RWBY: Ruby's Fall

The clanging of blades ripped through the air like lightning. In the center of a bridge, stationed in the middle of a black void with many portals to any point to Remnant, holds two teenage girls with black hair. One, Ruby Rose, has silver eyes, a crimson scythe, a rose emblem, and the heart of a hero. The other, Cinder Fall, is a one-eyed demon girl with a monster arm and blades of fire and a heart of pure evil.

These two arch enemies had been at odds for almost 3 years since the fall of Beacon orchestrated by Cinder. That was a night neither could never forget.

For Ruby, she lost her sisters arm, her school, and worse… Pyrrah and Penny. Her heart ached at the loss of those two. They were amongst her few friends and she watched them die right before her eyes.

"If only I was just a bit faster… if only I got there a few seconds sooner. I could have saved them!" were thoughts she repeated in her mind for years.

Cinder Fall's scar on her face that was hidden behind an eyepatch burned anytime she saw Ruby. This girl had flashed her mystical silver eyes and cost her both an eye, her arm, and her pride. She had to become a Grimm Hybrid and forfeit her humanity (if she arguably had any to begin with, to get her strength back to fight again. She had to endure not just the pain of the grimm infecting her body, she had to endure Salem, Tyrian, and Watts sneering at her. Their annoying faces irritated her to no end.

"All because of little red!" she thought as her mind burned with rage at the sight of Ruby.

But one thing these two, one warrior of light who stood to protect the citizens of Atlas as they escaped through the portals with her help, and another of darkness who sought to destroy those people just to spite Ruby, who were so different had both thought the same thing on the bridge that fateful day.

Kill Her!

It was a burning desire of vengeance for the two as they spun their weapons, slashed the air inches from the others faces or necks, and delivered kicks of ferocity that flickered their aura as they yearned for the others deaths.

The battle was quite the spectacle indeed, each unleashing a barrage of power that threatened to consume not just the people, but their own allies as well.

Ruby had ordered her team to stay clear of her, not just because her scythe with all its high velocity and great size posing a danger of striking them if they got close, for fear Cinder could strike them or the citizens with fire again should they fail to guard them as they evacuated.

Cinder licked her lips as she sensed this fear. Her Grimm arm allowed her their powers, one was to lure her to the fear in the hearts of people and know their fears. Whenever she saw an opening in Ruby's form, rather than strike her body Cinder just had to throw a few fire balls or knives at her team or the crowd which were barely deflected or absorbed by Yang and the others. Cinder didn't care about beating Ruby or if Neo got blasted, she wanted to torment this girl with the reality she failed forced on her. Only once she saw the look of anguish in Ruby as she felt true despair would deliver the final blow.

But as they danced across the bridge, blades clashing and blast of aura and fire erupting, they became so engrossed in the conflict that they failed to notice the sound of footsteps approaching them.

The screams of people running to the portals didn't help the two as they flooded the dimensional gateway distracting Ruby's team, Penny, Jaune, and Winter as well. Yang however, couldn't shake a nagging feeling something was going wrong with her sisters battle. She trusted Ruby, she knew she was strong, but she had already lost a friend to Cinder before and the thought of losing her sister utterly terrified her. As she waved her arm towards the portal, urging a few people running to get out of her way, she glanced at the other side of the void, at the bridge her sister was fighting to check on her. To her joy and astonishment, Ruby was doing fine, somersaulting to avoid knife strikes and kicking Cinder in the face compelled her to laugh at the Grimm witch's snarl as her black aura flickered and she clenched her nose that bled, her pride obviously hurt. Not wanting to lose momentum, Ruby then administered some scythe strikes and shot crescent rose to use the recoil to increase their velocity when Cinder briefly parried them, overwhelming her defenses at last.

"You got this baby sis, KICK HER ASS! Yang cheered with joy, but Ruby turned her head towards her with an annoyed look on her face as she knocked Cinder away a few feet and she staggered.

"What are you doing!? Get back to helping those people!" Ruby yelled as she pointed towards the crowds behind Yang. Yang jolted as she felt a little sheepish and grinned embarrassed as she rubbed the back of her head and Ruby groaned in annoyance.

This momentary distraction did not go unnoticed by Cinder, but rather than try to strike Ruby, she gritted her teeth as she eyed Yang. She was annoyed by the brawlers cheers, them being nothing more than a reminder of her moment of weakness, just like the others in Salem's circle. It irritated her to no end; she had to strike to rid herself of that twisted feeling in her gut.

With a glow of red and orange flames flickering in her eyes she glanced at Yang, Ruby felt the heat coming off Cinder and jerked her head towards her. She brandished Crescent Rose and charged up her Aura to max to prepare for a strike. To her utter horror, Cinder waved her hand not at her, but across the bridge towards Yang who skin went pale as she saw a stream of fire blast towards the crowd. Yang jumped in front of them and charged her Aura, but the blast felt like a wrecking ball in a construction yard had smacked her, briefly knocking her down and making her scream in pain. A few people behind her were not so lucky, they had been blasted by the impact of the explosion and knocked off the bridge, falling into the black pond beneath them to their doom.

As their bodies vanished and Yang's flickered yellow from her aura as she gave a loud groan of pain, Ruby felt her eyes pulsate in pain. She remembered seeing Pyrrah die that night at the tower in Beacon. It hurt so much, her friend, those people, gone! Was Yang next? All because of this witch?!

"NO!" She hollered as she glanced towards Cinder, who frowned and gave a look of horror as Ruby's eyes shined a bright light, illuminating even the dark void and making the black water beneath generate waves as its flat surface violently erupted.

As the light faded, Ruby gasped as she rubbed her still pulsing in pain, but she bit her lip to use the pain to remain conscious and focus. She had to deal with Cinder, she just couldn't let her take anyone else.

Cinder felt her Grimm hand sting and her legs grow wobbly as she knelt on one knee and breathed heavily. Those eyes were the natural counter to Grimm, but she thought she kept Ruby panicked enough to not focus on happy memories like Salem taught her. How could she miscalculate this?

Cinder didn't much time to ponder this as she felt the sharp edge of Crescent rose slice her chest. Her Aura turned to dust and flaked off her body, signifying it finally had broken. Cinder gave a look of panicked fear on her face as she realized she was defenseless, Ruby had capitalized on this shock to sweep her off her feet with the blunt end of crescent rose, and stepped on her chest after she fell on her back.

"Goodbye" Ruby coldly stated as she raised her scythe, her contempt for Cinder ever so strongly presented in her glare. The crimson Reaper had wanted blood and she was finally going to get it, or so she thought.

As Yang woke up, rubbing her aching head as she fought her desire and her muscles screams to rest, she eyed her sister on the other side of the bridge and smiled to see her position right now.

Ruby was going to win!

But soon Yang saw a figure approach Ruby from behind quickly, it was one of the citizen's but he was holding something in his left hand. As Yang squinted her eyes to focus on what it was, her heart sank as she saw a pink umbrella in his hands and realized who that really was.

"RUBY WATCH OUT!" Yang screamed at the top of her lungs, but it was too late.

Ruby felt a sharp pain in her stomach as she was about to bring Crescent rose down on Cinder, who gave a look of surprise as she saw a thin blade pass through the reapers waist.

Ruby's eyes were wide open in shock as she choked on her own breath, dropped her scythe as her arms went limp, and slowly looked down to see the blade pass her gut, drenched in her blood. She soon turned her head around slowly and shakily to see a man in a suit become enveloped in a pink light.

It was Neo! Who gave a cocky smile as she enjoyed with all her being the look of despair on Ruby's face.

Ruby's wasn't the only face horrified, her team and friends paused what they were doing to glance at her direction. As they walked to the end of their bridges to focus on what was going on, they gasped as they saw Ruby's injury. Weiss had a hand over her mouth while Blake shuddered at the sight of her injured leader with her ears down, Penny covered her mouth with both hands and cried after meekly stating Ruby's name. She was her first friend, the first one to believe she had a soul when she was an android. Ruby was the reason she was human now and could feel the warmth of a human hug. She loved her so much and now... she's going to die. She sadly thought.

Jaune remembered Pyrrah kissing him before dying and shed tears before gritting his teeth in frustration. Another girl he cared about was hurt or worse and he couldn't do anything to have stopped again!

He collapsed on his knees and screamed in anger and sadness as Winter knelt beside him and put a hand on his shoulder, showing a sad frown despite not knowing the girl long.

Yang just stood still, her hanging open as she struggled to process this moment. Ruby's hurt…what was she supposed to do now?

Neo had a different thought in her mind. The mute knew exactly what to do, it was a moment she had waited 2 years for since Roman's death at Ruby's hands. It was now her turn,

"Tata little Red!" the mute thought to herself as she lifted Ruby with her umbrella blade and threw her over the bridge.

Yang finally snapped out of her frozen state as she collapsed on her knees and hung her robot hand over the edge, trying in vain to grab her sisters body, but it was too far away.

Ruby's fall was fast, but it felt like time was in slow mow for her. She felt an extreme amount of pain from her wound which produced a stream of blood as she fell. As she felt her body grow weak, feeling death's cold touch on her skin, she began slowly closing her eyes. She could just make out her sisters face filled with tears and cold sweat as Ruby felt the pool below grab her and she closed her eyes forever.

The room was finally silent, not because the people had finally evacuated, but everyone stood shocked at the sight of Ruby's body disappear into the void. Tears stung her teams eyes as they shook their hands at the direction where Ruby fell, her bloodied body still fresh in their minds as they replayed that fall over and over again like a bad record.

The room was soon filled by the scream of Yang as her hair began to catch fire, alerting Neo to other end of the bridge as she saw her old foe get up and glance her way with red eyes filled with tears of water and blood.

"NEO! I-I'm… I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" Yang roared, her aura generating a gust of hot wind that blew across the void, unnerving everyone who raised their arms to cover their faces as they saw Yang crush the ground beneath her as she jumped with all her strength towards Neo's side of the bridge. It had to have been a couple yards away, but Yang didn't care. She had to kill this girl and avenge her sisters death. Ruby couldn't die for nothing!

Neo could feel the heat from Yang a good distance away, one strike of those fire fists could melt her or send her flying into the void with little red. She had to dodge!
Neo opened up her umbrella and flew a few feet back and Cinder ducked and rolled to avoid the strike from Yang as she landed, a strike that melt the ground beneath where the two enemies were previously standing and laying.

Yang felt her arm burst blood as she clenched it painfully, she had used all of her aura in that one strike out of anger and now she was paying the price. Neo saw this and didn't waist time striking Yang with her blade, slashing her robot arm that protected her vital and knocking her off her feet and off the bridge. Yang hung on with her human hand, dangling from the edge to Blake's shock. She took the line from Gambral shroud and ran to get as close to her as she could before she made her move.

Neo stood above the brawler, giving an arrogant smirk. She wished she could talk now more than ever in her life so she could say her thoughts.

"No need to get sad about little red, you'll be joining your weak ass sister soon anyway" she thought as she raised her foot, ready to stomp on Yang's fingers and plummet her into the void before she felt a painful surge of heat on her back and fell over the edge.

Neo opened her eyes to see the black pool beneath her and gasped in fear as she grabbed the only other thing she could see, Yang's leg. As she gripped it, the extra weight nearly causing Yang to lose her grip, they looked up to see the source of the fire,

Cinder!

"You just had to kill her and steal my thunder huh? She was my kill you bitch!" Cinder venomously said to Neo as she stepped on Yang's fingers. Yang winced in pain before looking up in horror with Neo as Cinder kicked them off and sent them plummeting into the void.

"Yang!" Blake yelled as she hooked her blade to the bridge and jumped with gambrel shrouds line and grabbed her partner. She felt relieved as they swung back to the other side of the bridge yang was on, only to feel a chill in their spines as Cinder launched a blade at the line, snapping it and sending them into the void with Neo, disappearing just like Ruby before.

Weiss didn't even get a chance to scream their names as she saw another fire stream from Cinder's maiden powers sent her way envelope her vision and she was knocked off the bridge to Winter's horror. Winter screamed Weiss's name as she fell into void, now all of Team RWBY was gone, finished to Cinder's sadistic glee. She then frowned as she remembered Ruby's corpse fall, she really wished she had struck that blow, her one chance at vengeance gone. As she rubbed her scarred eye lid that housed no eye thanks to Ruby all those years ago, she wondered if now her scars would continue to burn forever?

Ever After

Ruby laid on a beach, the sand beneath her red from her blood as she held a hand over her waist while unconscious. Her wound had been covered by a cloth, but the patch in the middle was bright red from her blood. On her stomach were a group of tiny rats, seemingly attracted to the smell it gave, ready for a feast, before Ruby groaned and stir her body, scarring them as they hurried off her body and hid behind some rocks and under shells at the Beach.

Ruby winced as she painfully grabbed her stomach, her wound threatening to open up again as she gasped for air, her lungs begging for it as she slowly opened her eyes to see cherry blossom tree forests and a giant oak tree above them before her. She slowly looked at her wound being bandaged and glanced left and right, trying to find the one that helped her to thank that person.

"W-Where… Where am I?" she said out loud, but no one answered her. She was in some strange, alien world as she meekly fought to stand up, her body was half dead but determined to stay strong as she wobbled towards the tree, desperate to find help.

"Is this heaven?" she thought before shaking her head. It wasn't the after life it couldn't be otherwise she would be healed. Her bloody stomach hole that was covered by a bandage was proof she wasn't dead, the pain was still present, but not as much as the pain she felt from being alone. She just had to find someone, had to find a way home, she had to find her friends, her family!

FIN