One bullet. One bullet was all it would take. One bullet for the traitor, and all who followed him.
Yet it was still his own mistake. He had made them flawed. Such an outcome was to be expected. The next batch would be better, he promised himself. But for now, it was time to clean up his mess.
For this task he had raised around a dozen undeads, it was the most he could personally manage when keeping their autonomy down to a safe level. Most of them were former White Fang members or Valean refugees.
They had tracked the defective undeads back to a makeshift stronghold. It was barely located within the city, and had its back covered by the mountains. A nearby cave was probably what allowed them to survive Atlas' wrath, as well as being relatively far away from where most of the fighting had taken place.
Nonetheless, with the city's extensive and unstable underground network, it was a small miracle the stronghold hadn't yet collapsed on itself.
There were a few buildings near it, and Kieffner deemed two of them high enough for his goals. He ordered four undeads to get on the roof of those buildings. Two undeads per building, each duo armed with the best rifles he could get.
The rest would accompany him as he went to met the leader of the defects, as he had to get him out of hiding. Approaching the stronghold, he could start to feel the undeads there. Even if it was weakened, their links to him couldn't be fully broken.
Kieffner counted a little under fifty defects. He was under no illusion that killing their leader would put an end to their insubordination. This had to be managed carefully. He would rather not spend another day drifting back to his phylactery.
The defects emptily stared at him as he entered their camp, yet none tried to stop him. Only two of his new undeads escorted him. He could sense the others nearby, moving along with him, yet unseen.
This plan was going to cost him so much dust... Well, there was no victory without sacrifice.
He was interrupted when the defects' leader came out of a dwelling carved into the rock. He was wearing human clothes for some reason, and held a rifle in his hands, even though it wasn't raised.
Kieffner quickly focused on his sharpshooters, trying to get an aim at the defect. However both lines of sights were blocked by a wall and himself respectively. He just had to push the leader back.
"I knew you wouldn't let us be in peace, creator." The defect begun, his voice the usual guttural tone of undeads.
"Wether you realize it or not, you pose a threat to the safety of your creations. No longer will we die for the sake of your ambitions !"
"Die ? You are already dead. You're only standing here right now thanks to me !" Kieffner yelled.
This was bad, he was getting distracted from his plan. He took a few metaphorical breaths to calm himself. He sensed his other undeads spread around the camp, or under it to be more accurate.
He then slowly walked forward, trying to pressure his opponent into giving ground.
"You gave up on your right to consciousness when you agreed to unlife. If you insist on insubordination, I will have to put an end to my part of this agreement as well." Kieffner said softly, in stark contrast with the meaning of his words.
The defect took a step back.
"It seems I was right about you. How unfortunate." He muttered, half to himself.
"You see us as nothing more than tools."
Just one step. One more step and he would be dead.
"This is pointless, kill him."
Wait, what ?
Kieffner heard a bang and bullet broke through his ribcage. He immediately dropped down, which allowed him to avoid a bullet aimed at his skull. He quickly focused on his minions underground.
Time for plan B.
Four separate parts of the camp exploded, one after another. The ground shook for a moment, before starting to collapse. The ground engulfed defects all around Kieffner. He could only hope that his estimations were correct, and that he wouldn't get his bones crushed as well.
The falling ground spread like a wildfire. It advanced particularly quickly on his right, and Kieffner had to roll away to avoid it.
The whole process lasted maybe ten seconds before calming down. By then the necromancer was alone on a small stone island standing tall in a sea of rubble. Both his bodyguard had been shallowed and crushed. He could still sense a few defects, but they were almost all buried and severely damaged.
Yet one of them was still fine.
Kieffner grabbed one of his bodyguards' rifle. It had to be the defects' leader.
"I don't know wether I should be impressed by you or disappointed by me, but you have managed to be a pain in my ass for way longer than is acceptable."
The defect in question struggled to get up. His left feet had been crushed, but he looked fine otherwise.
"For as long as you enslave my kind, there will always be some who will break free. We only have to win once, you have to win every time."
"I have heard enough of your nonsense." Kieffner concluded, before blasting the defect's skull.
He left the destroyed camp, trying to focus on his future plans, even as the defect's word echoed in his mind.
Adam's POV
One of the advantages of a city-wide massacre, was that there was no one left to rob the stores and warehouses. At least that was the case until he came back.
Less than a day ago, Adam had expected to be relieved, and even be happy once he got his hands on some good food. Yet, now that he stood there he could feel nothing but shame as what happened in the last few days finally dawned on him.
He a little over fifty faunus under his command when the Grimms began their attack. Eight came underground with him, not counting the necromancer and himself. Half of those died in the next half hour. Then he lost his Lieutenant, and finally Kieffner. Only two of them remained now, counting himself.
Where did things go wrong ? Was it when they baited the Grimms ? When his troops failed to hold them off ? Why did the Atlesians have to come when they did ?
And that monster was just the icing on the cake.
Now the Valean branch of the White Fang was effectively gone. But what was left to do in the region anyway ? Maybe Mistral would be more interesting, or even Atlas if he managed to get there. His brothers there only needed an opportunity to rise, and they would take it.
"What are we gonna do now boss ?" Asked the teenager his Lieutenant had deemed wise to keep around. Well he was never the brightest amongst them to be fully honest.
"First I will drop you off at the nearest faunus settlement. While I usually respect your guardian's judgment, concerning your case, he was mistaken. You have no place in an active war zone. Go find yourself a nice place to call home, a community to protect, and you will have found your purpose in life."
The girl eyes widened, after a second she clenched her fists and gritted her teeth.
"What ? You're just gonna leave me behind ? That's not going to happen, I won't accept it. Just when I'm starting to feel alive, you're telling me to give it up ? After all these years I'm finally starting to see things as they are, I can't go back to being blind." By the end of it she was practically hysteric, on the verge of tears. Her entire body was tense, ready for a fight.
"I admire your enthusiasm kid, I really do. But whatever you're looking for with me, you're not gonna find it. I have no grand destiny to offer you, no place in a secret plan. I'm fighting for a future I will never see with my own eyes. A future were our kind can raise their heads high and be proud of what we are. I will die before that. If you follow me, then you will die as well."
This seemed to have calmed the girl, and she seemed to be actually thinking about it.
"I see, and I suppose you are right. I should leave while I still can. Try to enjoy life in a peaceful corner of the world."
"But I won't do that. I can't forget them, our fallen brothers, and I don't want to. Their memories will haunt me forever if I leave them behind. I can only uphold their legacy, ensure that their sacrifice wasn't vain. If it is my destiny to die, then so be it. At least I will have lived."
The shadow of a smile appeared on Adam's face.
"Maybe he was right after all..."
Ruby's POV
"This one's broken too." Blake grumbled after examining a Bullhead.
"There has to be a working one somewhere !" Let out Weiss before kicking a nearby rock.
"Argh, I got guts on my shoes again. Watch out where you step girls."
That piece of advice wasn't particularly useful. The Valean street they were on right now was almost completely covered in dried blood and cold body parts. Many windows had blood splatters and few doors laid unbroken. This place had been abandoned by all but crows and worms. The only exception they were aware of was themselves.
"So many deaths... In the end, I couldn't save any of them..." Ruby mumbled, not supposed to heard by anyone. Yet Blake caught the words.
"It's not your fault. This is way beyond any of us. All we can do is make sure this never happens again."
"And give the criminals behind it what they deserve." Weiss added.
"I get your anger Ice Queen, but we're supposed to fight Grimms, not people. Let Ironwood's army take care of that." Said Blake.
Weiss puffed. "Those who behave like Grimms should be treated as such. I have no qualms getting my hands dirty with those scums' blood."
"Ah, you're not even willing to get your shoes dirty. And I doubt someone like you understands justice anyway."
"What ?! Someone like ..."
"Please calm down girls. We shouldn't fight each other, especially right now." Ruby pleaded.
"... understand way more about life than a stray cat like you !"
"And now you're being racist ! I'm starting to think Adam was right about you."
"For fuck's sake just shut up !" Ruby yelled.
This actually worked, both Blake and Weiss turned silent and faced Ruby with shock painted on their faces.
"Ruby, are you alr..." Started Blake.
"No, stop, shut it." Ruby whispered firmly. She clenched her head between her hands and took a deep breath before continuing.
"Not a day ago you told me I was the best leader you could hope for. Was that a lie ? Where you just trying to comfort me ?"
"Of course n..."
"Then why don't you ever listen to me !"
"I'm tired of this, I'm sick of it, of everyone treating me like a I'm just some dumb kid. Everyone's so scared of hurting me they won't ever tell me the truth. You all think I can't possibly understand, that I'm ignorant of how things are really done."
"Yang... died before my eyes, and there was nothing I could do. I know life is not a fairytale."
"I know I'm not fit for being a leader. I'm probably the least fit among all of us to be honest. I don't know why Ozpin gave me that role. I didn't want it back then, and I want it even less now. I can't even leave you two alone for five minutes without it coming to a shouting spar. And that's when you're not feeling like pulling out your weapons."
"I failed my sister, and one day I will fail you too. I'm tired of this, of everyone's lives being on my shoulders. I'm gonna get us somewhere safe. Then team RWBY needs to be dealt with. Too much as happened. I don't think this is working anymore, if it ever has."
Pyrrha's POV
"Just put your hands on the vault door, it should open." Glynda Goodwitch told her.
It was too late to back down now. It would be immensely disrespectful to all those who risked their life to get her there, as well as those who died during the fall.
So she laid her right hand on the door. From where her hand laid, a glowing light began to flow through small crevices carved into the stone door. It quickly spread from side, until it formed a magnificent glowing crown. Once the light reached the edge, the walls shook and their could hear the wincing of gear not used in over a century.
Slowly the door swung open, and what laid behind was exactly what Pyrrha expected. There was no grand murals, no mesmerizing magic and no imposing statues. The only things to catch the eye inside that cave were half a dozen dust crystal spread in a circle. Their gentle white glow was the only source of light in that place.
"Be careful, right ?" Said Jaune.
"I will." Pyrrha answered with a small smile.
The others stayed behind as she slowly crossed the entrance. It looked like a crown, that was all she was told about the relic. There was nothing to her left or right beside bare stone walls. She nonetheless pushed forth.
As Pyrrha walked past one of the crystals, she finally saw what she was looking for. In the middle of the circle formed by the crystals, stood a tall pedestal. Simply resting on it was a magnificent golden crown adorned with jewels of many colors.
Once again looking around the cave, looking for any trap, Pyrrha once again found nothing of note. There wasn't anything else to do than take the relic now. Thus she stretched her arm and opened her hand to take the crown. Yet when she touched it, the crown suddenly disappeared.
Pyrrha heard the door's gears work, and turned around just in time to witness the door closing, locking her inside. Then all the luminous crystal tumbled and fell towards the empty pedestal. Upon hitting the floor each of them broke into a multitude of tiny shards. The glowing light soon left those minuscule pieces, and the room was plunged into complete darkness.
A beam of light suddenly emerged out of nowhere. It was just enough for Pyrrha to see her immediate surroundings, and to reveal the presence of someone else. The person turned around, and Pyrrha saw who it was.
"Jaune ?"
And it was Jaune. Yet is face was distorted by an anger she had never seen in him.
"You ! What have you done ?!" He suddenly yelled at hear, before raising his sword and getting in the very same fighting stance she taught him.
"Do you have any idea of what you've caused ? They're all dead, because of you !"
"What are you talking about Jaune ?" Pyrrha asked, but instead of answering Jaune charged at her.
Years of training kicked in and Pyrrha got into her own fighting stance. But something was wrong. She felt groggy, and her movements were slow, like she was trying to move through water.
Despite this she still managed to block her partner's first attack. However his sword struck her shield with a force she didn't expect and made stumble a few steps back. They hadn't sparred in while, that was true, but she couldn't remember him being nearly as strong.
"Jaune, are you alright ? What are you doing ?"
"Enough talking, it's time to pay."
He crossed the distance between them in an instant, bashed his shield against Pyrrha's, and swung his sword at her leg. She tried to dodge, but her movements were too slow. In a fit of panic she tried to use her semblance on the sword, yet nothing happened. Pyrrha could do nothing but watch as her partner's blade broke through her aura with unparalleled strength, before hitting her greaves.
Never had she been more thankful to be wearing armor, even as she felt the strength of the blow swipe her leg away. She tumbled face first into the stone floor with less grace than she would've liked.
Pyrrha tried to stand up, but she first felt Jaune's blade moving through the air over her. Mostly out of reflex, before really understanding what was happening, she rolled to side, barely avoiding a decapitating strike.
She used the short time her partner took to pull his sword out of the stone to stand up. Her leg hurt a lot, but it still worked. She wanted to talk to Jaune, try to reason with him, but she couldn't even find the breath to do so.
Her aura was gone now, any mistake could be her last. She dearly hoped that her partner wasn't really trying to kill her, but things certainly didn't look that way. She shouldn't be taking any chances.
Jaune was already barreling towards her like a savage, his sword raised high. He first tried to once again bash his shield at her, but this time Pyrrha avoided it by taking two steps back. A sword swing was already in motion however, yet she parried that one with her own sword. She was forced to deflect the blow rather than block it, as without aura she wouldn't be able to counter Jaune's newfound force.
Pyrrha didn't feel slow anymore, just the normal weakness associated to her lack of aura. She transformed Miló into its spear form and used the extended reach to swing the weapon sideway and hit Jaune's side like a mace.
Thankfully his aura seemed to tank the hit, and he only winced at the blow.
"You're gonna have to try harder if you want to get out of here. I won't go down so easily."
Indeed he didn't seem to share the same desire of holding back, and proceeded to kick his partner with all his strength.
Pyrrha moved out of the way, but still got grazed by the foot. It was enough to unbalance her, which was all Jaune needed to follow up with a blow she wouldn't be able to dodge.
And that blow did come. Time felt practically frozen for Pyrrha as she stared at the sword approaching her throat. It was already too close to be dodged, and her shield was too far away to be of any help. There was only one way for her to stay alive.
A blast of fire came out of her hands and hit Jaune with such force that he was sent flying to the other side of the room. His body tumbled for some distance more before falling into a precipice Pyrrha hadn't noticed before.
"Jaune !" She cried out, and immediately rushed over where he had fallen.
Pyrrha didn't hold out a sigh of relief when she saw her partner still holding on to the side of cliff. Below him was only darkness. Pyrrha had no idea how deep that thing was, but the fact that she still hadn't heard Jaune's shield and sword hit the bottom wasn't reassuring.
"Hold on, I'm gonna get you out of there." Pyrrha told him while dropping Miló and Akoúo̱ to free her hands.
"Stop ! The relic is there." Jaune managed to utter between two attempts to pull himself up. He nodded towards some point on Pyrrha's left, and she followed his gaze.
Surely enough, there laid the crown she had seen before, carefully balanced on the same cliff as Jaune's. It was as beautiful and radiating with light that Pyrrha wondered how she failed notice it before. With each of her partner's movements the crown's position shifted more and more towards the cliff.
The crown, the relic, it was just there, almost within arm's reach. That was why she was here, her friends relied on her. But Jaune was also her friend, maybe something more, even if he tried to kill her, and he needed her too.
No one would hold it against her if she chose the relic. The survival of the world was at stake, according to Ms Goodwitch. They would understand, they would want her to make that choice.
"Shit !" Jaune gasped as a part of the cliff crumbled, leaving him with only one hand to hold on with. At the same time the relic began to swing on the cliff's edge, dangerously close to falling. Pyrrha had made her choice.
Well, it wouldn't be the first time she failed to meet expectations.
"Jaune, give me your hand."
Her partner hesitated for a second, before swinging his unused hand into hers. He was heavier than she thought, and pulling him up was difficult without aura. Pyrrha grit her teeth, dug her heels into the ground, and pulled on Jaune's hand as hard as she could.
This barely raised him, however it moved it just enough for Pyrrha to succeed in grabbing her partner around his shoulders. Jaune could now use his own legs, even as the ground he stepped on was rapidly collapsing, threatening to throw him back down.
In one final effort Pyrrha managed to pull Jaune out of harm's way, unfortunately stumbling and falling on the ground behind her in the process. Her partner's momentum made him follow her and soon his large body covered her own.
As Pyrrha laid there, dazed and panting, she saw the relic finally fall over the edge. In panic she tried to use her maiden powers, conjuring a burst of wind to try to get the jewel back up. Yet it did little more than blow the crown even further away as it fell into the darkness.
It was over, she failed. At least Salem's forces shouldn't be able to get it either. And Jaune was alive, that was the most important.
"Jaune, are you alright ?"
"Yes. Thank you for saving me. You made the right choice."
Pyrrha blinked, and when she opened her eyes again, everything had disappeared. Jaune wasn't there, she could find no trace of the precipice or the darkness beyond it. The room was still mostly the same, except for the pedestal that held the relic in the very beginning. It was now empty, and the relic was nowhere to be found.
Pyrrha winced upon hearing the sound of the vault door opening once again. On the inside however, she was immensely relieved. She may have failed to get the relic, she didn't know if any of that was even real in the first place, her aura being already back at full strength was certainly suspicious. If it was real, that meant she had saved Jaune, otherwise the relic disappeared when she touched it, or was never there in the first place. There was little she could do about any of this, so she stepped out of the vault.
"We were so worried about you !" Was the first thing she heard.
It was from Jaune, and he acted like nothing had happened in the vault. It was likely all some kind of hallucination, or other magical shenanigans.
"We tried to force the doors open, but nothing we did worked." Said Ren in his usual calm voice, yet the way he held his hands behind his torso betrayed anxious fiddling.
"She looks fine. Tell us what happened ! Did you fight giant statues, an ancient Grimm, or some magical creature ?" Asked Nora, probably the least worried in the group.
Glynda looked at Pyrrha with guilt in her eyes.
"I did not know what to expect, yet still pushed you to go. For this I am sorry. And you even managed you managed to get the relic."
"No need to be sorry, nothing too bad happened." Pyrrha answered automatically, then the rest of Glynda's words caught up with her.
"What are you talking about ? I didn't get the relic."
"Then what's that on you head ?" Jaune asked.
Her right hand went up and caressed the top of her head, and indeed there was something. But it did not feel like a crown. It was . . . some kind of plant ?
"The form is a little unorthodox, but I suppose it is a sort of crown." Glynda added.
Pyrrha took the thing off her head, and finally saw what it was. It was made of plants, and it could be considered a crown. She held in her hands nothing else than a laurel wreath.
She could feel the powerful magic coursing through the branches, ancient and unknowable. It resonate with something inside her. At that moment Pyrrha knew, she knew with absolute certitude that this was the relic.
"It was a test, and this is the real one..." Pyrrha muttered, too quiet for anyone else to understand.
"Now that that's done, we only have to get the three others." Jaune said.
"We missed our ticket to Atlas a few days ago, and their relic is probably the best guarded of them all anyway. Going to Vacuo would have us go either through an empty desert or too near the dark continent for my taste." Glynda continued.
"How about we go to Mistral first, then to Atlas through Argus, and finally use a part of the Atlesians fleet to safely get to Vacuo ?" Ren proposed.
"I doubt we will find anything better, so let us follow this plan." Ms Goodwitch proclaimed.
Author note :
Kieffner won't stop using massive amounts of undeads, but he will have to find a way to get loyal officers that aren't braindead.
In my first draft of this chapter Adam got into a fight with team RWBY, but it was either inconclusive, or caused the sudden death of a character. I felt like this was either pointless or hurt the story, so I cut the scene.
I hope Ruby's outburst didn't feel like it came out of nowhere, but please tell me if you felt that it was the case.
The vault in this chapter isn't the big vault with Amber and all that, but the relic's vault specifically.
I chose Pyrrha to become the new Fall maiden to keep some continuity with canon. Of course in canon Pyrrha died against Cinder, but if she didn't she would probably have become a maiden. I also don't remember wether when I wrote the fall of Beacon, Cinder killed Amber or not. If she did, then Pyrrha was simply the last woman Cinder thought about. Otherwise Pyrrha killed Amber, and got Cinder's half of the powers when she died.
I got the idea for the relic's test by looking up the wiki, and finding out that Ozpin went out of his way to protect it more than the others. The illusion/hallucination is something I think fits the relic's power and theme. In addition that's absolutely the kind of trial Ozpin would put in place for something of such importance, and it would explain why Cinder didn't get the relic in canon.
The laurel wreath comes from the fact that the crown seems to change its appearance in each of its apparitions. I thought it would be a nice idea for it to actually adapt to whoever finds it.
Thanks for your support and patience. Please leave a review, and until next time.