Chapter 36
Haven was quiet as they approached and the air was still. The dark night sky shrouding the grounds in shadow. Ruby's hands felt restless as Qrow pushed open the front door to the large atrium.
Leonardo Lionheart stood above them on the second level, his eyes creased in worry. "There are… more of you than there were…"
Qrow stepped forward. "You called us Leo. What's going on?"
Ruby's eyes wandered the room but she didn't catch the bird resting on a railing. Her father did, however. "Raven?" He exclaimed.
Without hesitation Qrow turned and fired, shattering the bannister. The bird took flight and passed behind the Headmaster and out the other side came Raven Branwen. Qrow growled. "Raven! What the hell is going on here! Leo! What did you do!?"
"He did what any intelligent man would do, he chose to survive." Raven responded with a smug grin.
"So you're her?" Ruby asked, loud enough for the raven-haired woman to hear. "What did you even see in her dad?"
"Something that didn't exist apparently." Tai replied.
Raven sighed. "Insult me all you want, you're the ones who've made a mistake." She said as she walked down the stairs to stand in front of the statue. "A grave mistake." She flicked her wrist and in a flash, her crimson blade was released from its sheath and cut the air. The world itself began to split and tear, turning into a swirling red and black vortex.
A fireball flew out of it and slammed into Ruby, taking her off her feet and throwing her backwards. She rolled and, with a tap of her Semblance, landed on her feet. As she glared back her heart began to thump harder and harder. Ciiinder! Her mind growled.
Cinder Fall sauntered out of the portal, flanked by Emerald and Mercury as well as another woman with dark hair. The sound of weapons being drawn filled the air. "Now everyone just calm down for a second! We can resolve this!" Qrow desperately tried to de-escalate.
A laugh bubbled up from within Ruby. She barely even tried to hold it in. "Cinder! Haha! Finally!"
The doors screeched as they opened once more before they slammed shut as the final foe entered. A massive tanned man with dark hair. "The White Fang are setting the charges now." He called in a deep voice to his allies.
Cinder smirked. "Good. Then we can begin."
"Leo! You betrayed us!" Qrow cried out. "You're the reason why there are no Huntsmen! I couldn't find a single one! You bastard!"
"Oh don't hold it against him Branwen. It's Ozpin's fault after all. Leaving him out to dry like that."
Ruby laughed. "Left him! He had Huntsman in the Kingdom at his disposal! Ozpin trusted you to hold the line Lionheart! Guess you're just another coward bending over for a monster!" Ruby snarled. "But don't worry your cowardly little heart because I'm a Huntress and my job is to destroy monsters! Starting with you!"
Ruby burst into action, becoming a streak of red across the room leaving petals in her wake. Crescent Rose sang as it slashed for Cinder's throat. A blade of crystallized flame formed in between the scythe and her neck, blocking the attack. Cinder's overly large sleeve slashed upwards, sending a wave of flame into the young red-head.
Ruby was flung back but spun in the air and righted herself, she planted her feet on her scythe blade and fired the sniper twice, arresting her momentum and then sending her flying back at Cinder, who flourished her blade in anticipation. Ruby was about to strike only to turn into petals and flow around Cinder. She reformed on the other side, turned to face her foe, and pulled the trigger. A hail of bullets pelted Cinder's back for a second before she formed a shell of flame around herself, melting the bullets before they could reach her. With a roar, she flung her hands out and the shell exploded in a fiery dome, sending Ruby flying.
Ruby grunted as she slammed into the railing of the stairs and fell to the floor. Jaune roared as he charged and tried to slash Cinder. She blocked each of his attacks but he kept up the pressure, pushing her and stopping her from going after Ruby.
The room had erupted into a mad battle the moment Ruby had attacked. She could see that for the most part it had broken up into a series of one on one duels. Her father was battling the new-comer from the door, a duel of fists it seemed, while her uncle was fighting his sister. Pyrrha had taken on the unknown tribal woman leaving Ren and Nora to fight Emerald and Mercury in a two versus two. Oscar and Leonardo weren't on the main floor but were likely fighting elsewhere, probably above.
Ruby pulled herself to her feet and, after having surveyed the battlefield and confirmed where everyone was, charged back at Cinder. The raven-haired Maiden slashed her blade down infused with her magic, slamming into Jaune's shield. Jaune grunted and began to buckle under the weight and power.
Cinder was about to follow up before she spied Ruby and growled and pulled back, using her blade to block Ruby's scythe again. This time however Ruby let go of her weapon and dropped low. She flicked her wrists, deploying Ember Emortus, and punched up into her opponent's sternum. Cinder gasped in pain as the buckshot was unleashed into her upper body. Ruby grabbed Crescent Rose as it fell and raked it across Cinder's chest before angling it down and firing, tearing apart the ground and sending Cinder flying back.
Ruby nodded to Jaune and the pair chased after her.
Taiyang growled as his fists slammed into his massive opponent. Each hit grew stronger and stronger, slowly forcing the man back. But he just tanked each one like it didn't even hurt, he barely reacted, his hits shook the ground around them and the man didn't even grimace in pain.
It was a little frustrating, to say the least.
Tai ducked under a counter-attack and uppercut the brute. Small embers had begun to fall from Tai's form. A side effect of his Semblance. Something Yang had inherited though hers had been more substantial than his own.
Tai slipped under a massive arm and kicked the back of his knee. The man collapsed slightly. Now! Tai used the man's leg as a platform to launch himself from, a hand grabbed the brute's arm and Tai flung himself up and onto the man's shoulders. Tai then rained blow after blow upon his head, each letting out a louder and louder crack as his Semblance grew in power.
Tai groaned as a pair of thick hands reached up and grabbed his arms and sent him flying across the room. Tai bounced on the floor and rolled to a stop. He quickly got to his feet as his opponent advanced on him.
"Ahh!" Leonardo cried out as he rolled down the stairs, bounced and then crashed into Tai's foe.
"Watch where you're going!" He growled in response. Oscar ran down the stairs, a worried look on his face.
"It's him! He's back already! It's Ozpin!"
"Ozpin?" He growled, eyes bulging. "Ozpin!? Ozpin! OZPIN! OZPIN!" He screamed, reaching up and tearing his jacket apart. He reached into pouches on his hips and produced a set of glowing yellow crystals. "Ozpin! I'm going to make you suffer! Over and over again!"
Tai winced as he jammed the Dust into his arms and watched in horror as his muscles bulged as lightning coursed through his body. "OZPIIIIIN!" He roared, voice augmented by the Dust, becoming deeper and more menacing with a slight echo. Tai rushed to Oscar's side and gave the young boy a nod.
Tai gulped. Shit. It's been a long time since I've seen someone use Dust like that. And so much too, how can he deal with it!?
"Hazel, please! This doesn't need to go this way!" Oscar cried out.
"OZPIIIN! DIIIEEE!" Hazel shouted and charged.
Qrow growled as he locked blades with his sister before he twisted Harbinger and tried to cut her face. Raven easily dodged it but broke the lock and jumped backwards.
Qrow followed, slashing out at the woman he once called family. "Why!? Why would you do all of this!?"
Raven let out a disappointed sigh as she parried his sword and thrust forward, nicking his cheek as he dodged. "Survival. As always."
"Damn it, Raven! Can't you see that siding with them isn't going to help anyone!?"
"It will help me." She said before she unleashed a flurry of fast-paced attacks. Qrow blocked and dodged as best he could but she was faster than he remembered, leaving him with a good chunk of his Aura missing. He jumped back out of her range and took a breath.
Even if she was faster, he still knew how she fought. Now that she'd shown her speed he could adjust. He stepped forward and slammed his heavy blade down. Raven blocked it with a cocky grin. That grin faded as the blade curved, causing it to slip off of her sword. Qrow pulled the trigger and blasted his shotgun into her stomach.
Raven snarled and whipped her blade around to cut him in twain. Harbinger sang as it parried Omen. The crimson red blade was jolted out of position, letting Qrow blast Raven a second time. She grimaced and ducked back to reevaluate.
Their dance was far from over.
Ren ducked under the chain-blade as they tried to take his head from his shoulders. Stormflower barked as he unloaded on Emerald, who rolled to the side to dodge. Nora yelled as she slammed her hammer down, narrowly missing Mercury, whose face showed mild terror at the strength Nora wielded.
Ren switched targets and fired upon Mercury, forcing him to cancel his counter-attack to avoid becoming riddled with bullets. Nora laughed and swung at the assassin's midsection. Mercury let out a gasp of pain as the hammer slammed into his ribs and detonated, sending the silver-haired teen flying through a stairway bannister.
Ren yelped as bullets pinged off of his Aura, forcing him to move as Emerald opened fire on them both. The attack provided Mercury with the chance to recover and rejoin Emerald.
Ren sighed. This was not going as well as he had hoped.
Pyrrha felt the vibration rattle through her bones as she planted both feet on Vernal's face and sent the tribal warrior flying back. She rolled with it and came charging back in, circular blades singing as she slashed. Too bad for her that Pyrrha had already touched them. The blades screeched harmlessly against her shield.
Pyrrha backed up and fired twice before swapping to her spear and lancing out. Vernal tanked the bullets on her Aura and lazily stepped back to avoid the spear, only to grunt in pain as Pyrrha pulled a trigger and extended the tip into her stomach. Pyrrha retracted her weapon and immediately stabbed again, retracting and extending as needed.
Vernal growled as she blocked and parried the incoming attempts to spear her like a fish. Pyrrha's eyes narrowed. Her spear shifted mid-strike into her rifle. She fired once before shifting into her sword. The bullet was blocked but Vernal's weapons seemed just slightly too slow to block the sword as it cut into her shoulder.
Vernal snarled and pulled a trigger on her weapons, sending beams of yellow light spearing into Pyrrha's chest. "Aaahh!" Pyrrha cried out as Vernal pushed her off and kicked her in the stomach. Pyrrha hit the floor and rolled away, narrowly dodging another dose of pain via laser.
She hopped to her feet and wiped a trickle of saliva from her mouth. Vernal smirked as she spun her blades around. The pair readied to face off again when an explosion rocked the room, followed by a scream of pain that chilled Pyrrha to the bone.
"Get back here!" Ruby screeched as she chased a hovering Cinder down. Appearing and disappearing into her petals to catch up and slash. Cinder dodged, again and again, a slight amount of terror in her visible eye. Her other was hidden behind her hair, along with most of the damage Ruby inflicted upon her on the tower. Good. Be afraid!
Cinder released her power and fell to the floor to dodge a swipe, only to have Jaune ram his shield into her body. She ejected herself off of the metal and blasted away with a jet of flame trailing her. Ruby opened fire with full-auto, keeping the Maiden from escaping left or right.
Cinder growled as she came right up against the heavy doors leading outside. Ruby smiled and shifted her scythe so that the blade stuck straight out, turning into more of a spear. She dashed forward with a roar and attempted to impale Cinder.
The mayor's face was twisted in shock and terror. His eyes pierced her, judging and condemning her. Blood covered them both and the stone around them. He let out around rasp as the blade was pulled free of his warm body, which fell to the side with a splash.
The memory was dismissed as quickly as it came, returning Ruby to reality as her blade pierced the door and not her target. Cinder smirked and blasted Ruby with a burst of flame. Ruby let out a shriek as her Aura sparked and flickered. The jet ended as Jaune slammed into Cinder.
Cinder growled and pushed with a blast of wind, throwing Jaune back. She took a breath and then followed. "You can be first then!" She stalked over, a red and gold spear forming in her hands.
"No!" Ruby shouted, wrenching her weapon from the door. "Don't you touch him!" She raised her scythe, shifting back to normal. Cinder turned to deal with Ruby.
The sound of an explosion reached her ears as rubble flew all-around Ruby. "Wha-" She tried to speak only to cough up blood. She looked down.
A blade of crimson drew itself from her chest with a laugh. No, it wasn't the blade that laughed it was-
"Finally! Revenge for my beloved!" Adam Taurus cheered as he stepped around Ruby. She looked back to see the door had been blown apart. Semblance or explosives? Her mind asked.
"Adam. You weren't supposed to assist us." Cinder responded casually. Ruby touched the hole in her chest experimentally. It was slick with her own blood. Were her ears ringing? They felt like it. She blinked. When was her face pushed against the ground? Oh. My legs gave way. Huh. That's new.
"I couldn't let you have all the fun! Especially with her here! This was my chance!" Adam decreed. It sounded distant to Ruby, however. Or like she was underwater.
"And the bombs?" Cinder said, uncaring as Jaune brushed past her and ran to Ruby's side.
"Ilia is ensuring their detonation."
"Ruby!" Someone shouted. Who was it? "Please don't die!"
Why? I'll get to see Yang again… and mom… and… and... her thoughts paused. Why wasn't Yang here? Think! Don't allow yourself to die here! The bitch who killed them all is right there!
That's right! Cinder is right there! All she has to do is grab her weapon and fight! Fight! Kill! I must kill Cinder!
Deep within her, a light desired to spring forth and bathe the world however it couldn't. It was blocked by a wall of anger and hatred. The light could not penetrate the darkness that festered.
"Kill… kill… kill…" She muttered as white light began to bathe her. Where was it from? Why was it so bright? She didn't deserve light, did she?
Ruby's consciousness began to fade, repeating one word over and over.
Kill… kill… kill… kill… kill…
A/N: This fight is... something. Monty's comment about knocking someone out as soon as possible in big team fights makes a lot more sense now. They are hard. So many characters in the same location make for a little bit of a mess. Oh well, hopefully I can keep it interesting. A little of a more practical example of Tai's Semblance and adding a little flair to it. Sadly for him, Hazel is just such a massive beast it really doesn't matter. I mean massive Aura, super-fast regen and doesn't feel any pain? Oof. Oh and without someone dealing with Menagerie Adam is free to join in! That's good, right? Wait... it's not? Shit. Poor Ruby. She's just a little too angsty to use her special eye power.
I hope you all enjoyed and I'll see you next time!