Ruby Schnee
"...what do you mean...? How are you going to wake up...? You can't just-"
"Why not?" Ruby titled her head and eyed him down. "I know my body is unconscious right now. I just have to be in control when I wake up."
"But to do that..." He turned away and held the orb of light tighter to his chest.
"Rory. I need your help." That made him look back at her. "The personality that took me over isn't you. You have to contain it."
"I cant-"
"I don't care if you can't. You just have to." His puzzled expression was quite the sight to see. "Aren't you supposed to know how this works?"
"I don't... have many of my memories... I can only remember the stuff that you've seen..."
"Oh... well, I have an idea anyway." She moved her hand over and rested it on his forehead.
"What are you-?"
"Quiet. I need to concentrate."
"Why do you even think I'll help you...?"
"Because-" Moving her mana still wasn't the easiest thing in the world... "I know we're alike-" But, with the ability to summon an untold amount of confidence at will? "And if this situation were reversed-" Well... magic was just manipulating mana to achieve a known result. "I wouldn't hesitate to help you save Eirwen."
She couldn't help but smirk as Rory's body erupted with red scales. Horns erupting from his head and wings and a tail joining from his back. His eyes slitted into Silver lines and he eyed her cautiously.
"What did you just do...?"
"I made you transform. I don't have to find your other personality in here if your transformed... because now you've merged with it."
"And now... I can remember everything..." He frowned as he eyed her down. "I'm not letting you take back control."
"That's not your choice anymore." She smiled softly now and took a small step back with a slight spin. "My body, my soul, my rules."
"You honestly can't expect to talk me out of this."
"I don't. But... I do know something important." The light he was still holding... it slowly withered and died.
"And what's that?" He raised an eyebrow as she raised both her arms into the air.
"So long as my brain views the last memory it knows who to reject and who to accept. I don't really wanna see that myself..." She smirked gently. "But that dosent matter. I'm not the one in control of the brain at the moment."
His eyes turned to a bright glowing white and Ruby let out a small laugh as he collapsed to the ground. She closed her own eyes and took a deep breath.
"Now... I just have to open my eyes..."
"I just... have to wake up."
Qrow Branwen
"I've had some pretty shit days... That time I lost my flask... that time I had to kill my dad... fighting hung over in the last Vytal festival... that time I lost my flask..."
This was perhaps a contender for that list.
Her sword slammed against his own, a loud ringing of steel sounding throughout the ruins of the building as the weight of her blow dug into his defence. She was strong... really strong.
Too strong honestly.
"Why are all the chick's on your side so tough?" His ragged voice was only outcompeted by the ruggedness of his breath. She didn't reply at first, instead choosing to swing with her other blade, causing him to dodge back for fear of going on the backfoot if she kept swinging.
"If you used your power then this wouldn't be such a challenge for you." Her voice was cool and collected... honestly she kinda sounded bored.
"Maybe I just don't think you're that strong." He smirked but it lacked his usual confidence... in truth, she was definitely strong enough to warrant using Deaths mana.
"You insult me Qrow Branwen. Are you not the most powerful Harbinger? The most powerful man in all four kingdoms?" Cinders words held an undertone of sarcasm that made him want to throw his sword down and just try and punch her.
He didn't. Qrow wasn't sure how long he could keep her from killing him even with his weapon.
"Well you know... I haven't fought Raven in a while. She might beat me."
"I wouldn't compare myself to a Harbinger, and yet here I stand with the edge against one in a fight."
"You're fighting Qrow, not Death. Don't get too excited." She rested a hand on her hip at his words.
"Why is it that you refuse to use your power?" Geniune curiosity. The first real emotion she had shown so far.
He sighed and glanced around slightly... this whole place looked ready to fall apart any second. They were fighting in what amounted to a floor made of gravel and walls made of loose bricks.
"Death... its a blackhole of sorts. A void that tries to draw everything around it in... I don't know exaclty what's happening out there... but with all those people... some of which who might be fighting for there lives... or barely holding onto them... they don't need to be pulled down by me trying to use my power."
He readied his blade with a smirk.
"Wouldn't you like to know?"
"Yes... I would." She raised her own dual swords into her stance. "But perhaps that's an issue for your corpse to answer."
"As if you know Necromancy."
"A long life is key to lots of important lessons." He couldnt help but laugh in response.
"Lady... I know you're probably older then me... but.." He charged forward and swung downwards, the weight of his attacks requiring her to block with both blades. "You haven't seen anything yet."
Ruby Schnee
Ruby felt a change as she slowly opened her eyes... for one she was laying down now. Her back really hurt in one spot in particular which was weird... the Pride seemed to have deactivated for some reason... and...
"Why does my head hurt so much...?" She felt a flash of information flood into her mind and nearly threw up at the memories that surged through her... she could remember everything Rory had done while in control...
"Oh... shit..." She quickly stood and groaned again as she did, looking around for-
"There!"
Weiss's Summon was hard to miss, and she could feel three powerful presences from over there besides the Knight.
"Weiss, Pyrrha... and... Adam." The White Fang leader... that very much wanted Weiss dead.
She scattered into rose petals and flew over there as quickly as possible, narrowly avoiding a swing of the Knights sword as she materialised in the middle of all four of the combatants.
With heavy breathing they all stopped and stared at her. Ruby's awkward eyes flicked from them one by one and she let out an awkward chuckle to match.
"What do I even say...? Umm... ok screw this."
Time for her new ability.
She stood up properly as the Pride welled inside her, taking a calming breath as she turned to Weiss.
"Don't you owe me a 'good morning'?" She mentally squealed at how cheesy that line was.
"I... What?" Well that wasn't the reaction Ruby was hoping for...
"No! Weiss! You're supposed to be really excited to see me!" She stamped her foot on the ground and marched over with a pout. "You're a butt."
Weiss looked incredibly confused... but realisation slowly spread over her expression as tears welled in her eyes.
"R...Ruby...?" The redhead nodded happily and held her arms out for a hug.
"See? That's better." Weiss didn't waste a single second more and immediately moved into Ruby's arms, slipping her own around the girl. "I missed you."
"You... dolt... never leave me again." She buried her face into Ruby's shoulder and the girl nodded.
"Never again."
"You're making me want to throw up." Ruby mentally groaned as she heard Adams words... of course he had to ruin the moment. She pulled away gently from Weiss and gave her a smile.
"Imma go smack him ok?" She gave a small wink after the whisper and turned to approach the Harbinger.
"R-Ruby??" Weiss's shock was pretty cute... but Ruby had to wipe the smirk off of this guys face first.
"Oh? You're approaching me? Aren't you the Dragon that can't even transform?" His voice was so smug and uptight... Ruby didn't know how Pyrrha hadn't dashed at him to try and cut his tounge out yet.
Ok she did know... Pyrrha was taking the chance to regain some mana, but still. He was so annoying!
"Well, see... I'm not the best at magic..." With a blink her eyes changed from Silver orbs to glowing slits, and her body erupted into scales as her wing and tail erupted from her back. "So I have to get a lot closer in order to kick your arse."
Ruby may not have an elemental Affinity... but as she swung her claw right at him, she gained a new appreciation for the element of surprise.
His blade moved up to block the attack, but Ruby's claw fell apart into rose petals as it passed the blade, reforming past it still in swing and slamming into the mans face.
Adam was sent back by a few metres and quickly composed himself, putting his sword away and entering a stance as Ruby put a hand on her hip and smirked.
"Yeah, that felt good." Her words only fueled his rage as blood slowly trickled down his face. She hadnt done much damage... but it was still quite satisfying.
"You... bitch!" His body tensed as he moved to dash towards her, before being forced to leap back instead in a dodge as a gigantic glowing sword slammed into the ground where he previously stood. Ruby turned to her side and smiled as Weiss walked up next to her.
"That summon is so cool by the way!" She gave the Queen a bright smile and Weiss blushed gently as she looked away.
"T-thank you... you seem to have picked up some new tricks yourself." She turned back to Ruby with an almost smirk and they shared a smile after the exchange, both of them nearly laughing.
Ruby's eyes settled back onto Adam as he readied himself again.
Unfortunately... now wasn't the time for the heartfelt reunion they both wanted to share.
"As much as I want to enjoy this... he's too strong for me." Having lost her surprise advantage, Adam was now squarely back in the 'do not fuck with' territory for Ruby.
"You're not alone though." Weiss drew her sword and Ruby heard the Summon ready its own blade. "We'll focus on support."
"We? As in, you and your summon, or you and me?"
"All three of us." Weiss smirked at her as Pyrrha rushed past. The Queen had dropped her sword In the air for Pyrrha to grab as she rocketed past them, heading straight for Adam.
"Why did she change sword- Oh... Weiss's weapon is a rare."
Ruby followed in a storm of rose petals, and the Gigas kept pace with her as they charged the Faunas. She hadnt seen Weiss follow at first, but noticed her perched on the Knights shoulder.
Pyrrha was keeping a pretty tight pace against Adam. The rapier she wielded now wasn't her usual method of fighting... but it was still a much better weapon then her own, and the change in the fights pace reflected that.
Adam was left on the backfoot immediately, and they all worked to keep him there.
Everytime he dodged too far back from Pyrrha, the Gigas swung it's weapon at him, every time he swung too far out, Weiss attempted to freeze his blade, and everytime he tried to swing at Pyrrha? Well, Ruby could outreach him with her remaining wing.
The battle was an unfair situation of three on one, yet Adam hadnt fallen yet.
His mana seemed to just keep coming, he was almost certainly using enhancement magic and yet... it felt different from just that. Like his movements were enhanced in some extra way.
"Is he using an Enhancement spell, and mana to power himself up?"
He shouldn't be able to last long on that strategy... yet he didn't slow down for even a moment.
As strange as it was... they were starting to get pushed back. He was gaining the advantage somehow...
"Weiss, we need a new strategy." Ruby hadn't even known that she could use the telepathy in her half form... until today anyway.
"Do you have any ideas?"
"Yeah, I got a pretty bad one."
Jaune Arc
"Holy shit!" He barely brought his shield up in time to block, and it basically amounted to nothing as the force from the blow still sent him flying back. Jaune let out a gasp of pain as he slammed into a wall, groaning as his body screamed all over.
The sound of an empty bottle smashing against the ground was followed by the roaring sounds of a certain Staff beginning to fire. The constant magic shrapnel of the weapon bolting towards there opponent. The owner of said staff was distracted focusing on Mercury, so that gave time for Velvet to rush over to Jaune.
"You alright??" Her words were filled with so much worry, and the green healing light had already begun leaking from her hands and flowing over him.
"Peachy..." Jaune managed to stand a bit and rested one of his hands over her own, making them drop down gently. "Save your mana, I'm fine."
"Jaune you-"
"I'm fine. Save it for someone seriously hurt." He gave her a smile before shooting back up, barely containing a wince of pain as he started rushing back over to continue fighting.
Coco's staff was still unloading a barrage of spells towards the silver haired man. Mercury was forced to leap all over the place to dodge the assault... they were lucky that there was no one else fighting around them so they could keep using this strategy.
Said strategy boiled down to hoping Coco shredded him... and then panicking for a few minutes while she drank some mana potions.
All in all they weren't dead yet so Jaune had no complaints about it.
Ok maybe one complaint.
Coco's staff stopped firing and she collapsed to the ground with ragged breathes, barely keeping herself up on her hands and knees.
"This... isn't good." Her words weren't really necessary... they had all noticed, even Mercury. Mana potions were incredibly powerful... but using too many in quick succession drastically reduced there effectiveness. Jaune readied his sword and shield and wore a determined expression as Mercury stopped his dodging and instead leaped straight towards them.
"I'll cover you!" Those words weren't necessary either, they all understood there roles at this point.
He groaned in pain as he blocked a kick from the man, the weight behind it making him want to buckle and be thrown away... only pure will keeping him from losing his stance on the ground as he brought his sword in for a swing at the half werewolf.
He nearly cursed as the man flipped over the blade, bringing his leg down in an overhead kick that Jaune barely blocked again.
This one was even worse. Stuck between the ground and the overwhelming force from above Jaunes leg buckled and it was only his remaining leg and knee keeping him from being crushed into the stone beneath him.
The sound of flame passed overhead and the force from above stopped as Mercury dodged Velvets spell.
"Thanks!" Jaune quickly shouted to the girl before following Mercury's dodge, hoping to catch him before he landed.
With a swing of his sword he achieved the opposite result, Mercury managed to kick off his blade and get even further away before landing, nearly disappearing he moved so quickly afterwards.
"Shi-" Jaunes words were cut off as a kick sunk into his side, he felt his ribs shatter against the force of it before his body followed the force, sending him flying.
It wasn't a graceful landing, and his body was barely holding itself together now even without the adding injuries from rolling against the broken stone.
"Yep... that sucked..."
His armour had absorbed... some... of the damage. But mostly it had malformed and given way to the kicks force... he doubted he'd be able to move much in it now.
His eyes slowly opened and he watched the battle taking place from a distance now.
Velvet and Coco were forced to take the front lines, whatever Coco was... she was strong, but her speed left plenty to be desired, especially next to Mercury... and Velvet... well, she herself had admitted to Jaune in the past that she had yet to find a proper fighting style. So she was often forced to depend on spells.
Coco was doing her best to defend Velvet... but they wouldn't last like this...
"I... have to get up..."
"You can't. And even if you do what then? It's not like you're better then either of them."
He chuckled as he listened to his internal voice... he had long since decided one very important thing about the insecurities that often clouded his mind.
"You don't control me... not while I've got someone I trust way more then you telling me the opposite." Pure red hair and Green eyes flashed in his mind... and he slowly rose with a small smile.
He slowly stood... and his legs worked to slowly shuffle his body forward as his hands worked to shake the armour from his body. Piece by piece it fell from him as he moved over slowly... speeding up as broken piece after broken piece was removed.
"Hey!" His shout caught Mercury's attention and Jaune smirked as he drew his sword and shield again. "I'm not done yet." He felt blood slowly trickle down his face... but kept his smile.
"I'm not stopping till I'm dead."
Cause thats what a Hero would do right?
"You're persistent." Mercury changed his target and leaped at Jaune, set to hit him so hard he'd stay down this time.
"He thinks ill block this time... I've been setting that idea up in his head... I've blocked every single one of these attacks... all for this last hit..."
So long as he didn't block it... so long as he took the attack...
He could get one solid hit in.
He watched it like it happened in slow motion. Mercury's face change to surprise as Jaune dropped his shield and angled his sword just right.
Mercury's kick straight to his stomach did more then just bruise or break something, hell Jaune was sure that he had punctured through the skin and muscle... but that didn't matter.
Jaunes blade angled just right and went straight towards the mans stomach, with a twirl in the air Mercury avoided being impaled... but Jaune didn't give up there. With a realignment of his sword, the blade sliced right along the underside of the man's knee, cutting tendons and whatever else was there as it did.
The man let out a scream of pain and Jaune smiled as time sped up again and the force from the kick transferred into his body completely, sending him flying once more... though a lot further this time.
Ruby Schnee
"That's... it might work."
"Ha! I'm a genius!" Ruby's face turned triumphant as she finished explaining her plan to Weiss through her telepathy.
The fighting progressed as it had, Adam was slowly gaining the upper hand... but they needed to wait for him and Pyrrha to separate for some reason. Ruby had explained the plan to the girl as well, but just unnaturally leaving the exchange of blows was sure to make there foe prepare for something.
Weiss moved behind her Summon and out of sight as Ruby started getting more aggressive against Adam, trying to hit him from behind to make him leave the fray... but he wouldn't.
"We can win. We just have to keep pushing. So long as nothing goes wrong-"
Ruby felt a sinking feeling in her gut... she watched time slow down as a glowing red figure slowly moved across her vision.
"Rory... you're still here..."
Time sped up as it disappeared and she shook her head.
It was fine.
She didn't need to worry yet.
So long as nothing else-
A slam and crack of noise sounded out as something crashed through some nearby rubble. They all turned there heads at once and Ruby's eyes widened as she recognised the bloody and beaten person that rested on the ground...
"Jaune!!" Pyrrha disengaged from the fight and leaped over to him, landing with tensed legs as she quickly brought her hands down to start healing him.
Ruby turned to Adam to try and defend Pyrrha but... he wasn't even watching her. He was looking around for-
"Weiss!"
She had spotted it even before Ruby had! The perfect opportunity for her plan!
The Harbinger turned his head up with shock as he felt a pulse of magic from far above him.
In the sky hovered the large white figure of the full Frost Dragon, her wings keeping her still in the sky as her open maw leaked a light blue energy.
Ruby smirked and dashed away from the Faunas as the breath attack slammed into him, spreading out wider to cover everything around him. The veritable laser didn't stop, Weiss kept pumping mana into the attack in an attempt to end this... here and now.
Ruby nodded and turned to Jaune and Pyrrha, quickly moving over to-
"You know Ruby..." She froze as she heard his voice... the red figure appearing next to her as it spoke. "When everything went wrong for me-?" Ruby felt a pulse of mana and turned to the warehouse, the opening in the wall were Rory had come through earlier...
There stood just outside it... a woman with pure black hair, a red dress... glowing Gold eyes... and dragging along a bloody and beaten man holding a large blade.
"Uncle Qrow-" She stopped as she heard the Frost Dragon stop its attack, turning up to the creature just in time to see it roar towards the warehouse, ready to move towards it to attack the woman and-
Her heart sank as something slammed into the Dragon from directly below... a man wearing black clothing and wielding a glowing red sword...
That had sunk directly into the Dragons chest...
"-It all happened at once."