Every second Torchwick kept that confident grin inspired only a deeper fury in Ruby. She whipped Crescent Rose at him as a crimson buzzsaw, but Torchwick held up his arm, and her scythe bounced an orange shield of aura. Ruby shot ahead, snatched her weapon from the air and brought it down hard enough to send a shockwave rippling through the deck of the airship. But that shield held. Torchwick laughed in disbelief. Ruby shared that disbelief, but saw no humor: rose petals of her own aura were trailing from Crescent Rose, and her scythe was glowing with every ounce of anger she could put into it.

Ruby didn't care about what it meant. She didn't care how right it felt and how wrong it was. She'd cut Torchwick before: a shield of aura should've been nothing to her ability to pierce it. She was sick of his tricks!

Firing herself back, Ruby soared past rockets that never had a chance of reaching her, and focused her aura. When she dove for Torchwick, wrapped in her Semblance, he raised that same shield, but she split herself into two red whirling comets coming along to either side of him. As one, both unfurled themselves, one of Ruby, one of a blurry clone, but both slashing out for Roman. He flashed with orange light, and in a blur raised a shield towards her clone and his cane to her. Her clone's slash only drew sparks, but her own proved her right, not only carving into Roman's cane, but reducing it to loose chain and shrapnel behind her force.

Torchwick shouted out and shook his hand while Ruby shot herself around to reunite with her aura clone. He turned fast enough to shield himself from a barrage of bullets. But this time, his shield cracked. His grin faded. Ruby was on that weakness in an instant. Crescent Rose's blade snapped out straight, she dove forward and slammed it through the weak spot, shattering the shield like glass. Torchwick was forced to grab the blade before it crashed into his chest. Blood trickled down from it dug into his hands.

"C-careful there, Red!" He brought his leg up, and with a sharp crack, Ruby was shot back by a smoking gun in his artificial knee. She grunted and held her stomach, but that was a trick she remembered hearing about from Weiss. It wasn't new. She could also tell from the sweat on Torchwick's brow and shakiness of his renewed smile, but that confirmed it: he was running out of tricks.

He made no attempt to push the advantage. Torchwick was completely on the defensive. He was forced to wrap the tattered chain around his fist. He was outgunned. Outmatched. He'd lose soon.

A question came unbidden to Ruby's mind: then what would she do?

Ruby threw it aside. The glow around Crescent Rose shone brighter.

Desperate Measures

Adam knew that they would lose a war of attrition. From her position in the ruined bridge, Cinder could choose to keep beating down their defenses until they were forced into their graves. But she could play at confidence all she wanted: Adam knew she wanted their loss to be complete. That was why she ignored Yang rushing behind him as he advanced up the growing incline of the deck. That was why she sent weaker arrows down, each still nearly knocking Adam off his feet each time he struck them aside. Deep beneath that smug exterior was a pit of sadism and hatred. It was all too familiar to Adam.

A glass arrow shattered against his shoulder, bringing his aura ever lower. The attacks were coming faster, now: she was regaining control. Realizing that a barrage of weaker strikes would whittle him down faster. He couldn't let that happen.

So despite the pain, he laughed and came to a halt. "All this magic, all this power, all these impossible horrors, but it doesn't matter!" He slashed a trio of arrows from the sky. "You know you've lost, Cinder."

Cinder smirked. "Bold words from the dead!"

"You aren't a full Maiden."

Her smirk twisted to a scowl in an instant. Perfect.

"Ozpin knows what you're planning. And don't think I haven't noticed how the White Fang have abandoned Beacon! It's only a matter of time before you go crawling back as a failure! You'll have nothing but a burning school as your achievement!"

That wrongness spread through the air again, and when Cinder pulled back her next arrow, that same, surreal lightning crackled across her half-monstrous arm. One last push. One last shot in the dark. Adam raised Wilt to point at her and forced his breath steady. One last gamble.

"Salem must be so disappointed in you."

Flames rushed across Cinder's eye. The arrow flared to a blinding shine, then suddenly faded to nothing more than the same, violet-tinged darkness sparking around her. Such concentrated destruction forced his body to tense, but it didn't matter. His hand trembled, but he didn't care. His plan was insane, but that was fine. Adam gripped Wilt in both hands. Yang stepped in behind him. He'd won.

Adam swung before Cinder even let go. There was no time when she'd fired: her finger twitched, the arrow gleamed, and then it was crashing into Wilt's edge at full force with an ear-piercing shriek.

And his world became agony. His body was aflame. Claws of heat ripped into his muscles. His soul screamed out in pain he himself couldn't voice. Through eyes nearly forced shut, he could see the steel around them turned a bright-red. The searing heat within was indiscernible from the ravaging flames around him. If it wasn't for Yang leaning against his back, Adam knew he would've been forced off of the airship. But with all the pain and heat and noise and force came power unimaginable.

He didn't know if he'd been draining the seemingly-infinite energy for a second or for an eternity, but all at once, his aura had had enough, and Adam forced his blade down enough for the arrow to slide across its surface and soar off into the air. The sky erupted into dark, magical energy nearly invisible against the darkened clouds, but the force was enough to hammer the airship down far enough for gravity alone to nearly pull him and Yang down to Beacon below. To Adam, however, the shockwave washed over him like a breeze.

The only thing brighter than the bloody aura pouring off of him was the golden fire at his back: simply being near the arrow was enough to charge Yang's Semblance. He let Wilt hang limp in his hand, nothing more than a blazing, crimson light. Sneering, Cinder swung her bow out and melted it away to a molten broadsword.

Yang made the first move, blasting herself forward and turning the deck for meters behind her into shrapnel. Cinder was fast enough to dodge back from Yang's punch, but it didn't matter: the impact against the steel ground sent a plume of flame shooting into the sky and propelled Yang far from the airship itself. She twisted and threw Blush down just in time for Adam to propel himself up to meet her at the apex of her jump. Cinder swept the fires away with a wave of her arm only to see Adam sheathe his blade. Only to make herself a target.

Adam ripped Wilt free.

The world was drowned out in the ring of metal striking metal and a wave of crimson swallowing up the sky. Even amidst the storm of airship cannons, flash of Penny's rays and flare of Ozpin's aura, Weiss was forced to shield her eyes. Then, as quickly as it came, the light was gone. Blinking spots out of her eyes, Weiss rushed for the edge of the airship. In the distance, she could see the ravaged AAS Endurance diving in free fall towards Beacon, split in two. By the time it reached academy below, it'd become nothing more than a rain of gargantuan pieces of steel amidst a cloud of wilting petals.

Right. Definitely Adam's work. Worry and astonishment in equal measure clawed at her heart: what pushed that kind of strength out of him? Where was he? Was Yang there too? And she could only pray Ruby wasn't involved.

But when she tried to search the whirling night sky, Weiss only found a wall of emerald-green.

"Miss Schnee, I hope you've recuperated enough." Ozpin was on one knee behind her, hand clasped tight around the top of his cane, supporting a dome of bright aura. Already, it was flashing from the impacts of the airship's mounted cannons, but the sound didn't reach them. It was like they weren't even there. He looked to her for an answer, sweat gathering on his brow. It struck Weiss only now how haggard he looked.

"Y-yes, sir! What do you need?"

"Find Miss Rose. I know I can't tell you the details now, and I'm sorry for that, but the only way we can prevent a greater tragedy is with her eyes." He didn't give her time to ask for an explanation. "I can hold off that... Grimm that took Amity for a moment, but only she can halt it outright." Ozpin grunted as Penny joined in with a constant beam bright enough to force Weiss to look away.

"Tell her to focus everything she has on protecting us. She's like her mother, I know she can do this." By the end, Ozpin was speaking through gritted teeth.

Weiss furrowed her brow. "I... I don't understand what you mean."

"Just trust me!" He flinched, then spoke again, softer. "Please. Trust me, and trust your leader. I'll... I'll be close behind to help."

"And Penny?"

Briefly, the shield shone brighter, and Ozpin shot her a glare that froze her in place. But just as the light of Adam's Semblance had, it was gone in the next second, replaced with a level gaze. He smiled.

"She'll be fine. Now, go! We don't have much time!" Part of the shield flickered, then became transparent. The rumble of who knew how many guns, blasts of Dust and blades crashing down onto the shield struck all at once, nearly forcing Weiss to one knee.

Countless questions filled Weiss' mind. What was really happening? What kind of 'Grimm' was that massive, let alone what kind of Grimm devoured its own? What even was he to have enough strength to hold back a barrage that should shred even other airships? And yet, she steeled herself, nodded, and leaped from the airship. Her foot settled on a pale glyph for only a moment before she had jumped further into the night. It was a long way to the airship she guessed Ruby was on, and it'd take most of the aura she'd gathered, but she would reach Ruby. She had to trust her headmaster.

One of the first orders to them in this war, built upon a lie. Behind his cracking shield, Ozpin sighed and reached for the cogs of his cane. He hoped that Miss Schnee would understand, one day. He turned the cogs once. Ozpin hoped that whatever part of Miss Polendina free of Salem's influence would understand, wherever her soul went. He turned the cogs twice. He hoped that the decades he would have to spend regaining this strength would be worth it. Three times. And he hoped he wouldn't need to leave them all without guidance. Four. He couldn't afford to use everything, but he could use enough.

Not emerald, but golden light spilled forth from the confines of his cane. Ozpin stood and took careful aim through Penny and towards the looming, black orb in the sky.

His shield shattered. Penny was inches away in an instant, reaching out towards him in desperation. Ozpin's eyes widened.

"No!" But he'd already pulled the trigger. In the next second, he was thrown off of his feet. His cane spun above them, golden sparks leaping from a lifetime's worth of magic, gathered to a single point.

And once more, the world was enveloped in light.

For a single moment, night turned to day. A golden glow conquered every inch of the sky above Beacon, wreathed in emerald lightning. Falling through the sky, Adam was forced to turn away lest he blinded, and now was no time to lose his sight. There was a time where there was nothing between Beacon and Amity but empty sky and the occasional airship, but that was a distant memory. Even with Grimm being drawn into the black orb in the sky, Nevermore and Griffin alike swarmed like countless flies. Around them, the remains of the AAS Endurance reduced to meteors and shrapnel.

Adam blinked spots out of his eyes as what might've been an engine once crashed into Beacon Tower, ripping the top and most of the headmaster's former office away. By the time it reached the streets however, the pieces of the airship were only shreds of decaying metal. He searched the sky around him: he'd be nothing but shreds too if he couldn't find something to break his fall. The needle of fear in his heart was enough to draw in a large Nevermore from above, beak open wide. That'd do.

At the last second, he shot himself higher with Blush, and the top of the Grimm's beak only brushed across his coat before he flipped and drove Wilt deep into its back. His aura flared under the strain, and as the Nevermore shrieked and steepened its dive to escape, Adam drove Wilt deeper. Finally, he got his feet back under him, and with a yank of his blade, forced the Grimm to turn. The commotion and flash of his aura must've been like a beacon, as Adam saw shots streak by him before Yang crashed down onto the Grimm's back.

"Any clue where we're going!" she shouted.

Beacon was already so close it felt like he could blink and they'd already have hit the ground. Gritting his teeth, Adam narrowed his gaze onto the broken tower. Better than going down into streets soon to be flooded by the leaking abyss in the sky.

Heat and pain shot through Adam's body at the thought, and Adam bit back a growl: he must not have expended all of the energy he absorbed. His Semblance burned as bright as a star within. It roiled under his skin. His core burned like he'd swallowed molten lead. Through blurry vision, he could see black lightning, surrounded by red—his aura?—crackle across his blade. He needed to get whatever this was out soon.

Adam had barely recognized that the Grimm's thrashing had stopped.

"Maybe I should start calling you a Grimm whisperer." Yang clapped her hand to Adam's back, shocking him back to reality. They'd landed atop what remained of Ozpin's office, the ceiling ripped away, and rubble coating what was left of the room.

Even when he pulled Wilt free from the Nevermore, it only let out a caw of protest. Once more, that dark energy flashed, rippling from his blade to the wound left behind. Adam was quick to jump off, Yang following behind. Yet the Grimm remained, watching. Forcing his hand steady, he raised his blade to the Nevermore.

"Go!" Another wave of heat, this time joined by nausea, bloomed in his body. With a wave of wings that sent dust and papers fluttering in the air, the Nevermore cawed back and took off for the skies. It had listened.

Correction: he needed to get whatever this was out now. Some of it had bled away, but not enough.

Yang raised a brow. "Uh, I was joking. What the hell was that?"

Adam sheathed Wilt. "I... Something no one should be able to do." He was thankful that it was leaving him at all. Beyond the sickening idea of controlling the Grimm in the first place, even the glimpses of what Cinder truly was left him wanting to be as far away from whatever power fueled her, pain or not.

He sighed and turned to her. "Check on Weiss and Ruby: I need to get Cinder's power out of my system—" His vision turned to a blur, and the breath was driven out of him in an instant. This was no second effect of the cursed energy, and the world came into focus to confirm it: he'd been slammed into the ground hard enough to crack it.

The first thing he recognized were the feral, amber eyes gazing down at him. Cinder. Flame sputtered and twisted around one of her eyes as she held him down with one arm. The other... if Adam could move, he would recoil. It wasn't correct to say that she was missing an arm. Her arm was gone, yes, but something else was there, now: a warping mass of black oil just like what was pouring down from the abyss. Fire rippled across it while it tried to take shape.

Yang shouted out and turned to pry her off, but Cinder's manic eyes snapped to her, and in an instant, she stood and whipped Adam as if he weighed nothing at all, bowling the two over and sending them rolling for the edge. Yang grabbed onto a piece of rebar jutting out from a ruined wall. Adam met open air, and only blind reaching let him catch Yang's ankle.

Cinder prowled closer. Her red dress was stained not with blood but with the dark ichor making up her inhuman arm. Her breath came ragged and in hisses, but she still had enough power to form a javelin of glass. She tried to regain her arrogant grin, but it was too wide, teeth and gums alike bared.

"Last words?" she managed.

Disgusting. Rivers of tar bled through the streets of Beacon Academy. Discontent to corrupt only the ground, it seeped up the walls, reaching out tendrils to crawl up buildings like a mockery of vines. A sick parody of nature paraded through what ruins remained, from freshly spawned Grimm to larger ones clinging to buildings and rubble, they alone targeted by the winds ripping through the skies into the gaping maw hovering above. It had transformed even further: what was once a sea-green line carved into the black pearl had began to flutter and flicker open as a symbol of an eye. Perhaps thankfully, it was half-closed, but with an iris that lazily swiveled to scan the skies, even as more of the primordial ooze that made up the Grimm poured forth from it.

Beacon was reduced to a hellish landscape. Watched by the White Fang, hundreds of civilians and students, chomping at the bit to become the next in a long line of soldiers upholding the status quo, were evacuated deeper into Vale. No life would stand in Beacon afterward.

The silence in the bridge of the AAS Atlas Telemon was stifling. No one moved. No one spoke. The ears of some were flattened. Tails curled nervously around waists and legs. But no one dared question what was happening. They'd trained off stolen manuals and well-rehearsed plans for months. Such discipline should have made Captain Almond proud. Instead, standing at the bridge, at the cusp of what should have been the crowning achievement of his life, Almond was unsure if he'd ever felt such disgust before. Deep in the tunnels of Altebrucke? In page after page detailing the victims of the SDC?

Realization had settled in, turning stifling silence into suffocation: the ichor was showing no signs of stopping. It'd reach the river. Then what? Would it be poisoned? Turned into a breeding pool for the Grimm?

Behind his mask, his eyes turned to Merlot, standing with his head above the growing discomfort with only a vague look of impatience on his face.

"This wasn't part of the deal," Almond said, and the heavy air emptied in an instant. Not another sound came but his voice, yet the silence was instead an abyss of its own. Every wisp of wind, even the scuff of Merlot's boot as he turned to him, was picked up by every set of ears in the room.

Merlot waved it off with a limp wrist. "The deal has changed. Don't fret, you faunus will get your little city, but I am afraid you cannot make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, right?" He chuckled to himself.

Almond swelled with a deep breath, but the attempt to calm himself was futile. What did get his attention, however, was one of his screens watching Beacon Tower. The annihilation of one of the airships his White Fang couldn't get to destroyed the CCT as a side-effect, leaving the room within bare. It was difficult to make out, but he could see Taurus and the blonde of his team. His fist clenched. The red dress of the wench behind it all stood out like a sore thumb while she fought the two. Without a word to Merlot, he turned and walked to a gunnery officer at his side. Every step echoed like a gunshot. The crew did not bother to hide how they watched him.

"Turn to the tower," Almond commanded.

"Don't bother," Merlot said. "The Cross Continental Transmit system is offline." He narrowed his human eye, then marched towards the screen Almond had abandoned. "You're not blind. What are you planning—" He stopped short, no doubt recognizing Cinder. Merlot breathed in, a sneer on his face and accusation on his lips.

Ilia's rapier punched through his chest before he could think to raise his aura. A wave of electricity was enough to ensure whatever tried to rise would be shattered in an instant. She unceremoniously booted the scientist from her weapon, leaving him in a pool of red.

"You... wretches..." Merlot hissed.

Ilia raised her rapier a last time. Clicking of beaks and flapping of wings filled the air, and the crew barely had time to look up before a swarm of tiny Nevermores rushed through the open bridge. Yet, through the storm of feathers and clawing talons, Captain Almond forced out one last command:

"Kill that human! Fire!"

With an unnerving silence, the largest of the aerial dreadnoughts had slowly turned its bow towards Beacon Tower. The primary cannons began to glow, becoming two red stars in the night sky.

Yang didn't know if the ship she saw beyond Cinder was aiming for them or aiming for her. Might as well go out how she'd want to.

"Hey, Cinder?" Bloodied even through her aura, she grinned. "See ya next Fall."

Yang let go just as Cinder raised her molten spear. Then, even as Cinder rapidly fell into the distance, Yang could see her turn around. The sky flashed red, and even as far down as she and Adam were, the shockwave of the first bolt cleaving the top of Beacon Tower off sent them spiraling.

Just as quickly as the wave of Nevermores arrived, they were gone. The crew of the AAS Atlas Telemon were knocked out of chairs and hiding behind consoles, yet unharmed. Not even Almond's mask was scratched. For a moment, there was only wind and heavy breathing.

"Wha—how?" Ilia broke the quiet.

Merlot was gone. It was like he was never there: no blood, not even on Ilia's rapier. The only thing that remained was a white feather, slowly fading to mist. There was no time to ask questions: a low, warbling groan came from the skies outside. It seeped into their bones. Clawed at their soul.

It emanated from the abyss. The eye was wide open. Whatever time they had was running out.

Almond made his choice.

"Get the message to all airships: I want that creature blown out of the sky!"

A glint of gold. A drop of red. Something almost invisible in the night sky, dropping from the explosion at Beacon Tower, yet so bright to Ruby. Seen only by chance, it was enough to leave her frozen. Her heart pounded against her chest. It felt like her ribs were trying to crush her. There was nothing she could do as watch as half of her team—her sister—were lost to the dust falling away from the building. This wasn't how this was supposed to go. This wasn't how it was supposed to end.

Through the numbness, Ruby recognized Torchwick had struck her. Sent her stumbling away. Robbed her of the futile hope to see a flash of aura and know they were alright. Ruby turned to Torchwick. His lips moved in some kind of taunt, but she couldn't hear anything but rushing wind and the drum beating in her chest. She couldn't see anything other than his egotistical grin, untouched by the loss of his aura, the loss of his weapon, the loss of Amity and Beacon and Adam and Yangand—

Torchwick's howl cut through her spiraling thoughts. Lying on the steel deck, he clutched at his midsection and the ragged slash across it, staining his coat with crimson. Orange light desperately flared across the wound. Ruby hadn't even felt herself swing Crescent Rose, but the drops of red from her blade left only one culprit. It was only now that Ruby could see how different Torchwick was from when she'd first fought him. Red hair messy and matted to his head. Bags under his eyes. Gaunt cheeks.

He was pathetic. She should've felt bad. She should've felt sympathy, sadness, guilt, anything. Yet, the numbness remained. She needed to find her teammates. She needed to know that everything was okay. Ruby folded Crescent Rose back into its rifle form and turned to leave.

"I knew it," Torchwick hissed through gritted teeth. "You wouldn't."

The numbness cracked. Ruby turned back and saw herself aim Crescent Rose towards Torchwick. And yet, he laughed. Even now, he laughed.

"Please. You don't get this far playing hero and then think you can convince me you're serious about this!"

Another crack. "Shut up," Ruby growled.

"Oh, my apologies," Torchwick drawled, words dripping with just as much disdain as his wound dripped blood. "Don't let me get in the way. You got your ever-so-goodly tantrum out of your system, so be the nice little hero and just walk away."

The world turned under Ruby's feet. Why was he bothering her so much? That was exactly what she was going to do. Walk away. Go back to her friends. Her grip on Crescent Rose tightened, and her gaze fell upon what the airship was turning to face: the monstrosity hovering in the skies above Beacon's ruins. Walk away. Let him go... to do what? Cause more of this? Hurt more people? Be another monster on the loose?

Weiss trusted in the wind to whip away her tears. The collapsing Beacon Tower lay under her as she raced across the sky with what little aura she had left. She'd have to trust in Adam and Yang. It was all she could do.

In the distance, at last, she saw Ruby's telltale cloak. It was just a few more glyphs to reach the airship. A few more seconds until at least one of her team would be safe.

"But I've got a better idea." Torchwick brought Ruby's attention back down to him—back down to that grinning face—and all at once, the numbness, that great dam keeping her emotions at bay, collapsed.

Ever since the Breach, Ruby had built up a reservoir of anger. Of hatred. For monsters like Torchwick and Mercury and Cinder and Jacques. Deep within that reservoir lurked a truth about monsters Ruby fought to refuse, but only now was willing to admit.

"Do us both a favor, Red, and die like every other Huntress in history!"

That the world would just be better off without them.

Ruby pulled the trigger. Everything went dark. The world churned and twisted. The very darkness writhed and clawed at her. Ruby felt Crescent Rose in her hands, so she knew she was awake, but she also felt pain. From every angle and every direction, gnawing away like thousands of rats with only the muffled sounds of the world to keep her company. She knew what happened.

Only yards away, Weiss watched in horror as a Griffin as large as a Bullhead crashed down, beak-first. It swallowed Ruby and Torchwick whole.

It wasn't fair, Ruby thought. Her aura began to crumble away. None of this was fair. She just wanted to save Penny. Her friends. Beacon. Anyone. Her eyes burned. Through teary eyes, she could just barely make herself out, lit by light she couldn't see.

She just wanted to save someone!

Glyphs shone bright in the starless sky, exploding to life and fading to mist just as quickly as they formed. Weiss was sure she was shouting, reaching out in her desperate rush in a futile attempt to get just an inch closer to the Griffon. The Grimm was, like so many others, soaring for the abyss watching them. The truth could not be ignored. She wouldn't make it. Ruby was gone. All of them were gone.

Just as the ice seeped into her veins, there was an eruption of pure, white light. Even compared to the flashes of red and gold that once conquered the skies, the concentrated shine should have been enough to blind her. Yet Weiss couldn't look away. It filled her sight, but there was no pain. Not to her. The abyss, on the other hand, let out a gurgling, warped cry heard from Beacon to Vale's coastline, not by ears but by the soul recoiling from it.

The light lasted only a couple seconds before it faded away. Weiss didn't know the source. There was nothing more she wanted to do other than lie down and submit to the sweet abyss of fatigue, no matter how far she'd fall if she did so. And yet, either by subconscious or by chance, she glanced down to find two figures falling into the forest below.

All that mattered to her was the one trailing rose petals. Weiss launched herself down without a second thought. Sigil by sigil, yard by yard, she grew closer. Each did not fade but instead crumbled away, and each one ahead was spotty, missing symbols if not entire sections, but Weiss refused to let Ruby slip through her fingers. Weiss' vision beyond Ruby was nothing but green canopies when she got her arms around her. With the last of her strength and Gravity Dust, she formed a blurry, misaligned stack of black glyphs. Then, she closed her eyes and prayed.

It wasn't being slowed, it was a soft impact that nearly threw Weiss' consciousness into the dark on its own. It was better than the ground, but only just. Even so, she could still feel each one give only the slightest resistance before snapping like wire. Eight glyphs became four, four became two. Two became one. The last barely slowed the two to a stop before it, and the dregs of Weiss' aura, finally gave out completely. This deep into the forest, where no animal dared to tread any longer, and where even the Grimm seemed to ignore them, things were quieter than they'd ever been that night.

Ruby was deathly still in her arms. Even though Weiss could feel her pulse, she still couldn't help but be afraid. Wisps of sparkling white escaped Ruby's eyes, even now.

Weiss held Ruby closer to her: it was all she could do. The sky rumbled with thunder, then like man itself responding, it roared again, but this time with the tell-tale explosions of the Atlesian—now White Fang—dreadnoughts. Weiss brought herself to look up through the canopy of leaves to see the aerial fleet unleashing a rain of destruction onto the Grimm orb in the sky. It wasn't so much as budging. And yet, it was dormant: no waterfall of ichor, no green eye. And that must've been because of... Ruby.

She guessed Ozpin was right. Now that she thought about it, she never had seen eyes like Ruby's before.

"Silver eyes, huh..."

Unconsciousness claimed her.