The More the Merrier.
The full moon illuminates the night sky above Haven Academy. On the school grounds, Qrow takes the lead as the currently present members of Team RWBY and Team LSBL, the remaining members of Team JNPR, and Oscar follow close behind. Ruby stops and looks up to admire Haven's CCT tower, before following the rest of the group to a nearby building. They enter the building and are greeted by Lionheart, who is standing on a terrace at the top of the stairs that is being held up by a statue of a woman in chains.
"Why hello. Thank you for... coming" He spoke nervously "There... seems to be more of you than last time".
Qrow and the rest of the group stop to look up at Lionheart "Eh, you know what they say, The more the merrier. So what's going on with the council?".
"Why... did you bring your weapons?" Lionheart asked.
Qrow looked confused "What? Leo, we're Huntsmen. You okay?".
Lionheart tried to brush it off "Of course! Of course, sorry. Just haven't had my evening coffee".
"Look, it's nice to see you, but we got work to do. Are we getting support from the council or not?" Qrow asked, almost sounding annoyed.
While the two talk, Yang notices from the corner of her eye a black bird perched on a balcony railing "Mom?".
Everyone's attention is turned to the bird. It flies away just as Qrow shoots at it, but he misses. The bird flies down behind Lionheart, transforming into Raven, donning her mask. Everyone glares at her.
"Raven..." Ruby spoke quietly
"They... they really are magic..." Nora said in shock.
Raven takes her mask off "If you're going to shoot me, shoot me. That was insulting".
"What are you doing here?!" Qrow demanded.
Raven began walking down the stairs "I could ask you the same thing. You've been scheming, little brother. Planning to attack your own sister".
Qrow looks at Lionheart, with a clear look of betrayal "Leo... what have you done?!".
Lionheart looks away "I...".
"Leo did what any sane person would in his position - he looked at all the information he had in front of him, assessed the situation, and made a choice. And it seems you all have too" Raven said, giving Yang a disapproving look.
"You have the Spring Maiden" Qrow said.
"I do" Raven confirmed.
Qrow puts his weapon away "Then hand her over and let's work together! We can beat Salem!".
"All that time spent spying for Ozpin and you still have no idea what you're dealing with. There is no beating Salem!" Raven said loudly, sounding frustrated at her brother's refusal to see reality.
"You're wrong. We've done things that most people would call impossible, and I know the only reason we were able to do it is because we didn't do it alone! We had people to teach us, people to help us, we had each other. Work with us. At least I know we'll have a better chance if we try together. Please" Ruby holds her hand out.
Raven glares at it "You sound just like your mother".
Suddenly, Raven draws Omen and creates a portal with her Semblance. From the portal, a fireball is launched.
"Ruby!" Severa shouts as she got in front of Ruby, causing the fire ball to hit her right in the back, making her go down on a knee.
"Severa!" Ruby said in concern.
"Hello boys and girls" Came an all to familiar evil voice.
Lucina froze for a moment before slowly looking at the portal "No...".
"It's good to see you... Lucina" Cinder steps out of the portal. She is then joined by Vernal, Mareeta Emerald, Líf and Mercury as they too step out from the portal.
Ruby glares "Cinder...".
Cinder and her group line up alongside Raven, while Ruby's group gasp.
"C'mon guys, is that any way to greet your old friends?" Mercury asked and Yang growls at him.
"Speak for yourself. I never pretended to be their friend" Líf said coldly.
"Everybody, stay calm" Qrow ordered.
However, staying calm was the one thing Lucina was incapable of doing at the moment. She took several steps back, looking ready to run away at any moment. Her friends looked at her in concern, while Cinder smirked, pleased that Lucina is still afraid of her.
Suddenly they hear the doors behind them open up.
"Oh no..." Oscar said when he saw who it was.
Hazel is closing the doors behind him as he enters "The White Fang is prepping demolition and securing the school grounds. No one's getting in, and no one's getting out".
Everyone watches Hazel slowly approach them. They turn their attention back to Cinder.
"This was all just a trap?" Weiss asked.
"It appears so..." Ren answered.
"Raven, tell me... how long have you been with them?" Qrow demanded.
Cinder spoke mockingly "Aww, don't take it personally, little bird. Your sister was a recent addition. The lion on the other hand... Entrance into the Vytal Festival was a real treat, Leonardo's been sending Salem all sorts of information for a very, very long time. Isn't that right, professor?".
Lionheart looks down shamefully "Stop it...".
"It was you... you sit on the Mistral Council. You had information on every Huntsman and Huntress in the Kingdom, and you gave it all to her?" Qrow asked in shock and anger.
"I-" Lionheart began.
"I couldn't find any of them, because you let her kill them!" Qrow said in clear rage.
Lionheart doesn't say anything, only still having a sad expression on his face.
"Aw now, don't beat yourself up about it, Lionheart, I'm sure Tyrian and Hazel would've found them on their own eventually" Cinder said.
"What is wrong with you...?" Jaune spoke while seething "How can you be so broken inside... to take so many lives, and then come here and rub it in our faces like it's something to be proud of?!".
"Jaune..." Nora spoke in worry.
"All with that damn smile on your face!" Jaune screams while tears stream from his eyes.
The rest of the group draw their weapons.
"Everybody, stay calm!" Qrow ordered again, this was getting out of hand.
Cinder just glares as Jaune continues "I'm gonna make you pay for what you did! Do you hear me?!".
Qrow looks at him "Kid!".
"Well?! SAY SOMETHING!" Jaune screams.
After a short pause, Cinder says her response "Who are you again?".
At this, Jaune gains a look of shock, and then of anger. He transforms Crocea Mors to its two-handler form and advances forward. However, before he could reach Cinder, Líf got in front of him and grabbed him by the neck.
"Really? You thought that was going to work?" Líf asked.
"Jaune!" Ruby leaps into the air, but a chain wraps around her and she is pulled to the ground by Emerald.
Jaune is then thrown back by Líf and the two begin their duel. Yang runs forward to join the fight, but Mercury lands in front of her.
"Mareeta..." Yang said.
"I'm sorry, sister... I did not want this. But I will do anything to protect my tribe" Mareeta said as she pulled out her sword.
"Mareeta, I know you are good person. And I believe you when you say you didn't want this. So help us stop them!" Yang pleaded.
"I...I'm sorry. I have no choice!" Mareeta said as she attacked.
Yang blocked her sword with her prosthetic arm "Yes you do! You can still do the right thing!".
"Shut up!" Mareeta said loudly as she keeps attacking forcing Yang to block an onslaught of attacks "That is easy for you to say! You who have grown up in your safe little bubbel, with no idea how the world really works! You have no idea of the things I've had to do just to survive one more day!".
Despite her words, Yang could tell she wasn't the one Mareeta was trying to convince.
Severa tried to help her cousins, only to bring out her shield to block Mercury's kick "Hey there red. How about a rematch?".
"Bring it! I'll be happy to kick your ass again!" Severa declared as she and Mercury clashed.
Raven watched the chaos ensue, before speaking to Vernal "Take out the heiress. Don't bother wasting your power, she's not worth it".
She then draws her sword as Qrow uses Harbinger to lock blades with his sister.
"Running away was one thing, but this... you've crossed the line!" Qrow said in anger.
"Sorry, brother. Sometimes family disappoints you like that" Raven said.
"We're not family anymore" Qrow said.
Raven glares "Were we ever?".
"I thought so, but I guess I was wrong" Qrow answered.
The two then proceed with their fight, Qrow ducks under a slash then jumps back. He dodges two more swings as Raven follows and clashes blades one time before she kicks him away. While the siblings battle Vernal draws her weapons and confronts Weiss.
"Let's see what the Schnee name really means" Vernal draws her weapons, while Weiss holds Myrtenaster en garde.
"I'm more than a name" Weiss declared.
Vernal did not look convinced "Hm, prove it".
Weiss activates a glyph below her and projects herself forward to fight the Spring Maiden. Meanwhile, Oscar sneaks up the stairs to Lionheart while Hazel confronts Bernadetta, Ren and Nora, who hold up their weapons defensively.
"I don't wish to fight any of you" Hazel said calmly.
"Nor I you" Ren said.
"But we will if you're with her!".
Hazel cracks his neck and knuckles "Very well, then".
"B-But if you really don't want to fight, then you can just walk away" Bernadetta said nervously.
"Afraid I can't do that. I have a job to do, and I will finish it. If you wish to live, run" Hazel said as he proceeds forward.
Meanwhile, Weiss leaps around on her glyphs, dodging Vernal's weapons as she throws them like boomerangs. After backing into a pillar Weiss is then forced on the defensive and creates a large ice wall. She then stabs Myrtenaster into the ground as her Arma Gigas summon crawls out of her glyph. Suddenly, a large beam destroys the ice wall as well as the Arma Gigas before it could be fully summoned. One of Vernal's weapons knocks Weiss back several feet.
Vernal catches her weapon "Don't think I'm going to let you take the easy way out".
While everything was happening, Lucina was confronting Cinder. She holds her sword as Cinder smiles at her and licks her lips in a lustful way.
"I missed you Lucina. How about a kiss?" Cinder asked seductively.
"Shut up!" Lucina said before rushing at Cinder with her sword ready.
Cinder uses her power to create a sword of her own and blocks Lucina's strike. Cinder strikes with great force, Lucina was forced to defend herself. Lucina manages to hold her ground and strikes back at her hated enemy. Cinder blocks the strike with ease, for she thinks Lucina is getting predictable. And she was right. Normally Lucina would fight smarter than this, but her fear and anger towards Cinder was making her more slopy, something Cinder took full advantage of.
"You're still mad about me killing Pyrrha Nikos? Or maybe you know that you are to weak to stop me. You would be better of just submitting and become mine" Cinder said darkly.
Lucina screams as she attacks Cinder with fast and wild blows. Cinder back up a bit to defend herself from the attacks, but she then enters blade lock with Lucina... Cinder smirks and suddenly moved aside, making Lucina stumble before Cinder kneed her in the gut. Lucina coughs as she barely managed to stay on her feet. Cinder delivers a hard strike with her blade, which knocked Falchion out of Lucina's hand.
With Lucina disarmed, Cinder smirked as she made her own sword vanish "Now then, how about that kiss?".
Lucina threw a punch, which Cinder blocked before pulling her close. Cinder then began leaning in, ready to claim her price.
"No! NO! Stay away from me!" Lucina shouted.
Meanwhile, Jaune and Líf where clashing blades. Jaune was doing his best, but Líf was clearly the superior duelist, easily defending himself against Jaune's attacks, and when he struck back, Jaune was barely able to block them as he would stumble back from each strike. Jaune knew he would lose at this rate. But then he remembered a move Lucina showed him. When Líf moved for an downward strike, Instead of blocking it completely, Jaune let Líf blade slide down his own, allowing Jaune to deliver a pommel strike to Líf's face, causing him to stumble back.
Jaune quickly tried to take advantage of the opening, but Líf let out an angry grunt before blasting Jaune away with his dark power. Líf then walked towards him, his blade ready to finish him of.
Ruby looks behind her and notices this. She also sees that Lucina is about to be violated by Cinder again, and her eyes start to shine bright "NOOOOOOOOOO!".
A bright light engulfs the area but dies down when Ruby is knocked unconscious by Emerald. Suddenly, Cinder falls to her knees, holding her arm in pain. This allowed Lucina to quickly retrieve her sword, before she leaps towards Cinder, performing several somersaults in mid air before coming down with a powerful strike. Cinder barely managed to moved back as Lucina's sword left a cut on her dress. She growls before blasting Lucina in the chest with a powerful fire ball.
Meanwhile, Líf cried out in pain from Ruby's silver eyed power. Jaune quickly rushes as him and delivers a strike with his sword towards Líf's face. The strike knocked Líf mask of and he glares at Jaune.
Jaune looks at him for a moment "So... It is you".
"I have no idea what you are talking about" Líf said.
"We know who you really are. Líf isn't your real name" Jaune said.
"Shut up!" Líf warned, growing more and more angry.
"Alfonse... That's your real name" Jaune said.
"SHUT UP!" Líf shouts as he rushes Jaune in blind fury.
However, Jaune was prepared this time and moved past Líf while cutting his side. Líf fell on his knees, holding his wound in pain. Jaune placed his sword near Líf's neck. Jaune almost felt some pride by managing to defeat an enemy who completely outclassed him. But this was not the time to be proud.
"It's over... you lost" Jaune said.
"Over? You idiot... Have you forgotten what is happening around you?" Líf asked.
Jaune got wide eyes as he saw Cinder advance on Lucina "No!".
He ran towards them but Cinder noticed him and a single fire blast was enough to stop his advance. Lucina tried attacking Cinder but was met with more fire which depleted Lucina's aura. Cinder grabbed Lucina by the neck and held her up.
"You can't beat me, Lucina. Just give up and accept your place with me. I can promise you that you will have a pleasure filled life" Cinder said.
Lucina grabbed her arm as she struggled against her grip "Never! I would rather die than ever being with you! I was to afraid to stop you last time, but since then I've found true love. Something you could never provide anyone".
Cinder noticed Lucina's eyes glancing to the side, when she looked she saw... Ruby, this made her beyond angry "Her... Very well then. If I can't have you... No one can".
Jaune looks up and gasped when he saw what was about to happen "No... NOOOOOOO!".
The Evil Fall Maiden creates a sword with her free hand and stabs Lucina through her midsection. Lucina gasped as everyone stops their fighting and stare in shock as well.
Cinder gives Lucina one last kiss... before dropping her to the floor... Motionless.
.
Tell me what you think.
