Yang Xiao Long
They had been here before.
Not this location, not this time, not under these circumstances... well, actually the circumstances were pretty similar. A raid of sorts on a base that Yang hadn't expected Neo to be at which led to their fight... ignoring most of the specifics of course. But still, all things considering... how long ago had that been? What had changed since now and then? Yang hadn't trained, she hadn't gone out of her way to learn any new magic, hell she'd had a baby between then and now. By all logic, she should have been weaker. Her skill and fighting ability should have atrophied from under use leaving her as a much weaker opponent. Her arm had been taken from her and replaced with a prosthetic that couldnt keep up with her, and only then had she started training again. Neo should have come at her and had an even easier time then before running her blade through the blondes heart.
Yet one thing of rather large importance had changed in Yang's favour. Even with all the things that should have made her weaker then their last fight still affecting her... none of it mattered.
Yang watched with calm eyes as Neo charged her. The red slits watching the girl try and drive her blade through her heart once again... but it was strange. Yang could see it happening. She watched it with a calm heart and soul, her mind completely still without any anxiety or adrenaline fueling this state of hers. It was confusing. Yang had been in a position like this before, one where her perception had sped up to keep up with a much stronger opponent, time itself looked to move slower as her brain worked in overdrive to keep her alive... but... she was calm? There was no overdrive. There was no fear for her life... even as she watched that blade get ever so slowly closer and closer.
It wasn't until Yang tried to move to dodge that she realised what was happening.
Rather then move at a slowed speed in her increased perception like she expected, her body stepped aside in the time it took Neo's weapon to move a few inches. Yang's eyes widened in shock as she just stood there... watching from a step to the left from where she had been previously as Neo ever so slowly sailed past her.
"So... this is what a Dragon can do..." Yang wasn't actively doing much different from normal. Sure, she had practised with this power... but that was against someone like Pyrrha. Someone much stronger then herself and Neo, so much so that this added power hadn't really changed the course of the fight at all. But against Neo? Against someone she had fought before becoming a Dragon and experienced overwhelming defeat against? It wasn't fair anymore. The scales had completely tipped to the other end.
Her right wing tensed its claws into a fist, and with a slam like a hammer it beat down against Neo's back. The attack cut off her slowed movement to stab at somewhere Yang no longer was, and the girls body collapsed like a house of cards toppled by a brick landing on the peak. Yang could hear the sounds of her bones breaking and body turning to mush under the single attack, and the carry through of the fist cracked the floor beneath her. Neo's chest and stomach was left a smashed mush of paste against the floor between Yang's fist and the magically enhanced stone, and the Dragon awkwardly looked up to Jaune and Roman as her perception shifted back to normal and time sped up once more.
Both the other combatants had stopped. Roman had clearly been on the backfoot, but Jaune had stopped to turn at the sound produced by Yangs attack. The two men stared at her with wide eyes, and Yang gave a small chuckle and shrug.
"Welp... guess I win round two."
"Neo!!" Torchwick tried to run for the girls body, but he was cut off by another attack from Jaune, his blade swinging to cleave at Roman, but barely missing and instead cutting straight through his hat.
That was odd to Yang... Jaune was strong... or at least she thought he was. Maybe not as strong as herself now, but he could at least keep up with her... so why was he missing attacks-
"Jaune? Are you holding back??" Her exasperation cut the fight off again as she stepped over the mangled body of what once was a threatening opponent, and Jaune frowned.
"I... I have to! He's like... really... umm... weak, no offence." His words left Yang frowning, and Roman offended. "I'm sorry! It's just... the truth."
"You are too innocent, Mr Hero." Yang sighed and stepped over. "Alright, I'll handle this."
"Sorry, im not very good at controlling my strength." Jaune stepped away and Yang thought that through... she supposed it made sense. Relatively speaking, Jaune had only become this strong recently. He had been at a pretty low level for most of his life, so suddenly having to control his strength to not hurt people way beneath him hadn't come naturally...
Yang however?
Her palm smacked across the back of Romans hand, the bitch-slap sending him straight to the ground as his eyes closed and his conciousness left his body. She nodded at a job well done, and gave Jaune a smile.
"Yeah, all that practice from when Ruby was Human is paying off."
"Umm.. Yang?" She turned her head to follow Jaune's hand pointing behind her, and was greeted by an interesting sight. Neo was standing back up, her body twitching and cracking back into place as it repaired... but there was no green light. She wasn't using healing magic for this.
"Her regeneration is annoying..."
"Its not infinite though... right?"
"No-" She fully turned to face the girl. "Qrow guessed that she's a Hydra... and a bit of a weird one at that. If her body does produce a soul for every head she has, then every soul has a fresh print of the body. The sudden changing of the soul and print as a previous one dies is enough to shock the body into repairing itself using ambient mana."
"You uh... had that whole thing prepared but still turned your back on her?"
"Shut up Jaune, you couldn't beat Torchwick!"
"I could have!!"
Yang sighed. "I knew that the repairs take time... I saw a lot of them when your girlfriend fought her before."
"What did Pyrrha do to her exactly?"
She gave him a grin. "A worse version of what I'm about to do."
"I take it things went well then?" Pyrrha's voice carried the same tune as her smiling face did. Their results were obvious even from a distance as they approached the airship, two prisoners in hand.
"Yeah, Torchwick is out of it and the ice cream over here isn't in a fighting state anymore." She held up her prize, a very unhappy and tied up Neo that looked almost drowsy. The chains were letting off a constant aura of Anti-magic, and while not enough to stop her from regenerating it was enough to keep her from using any magic too subtle for them not to notice.
"We should head back immediately then." She gave them a smile and turned to move back up the ramp. "I have to be honest, I'm glad that you didn't need my help."
"Not feeling up to fighting today, Conquest?" Yangs voice carried her smirk and Pyrrha gave a light chuckle. They both knew that she was always up for a fight.
"Actually... I'm getting a little tired of our enemies."
"What do you mean?"
"Well... maybe it's just me but... I've noticed that they never seem to fight me or Qrow. Rather always running away."
"Cause they know you'll win." Jaune rested a hand on her shoulder and she nodded with a sigh.
"I know... that's what worries me. I would have preferred it if either myself or Qrow could have dealt with them by now... but..."
"But...?" They had stopped moving, paused halfway up the ramp as Pyrrha looked at them with a nervous expression. Yang felt a bit of a chill in the air, like something was wrong... or that something was about to go wrong.
"Even though we're stronger then them... it feels like they always have the upper hand."
"Come on, Pyrrha. I'm sure it'll be-" Jaune quickly rushed to the woman in question, catching her as she fell face forward towards the ramp. "Pyrrha? Pyrrha?? Are you-" He stopped again, his words cutting off as his eyes closed and he fell forward as well. They both lay in a sleeping pile, and Yang could hear the others in the airship fall over as well.
"Guys-!?" She took a step and froze, her senses overloading with that same horrible premonition as a strange smell wafted into her enhanced nose. A smell like one hundred bees all crawled up there and stung everywhere they could, she recognised this smell well... the one of magic invading her body.
Yang felt her equilibrium waver and her vision blur, her body felt like it was on a ship in the middle of a storm and she took an odd step here and there before falling to the ramp as well. Her body barely managing to fight off the effects of the spell as she held her breath to keep the gas out.
"The others.. Pyrrha isn't transformed or using Conquests mana... so right now I'm stronger then her... it's why it's hitting me last."
She tried to gather her mana, readying a spell that would never form in her near-sleep state. It was like having just woken up or being seconds away from sleeping, and she would only be able to fight it for as long as she held her breath... which would be ages if she had anything to say about it!
"As expected of a Dragon... truly remarkable creatures." That voice wasn't one Yang recognised, but from the almost sultry nature of this woman's voice, one that exuded confidence and spoke with a pride as if she owned everything... this was Cinder. "Ah, Neo. Good to see my spell didnt target you." Yang wanted to curse under her breath, but she wasn't even capable of that right now.
Cinder stepped around Yang's body, her heels clacking on the metal ramp before she casually pulled the chains from Neo without a care and stepped back down the ramp. Yang felt another pulse of mana and wanted even more to scream or use magic... that bitch had opened a portal.
"Neo, go ahead. Roman and I will join you in a minute." Yang couldn't see what was happening, but she felt the absence of a presence not soon after Cinder spoke, leading her to believe that Neo had listened. "Roman. Wake up."
"Why is she...?"
A groan sounded from beside her, and Cinder made a happy noise that sounded more impressed then anything. "Good. I wanted to look you in the eyes."
"What...?" Torchwicks voice was cut off by a sound, one Yang could only assume the origin and nature of... she herself had been stabbed plenty of times. "...W-why...?"
"I've noticed your fondness for Neo. For whatever strange reason, she shares in this. Your death will motivate her better then any reward could. I thank you, Roman. You truly have been helpful." Cinder stood and began moving down the ramp, at least that's what her footsteps told Yang. "Oh... and that is a rotblade. Don't try to heal the injury."
"Why isn't she using it on us...??"
If the spell was potent enough to knock them all out, but subtle enough to be nearly undetectable... it either takes a shit tonne of mana, or has a downside. Yang was betting on that second option, and she had to assume that the downside had something to do with how they woke... perhaps it was really easy to wake them up?
"Even with a hole through her heart... Pyrrha could probably still kill Cinder... and if she stabs any of us we'd be able to wake Pyrrha... But... I can't believe she'd just walk away like that...! You're not even going to try to kill us?? Pyrrha is a Harbinger! Jaune is the Hero! I'm a Dragon! How prideful can you get you stubborn bitc-"
"Wait... Pride! Thats it! Pyrrha got access to Ruby's Affinity because she used Pride on full blast. That's risky... but if turn it on and off I should be alright..."
Pyrrha Nikos
A dream. A place she had been before... She knew this was a dream, or rather a nightmare, because its one she'd had before. Frankly it wouldn't leave her alone.
"Let's get this over with..." She stepped up to the door as slowly as she could. A white frame, stainless and sparkling metal handle... the whole area was devoid of any and all filth and dirt. It reeked of cleaning products and she was sure that every room would be just as spotless... including this one. An office of sorts, one containing a doctor... this hospital was somewhere she had only been a handful of times, yet it was permanently burned into her memory.
The door slowly opened, no creaking or sound to be heard as she stepped through. Her clothing was the same as the outfit she had worn that day... the day this memory was from. Comfy clothes, an outfit not meant to impress or look overly nice... it was meant to make her feel comfortable and safe... though it did little to help her with this news the first time she had heard it. Or any of the other times in her sleep.
"Lady Nikos? Please, sit. There's... we have to discuss something."
"I know..."
He was a kind looking man. A bit on the older side and sporting two droopy dog ears coming from his head... she was sure that his faunas features would definitely make him popular with kids...
"I... our tests came back. It's... I'm sorry, but it seems that-"
For once her prayers were answered. She didn't have to hear the news. Her mind was suddenly pulled from the memory and dream as her soul flared with a newfound power. Conquest flooded into her soul as her eyes shot open and she took stock of the situation immediately.
She was laying down on the metal ramp of the airship, there was a body on top of her that she could guess was Jaune... she'd felt him enough times to know who it was. Plus she'd helped him with his armour before. She couldn't sense Neo anymore, Roman's presence was fading, a tear in space was not too far away... and there was a familiar presence about to step into it.
Pyrrha activated everything at once. Her body glowed from the tattoos burning onto her skin and whatever wasn't hidden under the black ink was now glowing a brilliant light as she suddenly shot up, only being slightly slowed by having to be careful not to throw Jaune away. Her sights were set on Cinder immediately, and she pumped as much mana into her movement as possible as she sailed straight at her.
The Demon had turned to look at her, Pyrrha could only guess she had felt her wake up. The woman had leaped backwards in an attempt to make it into the portal and Conquest had swung her blade towards her torso the instant she could reach. The sword passed through her flesh and bone like a hot knife passing through butter, and the Demons body was split in half at the waist. Pyrrha's eyes burned a stare of hatred into Cinders own as the woman's upper body flew into the portal and it closed... she had been too slow. From her waking up and the portal closing had been less then half a second, yet it still hadnt been enough.
For a moment all was still. Her blade held strong in its frozen position at the end of her swing, her stance remained strong and unmoving, and her mind was blank... then? The moment ended. Pyrrha calmly stood up properly and stared at the empty air where a portal had been only a few seconds earlier. Failure was all she could think of. How many times had they gotten away from her? How many times had the Harbinger of Conquest, Pyrrha Nikos... let them escape? Her gaze drifted down to Cinders lower body, her consolation prize laying limp on the ground... the remains of half a red dress, some hips and a pair of legs. Rage wasn't the right word to describe how she felt right now, it was too weak of a word. All the bottled animosity and anger in the world failed to match up to how she'd describe her emotional state right now. Waking up from that dream only for reality to be this? How cruel did the World want to be to her today?
"Pyrrha!" A voice more special to her then any other in the world... and it was calling her. His voice was like a lifeline, a rope thrown down to her in this pit of hatred and self-loathing. Her choices were to take the way out... or to simply stand here, and watch the place where Cinder had yet again escaped her grasp.
"I really am useless... I can't catch them... I can't bring myself to use my power properly... and worst of all I can't even-"
She shook her head, stopping that train of thought and turning around to step over to Jaune... above all else, she didnt want to think about that memory right now.
"Jaune, are you-" Her words stopped with the sounding of someone else's pain. Eyes furrowed, she kneeled down and rested a hand on Romans chest. Her magic flooded into him, but it was useless. She could tell that, and so could he judging from his expression. "I'm sorry. We don't know how to make the Curse Breaker... and it's unlikely that we can keep you alive till we get to Vale." Healing something to keep it from dying rather then to repair damage was a fickle task that took much more mana then otherwise. In truth, it was possible that between them all they had enough mana. But, in keeping him alive they would be left without enough mana to protect themselves from serious threats. If it was Torchwick or them, then Pyrrha had to make the call as the leader today...
"Another person I couldn't save-"
"Yeah... that dosent matter." She looked up at him with confusion, staring into his eyes that conveyed that same message he had just spoken aloud. "But... I do have some last words, if you'll at least hear those..."
"...of course." It was quite literally the least they could do, save for just letting him die instantly by stopping the healing magic.
"Well... more of a final wish I guess... or... plea...? Beg. I'm about to beg." He chuckled weakly. "I... please... save Neo."
"Neo...?" Pyrrha wanted to say more, but Yang beat her to it. She hadnt even realised that the blonde was back up until now.
"I don't really think she needs saving."
"She's a kid... she needs help..."
"Look, I get calling someone a kid cause they're young but-"
"No...! You don't get it... she's... she's literally only two years old. Not even that if you want to get into specifics..."
That managed to stop Yang from retorting, and Pyrrha focoused back on Roman. "Tell us more, while you still can."
"She's... some experiment... a sick test done on a baby Hydra... her body makes a new soul for every head she has... but... they're going to use her as a farm once they have the Dragon Formula..."
"So thats what they're after..."
"A... farm...?" Jaune seemed to focus on a different detail to Pyrrha, and only after a second or so of thinking did she understand.
But Roman explained anyway. "She's a child... and they're going to just keep cutting off her head to harvest as many souls as they can..."
"I don't think Neo will let us save her-"
"I know... i just... im asking you to try..." His eyes met Pyrrha's again, and he slowly reached up to rest his hand on her wrist. "Please..."
She gave him a small nod. It wasn't much, but right now she doubted that a promise was something she was capable of making.
"I promise." Luckily, she wasn't the only one here. Her eyes flicked to looking up at Jaune, but he kept his gaze focoused on Romans eyes. They stared at each other for a while... before the dying man gave a small smile, and slowly pushed Pyrrha's hand away.
Her healing magic cut off... and he was gone.
Ruby Schnee
Slow steps. They echoed in here, even if they definilty shouldn't. What was usually a loud and roudy enviroment was being replaced by an almost somber mood. Each step was joined with a pulse of her aura, an unconscious flex of her magic as she tried and failed to keep it all under control. None of the people she wasn't here to see dared look at her or even make a noise as she moved past their rooms. All of them cowering or at least respecting the authority of a Dragon.
Until finally those steps stopped. She turned to the cell she had intended to reach, and her Silver eyes glowed with a burning might as she glared at the person sitting on the bed behind the barrier. "R... Ruby...?" Her voice was nervous, but that only matched the atmosphere that everyone else had taken on thanks to the Queen Consorts presence.
"Why." Not a question, not a request, not a statement or anything else besides what it was. A demand. One made with a voice that by all means should not have been as intimidating as it was.
"You're... not wearing your cloak-"
"Its not mine anymore." In the two days since... then... Ruby had been around Argus non-stop, only leaving his side when everyone was assuring her that he was finding her overbearing. Only after being forced away from his side did she return to her workshop, set on making something for her child to keep him safe... or at the very least, something that would always ensure that Ruby could find him. Her mother's cloak had served her well... but it was the only thing Ruby was confident that she could get Argus to wear consistently. The boy already tried to put it on as much as he could in a frankly adorable attempt to emulate his mum. The cloak had been upgraded to Legendary tier and refitted with new enchantments. Frankly everything baring the actual fabric had been redone... the question could be asked if it was even the same cloak anymore, if it was even her mother's work anymore...
But frankly Ruby didnt care. As much as she missed her mother, as much as she still wasn't over that... her love and devotion to keep Argus safe took priority.
"Oh... I... see... is... is Argus ok-?"
"Don't say his name." A calmer voice this time, but one still burning with way too much emotion behind it.
"Ok... I won't... Ruby... I... I want you to know that what I did... I did for you and your family-"
"What...? You did that... for... my family??" Ruby had to wonder for a moment how hard it would be to walk in there and beat Emerald to within an inch of her life... or just straight up kill her.
"Yes... Cinder... the others... they wanted me to... they wanted me to kidnap him, Ruby...! And if I didn't do it, someone else was going to! I... I did what I had to do in order to stop that from happening. If they get the Dragon Formula... then... they won't need him anymore. That was my logic."
"Do you think saying any of this will make me let you out...? Do you think you'll ever get the chance to actually tell anyone what information you got out of me??" Ruby had thought that her want to kill Emerald was at its peak... but her next words somehow made it shoot oh so much higher.
"No... but that dosent matter... Cinders already been here. I've already handed over the four Phrases... but... they decided that its enough. It'll be easier for them to just find the last one then it'll be to get it out of you or kidnap Argus to make him get it... I... I did it Ruby...! I protected your family...!" Tears fell from her eyes as she spoke, Ruby couldnt tell if she actually believed her own words or not... but frankly she didnt care anymore.
"You could have just talked to me Emerald... we could have worked this out together... but now?" With a turn, she started to walk away. Leaving the Vampire behind in her cell. "Now... I have to fix your mess..."