Ch.46 Fall of Beacon
"Well, this is what she gets for trusting a known cheat. Cinder Fall along with Mercury Black, Emerald Sustrtali and Adam Taurus blackmailed me into helping her.
This is a public announcement. A terrorist attack on Amity, Beacon and Vale is now in progress, please begin evacuation immediately. We're working on regaining control of everything however a list of terrorist attacks is taking place right now.
A train rigged to detonate a large amount of dust is likely making its way towards Vale via an abandoned rail tunnel from Mountain Glenn. Adam Taurus has likely escaped confinement and the White Fang are under Cinder's control. It is likely that the Amity colosseum isn't safe either.
We are currently working on stopping the train attack on Vale, however evacuating to shelters should be your priority. I trust the huntsmen in Beacon and Amity to organise their own evacuation effort.
Qrow Branwen, who's currently sitting next to me is working with Ozpin and Ironwood on organising huntsmen response in Vale. If you're a huntsman and haven't been contacted by them yet, I implore you to go out and help with evacuation."
=O=O=O=
"RUBY!"
She barely heard him. Her gaze still fixated on the body of her friend, laying scrapped on the ground. There were tears running down her face.
She had stayed behind when Jaune ran off without much explanation only to now stand in the middle of a nightmare made manifest.
With one teammate arrested and another connected to the craziness unfolding… she was reaching a breaking point.
"RUBY! Please!"
This time, his pleas were punctuated by a screech coming from the hard dust roof of the coliseum, and that was finally enough to reach her.
"...Nevermore…"
"Ruby, are you alright!"
"The Grimm, how did they get over the city's defences?!"
"There must be a lot of them. Ruby, we need to get back to Ren and Nora."
Ruby stood up ready to follow Jaune's lead before stopping.
"No… No, we need to help here. Ren and Nora can handle themselves."
As if to punctuate her words another screech followed by the noise of the hard dust shield covering the top of the arena finally giving up was heard.
The Nevermore had broken through, landing in the arena.
=O=O=O=
"This is BLUE four, BLUEs two and three fall into defensive position!"
"Rogger, BLUE three in position."
"BLUE two, what's your status?"
"They were weak…"
"BLUE two!?"
Adam Taurus stood on the bridge of the Atlasian airship, ankle deep in the bodies of it's officers.
Cinder held up her end of the bargain, setting him free of his chains. The fact that Atlas left his mask and weapon on some officer's desk, like a bloody trophy, only aiding Adam in his escape. The soldiers were weak, barely any even had their Aura unlocked and now they were dead.
And so Adam stood on the bridge, still dressed in white prison clothes, but with his mask on his face and Wilt and Blush by his side no one could mistake him for anyone else.
It was time to send a message. Both to his comrades on the ground and the dogs of Atlas in the air.
=O=O=O=
Yang had insisted on coming down to find Pyrrha. Not that Cardin, Sky or Neo protested much.
"So it was all Cinder and her team!?"
"Yes, but Mint is on our side. Damnit, this wasn't supposed to happen. Branwen was supposed to stop this before it began!"
"How do you know uncle Qrow?"
"Mint was working with him, that's how Torchwick took over the broadcast. Arc and Polendina were in on it too."
"You all worked with Torchwick!?"
Yang's outrage was quickly stopped by Sky.
"Not important right now. We need to get to Pyrrha and evacuate people out of here. Ironwood's "There's no need to panic." speech didn't help much. And if you've been listening, there's not going to be huntsmen coming here to help."
When they reached Pyrrha, she was still standing over Penny's dead body. She was stricken with fear when it happened, but that fear went away fast. And while she did something awful, it wasn't a real person…
She had some time to think but there was one thought she kept returning to. The headmaster's offer. If something this big was happening at the same time as a battle for the magical power of a fairytale maiden, then the woman on the broadcast was probably after that.
However there was another side to the offer and that was that Pyrrha didn't want it. She wanted to become a huntress, use her combat prowess to help people. But the responsibility of becoming what amounted to a human weapon… that was too much for her.
"Pyr!? Are you alright? Look, it wasn't your fault. That Emerald chick messed with your head and…"
Yang had finally reached Pyrrha, enveloping her in a hug as she continued convincing her that it wasn't her fault.
"You should take it…"
"Huh?"
"The headmaster's offer. You should take it."
"Pyrrha, you don't have to…"
"I don't want it, Yang."
"We promised we would think about it later, for now let's just…"
"There is no time Yang. Even if all this is unrelated, we should go and find Ozpin now. You could help with that power."
Before Yang could answer a screech followed by the noise of the hard dust shield covering the top of the arena finally giving up.
The Nevermore had broken through, landing in the arena
=O=O=O=
Jaune looked over to the arena to see team SWNY ready to face off against the giant Nevermore.
"You're right, we help here, get everyone to safety and get to Ren and Nora later."
Ruby took out her scroll and started imputing the coordinates for her locker.
"It'll take time for Crescent Rose to get here. I'll need a weapon, give me a boost on the way there!"
There was little more communication needed between the pair, after all they had done this many times before their match with Yang and Cardin at the start of Beacon, and many more times since.
They both took off towards the arena and Jaune took out Atra Aurora from within his semblance before throwing it in the air. Jaune took a low stance as he took out another weapon, this time Percusio Gravi his hammer, as well as Ignis Manus and Occultus Ferrum his only bound pieces of armour. There was no time to lament leaving his chestplate in their room.
Ruby of course wasted no time. With a well practised step, she used Jaune's back as a springboard, reaching the same height in the air as Atra Aurora and grabbing it from the air.
Atra Aurora was the blade Jaune used the most during Beacon's classes and as such it was the one Ruby was most familiar with. Ren had on occasion trained with Jaune's Gemini Aculei and Nora was allowed to borrow Percusio Gravi once, but to Ruby it was Atra Aurora that was the most familiar.
The Nevermore screeched as Ruby landed on its back and stabbed the sword into its spine. At the same time Jaune unleashed a heavy swing with his hammer, smashing into the Grimm bird's leg.
"RUBY!"
Yang was the first of team SWNY to react to their arrival to the battle, but in truth, it wasn't just Jaune and Ruby who joined the fray. With the ceiling broken through, more Grimm were funnelling through into Amity, attracted by the fear and panic of civilians and students alike.
Not all students were panicking though. There were familiar faces, like teams CFVY, BSMT and SSSN, as well as the less familiar ones like BRNZ, FNKI and ABRN, all of which joined the resistance against the Grimm.
But they were at a disadvantage, almost none of them had their weapon on them, the recent debacle between Valkyrie and Black made sure that they had to deposit them in their lockers while around civilians.
"Incoming locker!"
Hearing that Ruby decided to jump off the Nevermore, leaving the sword stuck in its back. Whether that was her locker or not, it meant that the lockers summoned by the student's were going to arrive soon.
"Jaune! Callback!"
Jaune didn't need to be told twice. Now that Ruby didn't need the weapon to defend herself it was time to rip a chunk out of that overgrown bird. As he called Atra Aurora back he could feel the empty container return to his semblance, releasing his aura to burn through the Grimm flesh.
The Nevermore screamed in pain as an above average huntsman worth of Aura released into its spine, leaving behind a sizable hole behind.
"Woah!" gasped Sun as well as several others.
The Grimm was felled.
As lockers landed all around them and the students dealt with the smaller Grimm, Ruby took a deep shaky breath. With Crescent Rose in hand and Jaune by her side it was time to do the right thing… though she wished someone else would do it for her.
"Students… no, huntsmen! Today shouldn't have happened. Lives shouldn't have been lost. But it did and they were. Huntsmen of Vale are busy protecting Vale, but we shouldn't stand by the sidelines! We've bought time for people to evacuate Amity, but…"
Before Ruby could finish speaking, an explosion in the distance interrupted her. And as she got ready to continue, another explosion, this one much closer, shook the coliseum.
Seconds later they could all feel the whole floating structure lurch as it changed direction and started losing height.
"...but it's probably time for us to go too." finished Jaune in Ruby's stead, speaking what almost everyone was thinking.
=O=O=O=
"Damnit Roman, there are Grimm on the streets, we need to go!"
They were still in the café. All the patrons evacuated
"Not yet, the train is still going! Every time I think I managed to engage the brakes on a wagon, the one in front just disconnects and the wagon disappears. There's still several tons of dust on its way here. Qrow, I don't think I have time to stop it anymore!"
"Shit! Jimmy promised to lend us the Atlassian Knights to defend Vale, but it might not be enough. And that's ignoring the White Fang in Beacon. If they get to Amber…"
Roman's hands stopped moving across the touch keyboard in front of him. Then his eyes widened in realisation - Cinder was just waiting for the mechanical army of Atlas to be deployed, that had to be done manually, but controlling them…
"Dammit! I was so focussed on the train I forgot about those damn robots! Those are on the network too. I need to take them over before they start attacking people! Fuck I'll have to let the train go. I can't stop that but I can stop the tin men!"
Qrow picked up his scroll to make another call to Ozpin. The train was a lost cause and it could hit at any moment.
But the moment the call connected, a large cloud of burning dust illuminated the sky. Qrow had precious seconds to tackle Roman out of his chair and to the floor before the shockwave hit.
=O=O=O=
When the student's arrived at the aircraft departure platforms they were met with a sight of a still rising burning cloud of dust illuminating the night sky. Even from the distance they could tell there were Grimm flowing from the crater below. There were buildings collapsing all over the city as the earth beneath it shook. Though unbeknownst to them, the tremors on the ground were more than the aftermath of an explosion. Mt. Glenn was waking up.
The only saving grace was that the civilians were mostly gone from Amity. There was one last civilian transport half empty and waiting for the students to to it was a military ship Jaune recognised as the one that Winter brought Penny to Beacon on. Its engines were still running as it had just landed and the doors were just now opening.
"Winter!" Predictably it was Weiss who ran to the front of the group. However before she could reach her sister another figure emerged from the military vessel.
"Students!? Why are you still here!"
There was surprise in general Ironwood's voice. But he quickly suppressed it.
"No matter. Amity's gravity engines were damaged in the explosion and thanks to the explosion in Vale, it is no longer a priority. I leave it up to you whether you want to evacuate together with the civilians or help defend Beacon, but either way you should board one of these ships and evacuate. Winter, I task you with helping defend Beacon and evacuating any civilians from Academy grounds. I'll go help with the defence of Vale."
"Yes, sir!"
=O=O=O=
Even before the ship landed, Ruby was standing in the open cargo hold door, observing the many things wrong with the sight. Grimm roamed the place, Atlasean Paladins with White Fang insignia dotted the place along with groups of faunus terrorists clashing against the students and teachers.
The ship flew low, students dropping to the ground to reinforce their friends and classmates. Ruby too was looking for her friends, for her team. She was leaning out as far as she could while gripping onto Jaune's shirt, trusting him to not let go and ready to pull him with her semblance.
Luckily for her the explosions of pink dust were visible from far away, revealing Ren and Nora, along with a pair of soldiers, defending themselves against the onslaught. She tugged on Jaune, wasting no time in departing the ship.
She landed with a flurry of rose petals, already mid swing of her scythe making quick work of the Beowulf alfa in front of her.
"Ren! Nora!"
"Ruby!"
Moment's later Jaune landed using his favourite and to this day only proper landing strategy, his weight lodging Atra Aurora through the bone plating of an Ursa major.
"And Jaune!" added Nora with a cheer.
In the midst of their heartfelt reunion however a new problem reared its ugly head. While the sky was originally littered with Atlas military ships, most were severely damaged or went to help Vale. The closest one however wasn't with Atlas. Not anymore.
The ships armaments, now manned by the White Fang took aim and released several barrages of cannon fire. Some were aimed at other aircraft, but some aimed at the student's on the ground. The ongoing groundfight was further complicated when Atlas finally managed to ground the ship, as students fled from underneath, desperately trying to not be crushed by the wreckage.
Those lucky enough to escape death by shipwreck however weren't as lucky when it came to the Grimm. The panicked scramble was enough for the fear craving creatures to be lured to them, leaving team RNJR relatively safe.
"What now?"
Ruby was shaking a little. As much as they trained for situations like this, something of this scale was beyond her comfort zone. The Grimm were easy, those were monsters. But the people that attacked Beacon were a different story. Even if they didn't take their lives, leaving them incapacitated around this many Grimm was a death sentence either way. But Ruby steeled her resolve.
"We take out as many threats as possible. The Grimm made way for now, so if we can take out the remaining Paladins…" her explanation was interrupted however, by the familiar sound of Yang propelling herself through the air.
The sound faded as it gained distance, but the direction she was going was obvious. It was Beacon tower at the centre of the campus.
Ruby wasn't the only one who recognised the sound and her team knew her well enough to recognise the worry on her face. Her inner conflict was plainly visible as she looked towards the tower and back to her teammates.
"...Go." Ren, ever the man of few words, spoke clearly. "Nora and I can take care of ourselves."
A moment later Ruby nodded and took off running. Jaune made to follow her before stopping and turning back while speaking the words "Virga Fulgur" before throwing the spear to Nora.
"Don't you dare die on us, it would break her heart."
With his line done, Jaune made to exit stage left and ran after Ruby.
=O=O=O=
Yang was weaving her way through the mass of Grimm, White Fang, students and professors, with Pyrrha following closely behind her. They ditched the rest of their team with one goal in mind, reaching the girl dying in the vaults beneath Beacon, before it was too late. Yang was using up a lot of ammo and Pyrrha was openly using her semblance for the first time in her career, just to move as fast as they could.
Ozpin stood in front of the tower entrance, leaning on his cane with both hands. The dissolving Grimm carcases littering the surrounding area spoke of the fighting that unfolded here since the battle for Beacon started.
"I was wondering who would show up first, Cinder or you two. Quick, no time for pleasantries, follow me."
The trio hurried to the elevator and soon they were making their way down to the vaults. The cabin was nearly done descending when Ozpin spoke once more.
"I assume since you're here, that you've decided then…?"
"Yes, we… I'll take it."
The headmaster closed his eyes for a moment while the elevator opened.
"Then let's make haste. Miss Nikos please stand guard while I initiate the transfer. Miss Xiao-Long please enter the capsule."
As the glass cover closed, Yang realised how much she wished Pyrrha could support her through this. That she wished she could hold her hand to be less afraid.
As the headmaster finished inputting commands on the control panel, two things happened near simultaneously. An explosion of fire came through the elevator shaft. And immense pain assaulted Yang.
It felt like molten fire coursing through her veins and as she screamed Pyrrha turned away from the explosion, running instead towards Yang.
Ozpin passed her without a word. His role in the transfer was done, now all that remained was buying enough time for Amber's aura to pour into Yang.
Cinder came in like a force of nature. A storm of anger and fire. So much went wrong for her, but that incompetence, betrayal and backstabbing, was a small price to pay so long as she got what she came for.
Now was not the time for gloating. It was time for action. And so while Ozpin stood prepared to face the power of the Fall Maiden, she used it as a diversion, letting a barrage of arrows loose from her bow.
As the wall of fire approached Ozpin several arrows emerged from it in quick succession. The one aimed at him was easily dispatched. The one aimed at Yang bounced off harmlessly off of Pyrrha's shield. But the one aimed at Amber flew true.
A moment of inattentiveness, spelled disaster. As Amber's life faded away, Ozpin could feel the flow of magic as the maiden's power joined its other part with Cinder.
In a few moments the firestorm was gone.
"It is my win, Ozpin…"
The headmaster closed his eyes for a moment once more. Truth to be told, he was tired. The battle was lost, but the war was far from over. He looked back at his students only to see Pyrrha carefully extracting the winded Yang from the machine. Perhaps not all was truly lost.
"...so it would seel miss Fall, so it would seem."
"You know what I!m here for. Where is it? Where is the Vault?"
"...Hmmm, before that. I don't suppose that you'd be willing to let the two go."
"I'm not here to play games with you! You don't get to negotiate with me! I won! You lost, it is as simple as that."
Cinder let her emotions go and fire filled the underground space. Pillars crumbled in the inferno and the ceiling began to collapse. Ozpin kneeled before her as he enveloped himself in a green aegis of aura. When Cinder came to her senses again all she knew was that the machine was crushed by a large piece of the ceiling as was Ozpin, his hand, still grasping his cane, was the only thing poking out from beneath.
=O=O=O=
The moment Blake saw the state of the campus, her heart sank. The situation at Amity was Cinder's fault, Vale she could push onto Roman. But Beacon… This was the White Fang's fault.
Faunus in White Fang paraphernalia flying around in marked bullheads, running around in stolen warmachines, releasing Grimm out of cages. Was this what her fight for freedom led up to? Would she be the one shooting at students if she stayed with Adam?
Her heart was beating fast, blood rushing through her ears blocking out everything. She didn't hear the carnage, she didn't hear the Fang members shouting commands, she didn't hear her teammates and friends.
It wasn't until she saw a rush of burning gold rush past her as Sun's aura clones ran against one of the warmachines, that she regained control of her mind. She wasn't alone. And while she couldn't bring herself to fight against the misguided. There was one kind of enemy she could stand against.
She looked at her team. She didn't speak, she didn't need to. She led by example.
She ran past the struggling paladin and used the ribbon of her kusarigama to swing herself around a streetlamp. Instead of helping Sun in his fight against the mech Blake fell from high up in the air to stab a large Beowulf in the neck.
The fight was a blur, but the Grimm were dispatched with relative ease. But in her zeal the team of four split and became two. Blake barely noticed herself rushing ever faster through hallways of Beacon, slicing and dicing the monstrous invaders.
She moved as if in a feverish dream, not registering the minutia of her surroundings and soon even Weiss couldn't keep pace with her. And in her feverish state she eventually ended up in the library.
Blake didn't know if it was by coincidence, if her subconsciousness led her here, or if it was fate. What she did know was that the library was on fire, the broken windows revealing the still flaming wreckage of an Atlassian battleship outside. And worst of all, amid the flaming ruin of words, stories, knowledge and emotions, walked a familiar figure.
"Hello, Blake…"
Adam stood before the broken window through which he entered. His white prison garb, painted orange by the flames and stained red with blood.
"Isn't it a beautiful sight? Gaze upon the flames of revolution!"
This was a nightmare, it had to be.
Blake's shaking hands tightened around her weapon as she aimed the barrel at him. After each shot and ting of steel reflecting her bullets, a step rang out, the crunching of broken glass ringing out impossibly loud.
When their blades finally crossed she felt weak oh so weak. She fell to the ground amidst the burning remnants of her place of refuge.
"BLAKE!"
A barrage of ice shot over Blake's head, Weisses scream giving Adam barely enough time to dodge and create distance.
"A Schnee…" growled out Adam, hatred and madness tainting his voice.
Blake felt more than saw when Weiss charged against the mad bull. "WEISS!" she screamed in warning.
But it was too late.
A crescent arc of red sliced through the air, through aura, through flesh and bone.
Weiss stumbled and fell, one of her legs no longer attached. She screamed in agony as Adam stood over her, a mad grin illuminated by the fire. He spoke no words as he aligned his blade with the girl's neck and reared his blade back for a swing.
Blake shut her eyes, unable to bear the sight of her partner's death.
But instead a piercing crack of thunder deafened her sensitive ears. As she opened her eyes she was met with the visage of Nora Valkyrie, her teal eyes glowing with lightning as electricity arched off of the spear she was holding.
Blake passed out, no longer aware of the panicked screaming as Nora begged Weiss to stay awake. Unaware of Weiss screaming her lungs out when Nora cauterised her wound. Unaware of Lie Ren dragging her lifeless body out of the burning library.
=O=O=O=
Ruby was forced to stop. She and Jaune were on their way towards the centre of Beacon's campus when a powerful screech echoed from the distance.
"What was…that…"
Before she could even finish the question the answer became obvious as a massive Grimm Wyvern blotted out the shattered moon.
"THE GRIMM HAVE A DRAGON!"
"Well shit."
As they stood stunned there was a barely audible sound of a sword slicing through the air, followed by three figures emerging from a deep red portal.
Yang and Pyrrha were barely conscious, their clothing singed in many places. The third was a woman with a mane of black hair rivalling Yang's, a red blade in her hand and a Nevermore mask on her face.
"...you're Summer's kid…"
The woman spoke in a voice that, even muffled through the mask, sounded almost fond.
When she took a step towards Ruby however, Jaune stepped between them.
"...nevermind." she turned to Yang, who was now sitting up on the pavement, helping Pyrrha do the same. "You only get one Yang."
"Wait!"
But before Yang could stop her the woman slashed the air with her sword again and disappeared through the resulting portal.
"Dammit!" Yang struck the ground with her fist, sparks lighting up as her left eye briefly flashed with fire.
"Yang, what happened."
Yang was silent and so it was up to Pyrrha to answer.
"...Cinder she… she killed Ozpin!"
"I need to fight her…"
"What!? Why!?"
"...I… I can't tell you. But if I don't, she'll… This will get so much worse…"
While Ruby had a brief argument with Yang, Jaune stood there in stunned silence. Something was wrong. This whole thing felt like his dreams, only real. And worse of all, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. It was faint, but oh so similar to what he felt from Mercury Black every time he came into contact with him, and nearly the same as that time he grazed against Cinder during the Dance.
But this was different, it had to be. This was Yang, Ruby's sister, and whatever it was that gave him this feeling, it wasn't as strong. Where Cinder felt like staring at the viscera of a shrapnel wound and Mercury like a ripped off limb, Yang elicited the feeling of a surgical cut or a knife wound.
"Jaune!"
"...huh?"
"Snap out of it. Cinder just flew up the tower!"
Jaune looked up and sure enough he could clearly see the explosion of fire that destroyed the headmaster's office.
"We're going up there to face her. We're the only ones who can!"
There was a wave of fear that went through Jaune's mind. Not so much for his own wellbeing as for Ruby's. But he could see she was determined as was her sister and Pyrrha.
"Okay, let's go."
=O=O=O=
The ruined elevator, lifted up by Pyrrha's semblance finally reached the top. There they saw Cinder, holding Ozpin's cane, trying to insert it into the clockwork mechanism that formed the one surviving wall.
"Where is it!? What is… you…"
Cinder was losing it. The Vault wasn't underground and it wasn't up here either. And now not only were there fucking children coming to be a hidrance, they were the same ones that should have perished down there with Ozpin.
"You should have taken the opportunity to run. Well too bad. Ozpin's dead and this power is mine. So be good little children and DIE!"
Cinder used her semblance to form two glass scimitars and propelled herself towards the group. To her surprise however, the only boy of the group took her head on, locking his sword with hers.
Her anger spiked once more and her magic responded. The raging storm of fire enveloped them. Those weren't the only flames however. Jaune's aura ignited. Armed with only Atra Aurora the rest of his aura worked overtime to protect him from the immense heat.
Of course the girls weren't idle. Soon gunshots rang out, bullets bouncing off of Cinder's aura, sapping it away.
Cinder used her magic to push Jaune away with a wave of fire, distancing herself and taking flight. She smirked. The four of them were almost an even fight for her, but she wasn't alone.
The tower shook as the colossal Grimm Wyvern parched on the side of the tower, reaching its head over the top, catching Pyrrha by surprise.
In a moment of panic Yang rushed to aid her partner, turning her back on Cinder.
That proved to be a mistake as Cinder connected her scimitar into a bow formation and let loose an arrow of flames towards the two.
To her great surprise however Yang turned at the last second revealing her left eye flickering with the maidens magic. The arrow hit her in the arm and she screamed in pain as it went clean through her aura.
But that scream was the last drop.
Ruby, seeing the attack yet not the extent of it, feared the worst. Tears of silver pooled in her eyes as she made a last ditch attempt at attacking Cinder.
With the last of her aura Ruby pushed her semblance to its limits and swung Crescent Rose. But Cinder caught the blade with hands covered in aura and fire, heating the unprotected metal in an instant and shredding it to pieces.
And in that moment of emotional turmoil something snapped and silver light enveloped all.
=O=O=O=
Author's note:
Aaaaand that's it. Beacon has fallen.
This chapter is about twice the length of normal chapters but it was a decision on my part to not split it, because then the second half wouldn't land as well, or I'd have to separate the happenings by characters/topics and that would make the first half of this into a side character thing before coming back in time and following the main cast in the latter part. This double length chapter, in my opinion at least, works better. Especially for the end of the Beacon arc.
I'll probably be busy doing other stuff this coming month, but don't worry there's at least two chapter's already done for the next two weeks and by then I should have found some time to write more. And if I don't, well there's always the pile of one shots I'm sitting on.
Other than that - Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a good start to 2024.
Anyway I hope you all enjoyed this chapter of Arsenal of Arc and the end of the Beacon arc. I hope you're looking forward to next week's chapter: Ch.47 Picking up the pieces