Chapter 14

Cinder roared in anger, she was too slow to catch the redheaded girl. She could have given chase but all the girl's death would accomplish is bringing her what she wanted, it doesn't matter how she died.

But unease still gnawed at the corner of her mind. What if the girl had been correct? No, what would she know about my power that I don't? But it didn't stop that niggling doubt. It had never meant to be split between two people. Cinder had meant to take it all from that weakling Amber!

And yet here she was, worrying over what another weakling had said. Cinder waited, waited for her power to return to her.

It didn't.

She roared and the Wyvern behind her echoed the anger she felt. Her scream was met by the deafening shots of cannons as an Atlesian Battleship fired upon the Wyvern. It cried out in pain before a flock of Griffons intercepted the incoming attacks and sacrificed their own lives for the Wyvern.

Cinder turned and poured energy into her hands. Once she had condensed as much as she could into her fists, she raised them up and fired. A beam of fire lanced out through the flock of Griffons and pierced the Battleship's engines. It's lack of propulsion sent it down into the Emerald Forest. Cinder panted at the exertion. It had taken far more than she had expected to destroy the Atlesian vessel.

She created a small flame in the palm of her hand. Her irritation grew as it took much more effort than usual. She needed to calm down and reassess the situation.

Even if she was correct I can hunt down the new holder. Chances are it transferred to someone nearby! She just had to think of who it could be.

Cinder stalked across the ruined tower and pulled the other redhead, Nora Valkyrie, out of the rubble. The girl was still unconscious. It would have been foolish to give the power to her. She is within my grasp after all. So who else is associated with Pyrrha Nikos?

Cinder's eyes narrowed. Outside of the girl in front of her, the only other person it could be was Ruby Rose. Cinder dropped Nora back onto the rubble and walked back to the Wyvern, she stroked its long neck.

"Come now, we have a girl to slaughter." The Wyvern for a moment sounded like it was purring before it snapped to attention and growled. Cinder turned and lazily swatted away some floating petals.

Cinder's eyes widened and activated her Aura in time to tank sudden gunfire. The Wyvern reached down and blocked the bullets with its wings. Cinder winced as she realized the state of her Aura. Far too low for a proper fight.

The wings parted and revealed her opponent. Petals swirled around the office ruins as Ruby placed a new magazine into her weapon. Her face was flat and eerily calm. At her feet laid an unconscious Pyrrha Nikos.

"So you have come to face me again Ruby Ro-"

"Cinder. You are responsible for the deaths of my sister, my friends and everyone here. I am going to punish you for your crimes."

"What could you do to me? We fought in that Vault already. I know all of your tri-"

"I'm going to hurt you. And then I'm going to make sure you never get anything you want. When I am done you will wish you had died."

Cinder stared in mild surprise. She had never expected the girl to change so much. To proclaim that she, a protector of the people, was going to make another person wish they had died? It almost made her laugh.

"Oh, but you can't do anything! Your blonde friend is bleeding to death over there and in a moment I can end the life of him or Nora Valkyrie here." Cinder summoned her bow, taking much more effort than usual, and knocked an arrow towards Nora.

Ruby's face contorted in anger and readied her weapon. Cinder smirked. She was in control of the situation.

As she deserved to be.

Qrow smiled as he pushed Adam back once again. With Ruby gone he had tried to finish Glynda and the kid behind her. Qrow had done his best to keep him away and he was succeeding.

Adam growled like a feral beast as he lashed out. He had begun to fight more like a cornered animal. A monster who had nothing to lose.

Once upon a time, Qrow might have pitied him. But he had attacked Ruby. All sympathy was gone. Qrow parried the blade with his own and punched Adam in the face again. The man back peddled and charged once again.

He didn't make it to Qrow before another fist slammed into his face. Adam stumbled to the side, dazed from the surprise attack. Another fist slammed into his stomach before a foot struck his face and sent him flying back into the wall of the tower.

Taiyang cracked his knuckles and took up his stance once again. Qrow flourished Harbinger and returned it to scythe mode.

"Took you long enough, Tai."

"Sorry, the traffic was filled with idiots today. Apparently there's a new conspiracy theory going around. Something about it being a good idea to bring a few hundred Grimm into a school where people are taught to kill them." Tai shrugged, his voice light but his face set in stone.

Adam clutched his blade. While the cracked mask kept them from seeing his face Qrow could tell his eyes were flicking between them. Even though he was outnumbered he was still considering his chances

"Just give up pal, you ain't got a chance of beating us!" Qrow called out, hoping the man would listen.

Adam stared at him and Qrow cursed as the other man's body began to glow red. Shadowy clones lashed out which forced them to backpedal. Adam took the chance and ran, he avoided the trained Huntsmen and rushed out of the combat zone.

The shadows vanished after a second. Qrow almost followed but stopped himself. They had other fish to fry. "Tai, Ruby went up top." The other man nodded.

"Is the elevator still working?"

"Ruby didn't take it, so I doubt it."

Tai nodded. "Then get up there and help my daughter Qrow! I'll figure out another way up!" Qrow nodded.

Tai ran to help Glynda, who had collapsed after throwing Ruby up the tower. Qrow sighed and transformed himself and took flight.

Ruby clutched Crescent Rose and scowled. Cinder Fall looked tired, battered and bruised but she still held more cards. The beast behind her roared, as it eagerly anticipated its next meal.

Ruby could feel her hands shaking. She could feel the sweat on her skin. She could feel the pit in her stomach. She despised and hated the woman in front of her.

"If you want to shoot someone, pick a target who can fight back!?"

"Volunteering are we? I'll gladly take you up on that!" Cinder turned and fired directly at Ruby's chest. I can't let it hit me! Ruby called on her Semblance and rocketed forward. She just needed to duck under the arrow and-

Ruby blinked in surprise. Her vision changed, like she was no longer attached to the world around her. She must have been hallucinating, because the arrow seemed to pass right through her. She also seemed to be made of thousands of rose petals. But that didn't make any sense… right?

Ruby didn't have time to ponder it as she returned to normal. She roared as she slashed out. Cinder screamed and clutched her face. Blood streamed down and coated her arms and neck. Ruby looked down in shock, she hadn't expected Cinder to be out of Aura.

A small part of her felt sick, but the vast majority was satisfied. She had struck Cinder! Ruby felt a smile break out onto her face and turned to slash Cinder again, only for a blade of glass to cut her own face.

Ruby fell back, letting out a scream of pain. The blade had cut in above the bridge of her nose, blood poured out and covered her left eye. The dragon roared in anger. Cinder collapsed to the ground.

The beast reared back in its anger. Its eyes glinted with its rage. It raised an arm and Ruby could see what was about to happen.

It would crash down, killing Jaune, Pyrrha and Nora. She could see it in her mind. Someone would come up and find only mangled corpses of her friends.

Again.

She was going to lose them again!

She couldn't let that happen!

Her eyes burned with tears as she saw her impending doom and everything turned white. The last thing she heard was a scream of anger.

Adam swore as he stumbled onto the Bullhead. He clutched his shoulder and watched as they lifted from the forest floor and flew away from Beacon.

He had failed to slay Ruby Rose, but he had dealt a good blow to her. One friend's death didn't make up for the death of his beloved, however.

As the CCT tower flashed a great silvery light Adam knew what needed to be done.

Next time she wouldn't escape him.

Neptune laid his leader down in the airbus, the medics took him and Sage over to a field hospital. Neptune left, they would be OK. Besides other people might need him. Scarlet didn't. He stayed with the wounded members of the team.

It hurt, but Neptune couldn't fault his friend for it. It might have even been the better choice. Neptune picked up Tri-Hard and ran back to the fighting.

He met up with CFVY and Sky Lark. The six of them moved back into the battleground that was Beacon to search for more people to help.

They stared in awe as the top of Beacon tower was engulfed in silvery light.

Cardin pulled Professor Goodwitch to her feet, half carrying her. Dove brought the unconscious body of Ren over his shoulders. The two were still angry at having missed the enemy's leader but made do with helping now. The older man nearby, Taiyang, paced as he glanced to the top of the tower.

He'd been doing it since the two boys had arrived. Cardin sighed and started to walk away, His teacher being dragged with him. Dove followed but they looked back in surprise as a flash of light lit up the sky, shining down upon them all.

Cardin stared back at it, feeling a sense of hope for the future.

Qrow landed with a grunt and drew his blade. The dragon stood, stuck to the side of the tower with an arm raised to smash all who stood there. But where once it was menacing it was now nothing more than an impeccably detailed statue.

Qrow stalked through the rubble and made his way to the centre. Laid there was his niece, unconscious and covered in blood. He touched a pair of fingers to her neck and breathed a sigh of relief. She was alive. But something felt off.

He turned and something changed. A Bullhead that hadn't been there before pulled away from the tower. He got but the briefest of looks at the interior. He saw and a green-haired woman performing first aid on a dark-haired woman. He fired his shotgun at the departing vessel but the pellets just splashed uselessly on the armour.

He could follow, but he had some kids to save.

Only a minute later another Bullhead, this one bearing the mark of Atlas, pulled up to the tower. Soldiers and medics jumped out and got to work.

James Ironwood stood inside the ship, his eyes caught Qrow's and asked a silent question.

Qrow sighed and made his way over. This was going to be a long conversation.

A/N: And so the Battle of Beacon comes to a close. Ruby slapped Cinder but Cinder clapped back just as hard. Everyone gets a nice view of the light show though. Cinder managed to escape thanks to her pawns, which I imagine is how they got her in canon though who really knows. Adam survived his encounter with Qrow. Maybe they'll develop a little rivalry ala Qrow and Tyrion? Who lived and who died? Will Scarlet ever not be angry at Sun? Will Cardin stop being an ass? Who knows... well I guess I do but you get the point.

I hope you all enjoyed and I'll see you next time!