Another blast sounded as the fighters seemed to be evenly matched, neither gaining any footing towards the other, every hit either dodged or reciprocated. Yang landed, jumping back again as a foot barely passed by her, a shot from her weapon sending her straight towards her opponent again. Mercury had a similar idea as he rocketed forwards, flipping once in the air as fist met foot, the collision sending both of them away from the impact. The fighters landed, though one was determined to end this soon as she drove towards her opponent again, wanting to gain the upper hand. She sent a flurry of blows, each accented by a shot from Ember Celica, but none seemed to break the defense. A counter kick collided with Yang's arm, opening an opportunity that she was not letting pass up.

She grabbed onto the leg, holding it steady as she sent a punch into Mercury's abdomen, causing him to flip backwards, sending his free leg back into his attacker, hitting her aura again.

Yang stumbled backwards, abandoning her opponent's appendage. As she balanced herself, she was done with this fight. "Alright, this is the end of this!" A burst of energy reverberated through the air around them, Yang drawing on her semblance and anger. With a burst from Ember Celica, she returned to the offensive, throwing blow after blow at her opponent, each one growing in speed and ferocity. So much so, that Mercury was having a hard time keeping up.

A blow from the right collided with another part of the defense, a swing from the left missing its intended target, a boost from his boots keeping him safe. But Yang pressed the attack, throwing everything she had into every hit, until an uppercut hit true, throwing Mercury's chin skyward, followed by the rest of his body. As he came down, an elbow collided with his stomach, sending him tumbling away.

As he regained his footing, standing to counterattack, an explosion at his feet unbalanced him again. Unable to see his opponent, he was blindsided by the haymaker that drove into his aura, sending him away, skidding on the ground until he halted in place.

"Just stay down already!" Yang screamed, her anger flowing through her aura. After a few moments, she saw that Mercury wasn't moving. Taking that as a sign that the fight was over, she made her way back to Beacon, wanting to help her partner in any way she could.

A blast was heard from behind her, and she turned around just in time for a white missile to connect with her face, sending her into a back flip. Yang recovered quickly, landing on her feet to see a tornado of blasts starting to form around her opponent who was twisting himself in a circle.

"Alright, that's it!" Yang screamed as another three shots came towards her. She used her gauntlet's blast to speed herself towards Mercury, avoiding the first two shots and letting her aura absorb the last before rocketing through the tornado, attempting to land the finishing blow and end the fight.

The first punch she threw was deflected, a swipe from her opponent glancing off her weapon. He threw a kick upwards from his left foot, then back downwards, hitting Yang's defenses again. As the brawler tried to counterattack, however, Mercury brought his foot up again, connecting with Yang's stomach, sending her into the air. He leaped into the sky, flipping around to add more momentum behind a downward kick. Yang managed to bring her arms up in time, but the force of the blow sent her like a meteor into the ground.

As Mercury landed, the blasts that were surrounding them descended onto his downed opponent, bathing her in white light.

Mercury turned from the explosion behind him, confident that the match was over. "Gotta say, kinda disappointed," he said, walking away.

The area around him was just on the edge of the Emerald Forest, so he couldn't get a good look at the destruction of Beacon. He could hear hordes of grimm rampaging around the grounds, the hollowed screams and ferocious roars echoed through the air around him. He watched as a swath of black fell upon every crevice he could see, the sheer mass overpowering a few of the hunters before they could realize that they had lost.

A smile formed on his face as he observed, content to wait for the next part of his mission. What he didn't expect was to hear any noise coming from his downed opponent behind him.

"Why? Why are you doing this? What benefit do you get out of this?" Yang slowly rose, her aura doing all it could, but it was almost gone, and they both knew it.

Mercury didn't bother turning to face her, he simply enjoyed the sounds around him. "What, do you want some long winded monologue about how terrible my childhood was? Some sob story about how big of a bastard my father was to somehow humanize me, to make me out to be someone who has been misunderstood, and am somehow redeemable?"

He quickly turned on his heels, "Sorry, Blondie, that's not gonna happen. Now, if you'd be so kind as to-"

Suddenly, a huge explosion was heard, the remnants of the blast being seen over the buildings that remained standing. Both fighters looked towards where the explosion came, a terrible feeling welling up inside of Yang's gut.

"Ruby..."

Mercury turned back and laughed, "Hahahaha, oh wouldn't that be great! First your mother abandons you, off to anywhere that isn't near you. Then your step-mother dies attempting to be heroic, and now your sister has fallen to the same fate, trying to be the knight in shining armor and can't handle the fight! Now you, failing to protect her, or your partner, or anyone in your life you care about. What's the plan now, Yang, gonna make a ballsy last ditch effort to defeat me? I want to see how that plays out for you."

"Shut up SHUT UP SHUT UP!" Yang sprinted forwards, using her gauntlets once again to propel herself forwards, her anger blinding her into her ballistic charge.

"What, first you ask me to talk, now you want me to shut up? Make up your mind." Mercury readied up, adopting a low stance and widening his feet just a little more.

"EEEEENOUGH!" Yang kept up her speed, not caring about what happened. 'No, I can't lose Ruby, not after so much! I have to protect her, I have to be stronger... I HAVE to win!' Yang jumped into the air with another blast from Ember Celica, raising her fist to her cheek, a tear slowly rolling down it as her aura flared brightly.

The fist impacted with the ground, the dirt unable to stop the force as a hole opened up, though Mercury had jumped out of the way, landing near the edge of the pit. He readied himself again and sped back towards Yang, confident he had her right where he wanted.

As soon as Mercury was close enough, blood red eyes snapped open, anger seething through her body. Yang calmly sidestepped the attack and snapped her hand up, grabbing Mercury's neck, a death grip that almost snapped it immediately. She dragged her opponent around herself, slamming his head into the rock next to her, dazing him. She quickly jumped up onto his chest, her knees pinning his arms, and struck his unprotected face.

Yang continued her blows, unrelenting, her anger taking control. She never noticed when his body stopped twitching. She never heard when his cries of pain silenced, yet turned more horrific. She raised her fists together, about to bring down her final blow.

A bright light shown from Beacon, washing over the ground around her, illuminating the state of Mercury's face.

The skin that was left was nearly all red, muscle mass was peeling off, and the remnants of the eyes were puddles in the sockets. A valley was carved into the skull, the bones trying their best to hold form against Yang's fury, but were splintered every direction, some protruding outwards as they were knocked loose. A pool of liquid was forming under what was left of the skull, the light bouncing off, showering Yang in crimson light.

She lowered her fists slowly, though when she caught sight of them, her stomach curled. Red covered everything that was once bright yellow, the liquid moving down her and covering her hands underneath. She felt a droplet fall from her cheek, a tear stained with blood dripped onto the unmoving corpse underneath her. A wave of golden maroon hair swept into her vision, and it made her think of one person.

"...Ruby..."

The whisper seemed to echo throughout the crater she was in as the white light dissipated, leaving her in what felt like darkness. She slowly rose, her legs shaking from the energy she had exerted to get to this point. 'How did this happen. How did I...'

A deafening howl was heard, cutting into Yang's thoughts as it drove her back to reality. Another howl echoed it, then another. The ground started shaking as something large started charging...

And she knew exactly what it was and who it was coming for.

AN: A lot darker than normal, don't you think? This is one of the points in the story I wanted to make sure that this was rated M, so that I could describe this scene, as well as two others coming up in the story. This ending section was one of the hardest for me to write (taking me about 3 weeks alone) but I think it came out really well, and I hope you guys think so as well.

That being said, I have a bit of an announcement to make. Drum roll please... I'm going on hiatus! Yay, woo, alright...

Don't worry, it'll only be for one month and one week, so long as everything works out. Now, you may be thinking that that is extremely specific. Well, it is for a reason... 3 reasons.

1. I need to write more for this story. I only have half of the next chapter down and want to make it is beautiful for you wonderful readers, as well as keep with the consistent updates (Though that might change? I want to keep consistent with this story).

2. There are a couple of things happening in the next month (2 conventions and adjusting to a new job) and I don't want to over burden myself with this.

3. One month from now will be July 6th, just after I return from RTX. Monday, July 11th, I will release chapter one of a new story! Now don't panic, it is only (so far) a three shot, and (so long as everything comes together) will be released that Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (July 11th, 13th, and 15th) with any extra chapters posted on Saturday. After that extra week, I shall return to weekly updates for Can You Hear Me.

Now, with all that announcement crap out of the way, I hope you are all looking forward to Satisfied, and that you all enjoyed this chapter. Again, please review, favorite, and follow. Everything helps.

-MM