A/N: Apologies for no chapter last week, there were several reasons.
1) Was extremely busy R/L and couldn't find the time to really sit down and hash this chapter out.
2) I needed to recharge my creative battery.
3) I had to rewrite several scenes because I wasn't satisfied with them.
The good news is I'm starting to get to the parts that made me write this story in the first place, so I'm excited!
VVVVVVVVVV
Jaune awoke to the sounds of weapons firing, explosions, and the angry roars from Richter, whose distorted voice made it sound all the more threatening. Shaking the rest of the cobwebs out, the young Arc witnessed Richter and Cinder exchanging blows. Each time their weapons clashed, flashes of aura expelled from the points of impact. Through it all Cinder wore a cocky smirk on her face. Richter, in stark contrast, was rage personified. The grey-cloaked demon's orange eyes, which had seemed so distant when Jaune had fought him, were now blazing with life. It was as if Richter had woke up from some sort of daze.
Jaune tore his gaze away from the battle, looking to his left and spotting Emerald typing away furiously at the console. His memories, which had been foggy, suddenly became clear. He looked below, through the cleersteel floor. The pale form of Alice still lay sleeping below, the vein-like cables attached to her body were starting to glow with crimson light. The young Arc frowned, Emerald was making progress on awakening her.
"Richter!" Jaune shouted, turning back towards the battle being waged. "We have to stop Emerald from waking up Alice!"
He waited for a response, but received none. Ruby's friend was busy raining multiple blows down on Cinder, who was currently backpedaling from his assault. Richter struck out with a particularly fierce overhead slash at the arrogant woman's skull. Cinder crossed her swords in front of her face to absorb the blow, the impact from the strike bending her knees slightly.
"Are you listening to me?!" Jaune asked. "Emerald is about to wake up that scary-looking girl below us. We should really do something about it!" Still no verbal response. The young Arc growled as irritation began to set in, he had to have heard him that time, was he ignoring him on purpose? That bastard.
He watched as Cinder uncrossed her swords and in doing so, sent Richter sliding backwards on his feet. She closed the distance between them in a few running steps and swung the sword in her right hand at Richter's left flank. The grey-cloaked demon stabbed his sword into the cleersteel floor, shifting to his right. Cinder's sword ended up being stopped by Richter's blade. She tried to strike him with her remaining sword, but the grey-cloaked demon leapt above the slash. Balancing himself on the pommel of his sword with his left hand, Richter planted his right boot into Cinder's face. The arrogant fugitive was knocked backwards and Richter rushed after her.
Jaune was about to yell at him again when he heard laughter coming from behind him, Emerald's laughter. "You're wasting your breath Jaune. Richter's been holding a grudge against Cinder since before you started at Beacon. There's no way you're going to get him to stop now."
Realization dawned in Jaune's mind. Emerald was right, Cinder was the one responsible for turning Richter from up and coming huntsman to a monster. Ruby had confided in him Richter's tale. How Richter blamed the loss of his dreams and his humanity squarely on Cinder. There was no doubt that the amount of hatred he had for the scarlet-dressed fugitive was enormous. Jaune bit his lip, if he were Ruby, he might be able to get through to Richter, but he was not. He was going to have to solve this problem on his own.
Drawing Crocea Mors, Jaune charged at Emerald, coming at her left flank. He brought his sword down in a fierce vertical slash, one that would surely destroy the console and stop Alice's awakening process. Except his blade didn't tear into the mechanical innards of the console, but was stopped by the barrel of Emerald's pistol.
The dark-skinned fugitive sneered at him. "Nice try Jaunny boy," Her left foot shot out, nailing Jaune in the sternum. It took the brunt of the kick Emerald delivered, causing Jaune to stagger backwards. The young Arc fought through the pain to bring his shield up, he knew what his enemy's next move would be.
Sure enough, Emerald opened fire with her pistol. Instead of being ripped apart by Dust-propelled bullets, Jaune's shield deflected them away. Emerald kept up her barrage of shots, preventing him from getting closer.
The young Arc's blue eyes narrowed as he thought about his next course of action. He was out of melee range, so using his sword was out of the question. He could throw it, but he didn't trust himself to hit the broad side of a barn, much less a console. There was always his shield, but if he threw that, then his only protection from Emerald's bullets would be gone. If he remembered correctly, she had another pistol she could use, which meant she could fend him off indefinitely while she completed her work.
Still, there was one other option he had.
Enshrouding himself in his aura, Jaune sprang forwards, leading with his shield. If he couldn't destroy the console due to Emerald's interventions then all he had to do was knock her away from it. He neared his target, throwing his weight behind his shield. However, Emerald responded by gripping the edges of the console and performing a handstand. Jaune rammed empty air, losing his footing and stumbling forwards in a desperate attempt to keep his balance. He failed completely as Emerald shot him with her spare gun between his shoulder blades. The young Arc fell face-first into the cleersteel floor, sliding for a few meters before coming to a stop. A groan escaped from his lips, his aura had protected him from a fatal wound, but the impact still hurt like hell.
Recovering quickly, Jaune pushed off the floor and turned back around to face Emerald. He gripped Crocea Mors tightly in his right hand as he prepared to charge her again.
"Sure you want to do that?" Emerald suddenly spoke. "You keep this up and those bandages of yours will rip apart. Then nothing will stop you from bleeding out."
Jaune hesitated, the familiar pain of the dark-skinned fugitive's stab wound rippled through his body. He looked down at his bandaged abdomen, seeing a small stain of crimson where the wound was. As he watched, the bloodstain expanded slightly, not much, but enough to be noticeable. The young Arc frowned, he was a hairsbreadth away from a mortal wound and Emerald knew it. She was right, if he continued, his chances of survival declined significantly.
He looked helplessly back towards the battle between Richter and Cinder, which was now intensifying. Their auras so strong the shockwaves from their clashes felt like he was being slapped. Richter was the only one who could stop Emerald now, but he was too blinded by rage and hatred to see the bigger threat.
Jaune watched as Richter struck at Cinder's left flank with his sword, which the scarlet-clad fugitive blocked with the sword in her left hand. Cinder then aimed a horizontal slash at Richter's throat with her right hand. The grey-cloaked demon nimbly crouched under the slash and immediately continued with an elbow to her gut. Richter tried to follow through with a horizontal slash, but Cinder gracefully backflipped. The scarlet-clad fugitive's weapons shifted from swords to a bow during her flip. Nocking three arrows while still in the air, Cinder loosed them on Richter. The ex-huntsman was able to sidestep to his left and two of the arrows brushed past his right flank. The third one however, caught him on his right shoulder, sending him sailing backwards.
Jaune heard a snarl escape from Richter's throat as he ripped the arrow out of his shoulder. The grey-cloaked demon landed, his sword now shifted into a revolver. His glowing orange eyes glared maliciously at his opponent, who's arrogant smirk was back on her face.
"Must you hate me so?" Cinder asked in her sultry voice. "Look at how powerful you've become thanks to me."
"This power was forced upon me. It has twisted and turned me into something barely recognizable." Richter replied through clenched teeth. Jaune's jaw dropped as Richter's aura enshrouded him, above the grey-cloaked demon's head, a beast's head took shape. To the young Arc, the head looked like a dragon's head, like the ones he'd see in his comics. The force of its visible manifestation was strong enough to force Jaune to brace himself against it. "But if you insist, I will show you just how grateful I am." Richter declared.
To Jaune's surprise, Cinder didn't look the least bit intimidated, in fact her smirk lengthened and her lips parted to reveal her teeth. A high pitched whistling sound could be heard as Cinder made a series of swift complicated hand gestures. Her aura, orange like the flames of a campfire, manifested around her and the Dust woven onto her dress began to glow. Jaune brought his shield in front of him and braced himself, the two were about to hit each other with some big attacks and he wasn't sure the room would weather the clash.
It happened in a flash, Richter fired his revolver, the bullet becoming a sphere of grey flame that was large enough to engulf a truck. Cinder responded by extending both hands and firing out a cylinder-shaped blast of orange aura, it made contact with Richter's sphere and Jaune felt his teeth rattle from the collision. Parts of the cleersteel floor cracked as the young Arc felt himself driven back despite his best preparations. He'd never witnessed a battle this intense.
His eyes widened as realization came to him. He looked back towards Emerald, if a battle like this was awe-inspiring to him then…
Sure enough, Emerald's eyes were locked onto the display of power before them. She was so distracted that she was no longer typing on the console. Jaune rushed towards her, this was his chance!
Gripping Crocea Mors tightly in his hand, Jaune swung upwards in a diagonal arc, hitting Emerald solidly across her belly and chest. The dark-skinned fugitive's aura protected her from being cut, but the attack still knocked her away from the console. Moving quickly, Jaune reversed his grip on his sword pointing the sharp end at the console's display screen which currently had text on it saying Alice's awakening process was at ninety-nine percent.
Jaune buried Crocea Mors up to the hilt into the console. Sparks flew from the now-destroyed piece of equipment. The sound of something powering down reached his ears as he held his breath, did he make it in time?
He got his answer when the cleersteel floor to his right erupted. Jaune bounced his head off the ground as he was thrown down onto his left side. It was as if a giant invisible hand just struck him. Clear shards of the cleersteel were flung all over the place and the sudden eruption forced both Richter and Cinder to abandon their fight. Both combatants crouching down to maintain their balance.
As the stars danced out of his vision, Jaune took a quick look around to assess the situation. Emerald was just ahead of him, gritting her teeth as she attempted to rip out a shard of cleersteel that had embedded into her right leg. Almost the entire cleersteel floor in front of him was gone and floating above the newly made hole was Alice herself.
Her long ivory hair went all the way down to her ankles. Alice's slender form bobbed gently up and down in the air. Her eyes, black sclera with red pupils, looked to be in a daze. It reminded Jaune of how he looked when he first woke up and looked at himself in a mirror.
"Where…am I….?" Alice spoke. Jaune had expected her voice to be little more than a croak, being asleep for so long. But it wasn't, it was almost…pleasant to his ears.
"In an underground lab, west of Vale." Emerald answered her, finally getting the shard of cleersteel out of her leg.
"Who are you….?" Alice asked.
"I'm Emerald Sustrai, an associate of your mother's." Emerald answered, applying pressure to the wound in her leg.
Alice raised an eyebrow, "Associate? Mother has fallen low indeed if she's taking help from the likes of a human."
Jaune saw the dark-skinned fugitive fight to keep her composure. "I think you'll come to find that our resourcefulness is a valuable asset." Emerald said in an even tone.
Alice gave a small laugh and closed her eyes. "Indeed." The pale-skinned girl swept her gaze to the rest of the occupants in the room. Jaune felt a dreadful chill go down his spine as she made eye contact with him for a moment. The lust for blood in her eyes was so strong it was palpable. "And who are you three?"
"They seek to stop your mother's grand plan." Cinder said, speaking before Jaune could. The scarlet-clad fugitive was pointing an accusing finger at Richter, who was now focusing on something else finally. Jaune saw that Ruby's friend was also regarding Alice cautiously, trying to gauge her strength. "There's a village near here that is also collaborating with them. We should eliminate all of them at once."
The young Arc's azure eyes widened in shock. Cinder was trying to get Alice to destroy Turthus!
Alice placed a hand on her chin, looking thoughtful. "Mother's grand plan huh?" The pale girl chuckled. "She can be so vengeful when she wants to be." She spread her arms wide. "Very well, I can play the part of the good daughter for a little while." Her crimson eyes began to glow. "It feels like I've been asleep forever, let me stretch my legs a bit."
Jaune had no time to react as his entire vision became engulfed in crimson.
VVVVVVVVVV
Ruby cut down another ursa with Crescent Rose as she looked up from the furious battle she was fighting. Their search for Jaune had been cut short when they were ambushed by an usually large group of grimm. It was nothing they couldn't handle, but it was frustratingly time consuming. Jaune was out there all alone with no backup thanks to these bunch of stupid monsters.
Well not entirely alone.
She still remembered what Jaune had said through his scroll before they lost contact. Richter was with him. While she was glad she had finally found her old friend, she was also apprehensive. Which Richter Bremen was with Jaune? The lazy, but immensely courageous boy she knew at Signal? Or the one driven by hate and corrupted by Cinder. Ruby hoped it was the former, but she had a feeling it would be a mix of both. Whether she liked it or not, Richter had changed. Still, she wanted to see him again, no matter what.
"Their numbers appear to be dwindling finally." Ren said as he gunned down a pack of four creeps with his pistols.
"Let's finish these off quickly so we can keep looking for Jaune!" Nora said, slamming one beowulf into another with a mighty swing from her hammer.
Ruby leapt forward and performed a front-flip, extending Crescent Rose. As the petite girl completed her flip, the beowulf that was under her had its skull cleaved in half. Gravity began pulling her back to the ground and she slammed her scythe into the snow, planting it for half a second while she pulled the trigger on her sniper rifle. A blast of Dust shredded the remaining three bewulves that were charging towards her. Using the recoil from the shot, Ruby executed a backflip and landed smoothly on her feet.
"Everyone okay?" She asked her friends. She was about to put her weapon away when a pillar of red light suddenly erupted into the sky to the west of them. Ruby stared at it in awe, the pillar had to be as wide as a street and it was actually pretty close, maybe a kilometer away.
"That's one big boom." Nora said.
"Something's coming from the smoke." Ren reported.
A streak of red light broke off from the pillar, making a beeline straight for them. It moved impossibly fast and before Ruby could shout a warning to her friends the light was upon her. It stopped suddenly, just ahead and above the petite huntress. The abrupt halt produced a shockwave that forced Ruby to flinch away, crossing her forearms in front of her face in an "X" position in a reactionary attempt to protect herself. She felt her hair grow tingly as what sounded like electricity rushed past her sides. Then as quick as it came it was over.
"The waking world, it's been a long time since I've seen it." A gentle voice spoke. "Still filled with hunters too."
Slowly, Ruby uncrossed her arms and opened her eyes. Looking up to see a slender girl wearing a black and red kimono who looked to be in her twenties, her skin as pale as the snow Ruby was walking in. Her silver-white hair fell down to her ankles, the wind teasing it as she hovered in the sky. The girl's lips curled downward into a frown when she caught sight of her.
"I see the silver-eyed warriors refuse to go extinct as well." The girl said, her lip curling in disgust. "How unfortunate."
Ruby was shocked, this pale girl knew about the legend of the silver-eyed warriors? The one her uncle Qrow had told her about after Darion Shiver's defeat? But how?
"Who are you?" Ruby asked.
"I am Alice." The pale girl responded simply, her hands twisted and elongated, forming into sharp claws. Each finger was as long as the blade of a sword and was the color of blood. "And I am your enemy. That is all you need to know."
Instincts told Ruby she needed to move, now. "Scatter!" She shouted to Nora and Ren, leaping to her left and not a moment too soon. The ground they had been standing on a moment before had exploded and at the epicenter was Alice. Her claws were crackling with crimson electricity.
Ruby was about to counterattack when Alice suddenly lashed out with her right claw, creating a crescent-shaped wave of aura. The scythe-wielding huntress was forced to use her weapon to block the wave. Her teeth clenched together in a grimace, the range Alice had on her claws was deceptive, with these aura waves, it was a lot longer than she originally thought.
The force of the aura wave knocked Ruby away and she decided to use the momentum to get some distance from Alice. However, the petite huntress soon found she had a problem as Alice gave chase, flying towards her at an alarmingly fast speed. Ruby used her semblance, a red blur as she zipped from tree branch to tree branch, but Alice kept pace.
Changing tactics, Ruby shifted Crescent Rose into gun-form. She began peppering Alice with a barrage of shots, but the pale girl used some impressive aerial acrobatics to dodge them. Ruby even tried varying the timing of her shots, but Alice still avoided them, it was frustrating for the petite huntress.
A familiar grenade shell with a pink heart on its front zero'ed in on Alice's back, without looking, the pale girl swiped backwards with her left claw, slicing the shell in two. The two halves of the projectile sailed past Alice's flanks, exploding harmlessly away from her. Nora came flying in, riding on her hammer, Magnhild. As the Valkyrie got within range of Alice, she brought her hammer down in a fierce overhead swing, a trademark of hers that usually floored whatever enemy she hit it with.
Alice took the hit with the back of her right hand, protecting her head from the blow. The impact sent her rocketing downwards, but instead of landing on her head, she swiftly recovered and landed on her feet, cratering the ground upon her landing. Nora had just enough time to look surprised before Alice shot back upwards like a bullet, nailing the Valkyrie with a nasty uppercut with her right claw. Nora was sent flying backwards.
The sound of rapid firing filled Ruby's ears as she saw Ren on the ground below them, emptying his clips into Alice. The pale girl was smoothly deflecting the bullets with her claws, there was no look of tension on her face whatsoever and it kind of unnerved Ruby. To the cloaked huntress, Alice seemed almost...bored. Switching Crescent Rose back to scythe-form, the cloaked huntress monopoded her weapon and began firing rounds at Alice as well. Despite their double assault, the pale girl had yet to be struck by a bullet. Ruby's eyes detected small crimson electrical orbs beginning to form between Alice's fingers and grit her teeth, that didn't look good.
"Look out!" The cloaked huntress shouted. Hearing her warning, Ren leapt backwards, just a quarter of a second before Alice extended her left hand. The electric orbs between the pale girl's fingers spasmed, shooting out a beam of crimson lightning that exploded around the area Ren was just standing in. Although he had avoided the beam, Ren was still hit with the concussive force of the blast. The green-clad huntsman was sent pinballing between trees before finally landing face-first on the ground. He groaned and lay still, small red bolts of electricity coursing over his body.
Ruby was about to go help him when Alice pointed her right claw at her, or rather below her. The electric orbs between her fingers spasmed once more, but this time it formed a constant beam of aura. Alice made a cutting motion with her right hand and the beam sliced through the tree Ruby was currently occupying like it was butter. Unable to balance herself enough to leap away, Ruby began falling from the tree. Alice rushed forward, right claw reared back in preparation to strike.
"Time to die silver eyes." The pale girl said, a smirk on her face, she brought her right claw forward.
And Ruby's world exploded with pain.
VVVVVVVVVV
Jaune awoke to the iron scent of blood filling his nostrils. A giant piece of cleersteel lay on top of him and he silently thanked the heavens that it was the flat end that had dropped on him and not the sharp end. Shoving the cleersteel off of him, the young Arc stood to his feet. Taking a look around, he realized that he had fallen into the pit where Alice had laid in slumber. The blood pooled around his calves, staining his jeans and some sort of fleshy substance covered the walls. It felt like he was in another world, dwelling in this pit.
"Still alive eh?" a distorted voice said.
Jaune turned back around in the direction he heard the voice from, on the other side of Alice's altar was Richter Bremen. The grimm-like mask that had covered a majority of his face now only covered his right eye and the right half of his forehead. Blood covered him from head to toe, most likely from this pit, and his medium-length hair was no longer spiked up. Now the dark brown locks draped just below his eyes. The skin on his face was a deep red and his glowing orange orbs for eyes were looking up into the room they had occupied before Alice blew everything up. A scowl was etched into his features.
"What...just happened?" Jaune asked hesitantly. One moment he was watching Richter and Cinder duking it out, then Alice broke through the cleersteel floor and then her aura just exploded out of her. Now he was covered in blood and his body hurt all over.
"That girl, Alice. She did this." Richter replied, his eyes narrowed. "She took us all out by just flexing her aura." The grey-cloaked demon's lips peeled back to reveal his teeth. "And to top it all off Cinder used this chance to escape! Damn that bitch!" Richter bent his legs and Jaune could see he was about to leap out of the pit.
"Wait!" Jaune pleaded, "We need a plan if we're going after Alice."
Richter stood back to his full height and raised his lefteyebrow at him. "Alice? I'm going after Cinder. This is my chance for vengeance."
"But Alice could be heading to Turthus!" Jaune exclaimed, "She'll kill all those people!"
"And who's fault is that?!" Richter snarled back. "Alice would not be a problem now if you had just let me deal with Emerald!"
"She tricked me!"
"And you fell for it! Now because of your actions things have escalated." Richter turned his full glare upon Jaune. "You created this mess. You can get yourself out of it. I've got plans of my own."
Richter prepared to leap up again, but Jaune had one more card to play. It was a dirty trick, but he couldn't let Ruby's friend just abandon the fight with Alice. From what he experienced from the "Daughter of Salem" so far, they were going to need all the help they could get. So he'd play dirty if it meant they'd survive.
The young Arc opened his mouth and the words. "Ruby is at that village." Spilled from his lips. It had the desired effect, Richter stopped in his tracks, this time his eyes betrayed his shock as they widened. "She's with my team at Turthus guarding a communications tower that is being built near there. If Alice is allowed to do what she wants, Ruby will be one of the victims."
Richter glared at him intensely. Now that Jaune was able to see his face, he could read his emotions better. Right now they were in turmoil, rage and love battled within the grey-cloaked demon's body like two heavyweight boxers. After a long few moments, Richter closed the distance between Jaune and himself, gracefully vaulting over Alice's altar without breaking stride. The grey-cloaked demon bunched up the cloth of Jaune's hoodie just below his neck and slammed him into the fleshy wall.
"This isn't my fight Jaune!" Richter roared in his face.
The young Arc however, returned Richter's glare. "If that's true then I've just wasted my breath and Ruby's spent half a year searching for a soulless monster." His words brought Richter to silence and so he continued. "Is that what you are now?" Jaune pressed, "Is that what you want to be?"
Jaune's vision doubled as Richter slammed him into the wall. "You think I like being like this!?" The grey-cloaked demon snarled, "You think I like…" He stopped himself suddenly, orange glowing eyes narrowing into slits. Slowly, ever so slowly, Richter's lips closed together, covering his teeth as he calmed down. "…For being so naïve, you can be quite the manipulator, Jaune Arc." With that, he dropped Jaune onto his butt and walked away, tattered grey cloak skimming across the pool of blood. "You win this time, I'll assist in defeating Alice, but don't think this is a trend that will continue."
Jaune smiled, he had done it. "Wouldn't dream of it."
Richter crouched down and then straightened his legs, leaping out of the pit and back into the cleersteel room. He paused just enough to land on a bent steel beam and then leapt through the rather large hole that Alice had made in the ceiling upon her exit.
Slowly, Jaune picked himself back up, that was one problem down, now he needed to figure out a way to get out of here. He scanned the room more thoroughly and noticed a light-pink domed membrane on the eastern part of the room. Upon touching it, the membrane twitched. The young Arc thought he heard someone's voice at the other end of the fleshy portal, it sounded like someone was groaning. Jaune pushed harder on the pink membrane and while it gave a little, it still prevented him from going through. Finally fed up with subtlety, He drew Crocea Mors and delivered a downwards vertical slash on the membrane. It split open immediately and Jaune was greeted with the sight of a circular fleshy corridor leading out of the pit. The sound of groaning was heard once more.
Steeling himself, Jaune stepped through the destroyed membrane and into the unknown.
VVVVVVVVVVV
A/N: The stage is set for the final battles of the story, I'm ballparking it, but I think I will finish in three to four more chapters.
