A/N: It's late! Apologies!
VVVVVVVVVV
It was very similar to how Ruby decapitated the Nevermore. Crescent Rose's blade sliced cleanly through Alice's neck as she fired a recoil shot that sent her rocketing into the sky. After performing an acrobatic back flip, Ruby landed in a kneeling position, her scythe resting on her shoulders. A moment later, Alice's head fell from her body and rolled into the snow. The body followed a moment later, collapsing into a heap.
Ruby immediately locked eyes with Richter, who was on his back, propped up by his elbows. The miniature suns that were his eyes betrayed his disbelief at what they had just done.
"We did it?" Ruby said.
A smile formed on Richter's lips. "We did it." He confirmed.
Elation filled Ruby's tiny body as she leaped high into the air. "WE DID IIIIIIIIT!" She shouted excitedly at the top of her lungs. It was at the peak of her jump that her body decided to remind her of all the hits she had endured from fighting all day. When Ruby came back down her face was contorted in pain. "My everything hurts."
"Yeah, this Alice was a tough one." Richter said, getting to his feet, "But she's dead now."
The sound of snow being crunched under someone's feet reached Ruby's ears. The red-cloaked huntress turned around to spot Ren and Nora running towards her.
"Ruby!" Ren called her name. "Are you alri..." He didn't finish as he suddenly scowled and drew his pistols. At first Ruby thought he was aiming them at her, but then she realized his aim was off by a few degrees to her right. She realized he was aiming at Richter. Ruby honestly couldn't blame him, Ren didn't know Richter and his appearance made him look like a demon.
"Another bad guy?" Nora inquired, holding her hammer with glee. "I'll break his legs!"
Before they could make a move, Ruby put herself in front of her childhood friend. "Wait!" She pleaded. "He's not a bad guy! This is Richter! He helped me beat Alice!"
Ren eyed Richter suspiciously, but he sheathed his weapons. "This is the friend you've been looking for? He looks..."
"...Like a monster?" Richter finished for him.
"Wellllllll we weren't going to say that." Nora chimed in. "But with that red skin and those glowing eyes and…" Her eyes narrowed as she examined him closer. "…Is that part of a grimm mask on your face?" Ren quickly elbowed her in the ribs, causing her to bolt upright. "Uh! I mean pleased to meet you Richter! I'm Nora and this is Ren. I hope I don't have to kill you with fire." Ren elbowed her again. "I mean let's become good friends, yeah that's what I meant."
Richter looked at Ruby then, raising an eyebrow. She could only laugh nervously and rub the back of her head. She knew what he was thinking, that her friends were weird. They were quite the motley crew indeed.
He returned his attention to Nora and Ren, "It's….good to meet you." He replied.
Ruby smiled, it was a start.
VVVVVVVVVV
Jaune couldn't believe what he was hearing from his sister. She was talking like Ruby and his team were already dead. When did Jasmine lose any sense of hope?
"It doesn't matter what challenge they face, they'll overcome it." He reassured her.
Jasmine responded with a smile void of joy. "You're still too naïve brother." A sigh escaped her lips. "Then again, that is what I adore about you."
Jaune placed his hands on her shoulders, forcibly resisting the urge to cringe as he felt the bone underneath her skin. She had lost a lot of weight since he saw her last.
"Save your strength, don't talk." He gently told her. "We'll get a medivac here to get you out and then…."
A sound interrupted him, a most peculiar sound, given where he was at the moment. It almost sounded like….voices? But where were they coming from? Jaune took a quick look around him, but couldn't pinpoint the source of the voices.
And then he deciphered who the voices belonged to. Ren, Nora and Ruby and the young Arc instantly knew what was happening. His scroll was working again!
Quickly pulling the damaged device from his pocket, Jaune pulled it near his mouth and began to speak. "Uh, hello? Can you guys hear me?"
VVVVVVVVVV
"Wow, you really did it." Ren said softly, staring at Alice's headless corpse.
Ruby grinned like an idiot seeing the impressed look on the flower boy. Killing a being as powerful as Alice was quite the feather in her cap. She watched as Nora poked the corpse with a stick a few times before Ren scowled at her and pulled her away.
"Now all we need to do is find Jaune." Ruby announced, Ren and Nora nodded in agreement. Nora slamming her right fist into her left palm for emphasis. Ruby was suddenly reminded of her sister, Yang.
"I can help with that." Richter spoke up, talking so suddenly that it caused Ren and Nora to jump, with his voice all distorted it didn't help matters. She saw him wince and she gave him a reassuring smile. She knew this was hard for him, and that was why she was going to be with him every step of the way as he reintegrated himself into society.
"You've seen Jaune?" Ren said, recovering from his surprise.
Richter turned his gaze to him. "He and I were in the hidden lab together."
"So he's okay then?" Nora asked.
"He's alive." Richter clarified. "Probably going to need medical attention though, he took a bad shot from a girl named Emerald."
Ruby instantly went on full alert when she heard that name. "Emerald's here?"
Richter nodded, a scowl on his face. "So was Cinder."
Ruby saw her childhood friend's eyes flash. She knew how badly Richter wanted to get revenge on Cinder. They had even been at odds at one point, so strong was his drive to kill her. For him to abandon his pursuit like that in order to come to her aid, it meant she had been right. Richter may have been put through hell by Cinder, but no matter what that amber-eyed witch had done to him. He was still HER Richter, nothing would change that.
"Was?" Ren inquired, snapping Ruby out of her thoughts. The red-cloaked huntress returned her attention to the conversation.
"They're probably long gone by now." Richter admitted. "Alice did some crazy aura explosion shortly after she awoke. It really did a number on Jaune and I." Richter's hands clenched into fists. "Cinder and Emerald were gone by the time the dust settled."
"Aw." Nora pouted. "I wanted to bash their skulls."
Richter smirked at her remark. "Same, but there's nothing I can do about it now." The smirk quickly turned into a frown. "Back to square one."
Ruby placed her left hand on Richter's right shoulder, giving it a squeeze. "It'll be different this time though." She told him. "This time, we'll find her together."
They locked eyes then. And Ruby could read her childhood friend as clear as day. There was uncertainty in those orange orbs of his. She knew he was still worried that he'd lose control, but Richter had always been the cautious type. Ruby was confident he could keep his killing urges under control. She wouldn't let him fall into a downward spiral.
"Uh, hello? Can you guys hear me?" A muffled voice spoke from Ren's pants pocket. Confused, the green-clad huntsman pulled out his scroll. His eyes widened in recognition.
"Jaune?" Ren said tentatively. Speaking the name of his team's leader drew everyone's attention.
"Ren, thank goodness, are you guys okay?"
Nora moved to Ren's left side so she could get a better look at his scroll. "Us? What about you?" She asked him. "We've been trying to find you for hours!"
"Yeah sorry about that, kind of took a left turn and got lost and then there were these experiments trying to kill me and…" The young Arc could be heard taking a deep breath. "I'll explain later, but right now I need to know, did you guys call for backup?"
"We did." Ren verified.
"Alright. My sister is here and she is severely injured. She needs to be evac'ed as soon as the bullheads arrive."
"Wait." Ruby chimed in, "Is this the same sister you told me went missing before you started at Beacon?"
"Same one. I finally found her…" There was a moment of silence after that before Jaune continued. "Is Richter with you?"
"He is." Ruby confirmed.
"Richter, can I count on you to point the bullhead towards my location?"
Richter crossed his arms and leaned against a nearby tree, sighing deeply. "Yeah I'll do it."
"I take it since I'm talking to you all right now that Alice is defeated?"
Nora's face lit up "Oh is she! Ruby sliced her head clean off!"
"After I played the decoy." Richter added.
"I see. Good work guys. Richter, I owe you one."
"You bet your ass you do."
"I'll keep my word."
"We should head back to Turthus and prepare for our backup to arrive." Ruby said. If Jaune's sister was in critical condition then they needed to do whatever they could to make the bullhead's arrival easier. That way it could reach Jaune faster.
"Agreed." Ren said.
"Yes!" Nora explained pumping her fist. "I can't wait to get back to town! I'm starving! I could eat a whole…."
A sickening thud was heard as a black-red sphere of aura slammed into the right side of Nora's face, interrupting her. The hammer-wielding huntress was sent hard into the ground, cratering it and scattering any trees near the point of impact. The sphere of aura that had hit her was attached to a very familiar length of ivory hair. Ruby felt the color drain from her face, no it couldn't be….
"Nora!" Ren shouted, rushing to his fallen teammate. Ruby and Richter immediately switched their gaze back to Alice's corpse.
And to their disbelief, found that it was moving.
Alice's head was clearly still separated from her body by a half-dozen meters, but the hair was alive, moving like snakes. The body itself was twitching uncontrollably. Before Ruby and Richter's disbelieving eyes, a trail of blood from the head made its way to the open neck of the body. As soon as the blood trail made contact with the neck it pulled Alice's head back onto her body. She rose to a crouching position, massaging her neck, the wound marking where Ruby decapitated her was still prominent, but there were stitches of flesh now holding the wound closed and keeping her head attached.
"….What the…" Ruby started.
"….Hell…!?" Richter finished.
"Yes….." Alice hissed, rising to her full height. "…There we go, nothing like a good decapitation to get the blood flowing."
Ruby dropped into a defensive stance, Richter following suit.
Alice grinned, the smile disturbingly wide. "Now that I'm finally awake, let's get this massacre started."
The sky darkened, in the span of moments day became night. It was as if the light was being leeched from the sky. Alice floated into the air until she was about level with the top of the tree line.
Then the blood began to flow from her throat and her eyes, a neverending flow of dark crimson liquid.
It quickly spread across the ground, forcing Ruby and Richter to leap up onto a nearby tree branch. The petite huntress began shaking one of her boots frantically, trying to get the dark blood off of them.
"Gross! Gross! Gross! Gross!" She exclaimed rapidly.
Richter's eyes narrowed as he stared at the pool of dark blood which was still spreading rapidly beneath them. "Something's not right, this doesn't have the scent of blood..."
"It's been awhile since I've been beheaded." Alice hissed, a sinister smirk on her face.
The pool of blood had now stretched to Ren and Nora's location. The ebony-haired huntsman didn't seem to care about the dark blood washing over him as he cradled an unconscious Nora in his arms. A bubble in the pool of blood began to expand to his right, easily reaching the size of a car.
"It's enough..." Alice started, continuing to smile. "...to get the blood boiling."
The bubble near Ren suddenly began to glow and instincts told Ruby that wasn't a good sign. "Ren!" She shouted. "Look out!"
Ruby was too late however, by the time Ren had noticed the large bubble next to him it was already exploding.
VVVVVVVVVV
Jaune never knew he could feel such panic until he heard the distress in Ruby's voice as she called out Ren's name. There was a loud boom in his scroll and then...static.
"What's going on!?" He shouted into the scroll. "Guys? Can you hear me? What's happening!?"
"Decapitation is not enough for Alice." Jasmine said. "I told you, Alice is nothing like anything you or your friends have ever faced before." She coughed a few times and Jaune winced as blood trailed down the corner of her lips. "This isn't some grimm you can simply cut down. Alice doesn't play by the rules you're used to."
Jaune slammed his fist into the side of the wall in frustration. "Damn it! If I didn't have this wound I'd..."
"You'd get slaughtered." Jasmine interrupted, her voice weak, but stern. "Just like what Alice is doing to your friends now..."
"No!" He exclaimed in denial. "There's no way that would happen!"
"Jaune, you have to accept the fact that there are more powerful forces at work in Remnant than you realize." Jasmine said, her tired gaze turned melancholic. "If you don't, you won't survive long."
"So what? I'm supposed to stand here and do nothing while Alice kills my friends!?" Jaune shouted in frustration. The feeling of helplessness was the worst for the young Arc. It was tearing him apart from the inside.
"No…there is one thing you can do…" Jasmine informed him.
"What is it?" Jaune quickly asked. Jasmine had to have a plan, she was always so resourceful.
She looked him straight in the eye. "You have to kill me Jaune."
VVVVVVVVVV
Ruby had to fight to keep her perch on the tree branch as the shockwave from the bubble's explosion ripped through the forest. She saw that Richter was having a similar problem, having stabbed Dyrnwyn into the trunk of his tree to keep himself anchored. She frantically searched the epicenter of the blast with her eyes, hoping for some sign that her friends were okay.
"Ren! Nora!" She shouted, but received no response.
The dust from the explosion finally settled and Ruby spotted Ren with Nora over his left shoulder. He was perched on the branch of a tree as well, his back to Ruby. Blood flowed from multiple wounds on the right side of his body, from his shoulder all the way to the upper part of his leg. His clothes in those areas were torn to shreds. Even with his back turned, Ruby could see the grimace of pain in the usually stoic Ren's features.
"Still alive huh?" Alice's voice sounded from behind, stirring the petite huntress from her thoughts. "I can fix that."
This time several bubbles appeared under the tree Ren was perched on. The stoic huntsman looked on helplessly as the bubbles grew in size, coming within several meters of Nora and himself.
"No!" Ruby shouted, activating her semblance, she flew towards her comrades as fast as she could. The petite huntress was dimly aware of Richter calling her name, but she chose to ignore it, she wouldn't let Alice kill Ren and Nora.
She tackled Ren just as the bubbles started glowing, narrowly staying ahead of the detonation that happened less than half a second later. Unfortunately, Ruby had not thought about where she was going to land and so the three hunters crashed haphazardly into the ground. The good news was that they were now outside of the giant blood pool Alice had created.
The bad news was that she was not sure how to deal with the pale girl.
As she untangled herself from Ren and Nora, Ruby heard the sound of someone landing in front of her. Looking up, she saw Richter's trademark tattered grey cloak as he stood protectively in front of them.
"You okay?" He asked, keeping his attention on Alice, who was taking her time floating towards them.
Ruby looked towards her friends. Ren had set Nora down on her back, his left hand supporting the back of her head. Nora's eyes were clenched tightly shut, and her lips were peeled back in a grimace, a large bruise beginning to form on the right side of her face. Ren thankfully seemed to have not suffered further injury, but his right side was still maimed, nothing had changed that.
"Compared to them my wounds are nothing."
"I can still fight…." Ren announced, though a hiss of pain from him said otherwise.
"You can barely move!" Ruby protested.
Ren turned to look at her, fire in his eyes. "I won't let this witch kill Nora!"
"Don't worry. You can all die together."
Alice's voice pulled everyone from the conversation at hand. She was now floating at the edge of her blood pool. Making a gesture with her right hand, something rose from the pool of blood. Something that to Ruby, looked like a giant deformed head. As the petite huntress watched it, the giant bloody head opened its mouth wide, exposing the ball of aura it had in its mouth.
A ball of aura that was currently aimed at them.
"Incoming!" She heard Richter say as he shifted Dyrnwyn into revolver-form. A grey sphere of aura growing at the tip of the barrel. She saw what he was going to do. Richter planned to divert as much of the bloody head's blast as he could with one of his own. A risky gamble, but they didn't exactly have many options at this point. "Brace yourselves!" He ordered.
Ruby's vision became engulfed in the collision of the two powerful aura blasts. Black-red against grey. She found herself picked up from the ground and tossed away, like a stray leaf in the wind.
VVVVVVVVVVV
"If this is a joke Jasmine, then it's not funny." Jaune said to his sister, completely serious.
Jasmine frowned at him. "Do I look like I'm joking right now?"
"How is killing you going to stop Alice?"
"Because her heart beats within me."
An uncomfortable silence ensued. Jaune examined his sister more closely, finally noticing what looked like a human heart, but the color of sapphire. It was sticking out of her chest, just under her neck. Blue veins from the heart travelled up her throat and along the sides of her face. Each time the veins pulsed he noticed Jasmine wince in pain, though she was trying to hide it.
A feeling of dread nestled in the pit of Jaune's stomach. "What…what are you talking about?"
"Alice was put to sleep by stopping her heart." Jasmine explained. "Her body is incapable of making it beat again. However, the White Fang theorized that placing the heart into a living being would work…." She spat out some blood. "Unfortunately, Alice's heart was too strong for most people to handle." Her head sank. "And then the White Fang captured me, thanks to Emerald Sustrai….."
The feeling of dread grew within Jaune's stomach. "No…."
"They replaced my heart with hers and trapped me in this 'Thing.'" Jasmine continued, the heart in her chest pulsed and she screamed in agony.
"Jasmine!" Jaune called out, he wasn't sure what to do. The whole thing was a nightmare that was coming true.
Jasmine grit her teeth, taking a few deep breaths before speaking again. "So…so long as this heart beats within my chest, Alice will terrorize the kingdoms of Man." She locked eyes with Jaune again and he noticed how bloodshot her azure orbs were. "You can't let that happen Jaune. You have to stab me in the heart, you have to kill me!"
Jaune felt his world coming apart. "I…I can't…."
Jasmine scowled at him. "Do you understand what will happen!? Alice will kill your friends, destroy Vale and bring about an era of darkness and suffering the likes Man has never seen before! Countless innocent lives will be slaughtered!"
"How am I supposed to murder my own sister!?" He snapped, feeling the wetness of tears beginning to form in his eyes.
"The cost of one life to save hundreds of thousands." She replied. "Think about it little brother, the White Fang destroyed my heart, there's no going back for me." Jaune's heart began to break as he saw what little composure Jasmine had begin to crumble. "…I've been living in agony for so long…I…I want it to end Jaune. You'd be doing me a mercy."
"Why? Why does it have to be like this?" He whimpered.
"Do you remember what I told you about being a huntsman?" Jasmine asked him. "This is one of those tough decisions you have to make if you want to follow in the family's footsteps."
Jaune clenched his eyes shut in a vain attempt to keep the tears from flowing, it failed. "This…this isn't how it was supposed to be."
"Nothing ever works out the way we want it to Jaune." Jasmine informed him. "The life you chose is not filled just with glory, but also the ugliness of reality." She clenched her teeth to keep from crying out in pain before continuing. "There is a price to pay for being the heroes of Remnant. There is no victory without blood."
(A/N: I usually don't do this in the middle of a chapter, but for the full effect of the following scene, go to youtube and look up 'Dark Souls 3 Abyss Watchers OST' from the Dark Souls 3 Soundtrack. It was playing in my head the entire time I wrote this.)
Jaune shook his head vehemently. He expected to wake up from this nightmare any minute now. But as he opened his eyes and still saw he was still in that hellish chamber filled with blood with his sister half-dead stuck to some fleshy monstrosity. He knew it wasn't a nightmare. This was happening, it was real, and he wanted to deny it with every fiber of his being.
"You know it has to be done." Jasmine told him.
The frustration, dread and helplessness all finally exploded out of Jaune as he fell to his knees and began pounding the ground with his fists. Blood splashed all over him, but he didn't care.
"Damn it all! How am I supposed to face our sisters after this!? How am I supposed to face dad!?"
"You'll tell them you made the choice any true huntsman would make." The ghost of a smile graced Jasmine's lips. "And if dad doesn't like that response, tell him I'll come back from the afterlife to kick his ass."
Jaune looked up at his sister then. "Jasmine…."
"It's time Jaune."
Jaune felt like his body weighed several tons as he slowly rose to his feet. Crocea Mors in a white-knuckled grip in his right hand. He pointed the end of it at the abomination of a heart sticking out of his sister's chest. The young Arc's face had set itself in grim determination.
"…I love you Jasmine….."
Jasmine smiled at him and for a moment Jaune saw a bit of her former self. "…I love you too…."
And then Crocea Mors was plunged into her heart.
Jasmine let out a small cry of pain, she collapsed onto his right shoulder. Jaune could feel the blood from her lips staining his clothes, or was that his own tears? He couldn't tell the difference anymore.
"You are strong Jaune…" She whispered into his ear. "…Use that strength…to deliver Vale from the coming darkness…."
She said no more then, as by then, Jasmine was gone.
His legs no longer able to support him, Jaune collapsed to his knees. The young Arc raised his head, staring brokenly at the ceiling. The hurt and pain of loss hit him like a tidal wave and he began sobbing like a baby.
Nothing, nothing would ever be the same anymore.
VVVVVVVVVV
A/N: Poor Jaune, this scene has been stuck in my head since I started the second story. It was good to get it typed out. Alternatively for that scene you could play the song that plays in Volume 3 When Adam cuts off Yang's arm/Cinder kills Amber.
NEXT CHAPTER: The conclusion of the battle with Alice.
