'I just can't wait. Once we set sail, it'll be great'
Those words had been going through Sora's head the whole way back to his house. As he lied there in his bed, he glanced at an old toy from when he was little. It was a sailboat (that was missing its sails) with two ragdolls standing in it: a boy and a girl.
Tomorrow was going to be a huge day for more than one reason. Sora was seriously thinking that he might try asking Kairi if she wanted to try the paopu trick with him before they left. The way Riku had been acting lately, it felt as if this could be his only chance. If there really was a way off-world somewhere out at sea, then things would get pretty exciting. But then, who knew when they'd be coming back? He'd have to wait a long time for another chance to ask her.
He then wondered about that joke Kairi had made earlier. Sure, she'd been kidding. But would she have really been okay with traveling to other worlds if he was with her alone? Sora knew that he'd actually felt a little tempted after processing what she'd offered. But he also couldn't betray Riku, especially when the raft was his idea. Sora's thoughts were interrupted when he heard some thunder in the distance.
"A storm?" Sora thought aloud as he looked out his bedroom window. Strange. He couldn't recall the weather report saying anything about bad weather. From his position, he could see the island where they'd always played in the distance. There were bolts of purple lightning striking around the island. "Oh, no, the raft!"
Sora quickly sat up as the idea occurred to him. If he didn't do something, all their hard work would have been for nothing. His mom was probably going to kill him for this, but he didn't have time to think about that. Sora opened his window and climbed out. As soon as his feet hit the ground, he broke into a run, heading for the docks where his family's rowboat was located. The trip to the island would probably take a while, especially when the boat didn't have a motor, but he had no other option. Hopefully, he wouldn't be too late to save the raft.
Ruby had arrived too late.
"Warning," repeated the automatic voice over the speakers. "Safety barriers failing." A giant Nevermore Grimm's screeches echoed throughout Amity Colosseum as it pecked away at the invisible barrier up top. Every civilian in the stands, human and faunus, was running away in a panic. But Ruby couldn't even bring herself to stand up as tears streamed down her face. Her eyes were locked on the horrible scene down below.
Penny Polendina, the gynoid with one of the biggest hearts that Ruby had ever seen, was lying in pieces within the arena. Her own weapons' cables had tangled with her limbs and torso, crushing and ripping the poor girl apart on live TV. Just a little ways from Penny's remains, Pyrrha was shakily standing up. It seemed she was still in shock from what had happened, unable to tear her eyes from the gruesome scene. Ruby couldn't imagine how horrified her redheaded friend must've felt by her actions, not that she could blame her.
The silver-eyed huntress hadn't figured out Cinder Fall's plan in time. One of that witch's teammates had infiltrated the crowd and used some kind of hallucination semblance to trick Pyrrha into unleashing her full power. It was also probably how Yang had been tricked into "injuring" Mercury. Ruby's scroll now had the bullet hole to prove he'd never been wounded at all. Despite her best efforts, Ruby had failed to save one of her dearest friends.
"Pyrrha!" came the voice of Jaune Arc, snapping Ruby out of her thoughts. She looked down the stands to see the rest of Team JNPR near the edge, looking frantically at their teammate. "Pyrrha, that thing's going to break in; you gotta move!"
"What?" Ruby asked under her breath as she looked at the barriers above. She could see the giant Nevermore flap its wings, lifting itself higher and higher into the sky. Its glowing red eyes that peered from its skull-like mask were filled with nothing but hatred and the need to kill. The warning that had come over the intercom suddenly came rushing back to the silver-eyed girl. If it gave another good hit, that monster would break through and kill Pyrrha. "No. No, not again!"
Ruby got back onto her feet and started running down the steps in the stadium. It seemed that Jaune had the same idea, as the armored blond vaulted over the safety rails, despite his teammates' protests.
"Pyrrha, please snap out of it!" Jaune pleaded as he rushed to his partner's side. There was a loud crash from above just as Ruby vaulted over the safety rails herself. The Nevermore slammed into the arena, right in front of the redheaded warrior. The force of its landing caused wind to blow everyone away.
Even Ruby was knocked away. No more than a second after her body was slammed into the wall, she heard a CLANG and a SHIINK as one of Penny's swords flew in. Its blade stabbed into the wall, inches away from Ruby's face. After quickly catching her breath from that sudden scare, Ruby looked ahead. Pyrrha was still just lying there in a daze, even as the Nevermore flared its gigantic black wings and screeched at her.
'No. NOOOOOO!' Ruby internally screamed as her hand instinctively reached for the hilt of her fallen friend's sword, yanking it out. She activated her semblance and zoomed forward at incredible speed, a trail of rose petals falling in her wake.
The Nevermore charged at Pyrrha, ready to destroy her, but Ruby flew at the monster with Penny's sword thrust out. She landed against the Nevermore's chest with enough force to knock the feathered titan back. The monster shrieked in agony as Ruby shoved the blade in deeper. She then pulled it out and leaped away from the beast, holding her improvised weapon at her side.
"…Ruby?" Pyrrha croaked in shock. The red-clad girl kept her eyes glaring at the Nevermore as it looked at her in rage.
"LEAVE HER ALONE!" Ruby furiously screamed at the monster as she held Penny's sword in both hands. The Nevermore screeched again and flew into the air, circling the two girls. But Ruby stood her ground, the sword training that her uncle had given her at Signal Academy coming back to her. No matter what, she was not about to let another friend die!
The Nevermore came at her, going for another attack, when something flew in and slammed into its back. Then another did the same thing, and then another and another. The Nevermore was brought down, sliding across the arena and giving one last defiant screech before conking out.
Ruby and Pyrrha both looked in astonishment as the objects that had brought the beast down came into clear view: rocket lockers. Beacon had come equipped with weapon lockers that could be summoned from anywhere in the city with a scroll. The lockers all popped open, and a bunch of students from all the huntsman academies ran in, arming themselves. Teams that Ruby had both fought alongside and fought against in the tournament all stood united.
Before any celebration could begin, the Nevermore stirred and tried to get back up, screeching in defiance. The students immediately went into action together. Before the soulless monster could even throw another attack, it had gotten its eye stabbed, head smacked back onto the ground, and neck sliced apart. Its body evaporated into smoke soon after. Ruby turned to her red-haired friend in concern.
"Ruby, I…" Pyrrha choked out, tears gushing from her eyes. She took a moment to look at a piece of cloth in her hand. Ruby recognized it as a part of Penny's dress. "I am so sorry…"
"Me too," Ruby replied, gazing down at the sword in her hand. She couldn't imagine what Pyrrha must've been feeling right now. "But it wasn't your fault."
"She's right," said Jaune as he approached his teammate/partner with her weapons, Miló and Akoúo̱, in hand. His expression was more steely than Ruby had ever seen from him before. "Whoever was on the microphone… they're the ones that did this. And we have to make sure they don't take anyone else."
Jaune offered the weapons to Pyrrha, who hesitantly accepted them. After a moment, it seemed that Jaune's words got through and her resolve returned. Ruby couldn't help but smirk as she turned to all the other students who had come to their aid. But the moment was interrupted again as more Grimm came flying in from above. They were similar to the Nevermore, except that their skull masks reached all the way across their beaks and they walked on four clawed legs: Griffons.
"Anybody got a plan of attack?" asked the blue-haired Neptune Vasilias.
"Sun!" Ruby called to her blond, monkey-tailed friend. "I need your scroll." Not needing any explanation, Sun Wukong used his tail to reach into his back pocket and toss the requested communication device her way. Ruby caught it with her right hand, keeping Penny's sword in the other, and entered her retrieval code.
In no time, her own weapon locker landed nearby, and Ruby ran to get her beloved weapon, Crescent Rose. However, before she could get to it, a Griffon landed on her locker and roared at her. Ruby prepared to attack it with Penny's sword when a gunshot went off and sent the monster retreating. Ruby turned around and was surprised to see two of her teachers.
"Students," announced the mustached Professor Port, "I think it would be best for you to leave." Both he and the bespectacled Dr. Oobleck were carrying their weapons as they looked upon everyone else that was there.
"But we can—," Ruby started.
"Ms. Rose!" interrupted Dr. Oobleck in a stern tone. "This day will surely go down in Remnant's history. I'd prefer it if my students could live to tell about it."
Though she didn't want to leave anyone behind, Ruby understood where her teachers' were coming from. Then the word "history" caused something to occur to her. She gazed down at the sword that was still in her hand. Crescent Rose was still her baby. But Ruby's combat skills were still no good without a weapon. If someone disarmed her, she'd need a backup. Besides, maybe this could be a way to honor her friend's memory.
Thanks to her time spent with Penny in the fairgrounds, Ruby knew that each sword in Floating Array had a manual function. She found the trigger and pressed it, causing the sword to fold in on itself for storage. She then quickly tied… Array's Fragment onto the right side of her belt. With that done, Ruby retrieved Crescent Rose and immediately unfolded it into its gigantic scythe form, planting the spear end on the ground.
"Let's go!" Ruby ordered every student in the arena. They had to get out of this place, find the other students, and do what they could to save lives. Something told her that this would be a long night and the worst had yet to come.
...
Grimm and the White Fang had been attacking Beacon and the city ever since that tragic match in the tournament. After Penny had died, someone hijacked the broadcast and instilled in the public intense shock and doubt in the governments and academies. With such negativity permeating the kingdom, every creature of Grimm that had been surrounding Vale took it as a signal to attack. At first, Blake and Weiss did what they could to help by getting their weapons and heading for Beacon, where they planned to regroup with Yang and defend their school and their home.
But things got even worse when they arrived at the school's courtyard. The AK-200 security drones and some Paladin mechs that had been brought in by the Atlas military had all suddenly turned their guns on the people that they were supposed to protect. Judging from how the AK's faceplates had all shifted to the same shade of red as that broadcast from when this catastrophe started, it wasn't hard to figure out that the Atlesian army had been hacked. Then things got even worse, as a gigantic dragon-type Grimm had flown into the fray. It dropped black pools wherever it went, spawning more and more Grimm.
At first, the two members of Team RWBY had stuck together, fighting side-by-side against robots, White Fang terrorists, and Grimm. However, the situation was so widespread that they weren't getting anywhere in finding Yang or Ruby. So the two girls agreed to split up for now and cover more ground.
As Blake ran across Beacon's flaming campus, her hair suddenly stood on end, her skin tingled, and she felt the taste of metal in her mouth. Her amber eyes widened as she recognized all the warning signs and dove underneath a collapsed stone archway. Her reaction had turned out to be just in time, as a bolt of purple lightning struck nearby. Thunder roared through the air, though it strangely wasn't as loud as the last time she'd been so close to a lightning strike. Blake looked up in confusion as clouds rapidly gathered in the sky. She'd checked the weather report on her scroll earlier, and it said that it was supposed to be relatively clear tonight.
"They will do you no good in the coming storm." Was that mysterious man somehow connected to all this chaos? But how could they affect the weather itself?
Blake decided to push those thoughts aside as she made her way towards the school's cafe. It was along the way to their dorm, which meant that Yang was likely to pass through on her way to the docks. She took a step back as a Beowolf leaped onto the walls above her, snarling at everything in sight. Thankfully, it hadn't noticed her and continued its rampage elsewhere.
The cat-eared girl was about to continue on her way when she heard a man yell in pain. Bracing herself for a fight, Blake turned to the broken window, only for her eyes to widen in shock as her blood ran cold. Inside, she could see a familiar faunus with red and brown hair, horns on his head, and a Grimm mask over his eyes. He tossed a fallen Atlesian soldier away as his gaze turned towards her.
"No…" said Blake in horror as the horned man smiled wickedly in her direction. "Adam?"
"Hello, my darling," replied her ex. Blake instinctively began stepping away in fear. She had come to this school to start over and leave her past behind. But here he was, looking right at her. His smile twisted into a scowl at the sight of her fear. "Running away again? Is that what you've become, my love? A coward?"
"Why are you doing this?" Blake demanded, her voice barely keeping itself from choking.
"You and I were going to change the world, remember?" Adam responded in anger. "We were destined to light the fires of revolution." There was a groan beneath him as one of the men Adam had attacked stirred. Looking down, the leader of the White Fang in Vale stomped his foot on the injured man's gut and drew his sword, Wilt. "Consider this the spark."
Unable to stand by, Blake activated her semblance, creating an empty copy of herself that acted as a springboard for her to launch through the broken window. She soared through the air as Adam raised his blade. Drawing Gambol Shroud, Blake flew at Adam and swung. Their blades clashed as Blake forced her former mentor/lover away from the injured man. Their eyes locked as she glared daggers at him.
"I'm… not… running," Blake choked out through the lump in her throat.
"You will," Adam growled as his own strength slowly overpowered her own. Through the slits in his mask, she could just make out a bit of his one good eye. Where she had once seen determination and justice, now all she saw was true, bitter spite.
Watching his eye had been a mistake, as Adam used the distraction to kick Blake in the face. She fell onto her back. As she tried to recover, she heard the sound of a Grimm approaching. She opened her eyes just in time to see a Creep running at her, its jaws wide open. But before either of them could move, a gunshot went off, and the Creep went down. Blake looked back at Adam and saw him pointing Blush, a gun-sheath combo, at the creature. His gaze was still locked on her.
"But not before you've suffered for your betrayal, my love," Adam explained. He lowered the weapon and approached Blake.
The ebon-haired girl scrambled to her feet and leaped away from her ex. She held her sword ready, even though her hands were still shaking. Seeing Adam again reminded her of every regret she had from her time with the White Fang and of the horrible things she'd seen him do.
Blake tried to shake all the fear coursing through her and threw multiple slashes at Adam, but he easily blocked each and every one.
"I trusted you, Blake," said Adam between sword clashes. "Took you under my wing... Let you get closer than anyone else..." The girl's fears rose as she saw both his hair and sword light up each time that he parried her attacks. She knew exactly what would come from it.
Blake tried to switch things up by hitting his sword with her own and immediately grabbing her sheath/cleaver. She swung at his head, but Adam seemed prepared for that attack, as he leaped back and fired Blush at her. The cat faunus activated her semblance, leaping away from the shot while a shadow clone took the hit for her.
She would've tried shooting back, but she'd seen his reflexes enough times to know that he'd just absorb the shots through his sword. Blake silently cursed herself for not carrying any wind-Dust rounds. She used her semblance again and dove behind some knocked-over tables, rolling on the ground and hoping that he wouldn't be able to guess her location.
"But not only did you betray us, betray me," Adam spat as she heard his footsteps approaching, "you chose to work alongside a Schnee, of all people!"
"Stay away from her!" Blake shouted, panic setting in at the thought of her friends meeting him. She kicked the table as hard as she could, sending it right at him. Adam sliced it in half, but she was immediately on him with both weapons in hand.
Sadly, he seemed to predict this as well. Blush was already raised, and it fired on her, sending the girl toppling to the floor as the cleaver fell from her hand. Her purple aura briefly flickered, and she didn't need to check her scroll to know that she couldn't take much more punishment without getting injured.
"After everything we've been through together," Adam yelled in rage, "this could've been our day! Can't you see that!?"
"I never wanted this!" Blake protested as she pushed herself back up. "I wanted equality. I wanted peace!" Now too desperate to act on anything but instinct, she shifted Gambol Shroud into its pistol form and fired two shots at him. But Adam was easily able to block each shot, and Blake mentally kicked herself for forgetting his semblance.
"WHAT YOU WANT IS IMPOSSIBLE!" Adam roared. He sheathed Wilt and slapped Blake so hard that she fell back down. "But I understand... because all I want is you, Blake."
Blake gritted her teeth and glared daggers at her ex. She'd heard such words from him before and let him manipulate her into committing so many crimes. But no more. She prepared to fire another shot, this time at his feet, but Adam kicked her onto her back. The weapon was flung out of her hand, leaving her defenseless.
"And as I set out upon this world and deliver the justice mankind so greatly deserves…" Adam began as he slowly knelt down to look Blake in the eye. "I will make it my mission to destroy everything you love." Her fears took over, and Blake closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable.
"BLAAAAKE?" called out a familiar voice. The cat faunus's eyes opened wide as she looked to see where the call was coming from. She spotted Yang punching a White Fang member away with a shot from her Ember Cilica gauntlets. The blonde turned frantically in every direction, looking for her even as purple lighting struck in the distance. "BLAKE! WHERE ARE YOU!?"
Blake was unable to hide the pure terror on her face. Images of all the people who had fallen to Adam's aura-piercing moonslice flashed through her head. The very idea of Yang…
"Starting with her," said Adam as he stood up, drawing Wilt once more.
"No!" Blake gasped. She tried to get up, but Adam plunged his blade into her side, eliciting an agonized scream from her. She could see a faint glow coming from his blade, signaling that he'd used a fraction of his semblance to pierce her aura.
"Huh!?" Yang turned to the source of the sound and witnessed as Adam pulled his sword from Blake. "GET AWAY FROM HER!"
"No…" Blake gasped, her wound making it extra hard to move. "Please..." Yang looked just about ready to launch at Adam in rage when something small and black leaped on top of her.
"RRAGH!" roared the blonde. "GET OFF OF ME!" She grabbed the small, bug-like creature with glowing yellow eyes and tossed it aside, only to look around herself in utter shock. "It can't be…"
"What are they?" Adam asked in bewilderment. Blake turned her attention back to her own surroundings as a strange wriggling sound became apparent. She watched in utter bewilderment as strange shadows appeared on the ground and stood up. They transformed into more creatures with wriggling antennae and glowing, yellow eyes spawned all around them. Their gaze seemed to be mostly focused on Adam for some reason.
Two leaped at him with their tiny claws, but he easily sliced them with Wilt. The attack instantly popped them into a dark mist. It was clear these things were weaker than Grimm on their own, but more and more were appearing out of nowhere, seemingly attracted to Adam. He stumbled away from Blake, slashing at more and more Shadows as they rushed him. Blake was almost thankful for the creatures when a few of them turned their gaze to her.
When she looked into their eyes, the cat-eared girl felt something similar to locking eyes with a Grimm, but different. Whereas Grimm's eyes were full of hate and a need to destroy, these things projected a malignant desire to consume and corrupt.
Blake struggled to try and stand, but her stab wound was making it hard. Her sides were burning as her aura flickered once again. One of the Shadows leaped at her before she could move.
"BLAKE!" screamed Yang. She propelled herself forward with the recoil from her gauntlets, punching the Shadow away from Blake before it could hit her. "Hang on!" The blonde brawler cocked her shotgun-gauntlets as more came after them. She punched left, right, back, up, and any other direction that they were charging from. Thankfully, they seemed more interested in Adam than either of the girls, so Yang was mostly able to keep them at bay.
Blake focused the little aura she had left on her open stab wound. It wasn't nearly enough to heal her, but it would at least stop her from bleeding out for now. It would also leave the rest of her body vulnerable to attack. She then weakly crawled over to her gun and fired a few shots at more Shadows as they approached.
But Gambol Shroud soon clicked empty. She then transformed it back into its sword form and stood up. She found her cleaver nearby and managed to grab it without falling on her face, which felt like a huge achievement at the moment. The ebon-haired girl clutched her side as she felt her aura slowly fading. Yang seemed to notice the trouble that her friend was in and rushed to her aid.
"Come on, partner!" yelled Yang. "We're out of here!" She grabbed Blake by the shoulder and began carrying her out of the cafeteria. Blake sheathed her weapon and managed to put it away as she went. Meanwhile, Adam was still distracted as more and more of these Shadows swarmed him. That was the last that Blake saw of him, as she and Yang escaped together.
Thankfully, those creatures weren't following them for now. But both huntresses-in-training could see more of them throughout the campus. They seemed more interested in the Grimm than the girls, so they only had to deal with the occasional attack from one monster at a time.
"I can't believe it," Yang grunted as she fired another shotgun blast at a Grimm that had gotten too close. "'Living shadows.' They're real!" Blake was about to ask Yang what she was talking about when the pain in her wound started flaring up and her aura flickered again. If she didn't get help soon, her injuries could become life-threatening.
...
"A safe zone has been established in Vale!" announced Doctor Oobleck's voice in the distance as Ruby ran through the crowds. "Please remain calm and listen to Atlas personnel!"
Ruby still wasn't sure where those shadowy things had come from. She'd been in the middle of a fight with both Torchwick and his assistant when they started popping up. Fortunately, they proved to be just the distraction that she needed to crash the airship and stop all the hacked robots. The red-hooded girl had lost track of both criminals in the chaos. But most of those shadow things seemed to be more interested in the Grimm than her. So she was able to head straight for the first place that she figured her friends would be.
As she reached the landing docks where everyone was evacuating, Ruby felt a weight fall off her shoulder. Standing among the crowd with her hand over her mouth was her partner, Weiss. Standing next to her was Ruby's beloved corgi, Zwei. He caught sight of her and let out a bark of excitement. Weiss turned around, her expression going from wrought with concern to a big smile.
"Ruby!" Weiss yelled with joy. The red-caped girl was about to rush to her white-haired bestie when someone else got to her first.
"Ruby!" shouted the incoming blonde blur.
"OOF!" Ruby grunted in surprise. She suddenly felt like both her aura and ribs were about to break as she got caught in one of her older sister's bear hugs.
"Where have you been?" Weiss demanded from the side. "We were worried about you!"
"Can't… talk… air…" Ruby choked out. Yang finally released her sister and gave Ruby a chance to breathe. "Haaaa… I'm doing okay. I just had to take down a giant airship to stop the rogue robots and survive the fall from said ship."
"You what!?" asked a shocked Yang. "How did you even—"
"I'll tell you later," Ruby interrupted, holding her hands up placatingly. She then noticed that someone was missing from their party. "Hey, where's Blake?"
Both Weiss and Yang's faces turned mournful. Ruby's eyes widened in fear until both her teammates stepped aside, clearing her view ahead. Lying on the ground, clutching her side, was Blake Belladonna. She had bandages wrapped around her waist, and she seemed to be in a lot of pain. Sitting behind her were an injured Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie.
"Blake!" Ruby cried out as she rushed to her teammate's side. Blake weakly opened her eyes and tried to force a smile.
"Ruby…" She weakly acknowledged. "Good to see you."
"Hey," said another voice. Ruby turned to see Sun Wukong approaching her. "The doctors said she'll pull through. But she needs rest."
"What happened?" the silver-eyed girl asked in concern. Blake's smile disappeared, and her eyes looked away from her team leader.
"… Adam," she replied. "It was Adam."
"He's here too!?" Ruby looked to her other teammates, while Weiss turned towards Yang.
"Yeah," confirmed the blonde brawler, nodding in return. "But don't worry. Those shadowy things swarmed him before he could do anything else."
"What are those anyway?" asked Weiss. "I've never seen Grimm like that before."
"They're not Grimm." Blake weakly responded. Her head strained in Yang's direction. "Are they, Yang?" Ruby turned to her older sister and was surprised to see her expression shift to guilt.
"Yang?" asked the red reaper. "Do you know something about this?"
"Well… sort of," Yang hesitantly replied. "Long story short: I ran into my birthmom a while ago."
"What!?" Ruby asked in shock. "Why didn't you—"
"Look, we've got other things to worry about now," Yang interrupted. "But she said something about Remnant falling, living shadows, escaping to other worlds, and something called a 'Keyblade.'" Yang shook her head in shame. "I thought she must've gone crazy, or she was just messing with me. But here we are, with living shadows invading."
"Excuse me," said Weiss. "But did you say that the world is ending?" Yang nodded reluctantly. "But, that's ridiculous! I-it can be true… right?" Ruby pondered this and looked at the storm that was getting worse and worse overhead. That robed creep's warning was coming to mind. He definitely had something to do with this.
"Guys!" shouted Nora, interrupting her thoughts. Everyone turned to the pink-clad huntress-in-training. "We got another big problem! Jaune and Pyrrha are still missing—ohh!" She winced as her injuries flared up from her movements.
"What!?" Ruby exclaimed.
"Look, guys," warned Sun. "I don't know about the world ending, but that giant Grimm keeps circling the school, this storm is getting worse, and even the White Fang are pulling out! We have to go!"
"We're not… leaving…" Ren protested. He struggled to stand up, only to groan in pain and fall back down. Ruby looked between her injured friends. She knew that Sun had a point. With so many people needing to leave Beacon ASAP, it was risky to wait any longer for their missing friends. Still, she wasn't about to give up.
"I'll find them," Ruby declared, looking at everyone. "I'll find them and bring them back."
"No," Weiss stated sternly as she stepped forward. "WE will find them."
"Got that right," Yang added as she stepped beside her little sister. She then turned to Sun. "Look after Blake and the others. We'll be back before you can say, 'stowaway.'" She finished by giving a wink, and all three girls ran off.
"You better be!" Sun yelled after them.
...
Jaune was totally lost as to what was going on, but he knew things had gotten really bad and he was to blame. While everything was going out of control throughout Beacon and Vale, Pyrrha suddenly decided to go with Professor Ozpin somewhere. He'd gone with them into a huge, secret lab where Pyrrha was about to get into a crazy-looking machine along with some other girl who looked half-dead.
All Ozpin and Pyrrha had told him was to stand guard while they did whatever it was they were doing. He tried to go along with it because he trusted Pyrrha completely. But all it took was one scream of agony from his partner for him to look away from the door.
Then, that woman in the red dress showed up and shot an arrow into the other girl in the machine. After that, some glowy-thing flew out of the girl and into the red-clad woman. Then she started floating and shooting huge flames from her hands, like... like magic! What the heck was going on? Pyrrha and Jaune had been told to escape and find help. So that's exactly what Jaune planned to do as they ran out of the CCT Tower.
"Okay," Jaune panted as he stopped and reached for his scroll. "I think I have Glynda's number." He immediately started searching. "Oh, where is it!?" He glanced at Pyrrha for a moment and noticed the regretful look on her face. It pained him to see her like this, but he needed answers. Before he could ask, Pyrrha's eyes widened as she gasped at something back where they'd run from. Jaune followed her gaze but saw nothing.
"Pyrrha…" Jaune asked. "What is it? "And what was all of that?" Pyrrha blinked, looked at Jaune, and then turned back to where she'd been looking before. She placed a hand on her head, shaking it as if to regain focus.
"I…" the red-haired warrior hesitated to answer. But they were interrupted by the sound of jet flames burning. Both Beacon students looked back into the tower and caught a glimpse of light coming from the elevator. They could hear the sound of metal being burned away as something broke through the lift that they'd taken. Jaune instantly understood that the only thing that could've done that was the woman they'd just escaped from. His heart sank at the implications.
"But… Ozpin…" Jaune muttered, looking down in sorrow. Thoughts like, 'I shouldn't have turned around down there,' ran through his head.
"There's no time." said Pyrrha in a regretful tone. She then steeled her gaze and turned to him. "Go. Get to Vale and call for help." Jaune was flabbergasted by her order.
"Huh? What are you gonna do?" he asked. The blond knight got his answer as Pyrrha slowly turned her head towards the tower. His eyes followed hers, and a realization hit. "No. No, Pyrrha, you can't. You saw how powerful she is." Pyrrha closed her eyes, as if preparing herself for the worst. Jaune felt his heart nearly drop. He'd just recently accepted that he was in love with this girl, for crying out loud! "Pyrrha, I won't let you do—Mmph!"
Jaune was silenced when Pyrrha suddenly leaned forward and planted a kiss right on his lips! The blond was stunned at first, but slowly started to reciprocate as they shared a tender moment together. For a second, he forgot all about the situation they were in; even the raging storm above wasn't bothering him. As soon as she broke the kiss, Jaune opened his eyes and saw the tears welling up in hers.
"I'm sorry," she said. Before Jaune could ask what she meant, Pyrrha activated her semblance and threw Jaune into a nearby rocket locker.
"Hey!" he shouted as she magnetically sealed the locker shut, trapping him. "No, wait, stop! STOP!" Pyrrha ignored his cries and began inputting coordinates into the locker. "Pyrrha, please don't do this!" Jaune was panicking as she slowly looked him in the eye. He then caught something moving in his peripheral vision. It was coming at her. "LOOK OUT, BEHIND YOU!"
Pyrrha whipped around and gasped as small shadows formed on the ground and stood up, becoming into little monsters with antennae and yellow eyes. "What are they?" she asked, pulling out her sword. A couple of them leaped at her, but she slashed them away with Milo. They instantly poofed into a dark mist after taking a hit.
"Let me out!" Jaune protested from inside the locker. "I can help!" But Pyrrha ignored his pleas and hastily pressed the final button. Jaune's heart sank as the locker's rockets fired up and launched him into the sky. "NOOOOOOO!"
Jaune continued to bang on the locker's door even as he soared into the sky (not that he could've hit very hard with how little room there was). Pyrrha was about to charge right to her death. He wasn't sure if there was anyone capable of stopping that woman. But he needed to send help Pyrrha's way ASAP. It was the only solution that he could think of. As he flew through the air, the blond knight caught sight of something that made his spine chill. The storm clouds were starting to clear away near the tower, revealing something huge.
"W-What…" Jaune gasped before losing sight of what he'd seen through the locker's grate. "What was that?"