I was originally going to post this at midnight for the added edge, but then I forgot, and now it's two in the morning.

...So yeah.

In all honesty, this chapter is pretty much the culmination of the entire fic? I think? It's a bit of a doozy. I hope you all enjoy it!

Chapter 47

It felt odd to be no more than five minutes from the moment where her destiny would be decided.

That was the only real thought running through Cinder Fall's head as she and Glynda made their way towards the elevator that would take them down into the depths of Beacon Academy. Into the room where the Fall Maiden, catatonic but alive, waited for her to come and claim what was rightfully hers. What had been hers for so very long.

She had always pictured it differently, in truth. She had always thought that she would feel so victorious, that she would be bursting, brimming with untapped energy. That at any moment, she could light the world aflame, and revel in it, and be, for once, whole.

Cinder Fall did not feel that way. Not even remotely.

"I'll turn the key," Glynda said as they stepped inside the elevator. "Just… try and stay calm. Everything's going to be alright."

She nodded her head, but even she was aware that she mustn't have looked grand in that moment. Everyone had commented on it now. Pyrrha Nikos, her teammates, even the two members of RWBY, and now Glynda herself. She looked harrowed, she assumed.

She wasn't really sure why, to be honest. Was it what was happening outside? What had once been her plan being changed and executed against her will? No, Cinder did not truly believe that she cared that much about her plan having been stolen. Perhaps she cared about the many, many people that were currently losing their lives all across Vale. After all, she had called off the Breach for precisely that reason, had she not?

She could not even remember how she had justified that to herself at the time whilst still living in denial as to the changes happening to her nature. How she'd gone and claimed that Cinder Fall was still in control when she'd been so clearly compromised.

She supposed such thoughts were useless now. There was no real purpose to be found in them. No real knowledge to be gleamed. It was all merely a distraction, trying to keep herself from thinking about what awaited, about the choice she would…

Was it a choice? Did she still have a choice?

She wasn't even certain now.

With a lurch, the elevator they were within began to descend, and Cinder found herself swallowing on nothing, her throat impossibly dry, as she felt that pit form in her stomach from the drop in altitude.

Idly, without even thinking, she reached over and took Glynda's hand.

So weak. She was so terribly, terribly weak.

"It's okay." Glynda murmured to her as the sounds of combat outside, as the rumbling and shaking and shrieking died down, and as they fell into the very depths of the earth.

"It's all going to be okay."

Cinder wished she could believe that.

/

Emerald was willing to admit without much trouble that she was losing at this point.

Penny's leg collided with her thigh, and if she'd not had her aura up, she was fairly certain that hit, empowered as it was by her robotic frame and almost super-powered strength, would have broken her femur. As things were, the hit still knocked her entirely off balance – and caused her to seethe through her teeth – as she tried to form some rebuttal, some plan that could get her out of this, Penny's eyes flashed in some indescribable way, and then–

She had barely enough time to hear the whistling coming from behind her before the blade glanced off her aura. What would have been a lethal hit to the back of her neck was deflected, albeit not at all cleanly. She had to have less than thirty percent of her aura left at this point. Reasonably, she could have had less. She was fairly certain she'd taken a good bit of Penny's aura as well with Thief's Respite, but that was a moot point.

Because Penny wouldn't stop. Not unless the virus she was corrupted by was removed from her system entirely. Until that happened, she was a killing machine, no different from the Atlesian Knights in terms of strategy and planning, only multiple times as deadly.

So, Emerald considered, in that moment, whether or not she could bring herself to kill Penny.

It was, to be fair, a reasonable question to force herself to consider in that moment. After all, Penny clearly had no real concerns with killing her currently, and it was starting to look like that was going to happen sooner rather than later unless she managed to pull out something that could truly shift the dynamics of this fight.

But could she really pull the trigger? A year ago that wouldn't have even been a question, simply an obvious 'yes'. It wouldn't have even particularly phased her; she didn't think. She had had to do terrible things to survive on the streets. She'd never killed, but then, she'd certainly stolen from those who might then have gone hungry and starved. Was there a difference there?

Emerald liked to hope there was.

But if the scenario arose where Penny stood just in front of her, and she had a gun to her head, and needed to pull the trigger to save her own life… could she do it?

Or perhaps would she do it was the real question.

She didn't want to consider it. Not truly. In fact, her mind tried to consider other things instead, other options. She did still have one thing left that she felt might be able to turn the tables. It was a complete and utter gamble. It was throwing an entire deck of cards at the wall and hoping that the ace of spades somehow stuck.

It was hoping that, despite being a machine, despite being made of metal, and oil, and gears, and servos, that Emerald's semblance could affect Penny as well as it could someone made of blood, and flesh, and muscle and bone. It seemed asinine to even consider, from a purely intellectual standpoint. Penny had aura, certainly, but did that mean she had a soul? Did that mean she possessed a mind like her own, a heart like her own, something that could be altered, tricked, fed an illusion?

…

Emerald bit down on the inside of her cheek as she looked for her window. It wouldn't be large; she knew that. Penny had been hitting her hard, and fast. She was not giving her a single moment to recover in between attacks. She would need to strike out like lightning.

The bombardment was relentless. Emerald herself was playing on the defensive, making sure not to lose anymore aura than she already had. If she ran out entirely, then she would not be able to rely on her semblance, and if she didn't have that, then she was already dead.

Finally, however, a chance emerged. Penny overextended just slightly, by the thinnest of margins, and Emerald managed to switch Thief's Respite into its sickle mode just in time to capitalize on that.

She hooked the chains of each weapon around and under Penny's arms, wrapping her entire body in them in order to try and halt the girl's movements as she vaulted further away via the momentum. She doubted it would take Penny long at all to break them – and with it, any chance she might have of doing this again, but…

She watched as Penny turned to look at her. As those eyes, red and lifeless, bored into her own.

It was strange. It was not until that very moment, looking directly into the mechanical orbs of Penny Polendina, that she realized how much life had always existed within her. She had never quite appreciated the way that they always seemed to sparkle when the light hit them a certain way. She'd never seemed to realize that whenever she saw her, despite being a machine, despite having no reason to react in the way she did, Penny's eyes would always grow larger somewhat, as if to see her that slightest bit clearer.

It was such a silly thing, the way that Penny felt for her. How had that even come about in the first place? She'd bumped into her, ripped her arm out of its socket, and then taken her to a hotel that her 'dad' had promptly raided with a good fifteen soldiers. It wasn't exactly grounds for the start of a romance in her eyes.

And yet…

Penny's smile always seemed to light up the room somehow. And her enthusiasm for even the smallest things was an odd sort of delight. The way that her innocence tested even Emerald, the most bitter of souls; made her honestly consider the world in a new, unforeseen light, was just…

It was nice. Really, really nice.

How could she look at her like that, Emerald wondered. How could Penny look over at her, and have her eyes shine, as if Emerald was worthy of that. She was no one special, no great thing. She was just… she was just Emerald.

And Emerald wasn't–

"The fact that you could possibly believe you are not a perfectly smart and capable young woman," She heard Ms. Goodwitch's voice play inside her head, and her eyes widened. "That you are not a wonderful person deserving of happiness, astounds and saddens me."

Emerald found herself biting down on her bottom lip, even as she gripped Thief's Respite just a bit harder.

"So please, do not let me catch you saying such words about yourself in my presence again."

…

It was funny, really. How that voice always managed to still her beating heart. How she'd always been there for her, through thick and thin, to help her solve the issues in her life. How, after all this time, nearly four or five months later, those words were still echoing in her head.

…She was Emerald Sustrai.

And Penny Polendina loved her.

No matter what Emerald herself felt, no matter what it was that she truly felt in return within her heart of hearts, that didn't matter right now. Because right now, Penny had been assimilated by the Queen's virus, by something that they'd placed inside of Atlas' systems. This was their fault.

That meant it fell to her to clean up this mess.

This… whatever this thing was, it wasn't Penny. No, it was a machine in the guise of Penny. Some program running a sequence of code, trying to pretend to be Penny, mimicking her movements but ultimately failing to fool anyone.

It certainly wouldn't fool her.

So, Emerald held out her hand, and with it, she conjured into being an illusion.

Pain. Agony teared at the edges of her mind, as if she was trying to grasp some forbidden, eldritch truth. It was like something was taking a crowbar to her skull, and, bit by bit, ripping up individual pieces.

She'd never felt anything like it. It stunned her, just as it had before, but unlike last time, she knew without a shadow of a doubt that if she faltered here, if she allowed herself to fail here, then she would die.

And Penny would, when this was over, have to live with that knowledge. There was a half-decent chance that Penny, even now, was still in there, still watching her, still able to see her and hear her and unable to do a thing about it.

And she couldn't let her feel such pain.

So she would take it all instead.

She spread her hand out, and kept going. Her blood pulsed as her heart pumped blood into her arms in a rapidly increasing rhythm. Her veins became engorged, as if every muscle in her body had tensed at once. Everything hurt. Her entire being hurt.

Thief's Respite gave one last creak before it gave out, before the chains hanging around Penny's form snapped, and in but a moment, Penny was gunning for her once more, with death in her eyes and a look of complete indifference upon her lips.

And Emerald… she projected what she wanted Penny to see into her semblance.

So she tensed her hand, grit her teeth…

And she screamed as she forced herself further.

Penny seeing her and smiling, her eyes wide and filled with innocence. Filled with life and love and all the good things in the world. Somehow she managed to shine so brightly, so purely, in a way that Emerald had never thought was possible. In a way that Emerald would have denied was possible, until she'd met her. And everyone would be there. It would be Penny and Emerald herself, yes, but Ruby, and Coco, and her team, and Ms. Goodwitch, and Ironwood, and Penny's father, and Cinder and Mercury and…

Emerald just wanted Penny to smile again, just for her. Come back to me. Come back to me, and the two of us can–

Blood spurted from her nose. Her head ached like it might split in half. Her aura felt like fire as it coursed across her form, as it crackled and fizzled and finally gave. She realized she was entirely defenseless; that the blade currently sailing right towards her head would cleave right through her, snuff out her life in an instant. That Penny's final swing would be that which would end her. That those red eyes, not at all Penny's own, would be the last to look upon her.

Penny's blade cut down towards her, slashed through the air, and struck its target with a cold, metallic clang.

…

Emerald processed that she was still alive about a second before a voice, one so terribly, terribly small, called out to her.

"…Emerald?"

…She did not think she had ever heard anything quite so beautiful as that.

"Hah." Emerald's voice was awash with emotion, even as tears streaked down her face, and she let out a desperate, aching laugh. "As human as any of us."

And then, of course, her legs gave out beneath her.

She would've hit the floor beneath her if not for Penny grasping her form, and slowly lowering her to the metal arena of Amity a second or so later. Penny's eyes were still red, as if the virus had not subsided, and yet, somehow, there was life in them, feeling and emotion. She was looking at her with such raw, affectionate worry, that for a moment, Emerald almost found herself spellbound.

Of course, that ended the second that the adrenaline, the feeling of victory, and just about every other positive thing she'd been feeling fled her system, and she was left only with the feeling of a body that had gone so far beyond its limits that it was now well and truly spent.

And then some.

So she felt she did a good enough job holding back from screaming, in all honesty.

"You require medical attention!" She heard Penny say to her, but she sounded so very far away all of a sudden.

"Yeah…" That made sense, didn't it? "Yeah, probably."

"I will fly the both of us to Beacon Academy!" Penny said, although her voice was a bit fuzzy. "It is both the listed fallback location in circumstances of emergency, and currently under the most threat right now from both the White Fang, and my fellow Atlesian automatons."

She tried to nod, but she wasn't entirely certain if she managed it. She was still conscious, but it was really only barely. She felt like she could nod off at any moment.

Penny seemed to see that, for she placed her arms underneath Emerald's knees and back, and hoisted her in a bridal-style carry without any real effort. Some part of Emerald wanted to complain about being held in such a way, but then, that part of her seemed to lose the war to the part of her that leant her head against Penny's shoulder, and smiled at her.

"I will take you to a medical tent, and make sure you are cared for, but then I must join the battle to defend both Beacon and Vale!"

"Mm." Emerald hummed. "But… how are we getting there, exactly?"

"Hold on."

"Oh. Are you going to like… call someone from Atlas to come pick us up, or–"

"No," Penny shook her head. "I meant hold on as in 'hold on to me, I am about to activate my thrusters'."

Emerald's eyes widened, and she had half a second to try and tell Penny not to do what she was about to do before Penny surged upwards.

The contents of Emerald's stomach followed suit not so long afterwards.

/

In Mercury's professional opinion, Adam Taurus was not taking being kicked in the face particularly well.

Now, to be fair to him, most people didn't. But even still, he seemed to be taking this poorer than most. He was snarling and swinging his weapon around with reckless abandon, slamming it into Mercury's guard with all the grace of a sledgehammer. It was the type of fighting he'd have expected to see from a heavyweight, not someone who was, essentially, playing at being a knock-off ninja.

But hey, if Adam was going to go around fighting like an idiot and wasting his talent, Mercury wasn't going to complain.

Blake had him off-kilter. That was clear. There was something about her presence, about her assisting Mercury of all people, that infuriated Adam. Mercury imagined it had something to do with her helping him and not Adam himself. He seemed the type to not be able to understand why Blake might find him blowing up her school and attacking the people she loved as a red flag.

Mercury broke into Adam's guard and tried to hit him with a roundhouse kick, but was promptly blocked, and knocked backwards. In the interim, Blake tried to get her own hit off, but it, too, was foiled, and Adam sent her spiraling away, barely staying on her feet.

Mercury had known going in that Adam was good, but in all honesty, he was actually better than he'd expected. He was managing the two of them quite well for being a single combatant, and while more room to work with might've given Mercury an advantage, he couldn't say so for certain. In all honesty, he currently had a winning position.

Though Mercury had no real intention of allowing him anywhere close to a victory if things continued as they were.

It was as he was thinking said thoughts that a voice called out towards them, and though Mercury himself didn't look – focusing on Adam above anything else – Blake was momentarily distracted by it, her head turning however briefly towards it. It was just the small opening that Adam needed, for he gunned towards Blake, his weapon poised to score a critical hit.

Mercury was a touch slower than he was, but even so, he made it just in time to deflect the blow, even if he earned himself a punch to the gut as a reward. It pained him, but then, his aura tanked the blow, taking around five percent off the top. He was probably still sitting pretty around sixty or so, give or take a few percentile. Blake's bullets from earlier had taken the vast majority of that which he was missing.

Blake, at the very least, seemed to get the idea that she couldn't exactly ignore Adam any longer. She dashed back in, and forced him to retreat with a series of quick strikes. They weren't intended to do any real damage, merely to make distance, and they succeeded in that.

And then a third figure jumped into the fray, with hair the color of the sun, and bright red eyes that blazed with fury.

"Yang!" Blake sounded both horribly worried, and terribly relieved. "What are you doing here?"

"I heard you shout." Yang spoke as she cocked her gauntlets, sending two empty shells into the air that clacked against the ground a second later. "I wasn't just going to ignore that." She looked up towards Adam, and her lips pulled down into a scowl. "So, this your ex, then?"

Blake grimaced slightly, but nodded nonetheless.

"Yeah, somehow I get the feeling you made the right call breaking things off when you did."

Mercury snorted, which had the unintended effect of drawing Yang's attention towards him. She narrowed her eyes at him, seemingly uncertain as to where her feelings on him lied.

"Jaune said something earlier." She spoke. "About you and Blake having business. Something pretty major, it sounded like."

"That's…"

"We'll talk about that later, Yang." Blake said, placing a hand on Yang's shoulder and shaking her head. "Right now, we've bigger things to worry about."

Yang sighed. "I suppose you're right. So, anything to know about this guy?"

"His semblance allows him to absorb the energy of blows he deflects with Wilt, his sword. By sheathing it inside Blush, his sheathe, he can unleash a wave of energy powerful enough to cut right through aura."

"Sounds annoying." Yang muttered as Adam began to circle around the three of them, like a predator sizing up its prey. "Anything else?"

"He's tough, but direct. He's not the type to pull out any sudden tricks, or utilize alternative weapons. He'll attack with Wilt and his semblance, but that's all."

"No sudden flashbangs from out of his coat, then?" Mercury snickered. "Seems oddly unresourceful for a terrorist."

"I was the tricky one. Adam was the muscle."

Both Yang and Mercury nodded their head as Adam continued to pace around them, his expression never changing from a flat glower.

"Funny that you would call me a terrorist, Black, knowing what you yourself have done. How many have you killed in your mistress' search for this illustrious power? Tens? Hundreds? Today will move that number into the thousands at least, no?"

Mercury sneered. "If we'd been the ones to activate all of this, maybe. But as things are, I believe that's on you. You pulled the trigger."

"On the plan that you formulated and designed; I suppose I did."

"Woah, woah, woah, wait," Yang shook her head, "What the hell is he talking about?"

"Later." Mercury growled out, not looking her way. "I'll tell you all about this later. Right now, we have to beat this guy."

"Don't let him distract you." Adam called out, smirking viciously. "Mercury Black here serves under Cinder Fall, an agent to one of the most powerful people on Remnant. Someone so high up that I don't even know their identity. Sustrai, 'Mint', all of them serve that same master. They were the ones ordering Torchwick around in Vale, the ones who hacked into the CCT. They were the ones who came up with this entire plan. All of Vale brought to its knees. I find myself wondering what they plan to do next."

Mercury felt his skin crawling as Yang looked towards him not just with confusion in her gaze, but with anger, and distrust as well. He couldn't exactly blame her, either. All of what Adam was saying was true, even if he was only saying it to sew discord among them.

Blake, at least, seemed to see that too. She placed a hand on Yang's shoulder, as if to steady her, and then said, "I know all of this sounds bad, Yang, but for right now, we need to trust Mercury. He's fighting with us. He's on our side."

"Isn't that just what he wants you to think?" Adam offered in answer. "The moment I've been defeated, he turns on you and finishes you off."

Yang still didn't look convinced, and that was bad for their odds. Mercury wanted to try and think of something to say to diffuse the situation, but he wasn't exactly coming up trumps on that one. It had never really been his forte.

"Yang?"

Blake's teammate turned to look her in the eye.

"I need you to trust me. Not Mercury, not Adam or anyone else. Just me."

Mercury found some amusement in the way that Adam Taurus' nostrils flared as Xiao-Long's face grew the smallest bit redder. It was evident to Mercury himself, and it must've been to Blake's ex as well, that she'd moved on from him. It seemed there was a new apple of her eye now, and it certainly wasn't Adam.

"Okay." Yang said, finally nodding her head. "I'll trust you."

Blake smiled, and then, finally, the three of them turned to face Adam, who sneered aggravatedly.

"You think he's not just going to plant a bullet between your eyes the moment he has a chance!?"

"No, I don't." Blake answered. "He had plenty of chances. Many, many times he could've done something rash, or tried to kill me or Jaune or anyone else. But he never did. Even when he perhaps should've in order to protect himself, or his secrets. I don't think Mercury's capable of such. Not anymore."

Adam barked out a laugh. "And you're willing to stake your life on that!?"

"I am." Blake said without hesitation.

Mercury found himself stunned by her confidence. By the easy way that she spoke, somehow meaning that completely. How she didn't doubt him, despite having every reason to do so.

It was odd. Mercury didn't quite know how to explain what it was he felt in that moment. A warmth within his breast that seemed to empower him, that drew him forward and into a fighting stance.

This still wouldn't be easy. None of them were at a hundred percent, and a single mistake could cost any of them due to Adam's semblance. He didn't think the three of them could lose this fight…

But they could certainly lose one of them if they weren't careful.

Even so, they had to try, didn't they?

"Fine, then," Adam Taurus shook his head, sighing out dramatically. "Know that I tried, Blake. But you've always been too much of a fool to recognize who your real allies were."

"No," Blake responded with a melancholic frown. "I have many faults. But that? That's never been one of them."

No more words were spoken. Adam charged towards the three of them in a split second, covering that distance in half the time it took Mercury to try and raise his guard. Luckily for him, Blake was more familiar with Adam, and shot out Gambol Shroud's ribbon to wrap around the hilt of Wilt. Adam sneered as he transformed his forward momentum into a spin, one which allowed him the angle necessary to slice the ribbon in twain with a quick cut from his blade, but it was enough for Yang to get a shot in as his back was turned.

He was launched backwards, skidding across the tile floor of what had once been the Beacon cafeteria with a snarl. He immediately set back to work, his blade making a sickening noise as he drew it across the ground, kicking up sparks as he ran towards them all. Mercury decided to take point this time, dodging into the man's guard and loading a round into the firing chamber of his leg. Adam either knew his secret, or was able to interpret the meaning of the sound, for as Mercury feigned a missed kick, and fired the shot off, he caught the blast on his blade.

It glowed a bright red for a solitary moment, before Adam slashed out at Mercury.

The blow wasn't terribly strong, but it was certainly stronger than it had any right to be. What should've taken maybe three or four percent of Mercury's aura instead sapped nearly twelve, and he was sitting less than pretty now at around 45 percent. He winced as he took a step back, giving Adam ground. The man capitalized on that, moving inwards. Adam smirked as Yang appeared above him, having been vaulted there by Blake.

Mercury's eyes widened as the blow that Yang rained down on Adam, one that would've been a terribly hard hit had it landed, was instead absorbed on Wilt's blade. It was a blow that should've shattered the sword with how hard it hit, and yet, something about Adam's semblance seemed to keep it intact. The man juked backwards, leaving Yang freefalling after her failed attempt to end the battle, and sheathed Wilt inside of Blush.

He glowed a vicious red as all other color seemed to be sapped from the world. Mercury had half a moment to realize that whatever was coming was poised right for Yang, before Blake moved in front of him.

She was like a black comet. A single streak of darkness among the red light. She moved, vaulted off of one of her clones, and hit Yang midair, hard enough to knock her just slightly off course of Adam's strike.

But it wasn't enough to move Blake herself out of the way.

And then the world went dark.

The sound of splattering blood was the thing that broke Mercury out of whatever reverie he'd been caught within, staring at the almost serene beauty of Adam's semblance firing off. It was hard to describe the emotion that ran through him as he looked over, trying to see who'd been hurt, what had happened, and seeing–

His breath caught.

Because there, on the ground, right in front of him, was the lower portion of Blake's right leg.

And the rest of Blake was in Yang's arms, a ways away, rather clearly in shock.

Yang was screaming at Blake, trying to get her to stay conscious, to stay alert. In this scenario, when someone went into shock from the loss of a limb, or being in a scenario where their life was threatened, it was best to try and keep them steady, present, and most importantly, alive. Wrap the wound, treat any injury, make sure they were safe, and accounted for, and…

It was an odd sort of trance that fell over Mercury, then, watching as tears began to flow down Yang's face. As Adam, just a way's away, began to advance on the two of them. He was not smiling, and Mercury had the sneaking suspicion that he'd not enjoyed hurting Blake, even after everything that had happened here today.

Mercury wasn't sure intent, or want, mattered at this point, however.

Yang looked back just in time to see Adam Taurus raise his blade, to strike down at her. Yang held Blake more tightly, clutched her in her arms and squeezed, doing her best to protect her.

She needn't have bothered.

Adam Taurus was sent spiraling backwards into a cafeteria table, which he hit with a sickening crunch. Whether that was bone or armor plating breaking, Mercury didn't know, but then, he didn't particularly care, either.

He was…

Mercury was angry.

No. That wasn't right. Anger wasn't quite enough.

He was furious.

He'd never felt like this before. Never in all his life. He'd fought people who'd angered him before, of course he had, but he'd never fought someone who he genuinely, with every fiber of his being, wanted to end. He'd been an assassin taking jobs, he'd never really had any desire to kill.

And yet now, it was all he could feel, the only thing his mind could process as he stepped past Yang and Blake, as he watched blood pour from Blake's wound like a faucet.

"Wrap that in bandaging and apply a tourniquet further up the leg." Mercury stated, not even looking at Yang, his attention focused solely on Adam. "Don't falter. This is her life on the line."

If Yang responded to him, he didn't hear it. He was already halfway across the room, his eyes gleaming silver in the firelight. The entire cafeteria was burning, every part of Beacon was burning.

This entire place, this school that had somehow changed every little thing about Mercury, had brought out pieces and parts of him that he'd never even known existed, was burning. And it was all this bastard's fault. It was all Adam Taurus' doing.

No, that wasn't true. Some of it was on Cinder, and the woman – the illusory figure known as Salem – she worked for. Technically, a good deal of it was on Neo and Torchwick, and whoever else. In that moment, however, Mercury didn't think he cared for the particulars all that much.

He was inside Adam's guard before long. It was clear that the man hadn't entirely recovered from being knocked backwards before, and it showed in his movements. He was slower, less spontaneous. His attempts to come at Mercury from odd angles or with more specialized attacks were all foiled, and Mercury took a sick sense of satisfaction in clinically, almost surgically ripping the man's attempts to defend himself apart.

He battered aside Adam's clumsy blows, feeling in his element, in some odd sort of zone. It was like he could see Adam's strikes coming before they came close to him, his body reacting on instinct, everything else falling away. There was only this fight. This moment. The muscles of Adam Taurus that twitched and moved and gave every little thing away to him.

Mercury had been wrong. Adam wasn't stronger than the three of them.

Adam wasn't even stronger than him.

He finalized that by landing a kick directly to Adam's diaphragm, knocking the air from out of the man's chest. Mercury had already chambered a bullet into his weapons as well, and the two struck simultaneously, like lightning and thunder overlapping to form a thunderclap. The blow was more than enough to shatter Adam's aura entirely, sending him flying backwards and slamming into the ground with an audible exclamation of pain.

That was it.

It was over.

Adam Taurus wheezed from his position on the ground, attempting to stand and fight, attempting, perhaps, to try and limp away to fight another day. But Mercury would not be allowing that. No, this man was going to meet his end here and now.

He chambered another bullet, perhaps the last he had, and prepared to fire it into the man's skull. He was not a torturer, no matter his rage. He was an assassin. He would end this swiftly.

And yet…

"Wait!"

The voice that called to him was enough to momentarily stop his finisher, and he turned to see Blake, leaning heavily on Yang, looking like she wasn't really all there. Mercury was honestly surprised she was still conscious, but it appeared as if Yang had managed to wrap Blake's leg with bandages, even if they were already soaked through, and had applied the tourniquet as Mercury had told her.

Had he really been fighting Adam that long? It had felt like seconds to him, and yet, it must've been at least five or so minutes for Yang to have accomplished that much.

"Don't… don't kill him." Blake stuttered out, wincing as Yang took out another few bandages, and set to wrapping another layer now that blood was leaking through the first. "Please."

Mercury saw her injury, and couldn't help but breath out harshly.

"He took your leg!" He found himself arguing, shocked at the amount of emotion present in his voice. "He was going to kill you!"

"And I'm not him." Blake panted out, even as she bit down on the insides of her cheek as Yang continued to wrap gauze around Blake's leg, an agonized whine pouring out of her even still. "I won't… I won't let myself become him. And I don't want you to forsake yourself either, Mercury."

"Forsake myself!?" He laughed, a harsh and grating sound. "This is who I am! I'm a killer, an assassin, I'm–"

"No you're not."

It cut through any other sounds in the area like a knife, slicing away at the tertiary concerns that had hung about Mercury's mind. Anything else fell to the wayside, and suddenly it was just Blake he was looking at, paying any attention to.

"That was who you pretended to be. But I could tell… you're Mercury. You're a huntsman in training who attends Beacon. You like–" Blake's eyes glazed over somewhat, but she fought against the blood loss, and kept going. "You like playing video games, and competition in general. You can't stand losing, but you're always the first person to get back up and try again when you do. You're dryly witty, and surprisingly fun to be around. And even if you have a mean streak a mile wide, you're dependable. You've done some bad things, some horrible things, but you've never been proud of them. That's who you are. You're not…" Blake was clearly hanging onto consciousness by a thread. "What you were forced to be doesn't… doesn't have to be your whole life. I learned that a long time ago. It can be true for you, too."

Mercury could only stare.

Beneath him, Adam panted, his breaths coming labored and harsh. Mercury whirled back around to look at him, wanting nothing more than to finish him off, to end his miserable existence. He didn't deserve to keep on going after what he'd done here today.

And yet…

He shook his head, even as he kicked Taurus' head just hard enough to knock him unconscious, and no more.

And, well, maybe he'd have a concussion, too, but frankly, Mercury was fine with that potential side effect.

And when he turned back towards Blake, it was to see her smiling at him.

"Thank you."

He could only shake his head with an aggravated groan. "You're too much sometimes."

"Hah. Coming from… you…?"

Blake's head slumped onto Yang's shoulder, and even though Mercury knew she'd likely only passed out from the blood loss, he couldn't deny the way his heart beat quite a bit quicker.

"W-What do we do!?" Yang asked him, him, of all people.

"We get her to a medic as soon as possible." Mercury stated without any room for doubt. "The nearest should be the courtyard where the old landing pad was. That was what it said in the emergency plans, anyways."

Yang nodded, even as she threw one of Blake's arms around her shoulder, and hauled her up. Mercury wasn't entirely sure if they should try and take Blake's leg with them as well, given it was perhaps possible that a skilled team might be able to reattach it. Unfortunately, given how things were at the moment, he doubted anyone in the city was going to have time for a long surgery for something that was, ultimately, not directly critical to sustaining someone's life.

Still, he saw no harm in taking it. He picked it up with his left hand, and ignored the way that Yang's face paled, and she looked like she might vomit. He took Blake's other side, and helped Yang to lift her to the edge of the cafeteria, where, for just a moment, she faltered.

"What do we do about Adam?"

Mercury shook his head. "We leave him. We'll alert someone in charge that he's here."

"And if he gets away?"

"Blake didn't want him dead." Mercury answered simply. "And that's enough for me. If he gets away, then… Well, we can yell at her for that later."

Yang seemed to take quite a while to think on that as the two of them helped to maneuver Blake towards the nearest medical encampment. It wasn't far, and in fact, Mercury could already see it from where they were, some hundred or so meters away.

"You're alright."

"Huh?"

"I just mean…" Yang shook her head. "I doubted you back there. When that bastard was talking, and… I'm sorry about that. I shouldn't have."

Mercury just laughed. "Nah, don't sweat it. I meant what I said. When this is all over… I'll explain myself. But first, we need to get her some help."

Yang nodded her head. "Yeah…"

"One thing at a time."

/

Ozpin caught up with them before too long. It only took a minute for him to finish calibrating the aura transfer machine for her. In the meantime, while he was doing so, Cinder couldn't help but stare at Amber.

The previous Fall Maiden. The victim of Cinder Fall's designs. It had been her plan all along to kill her, and now, standing here, she found herself feeling…

"Cinder?"

She shook her head before smiling over at Glynda, doing her best to stay present, to not let the day's events force her into some dark recess of her mind. Soon… soon it would all be over, soon she would have the Maiden's power, and she'd be free–

Glynda's hand comes to rest on her face, massaging her cheek gently, and Cinder has no idea why she's almost breaking as she shakes her head, tries to pull away from her, but Glynda just backs away, and gives her space, and then, it's all Cinder can do to pull her back, so that they're flush against each other, occupying one space, one moment, and she kisses her so wonderfully that it's like the world's caught fire–

"Ms. Fall?"

She snaps back to attention as Ozpin gestures for her to step forward. She does so without even realizing that she's just stepped into the aura transfer machine, that she's just walked into the machine that will transfer the remainder of the Fall Maiden's power to her. That this is it. The grand moment. The apex of her destiny.

It feels so unimportant, now. There are so many things she wants for more than this.

And she cannot have them.

And again, that treacherous thought at the edge of her mind chimes in, 'or could you?'.

Cinder does her best to ignore it as the glass lid slides shut. As the machine begins to whir, as something begins to burn on the edges of Cinder's skin, and she grits her teeth as the pain intensifies. Ozpin is saying something, but she's too lost in her own head to hear it. Too lost in the thought that if she really wanted, couldn't she stay?

Salem would come for her. She would send enforcers after her. But if she stayed here, if she stayed with Glynda, could they not handle them together? After all, Ozma had held out against her mistresses plans for the last several millennia. Could he not continue to do so for another century or so?

Traitorous things were playing about her, now that the clock was ticking, ticking down. How long now, a minute? Perhaps two, if she were lucky? She wasn't sure why her mind was being so cruel to itself, although it probably didn't help that the pain was beginning to intensify, washing over her, and making it feel like her semblance was affecting every part of her, that she was being cooked inside of this machine. She simply gritted her teeth and bore it, as she always had.

Somewhere, off in the distance, she thought she could faintly hear the sound of bells tolling. They rocked back and forth, announcing the hour of the evening. It was late, now. The finals had been set to start at nearly nine o'clock, and it had been hours since then. Now, it must've been…

The bells chimed a single time. And then a second.

Somehow, Cinder could tell that the power had finished being channeled into her. The pain became almost agonizing, almost like being lit aflame, but Cinder had long since grown used to fire, and its ilk. She knew what it was like to burn, and to be burned. She would not succumb to fire.

She was fire's master. It bowed to her and her alone.

The bells chimed a third time. And a fourth.

Finally, the chamber she was trapped within opened, and Cinder Fall stepped out into the world once more, the Fall Maiden's power suffusing her form, wreathing her in some sort of ethereal flame. She felt… she felt alive, more powerful than she'd felt in all her life. Stronger than anyone in all the world, barring the woman she swore fealty to. Barring the Witch Queen of the Grimm.

…She could break from her. Be free from her.

A fifth. A sixth.

Glynda caught her as she nearly fell, and she smiled gratefully at her. For all her newfound strength, she still felt exhausted. Glynda gave her a similar expression back. The entire day seemed to have weighed on all of them, and it would understandably weigh even more heavily on Glynda, who would not have even truly considered this event as a possibility.

She wanted to comfort her through it. She found that to be an undeniable truth. Even as Glynda allowed her to stand as her strength returned, she found herself almost able to come up with a conclusion for herself.

This woman… if she was so very important; enough for Cinder to think of abandoning everything she'd ever known… was that not worth it? Was it not worth a chance for something better, greater than she'd ever had? When their bodies had touched, melded, become one, she'd felt something far more powerful than the Maiden's fire, something that eclipsed it entirely.

So, in that moment, she made up her mind.

She would–

A seventh. An eighth.

Ozpin's scroll began to ring.

It was such an innocuous sound, truly.

Cinder stepped backwards, giving herself some space, as Ozpin fished the scroll out of his pocket. His brow furrowed somewhat upon seeing whoever it was that was calling him, and when he put the scroll on speaker in front of him, he did so by first clearing his throat, and then saying, "James. It's good to hear from–"

"It's her! It's Cinder Fall!"

Nine.

It felt like the entire world froze. Like everything just… stopped. The ground beneath her feet pulled out from under her. For a moment, there was nothing. There was only the sound of the bells in the distance, ringing every so often, that Cinder was starting to realize were all a figment of her imagination.

But it was as if she was watching everything she'd ever done come crumbling down. Like she was being pulled into a singularity, gradually stretching out into an infinitely thin string. She'd felt this same emotion before only once in her life. The moment that Rhodes had drawn his maces from across his back. The moment he'd told her that she'd only ever run, that that was all she would do. In that moment, it had felt just like this.

Like everything was ending. Like the finale had come. Like there would be nothing after. Nothing ever again.

And Cinder…

Somehow through it all she couldn't look away from Glynda. Because the moment Ironwood's voice had poured out of the scroll, tinny and shaky, she'd been able to tell.

Glynda knew.

Ozpin hadn't yet reacted, was still unsure as to what Ironwood meant by his words, but Glynda knew. The way that her lips quivered, the way that her hands shook and balled into fists at her sides. The way that she did not look shocked, only horrendously disappointed, and broken, and desolate.

Cinder understood that she had likely known a long, long time ago.

Ten.

And for some reason, that had her stomach plummeting, like she was falling, and falling, and she would never ever stop. Like the world was burning all around her. Like the last good thing that had ever been, would ever be, had perished. And in its wake was left only a cavity, a remnant of what was.

Like the very world they lived upon, abandoned by the gods.

"She's the mastermind!"

Ozpin turned, likely to try and speak with her, or talk her down, or perhaps, even, for her to clear up this misunderstanding. She didn't know. All she knew was that, for some reason, the man had not fully acknowledged her as a threat.

It would be his final mistake.

"It was her who–"

She moved before anything more could be said.

Eleven.

And as he turned to fully face her, Ozpin gave off a breathy gasp as Cinder impaled him in the chest with a flaming spear of obsidian.

The silence then was louder than any sound she'd ever heard. The only thing that broke it was the scroll falling from Ozpin's hands, shattering as it hit the floor of the vault beneath them.

And Glynda stared at her. Just stared. With her mouth hanging open, and her gaze as wide as saucers. She watched as Ozpin's lifeless body slid off of Cinder's weapon, and fell to the floor in front of her; his innards burned to ash. Glynda watched Cinder as she panted, her eyes wide with panic and regret and anger and fury and a million different emotions; more than she could ever hope to process, and with her heart hammering in her chest, beat, beat, beat–

Glynda reached down and drew her riding crop, the look of absolute betrayal on her face never fading as she began to glow with power.

And the bells echoed out again.

Twelve, they chimed, and rang and rang and rang. It's twelve. It's midnight.

And the magic in the world is gone.

End Chapter 47

Hoo boy. This chapter was a fun one to write.

Cinder makes up her mind, realizes what she wants, but it comes too late.

Now, I am sort of sorry for making you wait a week after this... Okay, actually, I'm not really sorry, I get a sick sense of satisfaction out of writing cliffhangers, but I'm not proud of that aspect of my personality, okay!?

Anyways, hope you all enjoyed, see you next week!