RWBY: A Thorn in My Heart
Chapter 11: Evolution
Blake panted heavily as Raven covered her neck and shoulder gashes with a cloth. The pain was excruciating and the being ordered by the older Huntress to press against the wounds only added the discomfort. Raven saw her white cloth grow red quickly and decided first aid wasn't enough; Blake needed a professional.
"Lets get back to the Menagerie, you need a doctor fast!" Raven said as she picked up the teenager from the floor. She grabbed her blade and instantly slashed the air to form a portal to the mansion. Blake grasped Raven's shoulder with her other arm to get her attention.
"B-But, what about Cinder, she still h-has Thorn!?" Blake protested, fighting through the pain to utter her words. Cinder only response was a sharp glare to show she wasn't accepting protests.
"You can't save him or capture her if you get killed bleeding out!" she yelled to the catgirl. Blake couldn't utter a response, not just from the pain she was feeling in her neck, but from the fact she couldn't deny the reality of the situation. She could only give a somber look as she nodded in agreement; giving Raven permission to activate her semblance and teleport them back home. As they entered the portal, Raven and Blake both felt their stomachs twisted, as they were not looking forward to telling Ruby they failed.
But as they arrived in the Menagerie room where Yang was, their hearts sank as they widen their eyes in shock at the scene unfolding. Yang was unconscious and tied up by shadow vines while Salem was gripping Ruby's face while holding Thorn.
"Ruby! Thorn!" Blake screeched as she grabbed her blade, wincing in pain for a second before biting her lip to willpower through her pain as she charged at the witch. Raven, at first surprised, soon collected herself and drew her blade and attempted to cut the shadow vines enveloping her daughter. Not that she didn't care for Ruby or Thorn, but her first priority was her own child and felt the cat faunus could handle that job while she saved Yang. To her astonishment, her blade couldn't cut the vines; rather they merely stuck to the blade like sap and soon surrounded her.
"Gah! What are these things!?" she screamed as she soon felt her strength fade as the vines gripped her arms and legs.
Blake quickly stopped her charged as she heard Raven scream, turning around for a brief moment to examine what happened and dropping her guard. Salem did not fail to notice this lapse in judgment and she released her grip on Ruby briefly to summon more vines from her hand to snare the cat girl. She smirked as she saw Ruby pant with exhaustion from pain and quickly returned her vice-like grip on the young girls face.
Ruby felt another surge of pain across her face as the dark hand of Salem gripped it tightly. Wicked thoughts ran through her mind throughout her torment, ranging from wanting to punch her face to slicing Salem in half with Crescent Rose. As she thought this, she looked through the openings of the witch's hand and glared at her scythe, mere inches from her bed.
"That's our one chance!" she thought to herself.
As she reached out towards the weapon, Salem took notice of the scythe and pushed Ruby's head into her pillow with such force it felt like Ruby got hit by a truck. As she struggled to remain conscious, she felt her strength in her body fade again, as her arm grew limp. Seeing the girls eyes begin to close, Salem sent a surge of black electricity through her arm and zapped the injured girl awake. She licked her lips hearing her scream in agony.
"What do you want from me?!" Ruby screamed with a glare, tears of pain stinging her eyes.
"Silly child, just quit resisting and become my new pet." Salem said with a fake motherly tone.
Blake fought her weariness from the vines and hissed at the Witch for hurting Ruby before her.
"What are you… doing too.. Ruby!? What do you mean by pet?" she weakly growled.
Salem began to grow impatient as outsiders kept delaying the process. She turned her head backwards like a doll, disgusting everyone present.
"In order for me to turn someone into Grimm like Cinder, they must feel intense pain and hatred to transform. Of course, she needs to be conscious for this so we can't have her fall asleep can we." She menacingly explained.
Blake, Raven and especially Ruby widened their eyes in shock as Salem revealed her wicked intentions.
"T-That's.. Sick!" Ruby stuttered with a disgusted tone.
Ruby soon grasped Salem's hand with fear; she didn't want to be infected no matter what. Noticing Ruby was not feeling much despair and continued to struggle, Salem frowned with disdain.
"I guess you'll need more convincing." Salem said as her eyes glowed dark red and projected an image on the wall. She forced Ruby's head to look towards the shadowy image as it grew more high definition. She groaned, as her neck felt like it was about to snap from the motion.
"Watch child, watch your friends fall one by one to my pets." Salem said wickedly.
Ruby's eyes widen in shock seeing her team battle Cinder's army of Beowulf's. They were fighting hard, with Pyrrah, Jaune and Qrow stabbing them, Nora and her father smashing their heads into the ground, and Weiss summoning white glyphs. She yelped as she showered them with a barrage of white bee sylphs, stinging the wolf grimm, who growled in pain as they turned to ash and evaporated.
"Fools, the more you kill the more my children will summon." Salem said.
True to her word, Cinder was back at the enemy base smirking as she used her shadow hand to summon more grimm to from a portal to replace the killed ones. She then took out her scroll and called Tyrian on it.
"Hey scorpion prick, your army ready yet? You don't want to make Salem unhappy right?" she mockingly stated, earning a curse word on the other line she dare not repeat verbally. Tyrian soon gave confirmation he and the white fang were ready, as she summoned a portal with a grin next to the dead body of Neo, soon summoning Tyrian and his white fang army. She looked at her shadow hand with glee as she felt pride grow within her. Her semblance originally could only copy semblances at half strength, but after her hellish training she could use them at full power. Raven's was shocked by this image as she gritted her teeth in disdain. She blamed herself, remembering how she lost to Cinder and had her semblance taken during the war and how it could summon portals to anywhere one of her contracts were. Since Cinder had her semblance she also had her contracts available too. She had realized too late this was their invasion plan all along.
Ruby winced in terror, not only from the sight of the slayed Neo, but also seeing the army approach her shocked friends.
"Whoa! Where the hell did all these guys come from!" Nora exclaimed next to her boyfriend who covered his ear in shock.
"Don't know, don't care, lets just kill them before they kill us!" Ren exclaimed in kind. He didn't normally lose his composure and yell, but felt weight of fear on his shoulders as he noticed Nora get overwhelmed by all the numbers of enemies surrounding them.
Ruby's anxiety grew as she saw her friends begin to take hits from the grimm and faunus enemies, from Nora to getting cut on her arm by a Beowulf to Pyrrah getting punched in the face by a white fang goon. Cold sweat dripped from her face as she noticed Weiss getting pushed back by an explosion from a grenade.
"Weiss!" she yelled in terror, her face starting to get a few black spots on it, satisfying Salem who noticed the procedure begin to work. Ruby just needed a little more push to drive her over the edge. Salem examined the scene unfold with a satisfying smile, noticing as well the heir to the Schnee dust company grasp her side in pain, blood oozing on her hand.
"She's hurt!" Ruby thought to herself, cursing herself in her mind for her inability to help her partner. These deprecating thoughts soon caused some dark marks to appear on her neck and her left eye to start flickering yellow like a grimm.
As her torture unfolded, Ruby caught a glimpse of the battle and saw Jaune slice a white fang goon's head off. As blood gushed from the mans body, Jaune turned around to vomit. As much as he hated Ruby's nickname, Jaune couldn't contain his disgust at the gory scene. He soon noticed an equally frightening scene of Weiss on the ground injured and surrounded by White fang men who began to rip her dress off. He felt rage in his heart, remembering the day he heard Ruby endured that same hell from Timber.
"Pyrrah help me!" he called out to his partner as he charged at the men to save Weiss. He knew he was outnumbered and needed help just as much Weiss did.
Pyrrah took noticed of his situation and waved her hand as it shook violently with aura. Jaune felt the weight leave his body as he was enveloped by Pyrrah's polarity powers and flew through the air at high speeds. The sudden yelling they heard caused the goons to stop their attempted rape and raise their heads as the last image they saw was Jaune and his blade piercing their necks. Their bodies grew limp as they collapsed next to Weiss, shocked from her clothes being ripped off and seeing their headless corpses.
Jaune soon collected himself off the ground and, remembering to check his surroundings for more enemies before seeing the coast was clear and took Weiss back to the ship; Pyrrah following soon after stabbing a grimm.
Salem enhanced the image into the ship and turned to Ruby.
"Now child, watch your beloved friend die." She said. Her taunt worked as Ruby looked on in silence at the sight of her friend nearly naked and bleeding out. Jaune applied his hand and a bandana to the wound, but the charred opening still bleeds badly.
"Jaune keep applying pressure while I get the first aid kit." Pyrrah said to her lover, but her tone had hints of fear he picked up on. He could tell she was unsure whether or not they could save Weiss.
"It's always like this, I'm never able to save anyone!" he thought to himself bitterly. He remembered Ruby mentally breaking down from learning she was pregnant, how he failed to save her from being kidnapped or capture her rapist a year ago. Now he feared he would fail someone close to him again as he watched Weiss breathe heavily. He wished he could find his semblance, and then maybe he wouldn't have been helpless to stop these tragedies. Rage and sadness filled his heart as he cried, tears dropping to his hand.
"Please Weiss, stay with us! I can't lose another friend." he cried. As these strong feelings overtook him, his hands soon glowed gold, shocking him and Pyrrah. Weiss was equally surprised as she soon felt the pain in her subside as her body was enveloped by a gold Aura. Her wound finally closed as she gasped for air. She soon felt her Aura and strength return as she felt the power needed to get back on her feet.
"Jaune you did it! You saved Weiss!" Pyrrah joyfully said as she hugged him.
"Thanks vomit.. I mean Jaune. I guess you found your semblance at last." She said awkwardly at first from almost addressing him by his nickname before expressing gratitude.
"What! How can she still be alive!?" Salem angrily screamed in astonishment. She was certain the young huntress would perish and drive Ruby to the final stage of despair needed for the transformation.
She looked back at Ruby, who smiled with joy at this scene to the witch's dismay. The black marks on the silver eye girl soon faded into the air as she sat in her bed calm despite the hand gripping her face. Salem gritted her teeth in anger. She was so close to transforming Ruby into a powerful grimm to control and now the plan was ruined thanks to that Arc brat.
"Brat?" she thought to herself. She then looked down at her hand and saw the sleeping baby still residing in it. She had honestly forgotten about him and why she brought him with her from the excitement of the torture. Salem then turned to Ruby and released her grip, gathering the girl's attention towards her.
"Well Ruby, I guess since I can't get a new pet I'll just have to settle with putting down your puppy" she said with an evil smile as she summoned a blade from her hand.
Ruby winced in horror as she realized Salem was going to kill Thorn in revenge. She tried to reach Crescent Rose again but felt no strength left in her arms. As she saw the witch motion her blade towards her son, Ruby felt something hot rise up in her, a sensation she felt one time before when she saw him kidnapped.
"Don't you dare!" Ruby screamed in anger as she raised her hand towards Salem and a vine emerged from it. It was shaped like a dragon with rose petals around it as it bit down on the knife and Salem's hand, shocking them both. Ruby's eyes widened, as she never thought she could do this. Soon Ruby's shock subsided as she saw the image of Thorn squirming a little before crying himself awake.
"Give me back my son you witch!" she yelled in anger. As her anger and drive to rescue her baby increased, a purple glow emerged from the dragon vine as thorn erupted from it, stabbing Salem's hand. Salem winced in pain as she dropped the knife and Thorn on the bed. Ruby pushed the witch with all her might away as she detached the vine from her arm and grabbed her baby, still crying from sudden drop.
"There, there sweetie, momma's here" she softly stated as she kissed her son's cheek lovingly, before noticing the cut on his ear. Anger overtook her as she looked at the one she thought responsible for this heinous act.
As Salem plopped to the floor, groaning in pain from a burning sensation she realized was poison coming from her stabbed hand. She quickly grabbed gambrel shroud from the floor and sliced off her own hand to prevent the poison from spreading. Luckily for Raven and Blake, this undid Salem's shadow vines and released them as they soon felt their strength return. Outraged by this, Salem stood up and formed a black blade from her severed hand as she advanced towards Ruby. Seeing her serious glare of defiance, Salem didn't care anymore about corrupting Ruby and prepared to end things.
"I guess I have two "pets" that need to be put down!" she roared as she charged towards Ruby and her baby with both blades, ready to end their lives.
Blake, though half awake and weak, felt her body move on her own as she screamed in defiance to try and stop Salem from stabbing them. Ruby looked up in shock to see the blades pierce not her or Thorn, but Blake instead.
Trump card
As Blake saw the face of her killer in front of her, she felt everything fade away as she saw a black void. She lowered her cat ears in sadness.
"So, I guess I'm dead now huh?" she bitterly said to herself, acknowledging the reality of her situation. It was the only possible explanation for what she saw. She vividly remembered the pain in her chest as she was stabbed. She then saw an image unfold before her of seeing herself stabbed by Salem. She was surprised to see this, before seeing a shadow approach her. It was a cat Faunus clouded in darkness that resembled her.
"W-Who are you?" she stuttered. She couldn't process what was going on.
The shadow girl's face soon revealed a familiar face to Blake, her own.
"Your me!?" she said confused. The copy Blake smiled in response.
"Sort of, I am your semblance and subconscious merged. I appear whenever you need to get out of being attacked by a dangerous foe." She explained to her master. Blake calmed down a bit from the somewhat logical explanation. A wave of hope aroused within her at a sudden realization.
"So I'm not dead, just unconscious right?" she asked with hope.
"That's what I am here for, to give you your second chance to be with her!" she said giddily as she pointed to an image Ruby and Thorn looking at her with fright. Blake let her cat ears down as she saw their faces.
"How do we save them!?" she asked her duplicate, who smiled in response.
"We don't you do!" she replied as she gave Blake a sudden push, who soon saw a white light envelope them.
Blake opened her eyes in shock to see herself besides Ruby and Thorn in bed as the former glared at her in surprise.
"Blake!? B-But I thought you just…" Ruby stuttered as she turned her head and pointed at the body of Blake being pierced. Suddenly the bloody body that was pierced evaporated into black dust.
"That was my shadow clone.. but… they aren't real like Sun's!" Blake exclaimed in confusion. A wave of realization swept her up, that's what her semblance meant by. Blake felt joy as she realized her semblance evolved like Ruby's, now she can do more than just hide from foes. With this in mind, she created another shadow clone and launched it at Salem. The witch sliced this clone in half by its midsection as it dispersed as well. Blake kept summoning clones to keep Salem back. She knew she had no weapons on hand and if the witch got close to her or Ruby it would be over. As she kept slicing clones, Salem felt a surge of pain strike her jaw as she soon realized a fiery fist had struck it sending her flying against the wall, dropping Gambrol Shroud. She saw Yang, eyes red with rage and hair on fire as she helped Raven up who grabbed her blade ready to fight. Blake left the bed and picked up her weapon and joined her allies. As all 3 advanced towards Salem, she growled with rage as her Grimm marks enveloped her. She screamed as released a burst of red and black energy that sent the three women flying against the walls near Ruby's bed. Thorn cried loudly in her arms, and Ruby felt an urge to do the same after seeing her family and Blake rendered unconscious. She cradled her son tightly as she saw the witch advance towards them.
Salem grew increasingly frustrated with dealing with these "heroes" she thought in a derogatory manner. She was going to stop wasting time and end them now; the only question on her mind was who to start with. During her torture of Ruby, she sensed her feelings such as growing concern for Blake in particular. Looking down on the cat girl beneath her feet, Salem smiled, as she would be the perfect first victim to break Ruby. As Salem raised her blades, Ruby's eyes widen and began to flicker a strange white light.
"Noooooooo!" Ruby screamed as her eyes flashed the white light towards Salem. The witch screamed in pain as she felt her skin burn and jump back. Ruby soon rubbed her eyes with her good hand as they ached. She wasn't sure what just happened but soon saw Salem grasp her own face in pain, wriggling on the floor. Seeing her chance, Ruby placed Thorn on the bed and finally managed to grab her scythe. Though it felt heavy using just one hand, she used all her remaining strength to unleash it on the fallen witch, sending a huge slash across her chest and drew blood. Salem screamed in pain from this attack, grasping her chest as she bleed. She then decided it was too dangerous to stay here and opened a portal to escape. Ruby dropped her heavy scythe in exhaustion, no longer having the strength to hold it, before clenching her fist and sending it straight into Salem's face. Salem went flying through her portal as she glared at Ruby who gave her a look of anger and disgust.
"How could this brat defeat me?" she bitterly thought to herself.
She then remembered her previous torture of Cinder and how she had scolded the younger witch for getting a big head from her newfound power. A bitter realization struck her as Ruby's fist separated from her face.
"That's right… there's always someone better" Salem thought to herself as the portal closed.
Ruby, seeing her foe disappear, let out a sigh of relief as she plopped to her knees in exhaustion. She perked up at the sound of a familiar voice from behind. She turned around to see a very comfortable sight from that voice.
"Ruby, you did it!" Blake said with joy, holding Thorn in her arms tenderly as he finally ceased crying.
"Blake…" Ruby softly stated as she ran towards Blake and her son while giving them a warm hug.
Student Surpasses the Master
Cinder watched the battle at Atlas unfold through a portal at the base, smirking with sadistic joy at the sight of Tyrian and their armies overwhelm the heroes. She was brought out of her stupor at the sound of a portal open up near her. She saw Salem fly out of it, clenching her jaw in pain.
"Master! What just happened to you?!" She asked her adoptive mother in shock. Cinder couldn't comprehend a witch as powerful as Salem being injured.
"That little rose brat!" Salem growled in response as she breathed heavily, still clasping her body as she felt burning pain from her huge cut and skin.
Cinder soon gritted her teeth at the mention of her archenemy. She looked at her grimm arm as it shook. She bitterly remembered losing her old one to the scythe wielder and now she had possibly taken her mother too. Suddenly a thought passed through Cinder's mind as she stopped grinding her teeth and smiled.
"Maybe Ruby won't take mother from me?" she thought to herself. She kneeled down to Salem and called out to her to gain her attention successfully. All of the sudden, Salem felt Cinder's fist plunge into her open chest wound, screaming in pain in response.
"You won't give me the power I deserve, so I guess I'll just have to take it from you." Cinder said as she smirked at her adoptive mother sadistically. Soon the older witch realized what was happening as she felt her power go away. She looked down to see her body melting and being absorbed into Cinder's shadow arm.
"You ungrateful little brat!" she weakly but sharply stated. But she got no response from Cinder who continued to smirk.
A few minutes past before the procedure finished, with the last sight of Salem being a glare towards Cinder as she completely absorbed her into her arm. Cinder's arm glowed red as she felt a surge of power arise, roaring in triumph from the satisfying results.
"Checkmate you old hag." She said to herself, there wasn't anyone around to hear her. Soon that changed with the entrance of Hazel.
"Cinder, was Salem in here? I thought I just heard her." He asked confused.
Cinder's mind raced for a bit, not having planned how to explain her attack beforehand. She soon thought up a lie, almost tempted to pat herself on the back for how brilliant it seemed.
"I am so sorry father, but… Ruby Rose killed mother, she just vanished before you arrived." She meekly said, forming fake tears in an attempt to fool him.
Her ruse succeed to her inner joy, as real tears formed in Hazel's eyes in response as he clenched his fists. He soon punched the wall in anger, nearly forming an earthquake from the sheer force of the impact as Cinder felt.
"Eye for an eye then, so I guess well just have to finish off her friends in Atlas to show her how it feels." He bitterly said. Cinder smiled at this response, being the perfect thing she wanted to hear on this perfect day.
"Well just pop some popcorn then and watch the fireworks father." She said as she used her magic to form two chairs and reopen the portal to show the battle at atlas. But as they sat down to watch Tyrian's army finish off the heroes their jaws dropped in surprise.
The army of grimm and white fang they summoned to Atlas were all unconscious on the floor outside the gates of the city. The grimm evaporated before their eyes as they only saw Tyrian remain standing. They couldn't comprehend how the huntsman could have beaten their army by themselves.
Hazel growled as he stood up in a huff and glared at his daughter. She didn't flinch at first, internally confident she was unbeatable with Salem's magic but didn't want to give that away yet and feigned fear.
"Y-Yes father?" she asked with her best intention to make her voice weak to fool him.
"Hurry and transport the soldiers and Tyrian back here before they get captured!" he yelled in haste, he couldn't risk the possibility of losing the majority of their forces or they'd have no chance of conquering Remnant.
Cinder did as she instructed, but as the portals enveloped the bodies of the fallen soldiers back in Atlas, they pondered the scene before them.
Tyrian was jumping around, avoiding being summoned. An exhausted team JNPR, Sun, Ironwood, and Qrow looked on confused.
"Your master's calling, why don't you go bring back her ball!?" Qrow mockingly stated, earning a glare from the scorpion man.
"Because, this battles getting too much fun. I did what Salem wanted and got out our forces from the prison so I can afford some leeway." He said as a wide grin formed on his deranged looking face.
"I just can't pass up a chance to stab you all like I stabbed your little niece." He said licking his lips in a gross manner.
The teenagers, though exhausted with cuts and bruises stinging them from battle, grasped their weapons as they formed looks of rage at him. Anyone who stabbed Ruby didn't deserve mercy, they were going to kill him no matter what. They were shocked out of this angry state by a loud screech.
"I'LL KILL YOU!" Qrow screamed at the scorpion man. He felt more rage than anyone as he fired some bullets from his gun. Tyrian dodging this only fueled Qrow's inner fire. The image of him stabbing Ruby last night, Blake having to punch Ruby unconscious, and wiping Ruby's blood off his face. All these horrible events were because of this bastard. No matter what he was going to kill Tyrian.
"Go ahead and try it!" Tyrian egged him on.
As Qrow charged towards him with his gun formed back into a blade, the teens tried to advance towards them to support before an arm was raised in front of them. Ironwood had been the one to stop them, knowing in their state they didn't have a chance and would be killed. He merely shook his head in denial at their looks of contempt towards him.
As much as the teens wanted to help, their aura guards gave out and they collapsed in exhaustion. They groaned in frustration and pain as they bitterly realized they couldn't help now even if they wanted to. They sat upright in shock hearing a clanging sound. It was Qrow and Tyrian's sword scythe and arm Axe colliding, creating sparks as they clashed evenly.
Despite his anger, in the moment, Qrow winced as he felt what felt like a truck on each of those axes press against his blade. It took all his strength to keep them in place and not slice his body. His aura would shield him, but there was no doubt it would hurt like hell, just as Qrow had no doubt these weapons had spilled the blood of countless powerful huntsman in the past. He did not want to join them, but he soon felt the axes shift as Tyrian twirked his body and delivered a roundhouse kick to the hilt of Harbringer, almost knocking it out the Qrow's grip. Qrow awkwardly shifted his body right to regain his grip, but in that instant Tyrian delivered some jabs with those axes to his waist, making his aura flicker as he clenched with one hand to his waist and painfully winced. It was just a couple blows, yet Qrow was shocked it did so much damage, before remembering this man had shattered his nieces Aura with just one kick. He was very strong! One more wrong move and he'd be dead! These thoughts ran through Qrow's mind as he transitioned his blade into it's scythe form. He was going to win this, and he wanted nothing more right now than to kill this bastard with his nieces (Ruby) style of combat and weapon of choice.
2 Hours later. (French narrator)
Qrow and Tyrian panted in exhaustion, cuts and bruises all over their bodies showing the grueling results of their battle. Tyrian felt it stinger tremble, he just could resist the urge to stab something despite his exhaustion.
Qrow likewise saw his vision blare a bit, he breathed heavily as he shook his head, struggling to remain conscious and await his chance. But frustration fueled him as he saw no opening's in this scorpion asshole's (Qrow's thought) defenses even though he was also battered. So he guessed he was going to have to make one, though he gritted his teeth angrily, he knew this was going to hurt like hell.
"Seriously, can't we help him now?!" Nora yelled to Ironwood, who merely shook his head as he flared his nostrils towards the young huntress. His glare was imposing as was his aura that screamed death. Nora winced as she felt this dangerous presence and shrinked, not wanting to oppose him despite wishing to charge in and help Qrow. Ironwood merely looked back towards the battle, his hand at his gun pocket ever ready. He wasn't going to stomp on Qrow's pride or let anyone else do that, but he was more than ready to end the scorpion assassin once this battle ended.
As Qrow kneeled a bit from his own exhaustion, Tyrian saw his chance to fulfill his desire and leaped towards him. Little did he know, Qrow wanted him to charge and purposely knelt to lure him in. He knew from this fight Tyrian was too agile to get a strong hit in so he had to give an opening to drop the latters guard. Qrow winced as he prepared for the incoming strike,
"This is gonna hurt like hell" he thought to himself bracing for the impact as Tyrian went to stab his stomach and grinned, even though he felt a hand draw the stinger away from Qrow's vitals, he laughed as he saw blood drawn from his victim's abdomen. It was thrilling sensation for him to experience, seeing blood splatter and his opponents giving a look in terror.
"Guess you'll join your bitch niece soon." Tyrian smugly stated, licking his lips as he gave a perverted look, obviously ecstatic remembering her horrific look in her eyes when he stabbed her.
Qrow, fighting the pain, gripped the stinger to keep Tyrian in place, causing the latter's heart to sink. Tyrian realized too late he left himself open to an attack as Qrow grabbed his blade's hilt.
"She's not dead *huff* but you'll be!" Qrow yelled as he switched harbringer into its scythe form, it latched around Tyrian neck, he felt the sharp edge circle his adam's apple and The scorpion man choked, vainly struggling to breath as he slowly saw his body. His eyes trembled as he realized his head had separated from his bloody neck. His tail went limp as it's poison dipped stinger detached from Qrow who groaned in pain. Tyrian's body wobbled as blood splattered from his stumped neck and he ultimately collapsed on the ground, dead.
Hazel looked on bitterly at this image; disappointed his assassin got himself killed with his recklessness. Cinder merely stared on in silence, internally amused the annoyance was out of her life and only annoyed with the thought she couldn't kill him herself.
"Oh well, at least Tyrian poisoned Branwen, he should be dead soon" she said looking for a silver lining for her father to calm him down.
As if fate aimed to prove her wrong, another portal opened by Qrow and the heroes who went to check on him. Cinder frowned, as she knew it was Raven who brought the heroes, minus Ironwood who stayed to repair the damage to Atlas prison, through the portal to the Menagerie. She knew where they were heading from Salem's memories and that the doctors their would save Qrow. She sat up and formed a portal, preparing to go their and finish the job but her arm was grabbed by Hazel before entering.
"Not yet, they have had time to recover and all them against you would be suicide, I can't lose you too." He said with a serious tone.
Cinder clenched her teeth, as much as she wanted to go anyway and show off her new powers, she knew proving him wrong now would only be suspicious. She knew Hazel was smart and could help her conquer Remnant, so she had to pull off the ruse and keep his support. She sighed as she complied and closed the portal, putting her revenge on hold.
Reunion
Raven held her brother over her shoulders as he apologized, blood and poison dripping on her.
"Don't worry brother just hang on!" she sternly said. She did care for her brother, but was more worried about how badly Ruby would react as she knew how close they were. She went to all that trouble to protect Ruby these last few weeks and wasn't going to let her brother ruin it for being reckless.
"Is he going to make it?!" Nora asked in a panic. She vividly remembered the image of Ruby being stabbed by Tyrian, and how scared she felt not knowing how to help her. Jaune put his hand on her shoulder and smiled, doing his best to keep calm for his team's sake.
"Don't worry, we'll get him to the menagerie and get a doctor to patch him up." He calmly stated while fighting back his own unease from all he felt from this chaotic battle. Nora took a deep breath in response, feeling at ease from his assurances.
Raven opened up a portal on que and urged everyone to go through. As the teens passed her by she noticed someone missing.
"General you coming?" she asked her ally.
Ironwood merely placed his hands behind his back and gave her a serious yet solemn look.
"I'm afraid I can't, I have to clean up my mess here." He said, as he looked around at all the corpses of white fang and a few of his guards on the floor. He couldn't help but kick himself for this disastrous result; he felt he should have been better prepared. As a leader all things that went wrong were his fault was what the General firmly believed in. He took special notice of Neo's body. The knife that pierced her neck still stuck as it was surrounded by a small pool of her blood, yet he couldn't stomach the thought of touching her blade. She had risked her life to try and deceive Cinder to use it and save a child, yet paid for it with her life. He felt she was the true hero today like those teens and Qrow. He also felt unworthy to celebrate and should just do whatever damage control was possible.
"As much as I would love to go with you, I need to consult with my remaining men and the council to see how many convicts escaped and how many men we… that I lost" he said solemnly, still not taking his eyes off Neo.
Raven nodded in agreement, not wanting to say anything, as she knew words wouldn't comfort the solemn General. Her composure wavered as she saw a saddening image before her she never thought she would see. General Ironwood crying a little as he tenderly grabbed Neo's body and lifted her up in his arms. Raven fought tears as she saw him slowly enter the prison with her in his arms. As much as she didn't blame the General for Neo's death, she knew he did.
"Take care then my friend." She quietly said to herself as she entered her portal.
As she emerged out the other side to the infirmary at the Menagerie, Raven's eyes widen seeing Yang smiling as Team JNPR and Sun's jaws dropped at the sight before them.
Blake and Ruby engaging in a loving embrace, kissing each other while Thorn laid sleeping in his mother's arms.