Chapter 54: Cardin's Last Fight

Spoiler alert: it goes poorly for him.

Sky hooted and whooped and hollered, as did the thousands of other fans. This was going to be a match for the ages. He'd enjoy watching it, even if the outcome was basically inevitable.

Pyrrha Nikos, the Invincible Girl. Her armor was sparkling, even if her face seemed somewhat forlorn. Every now and again, Sky would catch her clenching her jaw. It struck him as odd that such a seasoned fighter would be experiencing nerves. Still, her eyes were tracking Nora's every move. She was at the top of her game.

Jaune Arc, the boy with the golden semblance. When he'd first started at Beacon, he lost every fight he was in. Now, he'd won three consecutive victories against tougher opponents (Sky counted Jaune as winning against Cinder, even if he'd forfeited, because…c'mon, it was obvious) with the aid of a mysterious semblance that no one could decipher.

Nora Valkyrie, the unstoppable force. Nobody on Remnant packed as much of a punch as Sky's leader. She'd told her teammates that, Nikos or not, she was going for the gold, and Sky believed it. Fingers crossed, Nora. Fingers crossed.

Also, Cardin. He was there too. Had a nice mace.

"And so, we find ourselves at the final round of the illustrious doubles round. We've had some…interesting fights up to this point, but I daresay we are in for a treat tonight. Will the Castle walls hold? Or is it Adventure time?"

SLAM!

Nora brought down her hammer onto the ground so hard that it shattered. That poor arena must take so much abuse.

"Yer goin' down!"

Arc perched himself on his cane and leaned forward. "Is that so?"

"Yeah! I swear by this mighty hammer to avenge Ruby and Renny and all of the other little boys and girls you molested that day, you kidney bean!"

The blond boy twirled his weapon. "Are you sure you wish to cross canes with the man who took down your partner? You might end up sharing his fate…"

Arc was the only Adventure that was bantering. Nikos was entirely silent. She didn't seem distracted, but more like she was trying her best not to open her mouth. Sky filed that tidbit away for later and watched the fight with gusto.

"What're you compensating for with that long-ass cane, Jaune? I bet you other staff is small and gross, like a broccoli!"

That broke Nikos out of her stupor. "I'll have you know that Jaune is secretly a Faunus. A tapir Faunus."

"Ladies, please!" boomed Port. "Let's work out that aggression with our violence, not our words. Let the fight begin!"

The words reverberated through the stadium, and not a millisecond passed before Nora threw Magnhild.

Backwards.

At Sky.

"Malarky! Hold this for me!"

Sky recoiled, but Magnhild bounced harmlessly against the force field protecting the audience. It rolled to the floor of the arena with a thud.

Cardin was beside himself. "What are you doing? You needed that!"

"Cardy, I saw the last fight. She has a magnet semblance! We need to lose all metal, or else we'll be thrown right out of the arena – Sky told me so. Chuck your mace and armor."

Her lunk doffed his armor but started messing with his mace instead of chucking it. Sky sucked in an anxious breath.

"Hold on a second. Let me get the Dust out of The Executioner first."

"There's no time!"

Nora grabbed Cardin's mace and tried to pry it away from him, but Cardin held onto it as he desperately opened the hatch on the side. Jaune and Pyrrha could only watch the two wrestle one another to the floor and begin to roll on top of one another with the mace in between them.

"Cardin! Lose the mace!"

"NO!"

Nora slapped Cardin's face, and Cardin responded by driving his knee into her stomach. Their auras flickered, but both kept at least one hand on the weapon at all times. Pyrrha stepped forward to help them but paused. Either she'd decided to let them do her work for her, or this whole thing was making her feel too awkward and self-conscious to break up the fight.

"It's my mace! Let go, Nora!"

"Do what I say, Cardy!"

"GRAAAH!"

Cardin had finally opened the Dust port, but Nora bumped his hand when he did it. Fire and Lightning Dust powder poured out over the two of them and ignited on impact.

"My eyes!" screamed Cardin. "There's fire Dust in my eyes! Help!"

Nora couldn't help him, because she was busy being electrocuted by the lightning Dust that had coated her T-shirt. Her hair stood up on end, her muscles spasmed, and Sky could swear he saw her skeleton once or twice.

Cardin furiously rubbed at his eyes, but that only drove the Dust in further. Sky winced and looked away. Even from the safety of his seat in the bleachers, he could feel Cardin's pain. Nature's Wrath was not a toy to be trifled with.

That's gonna be an extra big oof.

Cardin ran around in circles like a Nevermore with its head cut off until he finally crashed into Nora, knocking them both to the ground in a crispy pile of smoke, zaps, and pain.

Jaune and Pyrrha hadn't even moved. The pair looked up at the aura readout on the Jumbotron. Nora was down into the yellow at 30%, and Cardin was 21%, a hair's breadth above red.

"I suppose that Miss Valkyrie and Mister Winchester are still in the match," declared Port from the heavens above where he resided. "Their aura has held, even if they are incapacitated. And please, Miss Nikos, no kicking this time." The man sounded quite exasperated.

"Are they…should we…?"

"I guess."

Pyrrha shrugged and reached behind her back for her javelin.

Damn, that was over faster than I thought, thought Sky. Well, better luck next time, fellas.

Quick as a flash, Nora was back on her feet. Grabbing Cardin with both hands, she swung him through the air and threw him into Pyrrha. Cardin curled up into a cannonball when they hit. The Invincible Girl, unprepared for the humungous boy's momentum, was thrown off her feet. Both sailed off of the arena in a double knockout. Cardin's aura dropped into the single digits red, while Pyrrha's was safely at 96% as she was rung out.

"I…that…"

For once, even old Port was speechless.

Pyrrha Nikos, the Invincible Girl, was no longer invincible.

Sky stood up and clapped as loud as he could. Score one more for the victory-guaranteed strategies of Sky Lark, thank you very much. Ren, in his cheerleader outfit, began to spell out Castle with his arms and legs, announcing each letter as he went. They were the only ones making any noise in the silent arena.

"H-How did you do that?" asked Jaune, dumbfounded by the instant defeat of his partner.

"You have a powerful semblance, m'lad. I, on the other hand, have a next to useless one. Electricity makes me stronger. It basically never comes into play unless I inhale a thunderstorm or eat live wires, but it's what I got, so it's what I work with."

"Kick his ass, Queen Nora!" Cardin called from the sidelines.

Jaune waved his cane, Veneficus. "I'm armed."

Nora flexed her muscles, and electrical sparks popped out. "I, too, have arms."

Jaune raised his hand out, his aura glowing around it. Nothing happened.

"What?" he asked.

"What what?" Nora asked back, blinking.

"I can't…nothing's happening."

"Was something supposed to happen?"

"Don't you make electricity? I was hoping to zap you or overcharge you or something."

"Oh, no, I don't make electricity, I just convert it into strength. When there's no external high voltage, my semblance does nothing."

"Oh." Jaune sighed. "I'm about to die, aren't I?"

"Totally," said Nora.

"No doubt about that, Jauney-boy," answered Cardin from below.

"Sorry, son," said Port over the loudspeakers.

It was the upset of the century. It was the kind of underdog story that gave people hope. If some orphan from Mistral can beat the Invincible Girl, surely you can fulfill your dreams too. The fact that Nora's semblance was so situational that it was normally useless only endeared her to the crowds more. She was the kind of hero who took the hand life dealt her and earned her victory through hard work and skill, people said. What a kind girl, they praised, admitting it was a team effort and giving credit to her friends for their parts in the victory. Not a cheater like that Nikos, they said, who only ever rose to the top by winning the semblance lottery. And that disastrous singles match hadn't done Pyrrha any favors.

The audience had loved the Invincible Girl, but it loved seeing someone finally defeat her even more. Nora Valkyrie became the rookie sensation overnight. Vendors rushed so much Team Castle themed merchandise that Blake wasn't sure how they popped it out so fast. Tiny plastic mallet-hammers for kids, cannonball-Cardin themed beach balls, even a Nora plushy that was designed specifically to be rubbed across the carpet and give you a little static shock.

Pumpkin Pete's and all of the other sponsors had been equally fast to tear Pyrrha's image off their products. It wasn't exactly fair. Tons of athletes won and lost every day; the only difference here was that Pyrrha had reigned undefeated for so long that people felt this loss of hers to be a personal betrayal. Blake didn't feel that way, but the ignorant masses tended to believe what they wanted to believe.

At least the negativity from her own team's doubles match had been quelled. Vale jumped on that and publicly heaped praises on 'Beacon's own Nora Valkyrie.' They even allowed for the singles to be postponed so as to give time for fans to celebrate. Beacon had agreed, so everyone had today off.

The four finalists were Ruby Rose of Team Rainbow, Cinder Fall of Team Caiman, Nora Valkyrie of Team Castle, and Penny Polendina of Team Penny. Popularity polls showed Ruby in dead last place, likely due to Weiss Schnee being on her team. Penny Polendina came next. The cheery robot's participation was considered by three of the four kingdoms to be a violation of the rules. In the penultimate point of popularity, audiences didn't feel strongly either way about Cinder Fall. She wasn't hated like Ruby and Penny, but she wasn't adored like Nora, the new fan favorite.

Blake was just happy it wasn't going to be her center stage. That kind of thing terrified the Faunus. As the resident assassin of Team Rainbow, she was far more suited to moving about the shadows freely. Leave the spotlight for Weiss and Ruby; I'd rather stick to my element any day.

Her smile faded. Oh, right. Weiss.

Saying what she'd said to Weiss sucked, but it was for the best. Weiss was a good girl, but that way lay heartbreak. Blake x Weiss would never last. But that didn't make it hurt any less for either one of them.

Blake was sure that leading her on would've hurt a whole lot more, though. She'd promised Yang and Weiss that she'd give them her answer by the Vytal Festival Tournament's end. Well, the singles round was starting, and Weiss knew where they stood. That left Yang.

The problem here was that Yang loved Blake a lot more than Blake liked Yang. She didn't love Yang; that was for certain. Yang was…Yang. Not 'just Yang,' but…simply Yang. It was hard to seriously imagine her as a romantic prospect. She was the older sister of everyone, not just Ruby. She made silly puns and punched things really hard and looked out for the team. The only time they'd been alone had been at the Beacon dance, and that night was a very unpleasant memory for Blake.

Of course, this was all just Blake ruminating. It didn't matter. She hadn't promised to go and marry Yang; she'd only promised to give her an answer in regards to her feelings.

She could say no, or she could say yes.

Yes.

No.

Yes.

No.

Blake wondered if she could find a flower with petals to pluck. Alternatively, she could just follow Ruby around and count the rose petals in her wake.

"Hey, Blake."

Blake looked up from her book to see none other than her partner standing before her. "Ummmm, hi."

"I just came because Cardin bought a few too many Nora-flavored bubble baths and decided to share them with our team. Here's yours." Weiss placed a squirty bottle shaped like Nora on the table. Blake inspected it. The liquid came out of a tiny Magnhild that the tiny Nora was holding out. Cute.

"Weiss, how did you know I would be in the library?"

"You always come here when you're stressed."

"How did you find me in this corner?"

"This is your favorite spot."

It was true. Blake often hid in this little sequestered cranny where nobody would ever come to bother her. It was a beacon of solitude within Beacon when the Faunus wanted to be alone, and Weiss cared enough to notice.

Weiss smiled and turned around to walk off.

"You're not mad?"

Weiss turned again. "At you? Of course not. It's your choice, and I'll respect that. I'd be a monster if I held a grudge."

This was the girl whose heart Blake had thrown away like yesterday's garbage.

Even if it's destined to go down in flames, I could still…

"Weiss. Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"Why do you love me?"

"I–"

"I'm having second thoughts," Blake blurted out. "About turning you down, that is."

Weiss turned bright red.

"I'm sorry to keep flip flopping like this. I just…if I had to pick between you and Yang solely based on who you were as people, at the moment…well, I'd choose you. I'm just afraid that if we get together, we'll just end up causing each other more pain in the long run. I don't want that."

"Blake, we…what you…" Weiss exhaled and composed herself. "I love you because you changed my world. When we met, you stood your ground and accused me of unethical business practices. I know that doesn't sound romantic, but looking back, I can only see it as incredibly brave to stick to your morals like that. And even though you hated me at first, you took the time to see who I was underneath it all and decide for yourself. You understand me. When I had pyrophobia, you knew me well enough to give me the push I needed to overcome it. You're smarter than anyone. In a school where everyone thinks muscles and weapons are key, you respect yourself by training your mind as much as you train your body. You've seen the world, and you know so much about it, and I think that's really amazing. I'd love to travel the globe with you, as teammates and partners and more. I just know that I love you whenever I look into your eyes."

A Schnee and a Faunus. It was a doomed relationship if there ever was one, for oh so many reasons, inevitably destined to die as quickly as it began. But right now, Blake wondered if starting a doomed relationship would be worth it just to see Weiss smile one more time. Blake felt Weiss deserved a little happiness after everything she'd been put through.

That was the problem. She was doing this because she wanted to make Weiss happy. She felt like she owed it to her partner.

What would make Blake happy?

Would anything make Blake happy?

"Weiss–"

A blur appeared between them as Ruby dropped out of hyperspace. The fifteen-year-old's arms were full of Team Castle merch. Salt and pepper shakers shaped like Cardin and Nora fell out of her arms as she struggled to balance a Lie Ren bobblehead on top of a commemorative "Castle in the Sky Lark" snowglobe.

"You guys, they had all this 15% off! I only had to take out a loan of 10,000 lien for all this."

Blake and Weiss rushed to help her with the huge pile before it spilled onto the library floor. When they'd eventually set it down on the library table, Blake surveyed some select bits from the haul. Ruby would have to drink a whole lot of milk before she fit into the XXXXL Nora jersey. The Pyrrha Nikos chew toy was in poor taste, but Zwei would probably enjoy it.

"How'd you find us?" asked Weiss. "Nobody knows Blake's secret spot but me."

"I put trackable radionuclides in Weiss' coffee."

"Why'd you buy all this stuff?" asked Blake.

"I figured I'd treat myself, since it is my birthday and all."

"It's your birthday?!" both girls asked her at the same time.

"Yeah. Today's the day. Now I'm only one year behind everyone."

"Weiss, how soon can you purchase a cake?"

"Already on it, annnnnd…Klein says he can bring one from Atlas within the hour. Blake, do you have any confetti on you?"

Blake scoffed. "What am I, a savage? Of course I have some." She reached into her pocket and pulled a handful out.

Ruby shook her head. "You guys don't need to do all this. We never really celebrated birthdays back at home."

"Not a Patch tradition?"

"No, Dad was always too depressed to throw parties. Don't worry; Yang and I never had them nor expected them, so it's not like we felt robbed of anything."

"Then we'll have to throw you're the best first birthday ever," said Weiss. "It's the least we can do for our magnificent leader."

"I'd hate to ask you two to work on our day off," said Ruby, kicking her heels.

Weiss' scroll buzzed. "Klein says it can be a cookie cake."

"Well, when you put it that way…"

Russel had been worried that this would be some kind of immature kiddie party, but he had been pleasantly surprised. Make no mistake, this was a kiddie party, but it was the coolest shindig he'd seen all year. The cake was probably the best stuff Russ had ever tasted, and Blake had somehow found and furnished motherfucking alcoholic milk that she now served to everyone except the still underage birthday girl. Nora banners covered every square inch of the walls, and the party favors were honest-to-the-Brothers bullets. Metal as fuck.

Ruby had gone to invite her buddy Pyrrha, and Russel had been sitting next to her at the time, so she invited him too. Hey, the more the merrier, right? Russel dug into his cookie cake and tried his best not to make eye contact with the little gremlin that Rose brought along. Apparently, Haven's shortest huntress was now close friends with Beacon's youngest. Russel and Neo made eye contact at the start of the part and silently nodded in agreement not to cause any trouble, for Ruby's sake.

"You gonna drink that?" Russ gestured to Pyrrha's full drink as he scarfed down another bite of cake.

Pyrrha grabbed the cup, spit in it, and handed it to him with a smile. "Enjoy."

"Pyrrha, I'm sorry about the fight, but–"

"Don't. Just don't."

"I thought you'd be happy. You're free from fame, sponsorships, and all that jazz. Isn't this what you wanted?"

"I lost. Only losers lose. Why on Remnant would I possibly be happy?" Pyrrha practically hissed out the last word.

"Because you're Pyrrha, not Raven."

That instantly seemed to calm her down. Russel passed her own drink back into her hand. She took a sip, then recoiled.

Pyrrha caught sight of Yang, who was currently grabbing her baby sister and ruffling her hair. Professor Branwen had told Pyrrha (and thus told an eavesdropping Russel) the unabridged history of Raven and Yang.

"Do you, I dunno, feel like she's your daughter or something?"

"No. It's weird. The name Yang doesn't ring any bells."

"What's the last thing you remember from Raven?"

"Vacuo. The desert. Waves and waves of Grimm. Blood. Ozpin."

"Jaune says you were – shit, I mean, Raven was the one to cripple the headmaster."

"Ozpin was walking just fine last I saw him. The last time she saw him. In Vacuo, I mean." Pyrrha set down her cup and looked at her teammate with shame-filled viridescent eyes. "Russel, I'm sorry for snapping. The fight was just another fight, and you had nothing to do with it."

"S'okay. It wasn't you that did it. It was her."

"It's becoming hard to differentiate who's who," Pyrrha moaned.

"Not for me. I'm not even lying to spare your feelings here – you and Raven are very different people and very easy to tell apart. Polar opposites, if you'll pardon the semblance pun. I can tell when you're you, because Pyrrha's nice and polite. Raven's a crazy ass bitch."

Pyrrha slammed her drink onto the table. "Don't insult her!"

Urgh. This is going to – wait. Her?

Fate was feeling particularly assholey today, because of all the people at this party that could've come to check on their shouting, Yang decided the responsibility fell to her.

"You guys okay?" The blonde blew her birthday kazoo right into Russel's face. The mouthpiece of the kazoo had a picture of Nora, and the paper ribbon had a sketch of Cardin that she would 'throw' as it unfurled when blown. Did someone down in Vale have a semblance to mass produce chintzy baubles?

"Sorry. Pyr's a little on edge after the big fight," Russel lied. "Right, Pyrrha?"

Yang raised an eyebrow.

Russel nudged her when she didn't respond. "Ain't that right, Pyr?"

"Raven."

Russel took a biiiiiiiiiig slurp of his beer-milk. He'd need it to deal with the shitstorm that was about to come down. Just for good measure, he downed Pyrrha's cup too, spit and all.

Yang hadn't exactly publicized the fact that she and Ruby had different mothers. If it weren't for the pickled bandit floating downstairs, none of the student body would even know. The name Raven wasn't something that they were supposed to know, let alone tie to Yang Xiao-Long.

To add insult to injury, Pyrrha wouldn't shut up. "Ray, you cut and dyed your hair. I, uh…I like it. Yeah, I think it's…okay, it sucks."

Yang's eyes turned a violent red as she took the kazoo out of her mouth. "What did you just call me?"

Pyrrha winced. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I forgot that the hair being cut on your mission was a sensitive subject, Yang. I won't bring it up again."

Russel stepped between the two to prevent the impending death of his teammate. "She also hit her head when Cardin collided with her." Russel grabbed a Pyrrha Nikos squeezie-toy from the table and squeezed it, making the eyes comically pop outward. "See?"

Yang's eyes didn't let up. "I heard her say Raven."

"Just random babbling," Russel reassured her. "I think she had a sponsor named Raven Brand Camping Supplies that dropped her. There's no relation to your mother, just a complete coincid– ah, fuck me."

Yang squeezed her kazoo so hard it snapped in half under the sheer force of her grip, but a noise from across the room took her attention off Team Adventure for a second. Ruby, blindfolded and swiping randomly with Crescent Rose, was merrily trying to burst open a piñata. It was a paper mâché Beowolf, which a grinning Blake was hanging with a pulley made from the ribbon of Gambol Shroud, with Myrtenaster stabbed into the wall as the axle.

Yang's eyes turned purple again. Pyrrha seemed alarmed by the transition.

"Ok. I'm in a bit of a good mood. Ruby's happy, and things are going well with Blake. So, instead of clobbering the truth out of you both, I'll let you live."

Russel exhaled a breath of relief. Skilled hunter though he may be, Yang Xiao-Long could grab him by the mohawk with one hand and tear his balls off with the other. He'd even heard that she did that to some nightclub owner once. Pyr was far too spaced out to come to his (rather, his future children's) rescue.

"But!"

Of course there's a but.

"When this tournament is finished, we'll continue this conversation. And you two better give me a damn good answer."

I'll do you one better. When this tournament is finished, I can give you your mother's dead body.

Omake

Cinder: A lot of people are promising to do stuff as soon as the tournament ends. Sure would be a shame if *shit-eating grin* something were to interrupt it!

Next Chapter: Split Up – In which the headmaster runs out of trust to spend, and Ren gets the best seats in the house.

Author's Notes

Cardin: "It's my mace! Let go, Nora!"

Pyrrha, you should have known it was a trick from the fact that Cardy didn't say Queen!

We have our Vytal finalists, and the roster is looking pretty heckin' gigachad:

Nora's actually going for the gold, even though she's an underdog. She's cracked the code: even though only half the team goes through to the doubles, the entire team can be there for support. She's got her eyes on the prize, and she wants her friends to be there with her at every step of the way.

Cinder is also moving forward. Her designs are yet to be seen. To avoid internal monologues spoiling anything, we're not going to have any more POV segments from the Boss until we reach the climax of our story.

As for Ruby: I know it was originally Yang that progressed on to fight Mercury, but remember that things are different here. Weiss and Yang are arguing, which is why Ruby went in her sister's place against Team Fucky (that's their name, don't wear it out). Now that Weiss is a persona non grata to the world, it would be stupid of Team Rainbow to send her forward, so Ruby's going to the singles more out of necessity than choice. Ruby's also extra birb and also also a silver-eyeholes person, so she's decently suited to progress in terms of superpowers.

Penny's just happy to be playing with her friends.

Happy rats, and don't do crime!