave high up in the mountains east of here. I told her to find someone, anyone she could think of, and hold on tight to that person's image. She settled on Saphron, her best friend back then. I told her the most important lesson was that a maiden's responsibility was to fight. She didn't want to do that so I told her to master her powers for Saphron, to protect her should the worst happen." I explained. "As long as you have someone to protect, to keep safe, the maiden powers have a higher chance of seeking out that person. The magic is sentient like that." I finished. Ozpin looked at me with awe.
"So, since Terra loves Saphron so deeply, the maiden powers would've gone to her, to protect the person Terra loves most? The same for any maiden?" He questioned.
"Yes. You were almost correct in thinking that it transfers to the last person in the Maidens thoughts. If the maiden has no one to protect or love, as your faction was prone to telling the maidens to avoid, the powers transfer to the killer." I explained. Ozpin looked at a loss for words.
"You didn't know. It's okay. The fault also lies with me as I told them to keep it secret. That way, it would keep the one's they love secret. As much as possible anyway." I shrugged.
"I had no idea." He whispered.
"Like I said, it's not your fault." I said as I began walking to the elevator.
"Just between you and me though, Pyrrha would've been a fine choice." I said as the elevator doors closed.
Speaking of Pyrrha, she might be fighting today. Penny was also here so she might be fighting as well.
Getting into the coliseum, I found my team saving me a seat.
"Thanks girls." I said as I sat down.
"No problem Rubes." Yang said as the randomizer began choosing two fighters. I wasn't paying attention to that since I couldn't sense Cinders maiden power anywhere nearby. It wasn't possible for her to have learned to suppress her powers. I looked just in case, but all I found was Emerald sitting in her chair. Not even Mercury was nearby.
"Shit." I swore as I looked around at high speed using my semblance. He was nowhere to be seen until I saw him ducking into one of the maintenance exits.
"I'll be back. Gotta get some popcorn." I said as I kept my eye on him. Yang looked at me excitedly.
"Oh! Get me some too?" She asked.
"Of course!" I said with a laugh. Once I'm done dealing with this situation, I thought to myself. She nodded and I jogged to where Mercury had gone in. Rounding a corner, I saw Mercury coming out of a camera room.
"How do you think this is going to end child. Your father couldn't even beat me." I said calmly. He bared his teeth at me, growling like an animal.
"Well I beat my father! Killed him!" He shouted.
"So much anger for such an insignificant spec of dust." I said as I looked at my nails.
"The randomization is complete. Our next fighters will be Penny Polendina of Atlas Versus Pyrrha Nikos!" Port declared over the speakers. I chuckled in realization.
"So, you hacked the CCT to gain control over the Vytal coliseums central computers so you could rig the randomization. Smart." I offered. He smirked.
"Metal versus polarity. Not a great matchup." He said smugly. I had no time to even think how he had come by that information.
"Tsk tsk Mercury. You won't be around to see the fight." I said as I charged at him too quick for him to even react. I grabbed him by the throat and slammed him head first into the concrete.
"You know, in our fights, I was holding back." He admitted as he kicked his legs up to try and break loose. I whipped out my hidden dagger and planted the blade firmly in his thigh. He screamed as the blade slipped between his femoral and pelvic bones, dislocating the leg.
"So was I." I admitted as I flared my maiden powers to their fullest. The flames forming large orange and silver wings. I picked him up and slammed him into the ground with everything I had, shattering his aura and knocking him unconscious. Pulling out my scroll, I called Qrow.
"I got one unconscious Mercury. Don't worry about that though, focus on keeping Terra and her family safe." I said before I hung up. I looked at the ground to the unconscious grey-haired boy at my feet. Using my aura on him so he wouldn't bleed to death, I healed the wound, but not his hip. He wouldn't be walking for a while anyway.
Running out to the arena, I saw Pyrrha and Penny going at it, fighting each other with everything they had.
I saw, more than I felt it. Pyrrha's eyes widening in shock and fear. I yelled for her as I ran down to the arena, so close to the protective field I almost didn't see it.
"Whatever you're seeing isn't real! Snap out of it!" I shouted. But Pyrrha didn't hear me, whether due to the crowd cheering, Emerald's semblance blocking it, or some stress related reason.
"Damnit!" I cursed as I looked at Emerald through the dome. She was focusing solely on Pyrrha.
"Screw it." I said ran up the stairs behind me. Running back down for a running start, I jumped onto the dome. It all happened in slow motion. Penny launched her swords at Pyrrha just as I reached the top of the dome. I jumped up, my dagger still in my hand, and tossed it, infusing my arm with my semblance for maximum power. The dagger flew through the air at breakneck speeds, much faster than even most bullets fired out of Yang's gauntlets. It hit so hard, it slipped through the aura around Emerald before she even had a chance to react. When it pierced her thigh, she let out a blood curdling scream. Resuming my speed run, I launched myself at her, tackling her to the ground as she tried to escape. I heard several people gasp around me. I didn't care. I looked back behind me to make sure Penny was okay, and to my surprise, she was still fighting like nothing had even happened. I turned back around and saw Emerald holding a phone, her thumb on the send button.
Some kind of backup plan? Not on my watch. In my haste, I wasn't paying attention enough, and I didn't realize that Emerald was limping away. As I tackled her illusion, it dissipated, and I saw the real Emerald press the real send button.
Cinder's POV
"Plan B!" the text read. No other information. Growling to myself, I hit the button on my scroll for plan b.
What a beautiful night for fireworks.
Ruby's POV
An explosion, multiple explosions, rocked the coliseum. Fireballs shot dozens of feet into the air, only to be stopped by the protective barrier. Pieces of people and debris were turned into shrapnel as the flames and shockwave's tore everything apart. The center of the arena appeared untouched, protected by the barrier. Penny and Pyrrha could only watch in horror as events unfolded around them, helpless to do anything.
People were screaming all around me in slow motion as I ran to where my team had been sitting. When I got there, only Blake and Weiss were still in their seats, too shocked to move.
"Where's Yang!" I shouted as someone ran by screaming.
"She went looking for you. Said you were taking to long!" Blake shouted in shock, not able to take her eyes off of the people who had been launched at the barrier, only to splat once they met it.
"Get outta here! Help the civilians! We'll catch up!" I ordered as I ran off.
Running through the coliseum at impossible speeds, I found Yang stuck, struggling under debris that had fallen on top of her.
"Yang!" I shouted
"Ruby!" Yang shouted back. I skidded to a stop and bent down, getting my hands under the debris.
"Come on!" I shouted as I strained against the weight of the metal. An explosion went off, likely from damage caused by the initial explosions.
"Just go! People are panicking and it's gonna bring the grimm!" She shouted. Almost to prove her right, a giant nevermore landed on the arena, screeching loudly.
"No! I'm not leaving you!" I shouted back in anger. Frustrated, I activated my Maiden powers, pouring all the energy into my hands. Grabbing hold of two support beams, I began heating them up, causing them to melt in my hands. I screamed as I felt the melting steel begin to drip ono my hands. Activating my Silver eyed magic, I augmented the strength of my aura, and they began healing as quickly as they were being injured. Pushing again, I melted straight through two support beams keeping Yang pinned. I pulled her out quickly, as soon as she was free the debris collapsing right where she had been.
I let go of my power and felt it fade. The third degree burns on my hands were healing, so I turned to Yang.
"We gotta get outta here. This whole coliseum is falling apart!"
"This is what happens when you put your faith in humans. Humans can't protect you. They're weak. The faunus will inherit Remnant!" I heard what sounded like Cinder on the intact speakers.
She was pinning the blame on the White Fang!
"Barriers failing!" A robotic voice called out not soon after.
"What do we do Ruby!" Yang called out. Around the arena, I looked and saw Jaune running for Pyrrha and Penny.
"We need our weapons first." I answered, watching as the nevermore broke through the barrier and sending Jaune and Pyrrha flying. Penny stood her ground since she was heavy enough. The nevermore Cawed but Penny just stood her ground.
I called my locker, watching as Penny just kept standing there…combat ready
"Get outta there!" I shouted. Her swords spun up, but a nevermore was completely different from a bullhead. She couldn't use her laser cannon in her either since it would likely be the hit needed to knock the coliseum out of the sky. The nevermore's feathers were thick, blocking Penny's swords from doing any real damage.
The nevermore launched its feathers, hundreds of them, at the three still in the arena. Penny's swords blocked most of them, and what wasn't blocked was stopped by Pyrrha, all but one. Charging forward, I jumped in front of Pyrrha before a feather could skewer her.
"Ruby?" She asked. Shock in her voice as the no doubt gruesome scene before her finally registered in her mind. I fell to my knees in pain, the feather in my chest weighing me down. Taking a moment to breathe, I pulled it out like it didn't even matter. I would have to answer a lot of questions after this, but there wasn't time for secrets right now. Holding the feather in my hand, I looked at the giant nevermore.
"You leave my friends alone you ugly bastard!" I shouted as I pointed the feather at the giant Grimms chest, launching it as hard as I could. It hit the bird in the wing, going in and out. I felt the hole in my chest heal until it was closed. Unfortunately, I didn't think about how it would look when I turned around.
"Umm…Ruby?" Pyrrha said as she pointed to her own chest with wide eyes. I looked down and saw that, while my chest no longer had a hole in it, my shirt still did, exposing my breasts to everyone. Pyrrha tore off her sash and handed it to me, which I tied around myself as quickly as possible.
"Thanks." I said. Pyrrha nodded and I was about to say something when the Nevermore recovered.
"Piss off!" I shouted as I charged the Nevermore, jumping into the air and angling myself so that my whole bodyweight was behind my fist. Now, I don't know what I expected to happen, but I really should've expected when I only managed to knock the giant back a little bit.
I only seemed to just make it mad.
I ran back to Pyrrha, Jaune, and Penny. The Nevermore jumped into the air, flying at us, ready to kill the three behind me.
Suddenly, the giant Grimm was absolutely destroyed by dozens of rocket lockers landing on its back and wings.
"Well that was awesome." I muttered to myself as everyone still in the arena grabbed their weapons.
Teams ABRN, JNPR, half of FNKI, SSSN, and CFVY.
Those grimm weren't even gonna know what hit em' I thought with a sadistic smirk. Working together, we all made short work of the Nevermore when it came back.
"What's the plan, Ruby?" Jaune asked.
"We make sure nobody else gets hurt or killed. We take care of the Grimm, help the civilians, and make sure whoever did this pays." I said aggressively. I saw everyone nod in agreement.
"They came here. Attacked our homes. Hurt our friends. They brought the Grimm into the city we love, the School we love! So, I say we do what were trained to do. I say we fight with everything we've got!" I shouted at the top of my lungs as I went to my locker, pulling out Crescent rose.
"Yeah!" Everyone shouted. They readied their weapons when a roar was heard, several Griffon's flying into the damaged coliseum.
"Griffons. Anyone got any ideas?" Neptune asked as he readied his trident.
"Yeah. We form a circl-" I was cut off when I Griffon landed, roaring until it got cut off because it had been shot. Port was walking into the arena with Oobleck by his side.
"Students. I think it's time for you to leave." He ordered. Him and Oobleck? Against this many Griffons? I had to object.
"But yo-" I was cut off again.
"Miss Rose. Today will go down in Remnants history, and while I know you will…I'd prefer other students be around as well to tell the tale as well. For Accuracies sake." Oobleck said. I looked at him in surprise with wide silver eyes.
"How did you…" trailed off.
"What can I say, I know my history." He said with a small smile.
"There's too many Griffon. Even for you." I tried to reason with them.
"Yes. But if it gives you time to lead these children to safety, then I'll gladly lay down my life." Oobleck said.
The Grimm began attacking, but I still tried to convince them to come with us.
Both Oobleck and Port shook their heads.
"Go!" They shouted in unison. "GO!"
Wiping tears out of my eyes, I nodded slowly and rounded everyone up.
"Let's go!" I shouted. Everyone nodded, having not heard the conversation between the three of us. I gave them one final glance before I ran down the tunnel towards the landing pads and evacuation zones.
When we all exited the tunnel, Yang immediately found Blake and Weiss.
"Why are you still here!" I shouted over the chaos.
"We've been trying to keep everything orderly, making sure the loading process goes smoothly." Blake answered.
"Good. We're going down into-" I was going to say Vale, but bullheads carrying Grimm began dropping them off on the loading platform.
"Son of a bitch!" I shouted as several dozen Grimm flooded the dock.
Suddenly, the androids from Atlas opened fire.
About time.
Ironwood even joined in on the fighting. His cybernetics granted him strength, but it was interesting to see that they didn't seem to hamper his fighting in anyway. He dispatched two beowolves in under a minute.
"Good to see your droids were useful after all." I said as he walked to one of his ships.
"What will you be doing?" I asked.
"The grimm have overrun the city and Beacon. Someone has stolen one of my warships and gained control over the skies. I intend to take it back." He answered. Sun stepped forward.
"What should we do?" He asked desperately.
"Stay and fight or run. Nobody will fault you if you leave." He said as he turned around and walked onto his ship.
"We're gonna split up into our teams. Team RWBY will head to Beacon with CFVY and SSSN will head to Vale with ABRN. JNPR, protect any civilians still stuck at Beacon from Grimm." I ordered. Everyone nodded, and I felt every bit like the General I was during the revolution.
"Adam will likely be here." I murmured to Blake as we loaded into an airship. She nodded slowly.
"If he is I'll take care of it." She said. I put my hand on her shoulder.
"No. I'm ordering you to run if you see him. I don't care what happens. If he finds you with the team though, with everyone and you have no other options, you hit him with everything you got." I ordered
We were flying towards Vale when I saw Ironwoods ship go down in a ball of flames. Without him, there was nobody to take back manual control and shut down all the drones.
Unless…
Running up to the entrance platform on the airship, I heard Sun calling me but there was no time to lose.
Activating my maiden powers, I used my magic to give them a small boost. With flames coming out of my eyes I gathered as much power as I could into my hand. Extending it up into the sky, I formed a massive storm, no doubt telling Cinder I was definitely here if she didn't already know. Lightning struck my hand and I redirected it at Ironwoods massive airship.
This time the lightning hit, arcing across the entire ship. The rear engines blew out, and several smaller explosions vented out the sides, likely the ammunition storage.
There was one escape pod I saw leaving.
"What the hell was that!" I heard from behind me. I turned around, my eyes still wreathed in glowing silvery flames. There was no explaining this away.
"The legends you heard about growing up were all based in truth. The silver eyed warriors, the tale of the two brothers, and the tale of the four seasons. I am the silver eyed maiden of Fall." I said calmly.
"If you're a silver eyed warrior, then why don't you just use your powers to wipe out all the Grimm?" Pyrrha asked desperately. Leave it to her to be well versed in many legends. I shook my head sadly.
"They don't work like that. I have to see the Grimm in order for it too work, and even then, some Grimm are so powerful it would only freeze them or slow them down." I explained sadly. "I have an idea though. My team will still be heading to beacon, but I'll head to the tower. That way, it should wipe out most of the Grimm there. We can join you in Vale once we're done." I explained the hasty plan. Everyone nodded.
"Now let's go!" I said as we landed. Teams RWBY, CFVY, and JNPR all charged out of the airship. We were halfway to beacon when I felt the ground shaking.
Coming from Mountain Glenn.
"Please no." I whispered with wide eyes. "Please gods no." I pleaded.
It fell on deaf ears.
All the negativity, the fear, the anger, the panic, was a meal fit for a king.
And none were king like the Wyvern.