Lana Caramel watched as the battle unfolded in front of her. Next to her, her cameraman continued to record the events.
"Don't miss even a second." The reporter muttered. "This footage is worth its weight in gold."
"GIve me a second." Cassian drew a syringe from a pouch and stabbed it into his leg, letting out a hiss of pain. "...much better."
"Stim shot?" Winter asked, her eyes not leaving Adam.
"Yeah my aura's gone to poop." Cassian forced himself to his feet, feeling the familiar buzz as the simulants ran through his body, numbing the pain and refilling his aura. "Though the crash is going to suck."
"As it always does with those things." Winter waved her hand, sending a rain of icicles at Adam. "You should just let your aura naturally regenerate."
Adam slashed the icicles to pieces, only to be quickly overwhelmed and take several in the chest. Only his aura prevented him from being skewered.
"For some reason it's gotten slower." Cassian cracked his ligaments, before taking his regular combat stance. "My semblance is pretty much moot as well."
"Wait a few minutes for the stim to set in. Then use your semblance to assist the others. " Winter flicked her wrist, her whip guarding against the bullets that Adam shot. "I can take him myself."
"Sorry for showing you this." Cassian muttered, even as a bolt of pain struck his heart. The stim shot was working, but the toil on his organs would be great. "This weak side of me."
"Don't worry about it." Winter cracked her whip against the ground, summoning lightning dust. "I always wanted to one day protect you as well."
Cassian chuckled, only to wince as several Paladins immediately surrounded the two of them.
"Open fire!" Adam roared. The Paladins immediately unleashed a barrage of missiles. Winter's whip shimmered, lightning arcing around and destroying a large number of missiles.
The few she didn't destroy were immediately cut down by Cassian.
"How long has it been-" Cassian spun his blade around, before resting it lightly on his shoulder. Through sheer willpower, he forced his battered and pain-ridden body to move. While every movement hurt, his energy and aura had returned to more manageable levels. "-since the two of us fought side-by-side?"
"Far too long." Sturm und Drang coiled around the two lovers, a snake prepared to strike in an instant. Winter flashed Cassian a smile, which he returned, albeit painfully. "It feels right though."
"Oh, it definitely does." Cassian pointed his blade's tip downwards, both hands wrapped around the hilt. White light immediately shrouded his body, wrapping around him like a cloak of flames. "Buy me a few seconds?"
"Done." Winter's whip flashed, sending several Paladins cascading backwards as the fire-dust released several explosions on impact.
Cassian on the other hand, was concentrating on his aura. The familiar sensation of his semblance wrapped around him, granting him strength. His wounds were healing at an accelerated rate. A Paladin unleashed a hail of gunfire at him, but the aura absorbed the bullets, leaving Cassian unharmed.
Winter, looking at her lover, couldn't help but smile. "It's been so long since I last saw you use that."
"Hmm." Cassian hummed in response, adjusting his grip so his sword now faced directly upwards. "I'd almost forgotten what it felt like."
"What are you doing!" Adam shouted at the remaining four Paladins. "He's just standing still, you can-"
Cassian's arm blurred. Adam, sensing the attack, immediately dropped to his knees.
The Paladins however, were perfectly bisected in half, their pilots left completely unharmed.
"Ha." Winter let out a soft laugh, Cassian's attack having effectively ended the battle. "As expected from my Knight."
"Hmmm…" Cassian hummed. "Hmmmm~"
Suddenly, Cassian coughed, his white vistage immediately disappearing as blood left his mouth. Winter watched has he collapsed to his knees, his wounds suddenly reopening and bleeding with even more ferocity than before.
Yin felt the familiar sensation of Cassian's semblance suddenly cut off, like a puppet without its strings.
"Huh?" Yin turned around, distracted. Immediately, one of the Paladins threw a sucker punch at the back of his head.
Flames exploded from Yin's weapon, immediately burning the Paladin to crisp. Metal, flesh, nothing could stand against Yin's aura-infused flames. The other Paladins, seeing this display, immediately attacked at the same time.
Each one met a similar fate, Yin's flames turning their droids into pyres.
The enemy having been reduced to cinders, Yin turned his attention to Cassian. He could still sense his aura, albeit it was very faint.
"That idiot doped didn't he." Yin cursed. The Cassian Gray he remembered had been powerful enough to fight against Team SHYD without doping. Yin thought back to their clash. While Cassian's physical strength had been fine, his aura had been severely lacking. Yin doubted he could enhance himself for longer than a few minutes with that level of aura.
Considering that those of Colonel and higher were meant to be consistently enhancing their body with aura without pause, the fact that Cassian couldn't even do this indicated just how far he had fallen.
"What happened to you Colonel?" Yin muttered, watching as Cassian forced himself to his feet while wiping blood from his face. "What made you this weak?"
Winter had to restrict herself from running over to Cassian. She knew that Adam wouldn't hesitate to go for the kill if she let her guard down.
"I-I'm fine mistress." Cassian wiped some blood from his mouth. "Just-a backlash."
"And this is why you don't use drugs." Cassian let out a painful groan at Winter's sad attempt at humor. "What? At least I'm trying."
"Whatever you say." Cassian coughed, sending flecks of blood across the ground. "Now, not to sound rude, but shouldn't you be, well, beating that guy?"
"No need for that." Suddenly, three figures dropped in front of Winter, forming a barrier against Adam. "Ms. Schnee, Colonel, please leave this to us."
"Humph, what took you so long?" Winter looked at the three individuals in front of her. They were young, perhaps seventeen at the most. Yet Winter knew not to write them off due to their age. Cassian and herself were perfect examples of this.
"I apologise Ms. Schnee." One of the three, a boy with light brown hair, apologised. "We were taking out the White Fang members who attempted to reach the fair around the stadium."
"Did you succeed?"
"Yes." Winter nodded her head in approval.
"Very well. Now, attend to the Colonel and leave this man to me."
"Ma'am, I'd-" The boy's companion, a girl with green eyes, tried to protest.
"Attend to the Colonel." Winter repeated, the force behind her words causing the girl to fall silent. "I will take care of the terrorist."
The third girl however, summoned a set of blades. The blades immediately begun to spin, summoning a ball of energy. Winter watched as the girl, in blind disobedience to her orders, fired a massive beam of energy at Adam.
"No!" Blake yelled in horror as Penny fired a beam of green energy at Adam. She knew what Adam's trump card was. "NOOOO!"
"Fools." Adam said, smiling. Raising his sheathed sword, Adam absorbed the beam into the blade. Ignoring the shocked looks on his opponent's faces, he prepared his ultimate technique. "You're all dead."
Cassian could sense something was wrong. Penny's (which he always imagined Penny shouting PENNY BEAM whilst firing it), had not resulted in the massive explosion that he had expected. Instead, an ominous crimson light was emitting from where Adam was standing.
Relying solely on instinct, Cassian rushed forward, dropping Damocles in the process.
Winter Schnee watched as Adam laughed manically. His Grimm mask glowed with ominous colors and his aura had fluctuated to obscene levels.
"Get back!" Winter yelled, grabbing Penny and throwing her to the side. At the same time, Adam slashed with his sword.
Winter could sense that the attack was far more destructive than anything Adam had used previously. It even dwarfed the technique that Cassian used to destroy the Paladins.
Winter prepared herself for the attack. She couldn't create a barrier in time, nor could she properly enhance herself with aura. All she could do was tank-
An explosion of blood, followed by a hiss of pain. But it wasn't from Winter.
"Damn." Cassian swore. "That actually hurt."
Those were his last words before he collapsed to the ground.
Lana Caramel's eyes widened in horror as Cassian fell backwards, blood splurting from the newly opened wound on his chest.
As a reporter, she had seen many things, but this was the first time she had seen someone get mortally wounded.
"Shit!" Lana's cameraman swore. "Is he really dead?"
"Keep filming." Lana replied, her eyes not leaving the stadium.
Something told her that the climax was yet to come.
As it turned out, she was right.
Adam Taurus didn't even have a moment to gloat before a halberd smashed into his chest. The blade tore a deep rut in his body, before the heat cauterised the wound immediately after. The pain however, was tremendous.
"TAURUS!" Yin roared, grabbing Adam by the head and smashing him into the ground.
"Ugh." Adam groaned, seeing stars. Through his years of experience, Adam knew he was dead. There was no way he could defeat Yin. "LONG LIVE THE WHITE-"
"SHUT. UP." Yin thrust his halberd into Adam's back, killing him instantly.
Just like that, the White Fang threat was annihilated with minimal casualties.
Helaine dropped to her knees next to Cassian. Behind her, Winter was frozen in place, her eyes staring at Cassian's fallen form.
"..." With expert skills, Helaine drew her knives from their sheaths. Pressing a button, she swapped them into jet injectors, before sliding in a cartridge from her bracelets. Taking aim, Helaine fired two shots into Cassian's chest.
Cassian's body immediately shook violently in response to the injections, the drugs causing muscles spasms. Helaine placed her ear against Cassian's chest, before immediately pumping his chest.
Blood pooled around Helaine's hands and ear as she alternated between pumping and checking for a heartbeat. Even as the blood begun to flow out onto the floor, Cassian still had not recovered.
Out of desperation, Helaine loaded another two shots into her injectors, before firing them once more into Cassian's body. This time, his body didn't react, simply shaking as it took the two shots.
It was at this point that Winter snapped out of her daze.
Winter lunged forward, only to smack head first into a barrier. It would have been funny, had it not been for her face of utter despair.
"CASSIAN!" Winter smashed her hand into the barrier, which didn't budge an inch. "CASSIAN!"
"Ms. Schnee!" A pair of hands grabbed Winter from behind, before throwing her to the ground. "Calm down!"
"Get out of my way!" Winter grabbed her assailant and hurled her to the left. Her assailant however, countered the throw, incapacitating Winter and placing her in an arm lock. Immediately, the assailant felt her arm quickly turn cold. With incredibly reflexes, she kicked off Winter, narrowly missing having her arm turned to ice.
"Ms. Schnee, don't interfere with the procedure." Silvers rolled on the ground, using her aura to thaw her arm out. "Let Helaine treat-"
"Die." Winter's eyes were glazed over, but the intent in her voice was very clear. Icicles appeared around her as she pointed her hand at Silvers. "ALL OF YOU JUST-"
"Stop." A soft voice said. Immediately, Winter's attention focused on the speaker. "Winter, please."
"C-cassian?" Winter stuttered, all the fight leaving her body. Sure enough, behind Silvers' aura barrier, sat Cassian. He was breathing heavily and leaning on Helaine for support.
"Hello there." Cassian grinned, before groaning in pain. White bandages were wrapped around his wounds, but they were quickly being dyed red. "I'm glad that you're alright."
"Cassian!" Winter ran at her lover, only to smack into the same force field. "Silvers, remove this thing immediately!"
"I would rather not, seeing as a hug from you might kill Cass." As if in response to her statement, Cassian coughed, covering his mouth with his hand. When he removed it, it was soaked in blood. "Shit, I didn't actually mean that!"
"He."Cassian smiled, revealing bloodied teeth. "I won't lie, I may not make it out of this one."
"Don't talk like that!" Winter shouted, tears beginning to fall from her eyes. "I forbade you from dying remember?! Are you going to ignore my orders?!"
"Haha." Cassian chuckled, only to choke and spit out a glob of blood. "I told you that there are some orders I can't obey, didn't I?"
"Y-you can't!" Winter sobbed. "You can't do this to me-not right after we-" Winter's speech was stumbling, her mouth unable to vocalise her thoughts. She sounded nothing like the powerful Schnee that she was known as. Eventually however, she managed to say one thing. "Yo-you promised that we'd always be together!"
"I did, didn't I? What a precious memory." Cassian murmured, his body occasionally spasming. He couldn't feel his legs anymore. "I only regret I didn't do it sooner."
"Don't give me this crap!" Winter smashed her hand against the barrier. "I won't forgive you if you do this to me!"
"I'm...sorry." Cassian sighed, his pupils dilating and undulating. His voice was growing fainter. "I-"
"CASSIAN, DON'T YOU DARE-!" Winter was hysterical, pounding relentlessly at the barrier that separated the two of them. "We were going to get married, live together, start a family! Please, don't leave me alone-"
"-couldn't keep my promise." Cassian muttered, his head slumping down. Helaine immediately begun to pump his chest again, but to no avail.
At this point, Winter Schnee truly broke.
"Stop the camera!" Lana hissed, turning to her cameraman. Upon seeing the raw emotions in front of her, Lana realised that her integrity wouldn't allow her to publicise their relationship. Not after such a loss. "We can't show this-"
"It's too late." The cameraman muttered. "This was a livestream."
Lana felt her blood run cold. Checking her phone, she felt her heart plummet.
On screen was an estimate of the number of viewers watching the livestream.
If the numbers were to be trusted, then approximately 87% of Remnant's population had just seen Winter Schnee's reaction to Cassian Gray's death.
Their relationship was now anything but a secret.
Ahahaha...ha...ha...
Please don't kill me.
Ferris
PS On another note, we made it past 100 followers! Yay!