"BOOOOOO!"
Nora threw a shoe at the screen that was showing interviews of public of the Tournament after Yang's fight against Mercury. Of course, they were being less than kind about it, being riled up by Dustnet users doing their worse on painting the brawler as some kind of psychotic and violent screw-up and Beacon as a bad school for keeping her in. To team JNPR it was a bunch of idiots throwing a nice girl under the bus without knowing the true Yang and that pissed off the teens. So Jaune turned the TV off before Nora decide to manifest her opinion by using it as a hammer.
"They're certainly making a deal of it. Whatever happened, Yang doesn't deserve this." Ren said simply, barely showing his discontentment over it.
"I still can't believe Yang would simply attack someone unprovoked. Remember their last battle? After she defeated Flint and Neon she immediately rushed to make sure Weiss was alright. The fact her anger power her doesn't mean she can't control herself." Jaune said with his anger sipping from his voice.
"Yet we all saw she attacking Mercury without provocation." Ren remembered and Jaune growled inwardly after this. His heart and mind couldn't accept his childhood friend could do something like that. "And again, we all saw what happened."
"Did we? I mean, logic says if Nora puts her fingers in the wall outlet she should be shocked to death, instead she can press a thousand pounds after doing it." Jaune remembered. "Nora! Don't put your fingers on the wall outlet!"
"Booo!"
"So you're saying someone's Semblance might have make the whole stadium seem something that didn't happen? I don't think anyone have that kind of power." Ren suggested.
"Yeah, the only one saying that what happened wasn't what we saw is Yang." Nora added and Jaune had an epiphany.
"Nora, you're a genius and never let anyone tell you otherwise."
"Oh, I don't, I just break their legses if they try." Nora said cheerfully.
"What if someone messed with just Yang?" Jaune asked Ren and he give the idea some thought.
"Possible. Very possible indeed. But who and why?" The black haired boy question was of course the million lien one. Jaune knew through his aunt someone, or better yet, some group was acting from shadows. What their endgame was to try to pull such stunt on Yang was another question on his mind.
"I don't know. And I don't think we have time to find out right now with Pyrrha's match approaching. All I know is that I believe in Yang." Jaune concluded and Ren and Nora nodded supportively. "Pyrrha… Pyrrha? Pyr… Pyr!"
"What?" Pyrrha was finally snapped from her thoughts when Jaune called her name loudly. "Sorry… I think I was lost in thought."
"Worried about Yang too?"
"Between other things…" She mostly murmured the last part. "Yang isn't the kind of Huntress to just attack others."
"We think someone used some voodoo hypnotism thingy on her!" Nora informed the redhead.
"You mean a mental control Semblance? I heard they're very rare. But… That makes way more sense than believing our friend just had an episode." Pyrrha offered but with very little energy.
"Are you alright? You have been oddly silent since you met with Ozpin." Jaune asked with genuine concern and Pyrrha almost opened her heart right there, but now her problems were oddly small and distant when compared to Yang's, so she dismissed it with a halfhearted smile.
"Just worried, nothing much." She said and Jaune was about to press the issue when he heard team RWBY's door opening.
"Let's see how they are…" He said as he got up to open the door.
"You was surprisingly understanding with Ms. Xiao Long." Glynda told the general as both walked back to the Arena where the next round would soon start.
"I saw many good men and women crack under pressure. I know Qrow's niece isn't a bad person, she just had a bad moment. Unfortunately for us it was broadcasted, and I was forced to deal with it. But as soon as all this ends and people move on other things we'll just let her go with a visit to counselling." Ironwood stated, showing a rare soft side of his.
"I wish that the end of the Tournament would be the end of all this. But we both know it's not the end." Glynda lamented and Ironwood sighed.
"No, it won't be until we capture the White Fang leaders and their mysterious Black Queen."
"You still believe this is all the White Fang hand on work?" Glynda asked, and while she didn't deny the white Fang involvement, the fact they were taking orders from Roman Torchwick and the fact they were behaving rather oddly from usual told her it might not be the case.
"Who else could be? I think Qrow is putting the situation in a direr way than reality. But we don't have to worry. I'll make sure the Atlas Army will protect Vale." Ironwood affirmed with conviction, showing either confidence or foolishness, but Glynda still was unsure which case it was. She hoped for the former, but was waiting for the later. "How about Miss Nikos? Do you think she'll accept our proposal?"
"If I was her, I wouldn't. We're walking a dangerous path here, and I'd rather see her choosing to just be herself."
"Do you believe in destiny?" Pyrrha asked Jaune and he wondered what she meant by that. He was trying to cheer her up after they decided to hit the fair and unwind the stress, and for a moment he thought it was working when he put his hand on hers and she rested her head on his shoulder, but now she was strange again. "I don't believe destiny is a pre-determined thing we can't escape. Instead I believe it's a goal we chose for ourselves and work our hardest to reach such goal."
"Pyrrha?"
"I've always felt as though I was destined to become a Huntress - to protect the world... and it's become increasingly clear to me that my feelings were right. But... I don't know if I can do it." She finished as she hugged herself, her voice showing she was in the verge of crying, so Jaune did one thing surprised both. He hugged her from behind.
"If I ever met someone that could do anything she wants is you, Pyr. I don't know about destiny, but I like to think I know a little about you. You once told me you dislike being put on a pedestal away from people, so all I can say is that I'm by your side. Ren and Nora too, and team RWBY. You don't have to reach your destiny alone. We'll help you." As he said that she turned and hugged him tight so he couldn't see the flow of tears from her eyes.
"Jaune… Thank you."
"Oh, you can say more than sorry!" Jaune joked and she slapped him hard and giggled, but didn't broke the hug.
"So, what brought you to this?" he asked and she was about to say when they heard a cough and turned to see Chifuyu.
"I hate to break such tender moment, but sadly Pyrrha need to go to the arena for her fight." She said and Pyrrha sighed and dry her eyes with the back of her hand.
"I'll need to redo my make-up…"
"And after you win your fight, we'll talk about what was bothering you." Jaune determined and she laughed.
"Yes, your highness." She said jokingly and both shared a brief laugh.
"Not going up there today?" Qrow asked Chifuyu as both were in the Crow Bar taking a drink.
"I'm not part of the security staff, and since there's no classes today I decided today is a good day to have a beer." Chifuyu answered as she drank a whole pint of stout. "Besides, I'd rather talk with you about your niece."
"She lost her head, that's all there's to it." Qrow tried to change the subject as he gulped a shot.
"You know her better than me, but in those few months with them I know very well none of my students are the kind to lose their heads. Something is off. Will you and Ozpin keep me in the dark?" Chifuyu challenge the man. Qrow sighed and took another shot, staring at the bottom of his glass for a moment.
"You won't let it go, will you?"
"The next round is up. I hope this one goes better than the last. It's Pyrrha Nikos after all. An easy bet." The barman interrupted them, and Chifuyu and Qrow narrowed their eyes at Pyrrha's opponent.
Ozpin haven't expected everything to turn like that.
He always hoped to keep doing things as he always had, allowing the Huntsmen and Huntresses to protect Remnant on the open while him and a few selected people would do in secrecy and allow people to have any resemblance of normalcy on their lives. But that night it proved to be another mistake on his tally. He hasn't expected Ironwood own plans to turn things for the worse. The robotic girl destruction turned what was already a bad situation into a mess, since what most people saw was a sweet girl torn into pieces by the Invincible Girl, Goddess of Victory, his chosen one.
She already had her doubts about becoming the Fall Maiden, and he didn't want to think how her emotional state was like right now. But Ironwood's fleet was hijacked, Grimm were invading the city, the White Fang wasn't help and they were running out of time. He moved to prepare everything.
And prayed this wasn't going to be another mistake.
"Damn it!"
Yang punched the White Fang soldiers as she tried to help students and civilians out of Beacon and into safer places. Zwei was with her, and for a little corgi dog he was certainly giving the Fang a run for their money. While she tried her best to help, her mind couldn't help to wander toward the others, her sister in special. She was so happy when they get in Beacon together that she never stopped to think of the danger, but she was certain they could win that one, since they have won all battles they fought before. Except for the ice-cream colored midget.
"Get out of my damn way!"
She yelled and punched another Fang soldier into unconsciousness, then jumped on a wall to dodge a bullet from one of the Atlesian robotic soldiers and kicked its head clean off. Her mind once again drifted to Penny. She wasn't actually surprised she was a robot since she always behaved a little odd, but the shock of her destruction hit as hard as if she was a real girl.
"Why don't you go away!"
Once again she took down another Fang member. They weren't soldiers, they weren't Hunters. They were simply angry people that were giving a way to vent their frustrations, even if against the wrong target. And they were so many that Yang wondered how hard the Faunus were having to resort to that kind of violence.
"I think I understand Blake a little better now…"
Her musing was interrupted as she heard screams outside and saw Grimm invading.
"Really… what is left is throwing the fucking kitchen sink today…"
"Man, things are really bad down there! What do we do?" Sun asked as the bullhead maneuvered above the city. They could see flames, smoke, people running in a panic and death.
"Ms. Glyn, Qrow and Chifuyu-nee are in the city!" Jaune informed them as he closed his scroll. "They are fighting the Grimm there, but apparently the focus of the attack is Beacon! We'll go there and try to get the civilians and the injured to safety!"
"And how do we do that?! There's like bajillion enemies!" Flint Coal questioned.
"By keeping together with your partner and team! They must be numerous but we're more skilled! Once we touch down we will open a path for the civilians to the evacuation ships! Remember that the Atlas robots are under enemy control, so don't hesitate in tacking them down. Also… Do not hesitate in using force against the White Fang."
"But… they're people too…" Neptune asked worried.
"They brought the Grimm inside Vale. They don't care who dies, human or Faunus, but I don't want any innocent people to. They came here prepared to kill. We better be prepared to do it if we want to see dawn." Jaune said somberly.
"He's right. Those big jerks are ruining everything!" Neon said in support to Jaune as she stomped her feet. "They might be Faunus, but what they're doing is wrong!"
"We need to protect the people…" Pyrrha finally spoke. "That's why I wanted to become a Huntress, even if it means protecting people from others."
"I know none of you wanted it to be this way. It's easy to kill a monster you can't relate to. But we're the shields that protect those who can't fight. If we fail, it won't be just us to suffer." Jaune added and everyone in the ship showed agreement to him. "Good. We don't need any heroes though, so be safe, or in this case, as safe as possible."
"Pyrrha?" Jaune asked his partner as she walked towards professor Ozpin. He wondered what was happening and why the headmaster wasn't there with them and why Pyrrha would leave to join him.
"Where's she going?" Nora asked worriedly.
"I'll find out. You two keep helping the others."
Jaune followed in a hurry, as Pyrrha and the headmaster walked through corridors the boy rarely walked in. They stopped in front of a marble bust and Ozpin pulled the head back revealing an access panel, and they entered an elevator. Jaune rushed and joined them, causing Pyrrha to stare at him in surprise, but Ozpin showed no emotion at his presence.
"Shouldn't you be somewhere else, young prince?" The headmaster questioned.
"I could ask the same for you two. Is this the secret my aunt was trying to figure out?" Jaune asked in an accusatory tone, but once again Ozpin was unfazed.
"I don't have the time to explain everything to you. My suggestion is once we arrive you go back and be useful."
"I'm sticking with my partner through thick and thin." Jaune said as he took Pyrrha's hand, eliciting a surprised stare and a smile from him. "Or do you have time to fight me away?"
Ozpin didn't answer as the elevator stopped and the door opened. Jaune found himself in a complex hallway, that reminded him of a cathedral. The ample corridors had an unwelcoming feeling though, and the emptiness of the place didn't resonate well with Jaune. He concluded that place might have being a shelter in the past, something Arcadia still had plenty, including under the castle he called home.
At the end of it he saw something so out of place and scary at the same time. Some complex machinery, Atlesian in design, and a girl in a glass coffin. She looked sick or hurt, and as Ozpin pushed some buttons another coffin appeared. Pyrrha walked there and Jaune stood in place.
"What's that? Who's the girl?"
"Mr. Arc, since you're here, make yourself useful and guard the way." Ozpin commanded, and Jaune glared at Pyrrha.
"With this, we can save everyone." She stated with a shaken voice.
"Pyrrha… Are you sure about this?" Jaune asked her and she hesitated. She was promised power but they had no idea at what cost. It didn't felt like she was walking to safety, but into a lion's den.
"We need to hurry." Ozpin pressured, and while he did understand the situation, he knew they didn't have the luxury of waiting.
"I'm sorry." Pyrrha said simply and entered the empty pod. Jaune wanted to say something but drew his sword and turned around to protect them, despite not knowing what was happening.
At first there was silence, then some light and Pyrrha started screaming. Jaune wanted to look but was focused on guarding the place. That was when he saw Cinder holding her weapon. She fired an arrow not at him but at the mysterious girl in the other pod and he jumped to intercept it. Them several arrows were fired and he was unable to block them all, one of them hitting the pod and killing the girl.
As she died an energy cloud came from her and flew towards Cinder, while Pyrrha's screams stopped. Jaune saw her manipulating flames and power flowing from her. Now he knew in part why the girl was important and could guess what they were trying to do to Pyrrha. He turned to see a surprised Ozpin and a shocked Pyrrha inside the pod. Feeling he needed to give them time he tried to fight the woman, but she used her power to simple strike him aside like he was nothing. Pyrrha used her Semblance to force the pod open and recover her weapons and also tried to fight the attacker, but even her wasn't able to defeat her.
"She isn't an opponent either of you can take down!" Ozpin said to them. "Find Glynda and Qrow and bring them here!"
Jaune and Pyrrha decided to listen to him and ran away from the fight.
"You know, I'm just going ahead and blame you for all this." Chifuyu said calmly as they slay Grimm after Grimm in the city. She was glad she brought her sword to her meeting with Qrow, but she learned long ago to always have a weapon close by when dealing with him.
"Less talking and more hunting, Orimura!" Qrow answered as he himself defeated a Creeper. "And for the record, this is exactly what we were trying to prevent!"
"You suck at it. I hope NOW you will tell me what this is all about."
"I…" They were interrupted by a loud roar and saw Mount Glenn in the distance crumbling to reveal an enormous Grimm, then the creature flying towards Vale.
"You can have that one." Chifuyu grimaced.
"How about that big battleship of yours?" Qrow asked in more of a hopeful tone than disdain.
"I can't reach Arcadia with the tower offline. And even if I could, it would take days for such big airship to reach here. Hopefully Charlotte saw what happened and is sending a quick response team. Let's hope they come here in time."
"Damn it, can't reach Chifuyu-nee or Glyn. Pyrrha, what was that about?" Jaune asked and Pyrrha didn't answer as they saw the flames of Cinder bringing the woman to the top of Beacon's tower. That meant she defeated Ozpin. "Oh for… we need to go to the city and get someone to deal with that woman!"
"You go… I'll keep her busy…" Pyrrha said as she clenched on her weapons.
"Whoa there! Pyr, I'm your partner and I won't let you go alone hmph!" He was silenced by her kiss. He put his hands on her waist and closed his eyes, waiting her to finish. "Pyr?"
"You allowed me to live my life as just me, even if for a while. Now it's my turn to do something in return." She said as she hid her face on his chest.
"Pyr, you don't have to do this. We go back to town and get all the help we can! Glynda, Chifuyu and Qrow probably can take that woman down together! Meanwhile we protect the people!"
"I'm sorry." She said and pushed him into a rocket locker. "I love you… I have to do this…"
"Pyrrha! Don't do this! Please!" His begging was silenced when the locker flew upwards.
Jaune desperately tried to open the door, but the tight space was making it difficult. He couldn't even use his sword or shield to open it. Then he reminded of the automatic arm that put his weapons on his back and moved his right hand to his left side. The arm moved on its own and started forcing the door as it tried to get in position, for long seconds he heard the servomotors forcing their way until the door flew open…
And he was sucked outside the locker and now was freefalling.
I regret my lack of a landing strategy right now!
Jaune flailed for a while and then opened his shield, using it as an impromptu parachute to at least try to guide his fall. He saw the barracks used to hold the fair stands and aimed at it, hoping his Aura would be enough to not get hurt as the structure slowed his fall and he landed at several boxes of cereal with Pyrrha's face on them.
"Mental note, ask aunt Tabane for a parachute… Pyrrha!"
Jaune started running.
He probably never ran as quickly as he did that night, trying to go back to Beacon. Along the way he had to get rid of a few Grimm and White Fang soldiers scattered on the ground. He saw the dragon Grimm approaching the tower and stopped for a split second. If that thing got to Pyrrha, he didn't want to know what could do.
Soon he found himself in the lobby where Ozpin's elevator was located and to his dismay it was completely destroyed, making it impossible for him to reach her partner that way. He started to look around for another way to go to the top, knowing the elevator couldn't be the only way to reach the top. As he looked around and saw no other way he started to get frustrated and was about to yell when his scroll started ringing.
"Jaune! Where are you?" Weiss voice came from the device. Apparently something happened that allowed communications on again.
"I'm trying to get to Ozpin's office! Pyrrha is fighting Cinder on top of it! That woman is somehow involved in everything that happened! We need to help Pyrrha!"
"Wait… you're making no sense!"
"All you need to know is that Pyrrha is in danger and we need to help!" He shouted angrily at the device.
"Alright, we'll find a way to reach her, but are you alright?!"
"Please just help her!" He begged then tossed the scroll against a wall in frustration. The device hit a bookshelf and sent some books flying down, except one. Jaune noticed something odd on it and pulled it, revealing a secret staircase behind it.
"Oh for fucks sake! You gotta be kidding me!"
He rushed upwards the spiral stairs, praying on the back of his mind for Pyrrha's safety. It took him a minute to reach the top level where he saw his partner with an arrow on her heel and Cinder pointing her bow at her. He ran as the arrow left the bow and the champion threw her shield. He didn't notice the fact that the arrow fragmented to avoid the shield and become whole again, he just jumped and pushed Pyrrha out of the way, the arrow hitting his body but being deflected by his Aura.
"What a nice scene. Prince Charming saving the damsel in distress." Cinder taunted them as she approached with her bow become dual swords on her hands. Jaune got between her and Pyrrha, shield and sword ready. "Ozpin couldn't defeat me, nor could the Goddess of Victory. What hope you have you can, Jaune of Arcadia?"
"Why are you doing this?" He questioned as she summoned her flames again. She smirked as the dragon landed behind her.
"Oh, should I tell you? If we had time maybe I could convince you to join me, if nothing else so you could protect your little kingdom. In a way, you should be thankful Atlas was so adamant in keeping it a secret, as it protected you from me. But alas, time is short and I'd rather not have to deal with you at all." She said and attacked.
Jaune raised his shield.
Cinder's sword touched it and a bright flash was seen as she was pushed back in surprise. The blonde boy used the chance to counter, slashing Cinder's face and making blood drip from the cut. She stared at him, her face contorted into an ugly angry expression as Jaune tried to attack again, only to be hit by the dragon's paw and tossed through a ruined wall, the boy's Aura only enough to protect him that last time.
"Your death will bring me great pleasure." She said and armed her bow again, firing an arrow against the fallen knight, only to be surprised when Pyrrha jumped between them and got hit on her back, falling in his arms.
"PYRRHA!" He shouted as she looked up to him and smiled.
"I… am happy you're… fine…" She said as she closed her eyes.
"PYRRHA!" Jaune, Cinder and the dragon turned around to see Ruby staring in shock at them, and a silver glow coming from her eyes. It was the last thing they saw that night.
"The Grimm are coming here! Take them to safety now!" Chifuyu ordered the rescue team in the Arcadian bullhead as they put the unconscious Hunters in training inside.
"How are they?" Glynda asked as she saw the three students being carried inside.
"The little girl and the prince are unconscious but unhurt. The Mistralian champion… I'm not sure she'll make it." The female dog Faunus rescuer informed as they worked on Pyrrha. "The arrow on her back shattered when we tried to remove it, and without a more thoroughly examination…"
"Do whatever you can. If there's no one else let's go back." Chifuyu said as they closed the doors and the bullhead flew away from the frozen dragon.
"We are taking all the wounded to the main square. And there's too many… I'm glad you all arrived so fast." Glynda said to the Arcadians.
"We couldn't turn our back to our friends." The rescuer said with a smile. "We took off as soon as the Grimm appeared in the broadcast. More ships are coming this way, but we don't know if it will be enough after all this."
"Any help you can get us is greatly appreciated. Any news of outside Vale?" Glynda asked Chifuyu.
"No, the tower is not operational anymore, we only recovered communications within the Kingdom. We can't reach any of the other ones, which means they can't reach each other either." Chifuyu said as the bullhead started maneuvering to touch down.
As soon as the doors opened Pyrrha was rushed to surgery, giving Ren and Nora barely time to see her. Soon came Ruby and Qrow rushed to her side, while Chifuyu came with Jaune. The remaining team JNPR members rushed towards their unconscious leader.
"Jaune-Jaune!" Nora yelled as she held his hand.
"He'll be fine. His Aura was depleted and he's unconscious. But as soon as he wakes up, I have orders to bring him back to Arcadia." Chifuyu informed the two students.
"We're coming with you, one way or another." Ren calmly stated.
"Of course. We'll bring Pyrrha with us if we can. Better have her in one of our hospitals than here right now." Chifuyu stare around as so many hurt people were being treated the best way they could offer. "Not that she's the only one that could benefit from it…"
"Ruby! Jaune!" They turned around to see Yang and Weiss coming, the white girl trying to keep the brawler calm, considering her own injury, a missing right arm. She kneeled beside them and started crying.
"Where's her partner?" Qrow asked.
"We don't know… She just… left…" Weiss said as she checked on Ruby.
"They're fine. Just passed out." Chifuyu informed as she grabbed her sword. "I'll go hunt for a little, see if any enemy is hiding around. You children need to rest."
"Wait! What happens now?" Weiss asked but the older woman didn't stop to answer her.
"We don't know." Qrow answered her. "Honestly, we don't know."
A.N.: And with this we are approaching the last chapter of this one. Since I'm following canon closer than usual here, this story will end next chapter for a new season to come when Volume 4 hits. Meanwhile I probably will finish Journey into the Stars and start some silly stories to go along my RWBY and Red VS. Blue crossover. ^^