Here we are again. I decided to make this a longer one and wrap up all this Haven stuff in one go. There really isn't much here anymore, as the major fights are already over anyway. Onward to the plans!

Hint: I did say before that I will stick to the canon in my own way.

The Blind Huntsman

Chapter 121

Volume 5, Episode 10

Destined

"Wake up!"

Jaune groaned, his eyes tightened and he struggled to move. It was a strange feeling, like he was right on the border of regaining consciousness but not quite there yet. He could feel his body being shaken by two small hands, and a voice he vaguely recognized after he believed he'd only heard it once.

"Wake up, please he needs your help, you have to get up!" The young female voice called out to him in an echo.

He wanted to! He wanted to so badly, and he could feel it! His muscles were beginning to tense in response to his brain's demands. Jaune groaned again, and this time his eyes flickered with life. He saw the ceiling, or what used to be the ceiling which was now the open dusky sky that was Mistral before everything went black again. This time, Jaune didn't keep his eyes shut for much longer.

Jaune sat up with a gasp, a flash of white light bursting from his eyes before it resonated down the rest of his body. Almost immediately after he woke up, he felt a piercing, stinging pain on the side of his head. He reached a hand and ran his fingers through his blonde hair, feeling no such open wound where all this blood could have come from. It threw him off, confused him, as he flexed his bloody fingers. He wasn't hurt, how? Cinder definitely blasted him into a wall, and a big rock hit him on the head. He could see that very piece of rubble next to where his head was lying, with some of his blood even still on it. Had his aura really healed him that fast?

"You're up!" He had no more time to think about how relatively uninjured he was as two bright silver eyes pushed into his vision. He was met with the happy and relieved expression of Malienna, the young girl who was the little sister of the leader of team KRBR. He knew he recognized her voice from somewhere, he met her in Beacon while she was living with her mother.

"Ugh…" Although there was no injury, Jaune certainly felt like he was hurt. But he couldn't afford to stay down for long. "Help me up," he pleaded.

Malienna helped him back onto his feet with a surprising amount of strength. Somehow in all the chaos, he managed to hold onto his sword, but his shield was nowhere to be seen in his offhand. Well, at least he was still armed. Jaune stood up and looked around, taking in the situation around him. Most if not all of the White Fang on Cinder's side had already been defeated, and the last major threat in the room was a tiring giant of a man called Hazel Rainart, fighting half a dozen huntsmen and huntresses all on his own. Yang's mom, Qrow, Yang herself, Ren, Weiss, and Pyrrha. His eyes wandered over to where he knew Adam Taurus was fighting, and was almost shocked to see him lying against the wall with a blood splatter on said wall, with Cardin standing over him with what looked like a shocked expression, and with him was Nora.

"We're winning," Jaune rasped in surprise. He almost couldn't believe they were winning after what Cinder was doing to him, Pyrrha, and Kai. Speaking of which… "Where are Kai and Orchid? Where's Cinder!?"

Malienna sighed, looking down at the ground as she quickly replied. "Kai and Orchid went down to fight Cinder after Adam did some super fiery move with his semblance. They haven't come up since. I've been taking care of Neo ever since, but…"

"Neo?" Jaune didn't know who that was. But a recollection made him put together a face and that name. "Her!? From earlier? She was taken out fast, where is she?" Although she was a villain in his eyes, she had been helping Kai from the start before she was knocked out in a similar fashion as he was.

"I don't know!" Malienna exclaimed, almost about to break out crying. It was a testament to how much she's grown that she didn't. "I was dragging her over to you and when she woke up, she took one look at what was happening, and then she just vanished!"

Then it was Neo. Well, Jaune wouldn't be missing her anytime soon. Whatever was going on with her in the time since Beacon would remain a mystery he didn't care much for discovering. If she was gone, then the only potential threat he cared about right now was Hazel. Although…

Hazel was far from winning. It seemed that although he couldn't feel pain, he could still get tired. The hulk was sucking air through his mouth and was sweating profusely, and the dust crystals he had injected into himself had started to break down his body. He knew that if he took any more, his body would literally start tearing itself apart, and unfortunately for him, the six that were facing him knew that as well. It was only a matter of time before he was taken down. With Adam already beaten, and the White Fang gone, Jaune wondered why Malienna was panicking so much in the first place.

"It doesn't really look like they need me…" Jaune said with a sigh, taking this moment to relax and let his aura continue working on his body.

Malienna shook her head profusely. "No, I don't mean them, I mean my brother!" She cried, her tears finally bursting over and running down her face. "I can feel him - he's so hurt! Something bad happened down in the hole!"

"Crap," Jaune believed her instantly - it was probably some silver eye thing, he thought - and picked up Crocea Mors and ran over to the hole, Malienna pumping her smaller legs alongside him to keep up. He didn't know how much help he'd be against Cinder, but at the very least he could be a distraction!

As soon as he made it to the hole and peered down it, a pair of yellow eyes stared back up. Paired with a manic smile. Tyrian Callows lunged out of the hole almost like he was pouncing. Jaune cried out as Tyrian's weight settled on his shoulders as he was shoved on the ground, and he barely managed to get his aura and Crocea Mors up in time in order to stop Tyrian's blades from cutting through his armor.

The bloody scorpion faunus grinned down at him, laughing maniacally as his hands began to glow purple, and to Jaune's horror, the aura on his chest as well as it seemed to melt away in retreat from Tyrian's nullification.

Only for his aura to glow white, and struggle to close back up, succeeding in doing so with some effort. Tyrian didn't seem so miffed about this development, instead he looked like he was overwhelmingly pleased, like he had just found his long lost brother.

"Ah! You are an interesting one!" Tyrian yelled in his face as he pushed his own closer. Jaune flinched back as Tyrian's spittle landed on his cheeks. "I'd love to tangle with you again someday, but alas, I am simply on a deadline here!"

"Get off him!" Malienna's small body wouldn't have done anything to a full grown man with aura if she didn't have an aura of her own. She charged directly into Tyrian's side, holding a small red sword Jaune didn't know she had and jabbed it directly between Tyrian's ribs. Purple aura flared and Tyrian cackled as he was forced off of him. Jaune stood up and took a fighting stance in front of Malienna, prepared to give his life to protect the girl if he needed to.

"Put that aura to good use, friend!" Tyrian didn't lunge at them again like he expected to. No, instead he waved at him, and then started walking backwards to where Hazel was fighting. "You're going to need it to save your dear friends! I would know, a man with a semblance with the opposite effect of mine would be perfect for that!"

"What? Semblance?" Jaune's white aura flared as he looked down at his chest. Was the crazy man right? Qrow told him about Tyrian, and how the man can nullify aura in a certain area as long as he was close. But from what he was told, the semblance lasted minutes, and right now, his aura was patched up completely. Was that what he meant by him having a semblance with the opposite effect as his?

No, there was time to wonder about it after all this was over with.

"You're not getting away!" Jaune exclaimed, bringing his sword up and preparing to charge at the injured man. No matter how good or strong he was, Jaune was sure he could take him down when he was already bleeding out from his wounds!

"Not yet!" Tyrian was so much faster than him it was sad. Jaune stopped the chase as soon as he took the first step. All he could do was watch as Tyrian threw himself into the melee and surprised all the others, kicking and slashing and punching away. He wasn't beating them - far from it, but the sheer shock of seeing him again gave him the advantage and he managed to make enough space for himself to turn and help the bulky man - who was significantly leaner thanks to his muscles deflating once the dust finally ran out of juice - and threw him onto his back with strength his body didn't say he had. Tyrian said something that Jaune didn't hear, and carrying Hazel, he charged out through the door on the opposite side of the hall and disappeared into the empty Haven. No one gave chase, not with all of them being exhausted as well.

There was no time to process what had just happened, as Malienna was quick to remind him about her brother. Jaune turned back to the hole, and this time saw a pinkish flare growing in brightness as it climbed up the hole. That was Orchid's magic! He had seen it enough times to know what it looked like, that meant that they had won! Jaune was about to cheer for her as she flew back up with something in her arms, but that something, Jaune realized, was Kai. His smile died just as instantly as it came, and it was replaced with horror as he managed to make out red glass stuck in his abdomen, with blood bleeding profusely from the injury even around the glass. It must have broken up into more pieces inside of him, making Jaune wince with empathy as he imagined how much that hurt.

Orchid made her way up quickly, and she was bloodied and tired too, showing that the victory against Cinder was no easy accomplishment. She hovered across from him and without saying so much of a word, settled down beside him, her magic seemingly finally running out of steam after fighting endlessly against Cinder and having it siphoned almost the entire time. Her eyes flickered out and she dropped down to her knees with Kai in her lap, tears falling down her face as she looked up at him of all people for help.

"Please," she begged, exhausted. "He needs help. I-I can't fly him anywhere anymore."

"Kai!" The victory they all had zero time to celebrate as Qrow called out to his former student, and he began running over to him along with everyone except the ones with Adam and Raven. The latter stood with abject shock as she took in the horrific sight that was Kai's barely alive form.

Putting it lightly, Jaune had to admit that Kai was fucked up. Being the closest to him, he was the first to kneel down at his side along with Malienna. His hands shook as he looked at all the injuries that he had sustained - he didn't even know where to start! He was bleeding from a dozen other lacerations outside of the stab wound and he was burned all over! It didn't help that Malienna, Kai's younger sister, broke down right as she saw him, hugging his head and pleading for him not to be dead.

"Please no… Not you too… You're all I have left…" She sniffled. "My big brother…"

Jaune's heart clenched. He desperately wanted to do something, but as he looked over to Qrow with hope that he somehow knew how to patch Kai up as fast as a medic with all the supplies he needed, Qrow looked just as hopeless as he did. The two looked into each other's eyes for a second, and that was all Jaune needed to know that if Kai didn't get any advanced medical attention immediately, then he was going to die. The fact that he had some golden lamp tied to his belt loop wasn't even a factor in his mind as Jaune began to panic as he did the only thing he could - take out the glass shard in his abdomen, and press down as hard as he can on the worst wound in a desperate attempt to stem the bleeding.

"Put that aura to good use! You're going to need it to save your dear friends!"

The words Tyrian had just said barely a minute ago echoed in his mind. He was crazy, and a psychopath, but was he right? It started to click in his head. He recovered quickly from what should have been a near-fatal head injury, and his aura recovered much faster than it should have from Tyrian's semblance.

Without thinking, Jaune fueled his hands with so much aura that they began to glow white. He didn't know what he was doing, but he had to at least try to activate that healing that he got for someone else. His panic began to subside, and he closed his eyes. Pleading, begging, for himself to not let anyone else down.

I've already lost Brick and Rick, I won't lose anyone else! His glowing hands dimmed a little, but Kai's hungry remains of silver aura extended out and mixed with his. Jaune felt like there was an outside source siphoning aura from him, but as he opened his eyes, he saw that his aura was being pushed into Kai. His body's aura began to glow again as it was rejuvenated - no, amplified beyond that! Jaune had a lot of aura, and he continued to push as much as he could into Kai as he watched the wounds on his body begin to glow and stitch themselves back together. The shards of glass that remained from Cinder's broken sword were pushed out of his body, clanking down to the ground as Kai's tightened eyes began to twitch.

Before anything further could happen, Jaune's eyes rolled to the back of his head. Before he could warn anyone, he fell over Kai's now healed body, unconscious.

"I-I can't believe it," Yang said as Pyrrha gently moved Jaune off of Kai. "He healed him! That's… that's a damn miracle!"

"Hell yeah it is," Qrow chuckled as he held two fingers to Jaune's neck, confirming that he was still alive. "Seems that Jaune here ran out of juice. That makes sense, the amount of aura it must have taken to heal himself, and someone else from near death must have taken everything he had. He's not hurt, just low on aura. All tuckered out." He sighed a great sigh of relief. He handed off Jaune to Pyrrha, and then looked to Orchid, who was just as relieved as Malienna was as Kai remained asleep, but relatively completely healed from the injuries he had sustained against Cinder. "Orchid, I know a lot has happened, but you need to tell us what happened down there."

"C-Cinder is dead." She said with even more relief. "Kai beat her. Almost all on his own. It took everything he had, and I was just getting in the way. I watched him run Cinder through with his sword, but Cinder did the same to him with her glass. After that…" Orchid used her sleeve to wipe her nose and face. "Tyrian helped us. He gave Kai to me, and even gave up the Relic to us." She remarked, looking at the lamp that was humming gently against Kai's side. Even while unconscious, Kai had a hand on the lamp protectively. Preventing it from being taken away from him. "I don't know why he helped us, but he escaped before I could ask too many questions. Not that I could, anyway, I-I had to get him up here."

"You did all you could." Qrow said, looking confused about how to handle the information about Tyrian of all people having a large hand in saving Kai's life. "All of you did." He said, looking at everyone else. "Because of all of you, Haven, and by extension, Mistral did not fall. The only damage that matters that has been done has been to the building itself, which can be repaired. But just because we won, doesn't mean that it's over." Qrow stood up, now having everyone's attention. "If you're hurt, go back to the house and rest. If not, help a friend get back to the house. I'll deal with all the huntsman business, and see what our supposed mystery helpers got to say about all of this."

Yang looked over to Raven as he was saying that. That wasn't who he meant, and she knew that, but she couldn't help but look at her biological mother with a conflicted expression on her face. Again, her mother has done something unexpected that ended up saving lives. And this time, she ended up saving everyone with her betrayal against Cinder. If it weren't for her, or if she never betrayed Cinder, then Yang was sure that they would have lost people today.

Raven caught her eye, and she stiffened. Raven tried to draw her sword to open a portal and leave when Yang started making her way toward her, but her dominant arm had been broken long ago, leaving her to shuffle awkwardly as she tried to draw her sword with her left hand. Right as she got the blade halfway out, Yang stopped her from escaping. Wrapping her arms around the woman, and pushing her face into her chest.

"Please don't!" Yang pleaded. "Not again, please. You keep saying you can't stay but you keep coming back! You keep saying you can't help us and implied some stupid deal you might have made with Salem but you helped us anyway! If it weren't for you, we might all be dead!" She looked up at Raven, her own eyes turning red not with anger, but with a begging sorrow. "So please, just stay, talk to us - Me! Talk to me. Tell me what happened, even if you can't stay, you owe me at least an explanation!"

Raven looked down at her daughter with a conflicted expression of her own. Yang's eyes were so red - just like her own. Yang could see the thoughts playing through Raven's eyes. Before finally, Raven's tense muscles finally relaxed around her.

Raven sighed. "Stop squeezing me so tightly." She said, even after letting her chin fall on Yang's head. "You're making my broken arm worse."

Yang squeezed harder.

"Adam!" Cardin stared down in silent shock as he watched the man who had slaughtered his team slowly bleed out against the wall, and for Blake to come running to his side. Where she has been all this time, Cardin didn't know. All he knew was that she was there, and Ruby came shortly after, gasping and holding her hands to her mouth with some older blonde guy looking regretfully at the sorrowful sight of Blake holding onto Adam's shoulders and shaking him to see if he were still alive.

And somehow, the bastard was.

Adam coughed and raised his head, his mask having been broken by his mace, revealing a scarred face. Even Cardin flinched as he saw the SDC brand on his left eye, likely making that eye permanently blind and painful to open. His face was also running with blood, as his skull was cracked and he was losing blood and cerebrospinal fluid. How the faunus was somehow still alive and able to comprehend what was happening and speak, was beyond him.

"Blake," Adam smiled. "Heh, somehow, I always knew you'd be by my side in my dying moments."

"Adam!" Blake cried out again, the tears flowing uncontrollably out of her face. "I-I can get you help, its not too late!" She turned to him and Nora. "He's on our side, please, get him help!"

"No," Adam reached out and grabbed Blake's head, forcing her to look at him again. "The only way I survive this is if a brain surgeon who can piece my skull back together is hiding underneath that rubble over there. Don't waste your breath, I let him hit me for a reason - it was the only way to beat Cinder."

Blake's eyes widened. "Then she's-"

Adam's eyes flicked over to the group surrounding an unconscious Kai. "Three went down into the vault. Only two came back up. Cinder isn't among them. That means she's dead." Adam burst out into a fit of laughter. A boisterous, relieved, and happy laugh that he barely had the energy to let out. Cardin was surprised to see that the man who had killed his teammates was crying. Not out of sadness, but out of pure, raw, relief. "That means the White Fang has finally been avenged." he said, laughing some more before he groaned and coughed up blood.

"But… But it hasn't been alive for a very long time." He added before coughing again.

"Adam…" Blake said his name helplessly. In her eyes, Adam was finally the man that she had originally fallen in love with years ago. In his dying moments, Adam had finally been healed. She felt terrible for ever thinking of him as a monster. "I'm so sorry… I didn't… I never…"

"Don't apologize for something you aren't sorry for." Adam groaned. "What we were doing was wrong. It took… too long for me to realize that. The White Fang was wrong. I was wrong." Adam looked at him, Cardin didn't know what to say. He wanted to feel so much more. He had done it, he had done the killing blow that would end Adam Taurus. The man who had killed his team. In a way, he was excited out of his mind, and in another, he felt incredibly empty. It led to this awkward middle zone as he just couldn't form any kind of reaction.

"Sky," Adam said, causing Cardin to stiffen suddenly. "Dove, and Russel. I remembered their names. I started doing that before I attacked Beacon. I remember all the students I killed, so I can apologize to them in the afterlife, if I see them. You are right to hate me, and I am happy it was you who was the one who killed me."

"Tch." Cardin turned around and stomped away. Nora looked at Blake and Adam, and gave Blake a sad nod, and turned to follow him, leaving the former partners to have their final moment.

"Him…" Blake's eyes narrowed dangerously at Cardin's back. "He was the one…"

"Don't," with the last of his strength, Adam grabbed Blake's hand. "Don't hate him, please. Don't do anything to him for me of all people. I… I don't deserve it."

"Adam…" Blake whimpered, her legs weakened, and she sat on her knees in front of him, grasping his hand with both of hers and lifting it to her mouth. She kissed his hand gently after removing his glove. "You… I should have been kinder to you."

"Hmph," Adam scoffed. "The best thing you could have done was leave me. It was good for both of us, in the long run." His eyes closed, and his breaths began to slow. "I just wish… I wish… no… I'm happy I died fighting her."

After saying his final piece, Adam's head slumped down, his body going limp as he fell over to the side. Blake held his hand the entire time, and gently let it go next to him.

"I hope what you did today is enough to see that afterlife." Blake said, running her fingers over his horns. "I promise that my father will either piece back together the original beliefs of the White Fang or make sure that they never hurt anyone again. Thank you, Adam."

Adam Taurus, the last leader of the White Fang, lived just long enough to hear her.

Oscar felt like he was a prisoner in his own body. Ozpin was in full control, and there was no hope in getting it back. He could see through his own eyes, feel his own muscles tensing and moving as Ozpin walked followed the trail of blood that belonged to Leonardo Lionheart leading all the way to his office. He understood why Ozpin was so angry, but seeing it from the outside and feeling it as if it was his own anger was two different sides of very different coins.

"I apologize that you must see me this way, Oscar." Ozpin said as he walked to the doors leading to his former friend's office. "But please, forgive me for this, just once. I swear that this will be the only occurrence."

Oscar couldn't respond. He felt his own mind get pushed to the back of his own mind. Leaving Ozpin and Ozpin alone with his body and some relative privacy in his head. It was regrettable, but he didn't want Oscar to see what he was about to do to a man with his magic.

Ozpin kicked through the doors, blasting one of them off its hinges. Lionheart was seen sitting in his chair at his mahogany table. A tall bottle of wine in one hand as he gulped away at its contents over the course of several seconds as he held it upside down into his mouth. Red wine trickled out the corner of his lips and Lionheart burped upon seeing him. There was a Grimm dissipating in the corner of the room, a Seer, Ozpin recognized it as. It seemed Salem had already tried to do what he was going to do, but a small category Grimm was nothing against one of the headmasters of the four academies.

"A-Ah, Ozzy," Lionheart burped and laughed sorrowfully as he wiped away tears from the corner of his eyes. He was hysterical, and drunk. "Since you're here and Salem already tried killing me with that Grimm, I suppose that Cinder and her allies have been defeated?"

"Correct." Ozpin replied coldly.

"I see, I see," Lionheart sighed, and continued to drink. When he was done, he said "Ah, how many times have I told Qrow he was wasting away his life drinking this stuff? Heh, well, he must have been drinking much heavier alcohol anyway. I was always such a lightweight."

"I am here to do what I said I'd do to you." Ozpin said, picking up his cane and holding it out in a fencing posture. "I will put an end to your sad existence."

Lionheart sobbed. He was afraid, but too drunk to be dramatic about it. Instead, he finished what was left inside the bottle of wine, and picked up his head and leaned over his desk.

"Does the boy know that he's forever to be trapped in that body of yours, even beyond the death of his mind?" Lionheart asked. "Does he know that he won't die, but will be absorbed into your spirit, and therefore be trapped within your soul forever?"

Ozpin frowned.

"I thought not." Lionheart shook his head. "You never do tell the full truth, do you? You never did with Team STRQ, you never did with Summer, and you certainly never did with me or the good General."

"You were the last person to see Summer Rose before she went off on her mission." Ozpin remarked. "Tell me, did you have anything to do with her untimely demise?"

"I suppose there's no point in denying anything now, is there?" Lionheart laughed hysterically. "Yes. Yes I did. Summer Rose came to Mistral just like you told her too while she was in Atlas. She stopped by to say hi to me of all people, despite us being acquaintances at best. Hah… she was such a kind soul. I regret every day that I was the one who told Salem where she would be searching for the Summer Maiden in the deserts of Vacuo."

Ozpin's brow furrowed. "You left two children without their mother. You had a hand in taking away one of the greatest lives who has ever lived on this planet. I have met many people throughout my time in this world. The Rose's have been allies to me generation by generation. Just as the Matsuoka's used to be my enemies."

"Careful, Ozzy." Lionheart smirked at him. He was a dead man, and he knew that, so he was going to get every snipe at him he could while he was still breathing. "I used the Relic of Knowledge to discover your lies with the help of Raven Branwen. You made enemies of us when we discovered the truth. You might just make enemies of both of those families when they find out you've been using their family as pawns in your war for centuries."

"They won't." Ozpin said, his eyes alighting with green light as his cane began to shine a yellow color as a ball of energy began to form at the tip of his cane. "Because the questions for Jinn will be out for this century by the time they can ask them."

"Ah, so manipulative and controlling. That's the Oz I've come to discover."

Ozpin didn't let him get another word in. The ball of energy exploded out, engulfing Lionheart's body. There was a brief scream of agony before Lionheart's existence was erased.

Kai woke up some time later. At first he panicked, instantly remembering what happened just before he passed out. He was confused to feel that he was no longer in the vault underneath Haven, but in a comfortable bed with his little sister slumbering away at his side. There was no one else in the room, but the door was cracked open and there was a tiny opening into what lay outside of the room. He tried to move, and instantly regretted it. His entire body screamed in protest. Every single muscle in his body was sore, and it hurt to move. He ran his hands down his bare body - thankfully he still had his underwear on, and was shocked to see that all of the injuries he sustained in his battle against Cinder were no longer there. Even more confusingly, there wasn't a single inch of bandage on him to be felt. It was as if he was never hurt at all. He definitely still felt like he was near death, but it was more the kind of pain you feel in the morning after an intense workout. It hurt to move, and after letting out a groan of pain, he slumped back into the mattress.

"Kai?" A man's familiar voice called out to him. He craned his neck up just a little bit to see Taiyang enter the room, his eyes full of happy relief upon seeing him awake. "Ah, I see you're awake. Thought you were about to pull another few weeks out from under us like the last time you passed out in Mistral."

"Haha," Kai laughed, even when it hurt too. It was the first genuine laugh he had laughed in a long while. "Yeah, I don't think I'm ever going to be out that long again. How long has it been?" He asked, surprised by how smoothly his voice came out after breathing in all that burning air while fighting Cinder."

"A few hours." Taiyang said as he closed the door behind him and pulled up a chair to sit beside him. "The others don't know that you're awake yet. Miraculously, no one was seriously injured after all that craziness either. Well, you were in a pretty sorry state from what I hear, but apparently that Jaune kid unlocked some kind of healing semblance."

"Jaune?" Kai was surprised. "I'll have to thank him for that the next time I see him." He smiled. "Everyone is here then? Ruby, Blake, Orchid, Jaune, everyone?"

Taiyang nodded. "Yeah, everyone's here, and everyone's safe. Most of them are resting and recovering, and Yang managed to corner Raven." He shuddered. "She's been talking with her for hours at this point. I haven't heard any screaming yet, so I'm content to let them talk. Yang deserves to meet her mother, even if she is a massive cunt."

"Hmph," Kai scoffed, amused. "Where's Neo?" He asked, wondering where the mute could have gone.

"If you're talking about that pink haired chick Weiss told me about, I've no clue." Taiyang shrugged helplessly. "All I know is that for whatever reason, she vanished as soon as she woke up from being knocked out by Cinder. She's gone. Weiss also told me several things about you and her…"

"Oh…" Kai felt embarrassed, and even a little ashamed. "Yeah."

"Yeah." Taiyang echoed. He then sighed. "Look, kid, I'm not going to judge you about your tastes, but there is something you need to know about Neo. Once Ruby got word about you two, she told me about what she did, and I believe it."

"Neo did a lot of bad things." Kai acknowledged. "But she saved my life, and was with me for a long time. She was like a partner."

"More than that, clearly." Taiyang sniped. "Unless… What's with that face? Did you not like her?"

"I liked her." Kai acknowledged. Of course he liked her. He liked her enough to sleep with her. "But perhaps not the same way she might have liked me."

"Ooooh," Taiyang dragged out the word. "Damn. Well, can't say I blame you. I guess it makes this easier to tell you then."

"Tell me what?" Kai drawled, grateful that Malienna was such a heavy sleeper and didn't know any of this was going on.

"Neo framed you, Kai." Taiyang said with an empathetic expression. "She's the reason most of the world thinks you're a criminal who worked with Cinder."

Kai sucked in a soft gasp. His blind eyes widening with varying degrees of shock, anger, and betrayal, before it boiled down to resigned acceptance. His body visibly shook with what could have been read as anger, but it relaxed almost immediately. After, Kai let out a long, heavy sigh as he cupped his face with one hand and shook his head. He didn't cry, nor did he scream out in anger. Honestly, from Taiyang's point of view, he just looked disappointed.

"Damn it, Neo." was all Kai said in response. "I guess it's a good thing she left when she did. She probably knew it was going to come out, and once she saw that we were winning without her help, she took the chance to get out of there. Damn it…"

Taiyang scooted closer and gently rubbed his back, giving him what support he could.

"Sorry, man."

"No, no, it's fine. I think I already knew about her, to a certain extent." He sighed again. "We were never going to work together forever. She was with me because Roman asked her to help me kill Cinder. She did that, however briefly. What she does now… is up to her. I've no intention of hunting her down."

"That's good to hear." Taiyang said. "Also a little surprising, coming from you."

Kai laughed wholeheartedly. "I killed Cinder." He said, as if that was the answer to everything. "I won't let anything ruin that. I avenged my father, I avenged my father, and I avenged the Mistral Vytal Festival from several years ago. To some extent, I also avenged Beacon and Vale. I feel good - No, I feel amazing!" He said louder than he intended to. "With her gone… I feel like such a massive weight has been taken off my shoulders."

"That's…" Good? Relieving? Concerning? Taiyang didn't know what to say, but settled on the former. "Good…"

"It is." Kai agreed. "Now I can be a better brother to Malienna, a better friend to everyone. I'm not going to leave again, never again. Don't worry, I'm not done fighting either. Salem still needs to be stopped. Cinder being gone is only going to make that much easier. I might have lost my sword killing Cinder, but I can always get a new one or have Ruby-"

"Slow down," Taiyang said, patting his shoulder. "One thing at a time. Take your victory for now and celebrate it while you can. I'm sure everyone will be happy to have you back and catch up. We plan on heading to Atlas once everyone is back on their feet and better. But that's probably weeks from now."

"Yeah… yeah…" Kai settled down, his heart was beating so fast. He hadn't been that excited in a long time. The emotion felt foreign, but welcome. "You're right. I… I haven't been a good leader to my team. Are they all here?"

"Yeah, they are." Taiyang explained. "Ruby is taking care of Orchid, and Blake is… well, she's mourning."

"Mourning?" Kai stiffened. "I thought you said no one was hurt!?"

"None of ours, but… you can talk to her about it when you get better, how about that?"

"I suppose…" Kai said uneasily. He closed his eyes as he settled his head back down on the pillow. He felt exhausted again, tired, and his stomach growled loudly. Taiyang heard it, and smiled.

"Just like old times, eh?" Taiyang said as he stood up. "I remember carrying you back a few times after our first few training sessions, and feeding you too. I'll go see if I can whip something up. Take a nap in the meantime," he glanced down at Malienna. "Spend some time with your sister."

Kai nodded his head as Taiyang left the room. With one arm, he pulled Malienna further up his body so that her head was snuggled into his chest instead of his thigh. This felt good, he enjoyed this feeling.

Maybe he could finally stand to rest for a little while longer.

Cinder Fall's dead body floated to the bottom of the underwater chasm. Silver Ebony stabbed deep through her unbeating heart, and pierced out the other side. In the most literal sense of the word, she was dead. Her lungs were full of water, and her eyes were clenched shut while her arm, legs, and half of her face ceased to exist once the Grimm essence of Salem was purified from her body. The magic of the Fall Maiden lingered in her body, clinging on to one source, and one source alone - the magic siphon that Salem had installed in her body before the attack on Beacon.

It was there, ever so slightly present, but still there. It continuously sucked at the body's own magic, forcing the wizard's magic to remain in her lifeless body. It also sucked at the pure, silver magic of a sword made out of silver ebony. Over the course of many generations, this very runed sword was used to kill Grimm and people alike. Many silver eyed warriors have used this sword, and their magic also still lingered within the blade.

The siphon found that magic, and siphoned everything it could in a desperate attempt to save its already dead host. Silver magic was different from both Salem's dark and Ozma's light, it came from the God of Light. Condensed and diluted down to be wielded by mere mortals.

Silver Ebony began to glow as its magic was sucked out of its metallic form. There was no soul to fight back the siphoning effect, and so as its magic was drained, so was its physical form. Cinder's body absorbed the weapon into her body, and then into her soul. A silvery aura glowed around her body, its brightest point being in the center of her chest where she was run through by her greatest nemesis. Her wounds began to heal, and miraculously, she began to regrow. Suddenly, her body wasn't so cold, her muscles weren't so stiff, and she wasn't so fatally injured.

Cinder's eyes snapped open and she gasped, feeling the rush of water fill her lungs. Desperately, she threw her arms through the water and began swimming back up to the surface. Her eyes burned, her lungs burned, but her body didn't. She could feel the magic within her still, but she was so drained that she couldn't summon any of it yet. She almost died again before she broke through the water, and coughed up cups of blood from her mouth. She tread water to the nearest rockface, and dragged her ruined body out and onto the rocks.

How she was able to drag herself out of anything was told to her as she looked down at her arms, both human. Her legs, previously severed by Adam Taurus, were back, and also both human. Cinder raised a hand to touch her face, feeling skin in places where she hadn't felt skin for years. Finally, she felt her eye, which she could see out of perfectly. But more importantly, Cinder felt none of the presence of Salem, an essence that was inscribed into her body and soul. She was truly alone. She was truly herself.

Cinder cried, the relief breaking her down. Then she began to laugh hysterically. When she was finished, she stared up at the stone bridge that she was cast down. She sighed a long sigh of relief, fire igniting from her mouth as she did.

Yes, Cinder is alive.

"But wait - why is she still alive? She should have died here! Worst story ever, I'm so disappointed!"

Now just hold on a second before you furiously write negative reviews. I always said that I will be writing RWBY through The Blind Huntsman as my own story and iteration, and that while I will mostly stay true to the canon events of the original story in which this fanfiction is based off of. Like it or not, but Cinder surviving the Battle of Haven arc is what happens in canon.

I don't like that she did either. Some people do and that's fine and the fight she had with Raven was still pretty cool.

I tried to write her reveal of still being alive as well as I could, as well as a short explanation on how it's even possible since I wrote she was literally dead in every sense of the word. In short, she is only alive because the healing properties of Silver Ebony was siphoned into her body as a last resort thanks to the siphoning ability, which had the side effect of purifying any Grimm influence that Salem had on her. Does that mean she can still siphon? Hell no, that was a last ditch effort by the ability to save her life. She can no longer siphon magic. She still has the Fall Maiden powers, but that's about it. Any magic she previously absorbed is gone now as well.

I know people are still not going to like what I did, I get that, but regardless I stand by my decision. I did kill Cinder off twice in two of my other stories that have been done for a long time now. Since I'm sticking as close to the canon as I can while also keeping it at arm's length, well, this just had to be done.

Hopefully my plea got to ya. In any case, I'll see those that stick around next chapter! This next big arc might be the last arc of the entire story, if RT doesn't make me hate RWBY's Volume 9, I might do more.