A new chapter of To Marble We Return? It's a Christmas Miracle!
14. Don't go...
Ruby stopped to stare at the house from under the cliffside, steadying her breath in the process. It was quite beautiful, she thought, but not for long. They would tear it down to pieces if that's what it took to get Penny back. She had come too far for victory to slip from her fingers again. Fail or succeed, this would be the end of their story.
The others caught up to her, and they took faced the villa.
"This is it?" Yang placed her hand on the huntress' shoulder.
She checked the amber stone in her hand once more, just as she had countless time on the journey there, and nodded. The pulse generated by Weiss, their reluctant ally, pointed exactly to that house.
"You guys ready?" She turned around, checking with her back up: Coco, the White Fang's barkeeper, Yatsuhashi and Fox, the bodyguards, and Velvet, the kind-hearted shapeshifter. It hadn't been an easy choice to return to the swampy tavern to ask for help, a detour in the way that had cost them almost two days, but it had paid off immensely.
The long-haired brunette gave her an affirmative thumbs-up.
"Then let's go." She reached for her bow, removing it from her back, and crossed the last stretch of terrain between her and the end. Approaching the main door, she touched the door handle and confirmed it was locked, as she had already expected.
"Velvet, do you mind?"
"Do you want it to be quiet or loud?"
"Loud. We're probably expected anyway, so might as well make it a show." Yang smirked, and retrieved a pair of metallic greaves from her bag, discarding it afterwards. She put on the armor pieces, a remainder of her time in the royal army that she somehow had managed to keep, and strapped them in place. If her right hook was already something to be feared, with those she would pack so much more punch, which was fortunate, because they would surely be needing it.
They stepped back, giving space for the shifter to do her thing. She closed her eyes, focusing, and her form began widening. Her skin became gray and hardened, her skull distorting into a long and horned shape, her arms and legs becoming three times in width, and she dropped on all fours. The newly transformed rhino lowered its head, a position of readiness, and took off running.
The door shattered to pieces with the impact of the headbutt, but Velvet did not stop there. She kept running, taking with her all the furniture and walls that were in the way. Within a matter of seconds, there was a tunnel of destruction tearing through the house, leaving what was left on both sides ready to fall down as well at the last sign of pressure.
Ruby followed the raging animal inside, climbing through the smashed stone and wood structures that had once been a regal residence. She sped past rooms, her mind focused solely on finding her friend. The house was a blur, a mix and mash of colors in her eyes that sought nothing but bright orange. She nearly tripped on the rubble, but kept moving, entering yet another part of the house.
Her feet ceased to move before her head had even understood the sight in front of her. Penny was lying lifeless on the floor, not a trace of color left in her.
"You! I should've killed you the first time!"
The archer turned her head, facing the raging raven-haired sorceress, and Weiss Schnee who was by her side. She did not see humanity in their faces, only monsters. Monsters who were standing between her and helping Penny. Monsters that had hurt the innocent and helpless for the very last time.
She said no words, the time for parlay was long gone, instead drawing an arrow against the bowstring and watching it fly towards Cinder Fall. The projectile turned to ashes before it could reach its target.
"Pathetic." The witch growled under her breath, and walked towards the girl without rushing. She clenched her fingers in front of her, and a whip made of fire materialized between them. "I guess I'll have to teach you some manners."
The whip whistled in the air near her face, but Ruby didn't flinch, firing another arrow. Cinder approached even further, and raised her hand above her face to descend the whip down on the girl, but something stopped her.
Ruby saw it coming, but the sorceress barely did – a massive sword twice the length of her arm and equally as wide, leaping through the air along with her wielder, and descending on Cinder, who only managed to noticed the movement from the corner of her eye. Yatsuhashi hit her with full force, his blade turning a glowing orange simply from the contact, and she was sent flying against a wall, only further damaging the already unstable structure of the house. She raised to one knee, and then stood up, her eyes blazing with unspeakable anger.
Behind the swordsman gathered around the rest of his entourage, transformed out of their human appearances in preparation for the battle. Fox had his arms raised, pitch black bat wings extending from under them, and barring his sharp teeth in an intimidating growl. Coco had removed her beret, revealing underneath a set of curved horns, and her hands had twisted into long sharp claws made to slash and pierce flesh. Yatsu's arms had swollen like they were about to burst, thick and completely covered in brown fur much like a bear's, no doubt what allowed him to swing the humongous sword around. Velvet ran around a corner, back to her regular-looking self, and joined the team, prepared to unleash at a moment's notice.
"I see you brought friends. If you think that will be enough to stop me, you are sorely mistaken, girl." Cinder put weight into every single word, her rage transpiring into the way she spoke.
"We don't have to fight, you just need to let Penny go." Ruby almost jumped in surprise, had her nerves not been steeled for the fight, by the sound of Yang's voice coming from behind her.
"You think you can make demands of me?" The witch cackled manically. "I will enjoy watching you burn."
"I was hoping you'd say that." Yang bashed her gauntlets against each other, and took off in a sprint to the woman.
Cinder didn't even face her, merely snapping her finger together. The brawler kept approaching confidently, but a bar of ice coming from the opposite side of the room blocked her path, just nearly missing the girl's face. Weiss Schnee walked in, her white outfit dusty and torn, but carrying herself with poise and presence.
"Take care of those two, will you? I have a couple of animals to put down." The flame mage summoned her flame whip again, and didn't wait for an answer.
Ruby turned her sights to point at Weiss, and fire. Just like once before, her arrows dissipated in shards of ice crystals before reaching the target. Yang delivered a barrage of punches, attempting to predict and punish the magic-wielder's moves, succeeding in landing only one of the punches. Between the two, they were managing to take up the ivory-haired woman's entire attention, but not deal significant damage. As they had learned during their first tussle, the witch was much too strong for simple tactics to work, and even though both girl had grown since then, refining their abilities, it was still not quite enough.
"You backstabbing bitch!"
"Colorful as ever, Xiao Long." Her voice was unfazed by the fast-paced dance occurring.
"Was this your plan from the start? Luring us out here just to kill us?" Yang's fist struck only air, the face it meant to it already elsewhere.
"Believe me, I would love to get rid of Cinder as much as you, but she has me on a... leash." It was obvious by the way she spoke that she hated that very word.
"Then fight back! Do something worthy with yoyr life for once!"
"I told you I can't, you idiot! I can't even attack her directly, she has a spell on me!"
"Yang, you can stop." Ruby spoke dryly from behind them, knocking back another arrow. "She's done us nothing but harm, why would that change now?"
With that, the exchange ended abruptly, silence reigning again on the brawl. The archer focused on taking down any projectiles the witch herself might cast, letting her sister do the actual fighting. Other than superfluous damage, none of them was able to take the advantage, stuck in an impasse. The other fight happening nearby, however, was not having such luck.
Cinder had somehow managed to make copies of herself, mirror images built from flame and given shape, allowing her to even out the numbers in the fight. Each one of the non-humans facing off against her had a witch of his own to deal with, making the struggle much harder than it was supposed to be. Yatsuhashi was swinging his gigantic blade at the ellusive woman, attempting to hit an evasive targrt who seemed content in staying out of harm's way and applying small burns to yis body whenever possihle, slowly chipping away at his endurance. Velvet had transformed into a muscled gorilla, pounding at the ground with its hairy fists, the shockwaves of her hits keeping the woman at a distance, but at the same time preventing either of them to get within range to do any real damage. Fox and Coco were back to back with each other, clawing at the two Cinders in front of them, while supporting one another's defenses. Despite their best efforts, the four of them were slowly losing stamina without ever gaining any ground on the fight, and it was only about to get worse.
At the center of the three battlefields, a ball of flame appeared, slowly stretching and taking the form of a person. The fire became a silhouette of a slender body, and then it started to darken, becoming rigid. After a couple of seconds, color was visible at its surface, and soon it became yet another copy of Cinder. Now that the creatures were outnumbered, the scales tipped and the tide of the battle changed.
The newly-created witch walked towards Yatsuhashi, who had his back turned. She grabbed his arm just below the shoulder, and the fire in her hands burned through his skin, taking away his ability to handle the large weapon. He dropped the sword and screamed, but the opponents had already left him behind.
The two that had been fighting him moved away to join the two that were holding off Coco and Fox. The four of them raised their hands, circling around the pair, and spewed a stream of fire out of their palms, creating a ring of flame that engulfed them. Fox spread his wings, trying to fly out of it, but his right arm was caught by the stream, and as soon as he took off, he tumbled back to the ground, collapsing with his bat wing scorched and damaged. Coco closed her eyes and ran straight forward, tackling one of witches. They fell together, and the barkeep straddled the enemy down, clawing her throat out. The sorceress fell limp, and dissipated in smoke.
While Coco was still down, the three other Cinders caught up to her. She punched and scratched desperately like a cornered animal, but to no avail. One of the grabbed her by the horns, and punched her in the face.
Velvet roared furiously, seeing her team be taken out, and leapt at her foe, catching the magician off-guard and crushing her under those hulking hands, watching her too turn to smoke. She slammed her fists on her chest, screaming in a battle cry, and took a sprint to the group surrounding Coco. She swung her arms out wide, crashing into the trio of witches, forcing two of them to vanish as well, leaving only the original standing. Cinder backed away slightly, and Velvet seized the opportunity, shifting back into human form in one smooth motion.
"Ruby, I…" Velvet called out while quickly kneeling by Coco's side, pulling the succubus' arm over her shoulders.
"It's okay, go! We got this!" The huntress answered without looking, focusing her attention on the approaching Cinder. Asking them to stay would've certainly meant their death's, and she had put one too many lives at risk for the sake of her crusade, she refused to be the cause of another death. Together with Yang, they would somehow manage to pull through.
"YOU GOT THIS? ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THAT, GIRL?" The sorceress forsook chasing the retreating group, and instead weaved pillars of fire that erupted from the ground all around the area that had once been a room, forcing the archer to drop the offensive, just barely dodging the spell thrown at her.
With rage beyond comprehension burning in her eyes, Cinder cast a stream of projectiles at the two of them, fireballs flying through the air and homing in their direction. Ruby's cape caught on fire, so she was forced to unclasp it, letting the cloth fall on the floor.
Amidst the confusion, and the witch's power craze, Weiss fell forgotten. She had been pushed to the side, evading the firestorm that had targeted her just as much as the others, and gradually she was rendered useless. Every spell she began to summon dissipated in steam, her ice completely evaporated by the immense heat produced by her captor. Incapable pf fighting, she stepped to the side and removed herself from the battle.
The huntress moved backwards, trying to maintain ground from the new enemy moving in, shooting arrows at the woman's feet to try and interrupt her path. Yang on the other hand, took a sprint straight at Cinder with a determined expression.
Seeing the blonde approach, the witch cast another stream of fiery explosions aimed in the space between the two, but Yang leapt around the bursts of fire, skillfully dodging most of the blast damage. Ruby stood still, incapable of aiming a shot with her sister in the way of the target, as the brawler crouched under a fireball, and reached Cinder. She stood back up, using the momentum to charge an uppercut at the woman's chin.
Cinder didn't skip a beat, placing a palm in the way of the punch, completely drowning out the movement. Her fingers clutched over the girl's fists, and the metal of the gauntlets started heating, gaining an orange glow. Yang tried her best to ignore the burning skin in contact with the metal, and launched another punch with the free hand, aimed at the side of the caster's skull, but that blow was intercepted just as the other.
The blonde screamed, feeling her flesh burning inside the armored greaves, and lost balance on her legs, only standing by the fists the fire witch was still holding up. As the blonde fell to her knees, Ruby saw an opening and quickly fired a projectile, desperately trying to stop the pain her sibling was in. The arrow, not properly pointed and prepared, scraped Cinder's cheek, drawing a single droplet of blood from it.
It was the first actual damage they had landed on the raven-haired woman, successfully removing the twisted and sadistic grin she had on her dark red lips. She threw Yang to the side, forcing her body to hit a pile of debris. The blonde shuffled in a hurry to remove the gauntlets, screaming more as her skin was ripped off, glued to the steaming metal. Her hands were charred and torn, which put together with the physical trauma took her out of the fight for good.
Cinder focused all her attention on Ruby, the only remaining foe in sight. As she walked forward, shadows of flame appeared by her sides, forming copies of herself once again. The huntress watched helplessly as five women came before her with bloodthirst in their eyes.
She counted the remaining bolts in her quiver, finding only 6 left. She drew one against the bowstring, backing away from the enemies, and fired it at the one in the center. The projectile burned to ashes before it's trajectory was even halfway done. Ruby shot another two, aimed at each of the furthest Cinders, hoping for a better result, but the same happened to them. She retrieved a fourth arrow from the quiver, the weight of her impending defeat slowing down her muscles. She had no more backup, no more tricks up her sleeve, and no hope of prevailing against a woman of such might.
Her fingers became numb, and the arrow slipped from her grasp, falling pathetically just before the witch's feet.
"What's the matter? I thought you had this!" The raven-haired woman nearly screamed, the lust of victory placing a wide smile on her face. "Fight back, Ruby Rose! Defeat me!"
The huntress didn't want to fight back anymore.
She had failed.
Failed her sister, who was barely conscious on the floor, her fingers nothing but a charred ruin.
Failed Velvet and her friends, who had nearly lost their lives trying to help her.
Failed her father who had died at the hands of the same woman about to take her life too.
Failed Blake, who had sacrificed herself so she could live and fight on, and who's selflessness would mean nothing if the girl was to perish right here.
Failed Penny, who she hadn't made it in time to save from the clutches of the stone.
She had failed all of them, everyone she knew and cared for, and no amount of fighting now would make up for her shortcomings.
She didn't want to fight anymore, but at the same time she didn't want to die. She didn't want to be a coward when all her friends had shown bravery. She wanted to be worthy of their strength, to honor their sacrifices, so she took her hunting knife out of her belt, and lunged at the vile woman.
Ruby swung her blade, slicing the air between her and one of the copies of the sorceress, her movements frantic and desperate. She tried to stab her, put the woman merely pushed aside her arm and punched her ribcage. The air in her lungs exited her in a flash, and she fell down, gasping for air.
"Is that all you have? Aren't you strong enough to face me?"
The red-hooded girl didn't answer, but used all her strength to propell her body out of the ground and towards the taunting witch. Her foot, however, was grabbed out of the air by another one of the mirror images of Cinder, and she fell face down on the ground again. Turning over, she looked up to see the five women looking down at her with a victorious grin.
One of them, she guessed the real one, lifted her leg and placed the heel of her shoe on the archer's chest. "I guess you were weak after all. You were no match for my power, just like poor old Weiss."
"I'M NOT WEAK!" The blue-eyed spell-caster, who had been in the sidelines for a while, burst out and yelled.
The whole ruined room gazed at her in surprise, as she waved both her hands above her head, and a blizzard took form around them. She screamed wordlessly, and Ruby saw frost quickly take over the copies of the raven-haired witch, turning them rigid and then shattering them.
Cinder jumped, frightened by the sudden change in temperature, but it wasn't lng before she regained composure. The woman left Ruby, and with a fiery hatred in her orange irises she moved towards Weiss.
The huntress stood up, and grabbed her weapons once again. She was considering running away, when the two witches met face to face.
"YOU ARE NOTHING!" The flame caster smacked Weiss in the face, making the powerless woman fall on the floor.
"YOU THINK YOU ARE POWERFUL? THAT YOU CAN DEFY ME? YOU HAVE NOTHING!" Grabbing the ice sorceress' hair, she slammed her face on the floor, breaking her nose, so consumed by the outburst of violence that she completely forgot about Ruby. It was almost as if her mind had all but shut down, and only a gruesome monster was left, a monster fed and nurtured by years of pain and powerlessness festering underneath the surface. "I CAN MAKE YOU FEEL MORE PAIN THAN ANY MAN, WOMAN OR CHILD HAVE EVER FELT IN THEIR LIVES!"
She gripped the blue-eyed girl by the neck and pressed on it hard. The girl would've screamed, but her throat was blocked off. Her body convulsed, overtaken by an intense heat that came from within her. Cinder laughed as she watched the life vanish from the ice sorceress, inflicting on her the same treatment she had given Mercury, her blood boiling until it burned her insides.
It was in that moment, amidst all her fear and desire to flee, that Ruby found the opening she had prayed for. She breathed in deeply, steadying her hands, and reached for her quiver grabbing one of the last two arrows she still had. She lined up the shot, pulling the string as hard as she could, and released it.
The arrow flew through the air, vibrating as it tore through the blazing atmosphere. It seemed like it took forever, playing on the girl's uncertainties about whether or not she had landed the shot. Cinder was distracted with torturing the younger witch, and that would be her final opening. If she missed, the moment would be over, and their mission failed.
She held her breath, putting all her faith in that final desperate action.
The projectile didn't miss. It struck the woman at the center of her chest, piercing through her skin and flesh and lodging itself in between Cinder's ribcage.
The raven-haired witch looked down at her body with an unbelieving stare. She dropped Weiss Schnee, who fell limp on the floor, breathing her last.
"Impossible, I..." No one ever heard the end of her words of doubt, as the archer masterfully aimed the very last arrow she had, and watched it thrust into the woman's neck, the arrowhead sticking out of the other side.
Cinder gazed up at her killer, all flame in her irises extinguished, her orange eyes instead wide, incapable of processing her loss. She opened her mouth, but no sound came off it, blood raining down from where the bolt had punctured her skin. She collapsed down, life quickly dissipating from her, and after a couple of seconds stopped moving altogether, her face forever frozen in a stare of disbelief.
Quietly, silhouettes began gathering around the room, looking at the body. The prisoners, their cells broken by the destruction wrought on that house, walked tentatively to the body, yearning to see if the monster was truly dead.
Ruby paid them no mind. The witch was felled, the battle was won, but she didn't care about any of it. She took no pleasure in that victory, or even realized that had been the first time she had killed another human being, if you could call Cinder that. She had far more pressing concerns in her head.
She ran through the smashed walls, seeking the room they had first found the sorceress at. She tripped on the rubble and fell, but kept running, ignoring the knee scrape that tore through her pants. None of it mattered if...
Her eyes came upon Penny's stone body, trapped underneath a large piece of the destroyed house. The huntress closed her eyes as she tried to get the insurmountable rock, putting all the strength she had left after the fight on that final task. She didn't want to look, to be faced with the prospect of having lost Penny forever. Not after all they had sacrificed. Their story couldn't ebd like that.
The debris didnt budge, only deepening the thorn stuck in her heart, but before she even considered giving up, a pair of pale hands appeared by her side, lending strength to move the boulder. Together with the unknown benefactor, they lifted the rock, letting it fall loudly on the ground, and unveiling the girl beneath. The archer didn't even turn to see who had helped her, or thank them, too consumed by her grief.
Ruby felt the thorn bury itself even deeper inside, now not only piercing her heart but also clutching her throat, making her feel like she would suffocate.
Penny wasn't moving, not even the steady and subtle pulsation of breathing. The archer grazed her hands over the milky white skin hoping to feel a patch of warmth, even just one trace of life left in there. She found none.
Without warning or asking for permission, tears began streaming down her face. She fell on her knees, too drained to stay strong anymore.
"Penny, please wake up." She softly touched the statue's face.
She received no answer.
"You can't leave me. Not now, not after all we've been through."
Silence.
"DAMMIT PENNY I NEED YOU!" She punched the sculpture, but the ache in her fist drowned in the immense sea pain she was already feeling.
But there was only silence.
Nothing but silence.
"Don't go..."
...
...
A voice was heard, but not the one she wanted.
"Did my sister do this?"
She didn't respond to Winter Schnee's question. She didn't need to, the woman already knew the answer.
"Can you help her?" Ruby's voice was barely audible, her throat strained and her mind at the edge of nothingness.
Winter took a step forward and carefully kneeled near the body.
"I can try."
I'm really sorry it took so long to get this out. I tried, oh boy did I try, but I just couldn't get anything on paper. I didn't want to leave this story unfinished, but every time I sat down to write it nothing came up. I'm not exactly happy with the quality of the chapter, but I just really want to put this fic to rest.
I may or may not have gone on a crazy writing spree when I realized I could have this ready in time for Christmas :P
Next chapter will be the final one, and I already have a part of it done, so it shouldn't take long at all. Thanks for sticking with me and this story, for all its ups and downs. I love every single one of you.