Chapter 6 - The Black Queen's Pet

-Jaune Arc-

"Berserker…"the red woman, Cinder, stated in a clear imperious tone and brought her fingers together with a snap, "Kill this rabble." I barely had time to breathe before Lancer was in front of me, shield raised high to intercept a sudden crushing blow from the rabid blonde that had appeared above us in an instant, the force enough to drive even the Mistralan hero to a knee. The redhead baring her teeth, shield beginning to glow a fierce crimson color that spread from the point of impact. "Hmm, for a Lancer you have quite a powerful defensive Noble Phantasm." The witch mused analytically, her Servant letting out one last snarl before leaping back to land in a crouch before her like some sort of feral beast. 'That's Archer's sister!?'

Lancer made to charge forward, engage her enemy spear in hand but was stopped by a pale red clad figure, "Yang please, you have to stop this! Remember who you are!" The red hooded servant stepped between the two other familiars, silver eyes gazing pleadingly at the blonde, tears streaking her face. "This isn't you!"

"Archer what are you doing!?" Weiss cried out with a panicked start, holding out a glowing Dust crystal before her defensively, "Get back here!" her fear seemed reasonable enough, she'd told me during her little lecture session that a Servant's duty during a battle was to eliminate the enemy and defend its Master from harm. 'And Archer doesn't seem very keen on either at the moment.'

"My my, it seems you're having trouble reigning in your Servant Miss Schnee. Though I suppose that's what comes from summoning a familiar beyond your abilities." Cinder taunted the heiress, grinning as if this were all some sort of game and not a life or death situation, "Here, let me show you how one truly controls a Heroic Spirit. Berserker!"

Berserker responded at once to the call, clapping her gauntleted fists in a shower of sparks with a bloodcurdling howl "Jaune get back!" Stunned as I was by the raw level of magical energy I could sense rolling in waves from the young woman, enough to warm the air to the point of stifling me, sweat rolling down my face. Despite this I still found myself moving follow Lancer's order without question, leaping to my feet with Weiss close on my heels. 'Seeing Saber and Archer fighting was one thing but this…' This didn't even seem like a fight between people!

"Not so fast…" I looked back over my shoulder, catching sight of the red woman raising a now smoldering hand towards us, heard the sharp wailing whistle that had preceded the building above us exploding only for it to be cut off by a sharp trio cracks that rang through the field, Cinder's hand moving in a sharp slice as three firecracker like blasts went off inches from her, her head moving about looking for their source only to stumble back with a cry of alarm as her Servant was kicked aside by Rider like a rag doll into the building with a crash that shook the structure on its foundations. "You little…!"

"Over here you two!" I followed her line of sight, eyes widening as I caught sight of the same man that had been present at Junior's club standing atop a crane toting a heavy looking rifle, unharmed except for a few smoldering burn marks present at the edges of the suit jacket he wore, the pinkish glow of reinforcement magic retreating down his legs, "Rider, work with the others and deal with the Servant, I'll handle the Master!" The armored girl merely nodded, pursuing her new opponent with an excited grin followed shortly by Lancer and a frantic Archer. 'So this is Ren, awesome…' "Cinder Fall, self-declared head of the Fall family though by all accounts you could be considered the only viable candidate for the post, last seen two years ago in Atlas wanted by Council authorities on the grounds of studying sanctioned magic and of conspiring to assassinate a Council member of the Atlesian government." He listed off, aim not wavering an inch from the magus, all with Weiss and I standing in the middle as the shouts and crashes of battle sounded from within the building beside us, sending massive winds roiling out from within. "They don't even want to bother granting you a sealing designation, they just want you dead and buried."

"You seem to be quite well informed for someone so young…" Cinder stated, facing the other Master dispassionately, glancing at the gun he held with marked disdain, "and surprisingly hard to kill, though I guess that is only to be expected from an Enforcer trained by such a distinguished line." Weiss cringed at that, glancing at Ren nervously though at least she raised the stone she still held at Cinder, no use attacking the guy trying to help us after all even if the revelation was unsettling.

Neptune had explained the term to me after my first day at Beacon, fresh from seeing the marvels the professors showed off in order to impress us and I'd asked him why magic users for all their power had never taken charge or abused their power. Enforcers, or "The Council's Hunting Dogs" as some people called them, were the kingdom's reaction to the rise of magic and its institutions tasked by the people of Remnant to enforce, hence the name, the tenets of magic set forth by mage and mundane alike protecting the world from and tracking down any mage that deviated from those laws. Individuals trained to combat mages, either by capturing those whose research the Council deemed worthy of salvaging or eliminating those considered too dangerous to let roam unchecked. Of course this meant any mention of them was often met with fear and distrust from those within the magical community,

"Ironic that one of your kind would find himself thrust into a competition of Magi, one might even call it insulting really."

I nudged Weiss, the girl almost leaping out of her skin before shooting me a glare that could split ice. "What do we do!?" she just shook her head, looking from Cinder to our new "ally" nervously which if anything just made the situation that much more terrifying even without the steady burn on my hand and the drain that likely signaled Lancer was having trouble with her opponent.

"You have my apologies for the offense, though I won't overlook an opportunity like this Miss Fall, by order of the Council I'm taking you down." Ren called back, bringing his rifle to bear just as the woman swiped a hand in a move that caused a small explosion to rip the weapon in half, rather than falter however the Enforcer merely tossed the remains aside and raised an arm, a bladed sub machine pistol appearing from inside his sleeve squeezing off a few quick shots that were once again burned away by the witch's strange shield but still forced her back a step, a snarl marring her perfect features.

The Enforcer had just produced another similar pistol from his other sleeve, when Weiss forced me to the side just as torrent of flames seared across where we'd stood only seconds before, Ren having barely enough time to move as it consumed the vehicle in a blast of heated metal, one jagged piece embedding itself near my head just a little too close for comfort. "Weiss, we have to help somehow!"

"They're both potential enemies Jaune!" the white haired girl shouted back, pulling another crystal from her pocket as fire erupted just in front of us, muttering a quick spell under her breath that shielded us from the immense heat. "How could we trust anything someone like…!"

"He's not the one trying to kill us is he!?" Whatever her misgivings about the situation might be, the Weiss I'd seen from afar in class and up close over the last few days was nothing if not a logical thinker. "We have to help him, he won't last too much longer!" That much was true, the Council hunter was no amateur that much was certain, his reinforcement on par with any master practitioner as he practically flew around the site using every piece of the landscape to his advantage. Despite this however he was only just barely avoiding the red woman's attacks, his clothes singed in a dozen places while whatever he sent her way was only deflected or dodged, his opponent, despite her liberal use of magic in both the shield and her attacks, showed no signs at all of tiring. 'She's practically inhuman!'

"She must be drawing power from her Servant somehow." Weiss muttered angrily, with a begrudging note that sounded vaguely like respect buried deep down, raising the crystal to aim it at the woman who for the most part seemed entirely focused on her new opponent while ignoring us as inconsequential. "Fine then, seeing as you can't fight go make yourself useful and hide somewhere. Just focus on keeping Lancer in the fight, Archer is being…" she gritted her teeth with a short shake of her head before spinning back on me with her eyes burning more so then before, "well? Go!" She didn't have to tell me twice, scrambling towards a pile of girders that had been blasted aside in one of the earlier blasts, "Eisblume abstürzen!" The heiress raised her hand to the air, the crystal dissolving as brilliant white lights traveled in an arch overhead, crashing down against the shield, forming ice that quickly dissolved into a scalding shower of steam from which Cinder's scream of alarm and anger bellowed from within. "To me Berserker!"

-Pyrrha Nikos(Lancer)-

"On your left!" Rider called out in warning, my body already twisting to avoid a burning spiked jab from the mad Servant as she screamed past me like a falling star slicing outward to clip the beast across her back. I raised Miló high in an attempt to finish off my attacker but was forced to leap back to avoid a crimson bolt of energy, Archer standing at a distance bow in hand and a determined if apologetic look on her young face. "Whose side are you on Archer!?" the Valean warrior called out, appearing behind the the blonde haired brawler and catching her with a heavy swing that sent her tumbling through more than a few stone pillars, the whole building shaking from the impact. The red haired girl didn't seem to care much for Rider's words however, her focus entirely fixed on the struggling Berserker, still calling out to her desperately, urging her to remember.

She needn't have been worried much to mine and Rider's dismay, the blonde already stumbling to her feet looking markedly haggard with cuts and bruises covering her form, wounds we'd inflicted and many of which should've been serious though if anything all they served to do was make the familiar even angrier and in turn even more powerful, her speed and strength steadily increasing the more damage we inflicted. "Yang just listen to me!" I gritted my teeth at the words, the thought of what had to be done, hand griping the crimson spear I held so tightly that the whole weapon shook.

'That isn't her sister anymore…' I told myself, forced myself to believe, 'it might have the same face but that isn't the woman Ruby knew, that much is clear.' What information of the Berserker class was limited to what the Grail itself made privy to me but what it revealed was more than enough to support my belief.

A class developed by the mages to strengthen weaker Heroic Spirits or add to the existing power of stronger ones, trading a Hero's wisdom and personality, what made them who they were, and replaced it with an animalistic rage and a boiling hatred, the level of which depending on the strength of the spell used during the summoning. Looking at the young woman in front of me, the heat let off by her anger so great that even the stone beneath her cracked and boiled, her bones creaking as they set themselves back into place painfully if her screams and howls were any indication, it was clear that the red witch had taken all semblance of humanity from her. 'Putting her down would almost be a mercy…' "Please…!"

"Stay away from her Rose!" I shouted, voice ringing through the space even above the cacophony of explosions sounding from outside. 'Jaune…' "She's dangerous!"

"Remember what we promised each other after Uncle Qrow started training us?" the girl continued, stepping closer to the burning woman heedless of my warning with tears dripping down her face, even as Berserker's red eyes widened and she lurched forward with a snarl, "To always look out for each other, that we'd always have the other's back no matter what."

Miraculously the other Servant faltered, stumbling away from the cloaked girl as if frightened leaving flaming footprints in the stony concrete, a hand thrusting outward that sent a fireball hurtling past Archer's face, missing her cleanly, 'Impossible!' I looked to Rider, the hammer wielders face mirroring my own surprise, warily watching the scene before us unfold.

"The sister I knew wouldn't let anyone control her like this, grail or no grail, especially some horrible witch!" Ruby carried on, moving forward seemingly ignoring the scalding heat Berserker's power let off in waves. "You're stronger than this, stronger than anything! Yang Xiao Long!" For a second it seemed as if against all odd Archer's words had gotten through, for a second…

All of a sudden the mad woman's head jerked upwards, a furious howl stretching back her lips as she charged forward, lashing out to grab her younger sister by the neck as she went, hurtling past us as she blew her way out of one of the walls. 'Damn it?!'

We were on her trail in an instant leaping from the building into a scene straight off of a battlefield, torn and shattered earth dotted the landscape along with the flaming wrecks of some of the vehicles, the air choked with smoke as the bounded field kept it trapped within. Tapping into my connection with Jaune I immediately managed to locate him huddled behind a pile scattered metal beams in the no man's land between Miss Schnee and Rider's Master Ren and the red woman Cinder, the former pair out of breath and covered in soot while the latter merely seemed ruffled if still standing tall though I did make out a trickle of blood running down her arm despite her dress and the cruel smirk on her face as her Servant landed before her Archer's throat in hand, savoring Weiss' look of sudden fear.

"How lovely, it seems my pets brought me a little present." She moved forward, stroking the blonde's hair like a dog seemingly uncaring for the heat, eyes flitting over the myriad of wounds that still struggled to heal that were visible on her Servant's body. "I expected better. Perhaps I underestimated the amount of power I drew?"

"Archer!" The Heiress screamed, drawing another one of her crystals though hesitating to use them for fear of harming her own Servant. Almost as an afterthought Cinder flicked her wrist, setting a ring of fire around herself and the two servants that forced our comrades back with a cry of alarm and renewed shouting from the heiress as she struggled to put out the flames with ice magic.

"Lancer!" I curbed my leap, coming down above Jaune's head, Akuo held before me, Rider doing much the same with her own Master, "What's happening!?" The blonde asked me as he clambered up to join me on my vantage point, blue eyes fixed on Archer, now choking in Berserker's gauntleted grasp, red smoke and pained whimpers emanated from the young girl as even making contact with the Servant burned at her flesh.

"Archer underestimated the leash this woman holds on her sister." I said, wishing little more than to put a spear through the cackling witch's heart for dishonoring these two warriors in such a way "It's as if pain and harm only makes her stronger." A Noble Phantasm that grants her power the more she comes to harm, what sort of person she would have had to have been to be granted such an ability by the Grail!?

-Ruby Rose (Archer)-

'It hurts so much…' I choked out another cry as I felt Yang's fingers tighten even more, threatening to cut off my air even as her mere touch burned like a hot brand, 'I can't…I need…!' I could feel Weiss' pain and fear through our contract, an insistent beacon in the back of my mind providing me with mana in an attempt to keep my Aura stable and intact but it did little, my arms feeling like led at my sides. Even if I could get the opportunity to summon Crescent Rose to my side the thought of hurting Yang…

My big sister was in there, I'd seen it despite what Lancer or Rider might believe when the brawler had responded to my words, when she'd backed away I'd seen that flicker of recognition.

It was all this woman's fault, I could see those glowing yellowish eyes of hers staring down at me even as she taunted my comrades through the flames that surrounded us, glass slippers clicking next to my head, nudging my hair but pinned as I was it was all I could do to glare at her hatefully, trying to avoid the dead look in those familiar lilac eyes 'Wait, lilac!' "What fire, truly worthy of a hero of legend. If only you could've been mine..."

"I'd rather kiss a Boarbatusk!" I spat back angrily, the woman's smile quickly vanishing with a regretful tsk.

"Such a shame." she growled briskly, motioning to the others with a regal grace, "finish her quickly Berserker, then these others. Now!" I felt one of Yang's hands let me go as it drew back above her head, finger curling so tightly that her fist shook. "Well!? Get on with it!" I struggled, forcing myself through her grip to see her face ringed by those fiery golden locks I knew so well.

"Yang…" I choked, smiling as the pressure on my throat relaxed ever so slightly, "I'm so sorry…this is all my fault." It had been my idea to make our stand on that damn hill, my plan to stall the Grimm there.

Tears rolled unbidden down the blonde's face, the flames and heat smoldering out in an instant, her entire form shivering now as she lowered the hand to her side to cup my face gently, the sensation so familiar "R-Ru…by…" The voice was hoarse and cracked but unmistakably hers. "Ruby I can't stop myself, it hurts so much…please y-you have to ru…AH!" she let out a howl of pain and reared back as something bright whipped across her back, a long tendril of crimson light burning from the tips of her Master's fingers, arm drawing back for another lash.

"You will obey me!" She shouted angrily, bringing the strange whip around to inflict another harsh blow, this one chipping away at her shoulder, "Kill her!"

"Not…her!" Yang grimaced, lurching away from me in an attempt to fend off the whip, throwing a flash of fire that rebounded harmlessly off the woman's shield, "N-NOT RUBY!" her head was knocked aside with a crack.

"Stop it!" I scrambled to my knees trying to lunge for the woman but was knocked by a strike intended for Yang, the ribbon of light hitting with the force of an Ursa and left me coughing at the edge of the ring of flames, Crescent Rose's bow form appearing in my hands, 'One shot, just one shot in that demoness' heart!' I brought the weapon up only to freeze at the red glow emanating from the monstrous woman, my blood chilling as magic filled every syllable of her voice.

"By the power of this Command seal you WILL obey me Berserker, on my orders KILL ARCHER, KILL RUBY ROSE!" All was silent after that except for the ring of flames around us dissipating, even the others who stood a short ways of way encircling us stood stock still at the brawler who slowly stood up, hair smoldering. "Attack."

And then she was in front of me, tear streaked blazing red eyes appearing before me with her fist brought back ready to blow me away, screaming in wordless agony. I wasn't fast enough to stop her or even get away, the power of the command seal driving her onward in a way no other magic could have, healing her wounds. 'No, I can't leave her like this!' I readied myself to counter a blow that would never come, a bronze figure colliding with my sister in midair, knocking her away with a roar of incensed anger.

Lancer stood before me, spear raised with a look of calm fury etched on her face as she stared at her opponent, Cinder prepared to blow us both away with another one of her fire spells but was similarly forced back by a hail of gunfire and a laughing orange haired hammer wielder. "You insects, so annoying!"

"Archer back off and leave this to Lancer!" I felt Weiss' order rather than heard it, the command echoing at the back of my mind, "Retreat!" I balked at the notion, leave my sister like this, while some stranger…even with how she is… 'It's not her fault, it's that Cinder woman! She's the one!' I could see her now, trying to drive back Rider with her flames even as she blocked her Master's shots. 'But she wouldn't be able to stop me…'

I resolved, bringing up the bladed bow in my hands as the Mistralan clashed with Yang again, a pained cry forcing me to falter, Lancer having kicked Yang's injured shoulder even as her shield blocked the worst of the flames, spear raising up to deliver a more punishing blow. I fired, shot catching Lancer by surprise, blasting her away from the wounded Servant.

"Archer!?" I gave the white hired heiress a withering glare, bow shifting into its scythe form, wicked blade glinting amongst the moonlight and the flames as it had hundreds of years ago on a night so similar to this.

"Stay out of this!" I cried out, dashing forward to meet an astonished Pyrrha Nikos, hooking my scythe around her shield and flinging her back all while dodging a sudden burst of flame from Yang who was back on her feet and fiercer than ever. "This is my fight!" I sidestepped a clumsy lunge tripping the blonde as she passed with the handle of my weapon. 'My fault, my duty to fix it, even if I have to…' Weiss had no right to order me in this, no right at all! What did she know about…!

"Archer if you won't help…" I balked, feeling the unmistakable pull of her voice but even stronger, knowing full well what that meant, my mind reeling at the injustice of it all, 'Weiss don't you dare…!' I turned my head, gritting my teeth when I saw her clutching at her wrist, a red light issuing from the seals, their call beckoning to me. "with this command seal I order you, RETREAT!" And that was it, already I could feel my will bending to the order. 'No…' I looked at my sister one last time as she crawled to her feet, lunging at me one last time.

"I'll save you, I promise. Just wait for me." I whispered, my words unheard by the monster my sister had become as I vanished in a flurry of petals.

-END

A/N: Almost two months since I last updated this story, sorry guys I never meant to leave this for so long but things just kept seeming to get in the way or my interest was elsewhere, namely with finishing AMBR's arc and finally catching up with the main series, huge milestone for my RWBY stories. Once that's done I'll be able to focus more on this, just where my minds at right now especially with school back on. Anyway I hope this was at least a bit enjoyable and I'll try to have the next chapter out sooner than this one.

Lorewise I have it so Cinder can draw power from Yang like Caster manages for her Master in Fate/Stay Night but she's still working out the kinks.