Chapter 25: When it Falls
Sapphire and Ruby both landed on the top of the Atlas Airship that housed Torchwick, and both of them were instantly greeted to the sight of absolutely destroyed Atlas soldiers. Sapphire did note Ruby's absolutely mortified face.
"I…I just don't understand…" The leader of team RWBY said nervously.
"Give me a bit of credit, red. Me getting captured was all part of the plan ya know." Both of them looked over at Torchwick and Neo, both of whom had a smug grin on their faces.
Torchwick twirled his cane as Sapphire watched Ruby kick off Towards Neo. Taking the Ice Cream warrior back.
"I daresay, what's gotten into ya laddy?" Torchwick asked, puffing smoke out of his cigar.
Sapphire simply pulled out Stalwart Terra with a frown. "What exactly do you hope to accomplish by this?" he asked.
The criminal mastermind really just rolled his eyes. "Aye ya yae, the kids are all the same down at Beacon ain't they?"
Torchwick darted towards him and jabbed his cane in a poking manner, Sapphire rolled out of the way of his jabs before smashing him with his battle axe.
Torchwick slid alongside the roof of the battleship before using his cane to fire a bullet into the ground. Propelling him into the air. To which Ruby came flying across with her semblance and smacked Torchwick down onto the battleship.
Sapphire quickly pivoted as Neo came in with a stab from her umbrella. His counter attack was quickly dodged as his ax collided with the girl's body, and Neo's body shattered like glass.
Taking a moment to wait for an audio cue, he heard the reforming of Neo behind him, quickly, he turned back and fired off a bunch of dark spikes. The shadowy spikes developed around Neo's reformed body and smashed into her.
"Didn't learn magic for nothing, thank you Lady Edelgard." Sapphire whispered.
He heard a whoosh as the rose petals had him clash as Ruby defended him from Torchwick's cane strikes.
"Thanks for that."
Neo simply rolled her eyes as she kicked both of them across the airship.
"Nicely done, my little cream puff." Torchwick chuckled. Making his little warrior flush red.
Sapphire and Ruby both groaned as they stood up. "Seriously…what do you see in this man?" Sapphire asked. "You look like…ten years apart from each other."
Neo frowned in disappointment as the cry of a Nevermore began circling the airship from above.
Torchwick began shooting at the two of them, who each dodged his bullets by separating, while Neo began to charge over at Sapphire pushing the blue boy out of earshot as Ruby clashed Trorchwick's cane with Crescent Rose.
"Why are you doing this?" Ruby asked. "What do you possibly get out of this?"
"Listen here little red." Torchwick grunted. Kick Ruby as she tried to slash at him with his scythe. "In this world, nobody's ever truly safe. A little girl like you, I've seen them all before."
Torchwick's leg swept Ruby and smacked her body like a golf ball into the wall of the airship.
"I've had subsidiaries open up to the truth of Remnant. One with a conspiracy long before the likes of your birth." Torchwick kicked her weapon off the side of the airship, making Ruby watch in horror as her only form of defense tumbled towards Beacon.
"That boy you fight alongside," Torchwick grunted, smacking Ruby with his cane. "Him and his teammates are nothing short of monsters. Just like the Grimm you see all around you."
Ruby grunted in pain as she felt her own Aura beginning to shatter, and Sapphire was still preoccupied with Neo.
"Neo over there, well, let's just say she was once like you eh?" Torchwick chuckled. "Unfortunately, the world of Remnant doesn't smile upon the nice guys. And Neo's poor speech was taken with burning rage by scumbag huntresses…just like you."
"Hunters and Huntresses wouldn't do tha-" Ruby was cut off as Roman smashed his cane over head.
"Oh how the cookie crumbles, Neo thought just the same. Hunter's aren't noble, they aren't heroes…they're all a bunch of rats fighting a war they don't know about…and they aren't even on the right side of history. They're just a bunch of justice warriors who don't know the first thing of justice." Torchwick fired a bullet into her stomach
Thankfully, her aura was still active, but the pain of a bullet could still be felt.
"With that being said, looking around, I relish the idea of seeing the people who failed us long ago. Beacon will fall by the hands of us."
Ruby rolled out of the way of Torchwick's next stab poke.
"I may be a gambling man, little red, but even I know that there are some bets that you just don't take. It's not that I gain much, it's that I can't afford to lose this time around. Ya see?" Torchwick clubbed her over the head again.
"That's crazy talk!"
Torchwick simply chuckled. "Like it or not, little red, the people that hired Neo and I are going to change the world. You can't stop them, those little alien fuckers you got for friends won't stop them, I can't stop them, so why even bother?"
Torchwick blasted her again, this time with a strange red energy that hit her multiple times.
"You got spirit little red, I'll give ya that, you could make a nice little henchmen, just like Neo!" Torchwick smacked her again. "But this, this is the real world." He smacked her again.
"The real world is cold." Another smack. "The real world doesn't care about spirit. If you want to be a hero, play the part and die like all the little naive children who came before you in the history of this hellhole the huntsmen call Earth."
Ruby looked up and spotted a Nevermore diving down towards them. Quickly, she kicked Torchwick in the shin as he raised his cane for another strike and used the momentum to roll back.
"And as for me, I'm gonna continue to do what I do best." Torchwick grunted. Raising his cane up one last time to shoot her again. "Lie, Cheat, Steal and Survi-" Roman was cut off as the Nevermore crashed on top of him, immediately raising its beak to swallow him whole.
Neo heard the final screams of her boss and turned around in shock, she quickly raised her umbrella to shoot Ruby, still paralyzed in shock, only for Sapphire to abruptly swipe her, knocking her off the side of the airship.
Quickly, not bothering to watch the ice cream warrior fall, the blue haired boy summoned more dark spikes and tossed them at the Nevermore, killing the beast, with no sign of Torchwick in the decaying corpse.
"What an anti-climatic end to Torchwick and Neo…" He muttered. "Hope we'll never see them again."
He walked over to Ruby and waved a hand in front of her. The silver eyed huntress blinked a few times before shaking herself.
"Thank you…now…let's try and find a way to land this thing." Ruby sped off as Sapphire looked down over the ledge of the ship, seeing gun fire over from the eastern side, where Erick and Weiss were supposed to be.
"I hope the rest of them are doing okay."
"YOU!" Erick and Weiss both flinched as they turned to face Adam, both of them certainly took a dislike to seeing the White Fang leader and his bullhorns.
Adam instantly kicked his bloody red katana out of his sheath. Weiss instantly took out Myrtenaster and clashed it against his own sword.
Adam quickly stopped the clash as he dodged the beam of light from Gaia as Erick shot at him. The bull faunus leader flipped back before turning his attention to the two of them.
Erick charged an ice beam from Gaia, which he shot at Adam's feet, the bull Faunus retaliated by spinning his bloody red blade around his body as Weiss attacked him with Myrtenaster.
"I can't tell you how long I've spent." Adam growled. "I heard that the other Schnee child would be attending one of the hunters' schools."
"What bane do you have against Weiss? She hasn't done anything!"
Adam simply shot a bullet against a column near Erick, which Weiss casted one of platforms to stop the collapsing building on top him.
Erick returned the favor as he shot Adam with a blast of Fire as the bull Faunus went to attack Weiss with her distracted to protect Erick.
"When will the Schnees learn to treat us the way we should be?" Adam snarled as he struck Weiss's Rapier with the blade.
"I…I haven't done anything to the Faunus."
"That's painfully clear." Adam snarled as he deflected another blast of fire From Erick and snapped his blade against Weiss. "You may not have done anything, not yet at least. But if I can't harm your dad, I may as well ensure that your shitty heritage of Faunus abuse doesn't last another Generation." Adam kicked Weiss in the stomach and shot her back.
"Your father, your grandfather, your great-grandfather…" Adam slashed as Weiss backflipped away from him. "Years of abuse and torture. You work us to the bone, you lobby us to keep us quiet. Goddammit, every single one of you makes our lives worse."
Erick Sent an electrical blast of thunder at Adam, which stunned him long enough for Weiss to summon her Grimm Glyph and tackle Adam backwards.
"I've tried to go for the head of the snake you know." Adam snarled as Weiss' Rapier caught on fire thanks to a bit of help from Gaia. She stabbed Adam, causing his Aura to flare as he was blasted back.
"I'm not going to do that. I work with a Faunus, she's a nice person!" Weiss replied, in a rather irritable tone. "I will be different. I will change it."
Adam chuckled. "That's exactly what Jacques said to Tyrain, that's exactly what Nicholas said to Ghira, look how that turned out…Sure, what Tyrian did before I overthrew him and turned him in wasn't good, but dammit we were promised that multiple times in a row. There are excuses, we've heard them all the time."
Erick blasted Adam with a charge shot as Weiss double slashed him. Adam blocked her blade and pushed her back with his own double take. He slashed her twice before kicking her back again.
Gaia was put back into a holster as Erick took out his heavy bazooka and blasted Adam backwards. A large amount of smoke covered Adam as he came flying forward with his blade. Weiss quickly summoned four ice shards and shot them towards Adam. Each of them pinned him down before Erick blasted him with a bottle rocket.
"Why…why can't you just accept that I will be different?" Weiss asked.
Adam simply looked at her. "I wear this mask because of the person who promised that this time would be different you know." He slashed a red beam of light from his sword that blasted the two of them back.
"The faunus have been urging us, we may not provokingly kill others anymore. But I promised I'd make an exception…an exception for prissy little rich girls like you."
"Okay…hold on for just a second…" Erick fired a beam of ice, trapping Adam's feet to the ground. "So…judging by what you said, you must be Adam Taurus, the current White Fang leader."
"I'm so shocked, honestly." Adam grumbled. "Listen kid, I can see you've got something going on, but the Schnees are all a bunch of bitches. They've done nothing but oppress us for years. My people are tortured every day by the haunting things that go on behind the scenes. There's an entire point's system in the SDC for who can provoke the Faunus enough to make us look bad. I've been on the inside, I've seen the horrors this company produces…and…most importantly…I have all the dirt I need to expose the Schnee Dust Company for the phony little shitheads they really are."
Erick half chanced a glance at Weiss, who, if she did already know this, made a very convincing face to say she didn't otherwise.
"Everyone in the Schnee family has dirt that they'd rather not reveal to the world around them. Everyone except for the girl you see some worth in." Adam continued. "So, even though I could just take all the dirt on Jacques I need and expose the family. It wouldn't matter, she'd just take control of the company, and the cycle would continue…Sure, traditionally, the man has always taken over…which I guess would be you…ironically enough. But, as I've been made aware, the Schnees have some…interesting…ways of making sure whoever takes over will be exactly like them. Another horrid freakshow monster who plays the victim when they're the instigator."
"My father was nothing short of correct about how terrible Adam was willing to be to us…I'll give him that…" Weiss mumbled to herself.
"So…you there…how about you step aside and let me save you." Adam continued, looking at Erick. "I'll be doing you a big favor, rare for a Faunus like me to do for humans. But the Schnee Dust Company needs to be toppled, and killing the next in line is the first step. Besides, I'm sure Weiss will toss you aside…just like the Schnees have done to every other person who's tired to help them…like it or not…we're all just objects to people like the-" Erick felt his eye twitch.
"ENOUGH!" Weiss flinched as she heard the familiar evil sounding tone of Erick. Worryingly she looked over as a black burst of energy shot through the area.
Dark Erick pulled Gaia back out and fired a purple beam of light at Adam, lifting him up into the air with a high enough drop.
"Honestly, the world is so much better off without people like you as well…aren't they?" Dark Erick hissed as he viscously smashed Adam against the ground before lifting him up in the air with the gravity beam.
"I mean…look at you…playing the morally gray anti-hero…for my people. As noble of a cause as that may be, I'm sure that it's all an act from you too, isn't it? Come on little bitch. Spill the beans. What bullshit does the bull inside of you have either?! What are you after eh?!"
Weiss, even from a distance, could spot the cheeky grin from the held in position Adam. Though, Dark Erick didn't seem to care about that.
"You know…I have ways of making you talk…" Dark Erick continued, snapping his head to the side. "I mean…I'm sure we can work something out eh…Or do I need to smash you from a higher distance to make sure you get the picture this time?"
Adam also seemed to have quickly picked up on Erick's sudden change in behavior. Which made her more nervous. Biting her bottom lip, she eventually walked in front of Erick's darkside and stood in between him, essentially breaking the gravity beam. She then turned and used her glyphs to catch Adam and safely lower him to the ground. But not before she then quickly blasted him in a case of ice dust of her own. All except for his head, which she allowed to stay exposed.
"No…" She said firmly, as Dark Erick went to point Gaia at the now frozen Adam. "You told me that you're not allowed to cause harm to me, right?"
Dark Erick gave her a hissy little annoyed glare. "I'm also not allowed to put you in harm's way, and I'd make the argument that letting this little raging bull live would be actively hurting you. My host has seen his kind before…he'll just come back again."
"Counter point, killing him would be exactly what he wants to use as fuel for my own calls for execution. The man is right, my family treats his people horribly. Don't you think that playing into his hand is bad for me?! I mean, he said it himself, he's got no dirt on me. So don't you think so much excessive violence will give him cause I'm just like the others." Weiss crossed her arms in a matter-of-fact stance.
There was some sort of satisfaction she felt seeing Dark Erick struggle to find a rebuttal to that logic. Especially since she had a suspicion that the Darksides hated their own rules and logical loopholes being used against them.
"The point of the relationship you and my host share says I'm supposed to keep you out of harm's way. I doubt the social and political climate of Atlas is so fucking backwards that one little death will cause that much of a stir…right…princess?"
"LITTLE?!" Weiss spat out in frustration. "He's the White Fang's leader! He's the reason their political image is so much better after the psychopathic terrorist destroyed their whole reputation. As evil as he may seem to you for trying to kill me, he has probable cause, and the popular support of not just the Faunus, but most of Remnant! His death, by the hands of the person I'm supposed to marry?! Imagine how much outrage there'd be. And what do you think my own Father would do to you and especially me? HUH? Do not hurt the man!"
It was becoming increasingly more worrying seeing how much hatred could be expressed on Erick's face. Especially since he was quite calm and rational, compared to how she could see Moon and Sarah, their Darksides probably didn't look out of place. But seeing such dead anger in Erick…was certainly something different. Almost enough to make her wonder if Erick was a hundred percent honest that his own darkside wouldn't harm her in blind rage if she angered it enough.
After a moment of silence, during which Dark Erick looked over her shoulder at Adam, who was still picking away at his frozen body with his exposed head. The Darkside gave Weiss a very insincere evil smile.
"Well played, princess…" Dark Erick snarled. "I thought someone who was as emotionally damaged as you would be easy to manipulate with love…seems I still have a lot of work to do with you before I break you…just like I've broken this little fucker and his piece of shit friends."
"I'm still gonna teleport him out of here though…can't have him break out and harm ya." Dark Erick snapped his fingers and Adam's frozenly encased body vanished in a flash of pink light.
"Wait…I thought you couldn't access your powers in Erick's body?!" Weiss snapped.
"I can't…" Dark Erick replied. "I used my own teleporting device that I can activate myself. I'm still an inventor. He then yanked Weiss's hand and pulled her close to him. "Now then…tell me a bit about this…marriage. My host seems to have blocked that from his memory."
Weiss shuddered, Dark Erick's heartless little red eyes had glowed up instrumentally, and the little lip licking he did at her nervous reaction didn't help.
"Er…later…" She said, "I want my real boyfriend back."
"Your wish is my unfortunate command." Dark Erick pressed his lips to her and Weiss felt the whole destruction and screams of Grimm fade into the background. The acidic pain of corruption from Dark Erick soon faded as she felt a bit more passion return, drowning out the immense pain as Erick eventually placed his hands around her neck.
"WEISS!"
The two immediately jumped apart as Ruby and Sapphire landed on the ground next to them.
"Are…are you two alright?" Sapphire asked.
"We're fine…" Erick took notice of how Ruby looked uncomfortably silent, almost like she was bottling up something. "How about…you guys?"
"We're good, Torchwick got eaten by a Nevermore…and it looks like Vale…with the help of the White Fang, is about to be subdued." He then leaned in closer. "Though…I can't say Ruby will be fine, Torchwick gave her quite the beating before she indirectly kicked him into the path of the Nevermore that ate him."
"Well…we had a run in with the White Fang leader…let's just say he wasn't too keen on me and Erick." Weiss replied. "I hope Yang and Blake are doing okay…"
"Speaking of our teammates…where are Moon and Sarah-"
There was a loud explosion that came from the center of Beacon by Ozpin's tower. Followed by a deafening roar that Erick and Sapphire could only pray came from Rhea.
Sarah nervously paced back and forth in front of Ozpin's tower as Moon simply sat in a meditated stance.
"What do you think Pokey and Rhea are doing…" Sarah asked Moon.
"They won't come." Moon replied flatly. "Salem wouldn't dare send either of them out here. They draw too much attention to themselves. I'd imagine she's put her full faith in Cinder. I mean hell, she's done a good job so far, and I guarantee Pokey was just playing along in the shadows to aid her. He won't come help her though."
"But…Ozpin seemed pretty sure."
"Sarah…" Moon opened his eyes and stood up. "I know you want to see good in Ozpin, but you saw how angry he got when I told him he couldn't split us apart. He wants us separated for something. And, for as much shit as I may give to them, Team RWBY are competent enough where they wouldn't need one of us if they fought Pokey. Seiros maybe, but Seiros is only going to want Sapphire or me."
Sarah just looked uncomfortably towards the ground. But her sorrowing contemplation was cut short as Moon jumped on top of her, pushing her to the ground as she felt a rush of wind over her head.
Both of them stood up as their answer came clear, Pyrrha's Javelin came flying past both of them and into her hands. As her own Team gave the two of them immense looks of anger.
Both she and Moon could feel the sense of emotion of Team JPNR as they stood there, that Javelin throw was no accident, and those four were not under any type of mind control. That was a full hearted, honest attempt to kill both of them.
Moon pulled out Saphira and just slowly motioned Sarah behind him.
"What changed?" He asked bluntly. "Go on, spill it. Don't try to play off what you did!"
"Look around you," Nora said, her voice almost sounding shocked at his response. "Look at what you've done!"
Moon looked at Sarah, who was just as equally confused as he was.
"We've done quite literally nothing…which is a fucking rare case this time around, believe me." Moon replied, already growing frustrated at what he was hearing.
Sarah could already tell that Team JNPR didn't believe what Moon told them. And unlike previous times, this didn't seem like one where they could walk away.
"You're working with Cinder! You want us dead! You want Remnant Wiped!"
Sarah heard Moon mutter under his breath, and quite frankly she knew he wasn't wrong. Team JNPR were already misguided to the point of no return.
"I would love…just love to try and reason…and ask what the fuck has gotten into your tiny little piece of shit pebbles you fuckers call brains. But I can tell you don't want to take this civilly. But…I urge you…think very carefully about what you're about to do." Moon replied, giving his most sincere voice he could do in his state of fighting himself from just letting all hell break loose.
"Trust us…" Ren loaded his two pistol swords at him and Sarah. "We know exactly what you are…and just what we're getting into."
"Somehow, Ren, I sincerely, wholeheartedly, doubt that you do." Sarah replied, giving him a very kind tone, in no way meant to be sarcastic, but a genuine warning.
Moon raised his hand, and both Miló and Akoúo were yanked out of Pyrrha's hands, Miló was caught by Moon, and Akoúo landed on the ground in front of him, Moon simply gave team JNPR's stunned reactions, a very bored returning look, before channeling PK Earth into his Foot, and stepping on Pyrrha's shield, were a sonic boom burst through the area, knocking the four team members off balance as the shield was crushed to bits.
As for Miló, Pyrrha's Javelin was examined by Moon for a bit.
"Quite lovely craftsmanship." He said sincerely, "Such a shame it was wasted on four people who change their beliefs at the hands of a dime when the person they look up to tells them too." Without a second thought, he handed it to Sarah, who promptly tossed it aside, where Moon smashed it with a rock.
"Now then, unlike what I just did to your weapons, Pyrrha, we don't actually want to hurt you, or your friends. But, if you want to throw hands for whatever worthless lies Ozpin obviously drilled into your heads, because you refuse to listen to reason. Don't expect us to go easy on you. I can hear your thoughts still…I guess the training Oz gave you didn't work out so well…did it?!"
"Enough talking…we're going to end you now!" Nora stomped her foot against the ground and readied her massive Hammer. "Pyrrha…do it!"
Moon watched a bit of the hesitation in Pyrrha's eyes, before she reluctantly put her hands together, and a bolt of lightning struck from the sky, blasting Nora, and Moon got a taste of what supercharged Nora truly looked like.
Electricity crackled around the ginger girl's body as a red aura surrounded her. She Smashed her hammer into the ground and a giant shockwave blasted both him and Sarah backwards.
"No PK thunder," Moon said to Sarah. She nodded her head and pulled Freya out of its holster, where it caught on Fire instantaneously.
Gripping Saphira, he kicked off the ground and collided with his sword against Jaune. Quickly, sensing the approaching danger, his leg swept the blond leader of Team JNPR and kicked off as Pyrrha fired a fireball from literally nowhere. Though, as Moon noted by the trajectory, it felt very half-hearted as the fireball didn't go near where he and Jaune were, despite his PSI senses telling him harm.
"After all the damage you've caused places outside of Beacon. Don't you think you've had enough?!" Jaune snapped at him. "Was an entire council of omnipotent beings not enough? Did you just NEED another world?"
At this point, it was long past Moon's attempts to even want to try and reason with the likes of this. Astro had done the job that he didn't want to be true, and this solidified that Ozpin was untrustworthy.
"Since Ozpin has so loving told you so much about me," Moon hissed as he ducked under another Fireball from Pyrrha, "How about you at least humor me and tell me when the fuck your teammate gained the ability to control lightning and fire."
"You seem smart enough." Jaune retorted. "But she's here to ensure Remnant doesn't have to suffer the same way you've made others."
Sarah meanwhile Smashed her flaming frying pan against Nora's hammer. Quickly, she stomped her foot with a bit of PK Ground as a few Earthquakes knocked Nora off her balance, with good timing, she pivoted and dodged Ren's two slashes with Stormflower before bashing him backwards with an ice blast from Freya's gold face.
Once again, she ducked under a horizontal swing from Nora before pushing her back with a blast of Fire.
"Please," She said with urgency to Nora as the ginger haired girl attempted to smash her again with the hammer, which Sarah rolled out of the way of. "We don't want to fight you, why can't you just accept that this isn't our fault! We don't do stuff like this."
"Because it's what you do." Ren shot her in the back with an explosive amount of Fire dust. "Ozpin's told us everything you told him. Moon said it himself, all you do is leave carnage and chaos wherever you go. If you truly were good people…don't you think such awful things following you wouldn't happen."
"This isn't our fault!" Sarah cried as she rolled out of another dodge from Nora's hammer strike. "You heard, it's Cinder! We didn't do anything with Cinder!"
Moon came rushing in and clashed his sword against StormFlower as Ren attempted another Slash. Sarah simply reached up to the sky.
"PK STARSTORM!"
A bunch of Blue meteors came crashing down and crushed both Nora and Ren as they were blasted backwards and they both collapsed next to each other, their aura's breaking and giving out, as they lied down.
"No more…" Moon said calmly. "Another hit with their Aura broken, they'll die, just ignore them." Sarah nodded her head.
Jaune once again came rushing in, and Moon simply clanked his sword against him.
"Seriously, Jaune, Sapphire and I helped you! And this is how you're going to repay us?"
"You've done enough damage, and I owe you nothing." Jaune snapped as Moon pushed back against him with Saphira. Before slashing a wave of Water that took Jaune backwards with full force.
Jaune turned to Pyrrha, who still hesitantly looked at Moon and Sarah as her Leader looked at her in disbelief.
"Pyrrha, please! Ozpin told you what you need! Just BLAST THEM!"
"Jaune…they really don't seem like they want to hurt us."
Moon threw his hands up in hysteria. "THANK YOU!"
"Pyrrha…look around you! Cinder couldn't have done all of this by herself! She needed help!" Jaune said.
"THAT'S RIGHT!"
A golden bow literally struck Jaune through the heart, making Moon, Sarah, and Pyrrha's eyes widen as the golden arrow exploded and Jaune just disintegrated.
Moon went to turn and strike, but he swiftly was held back as He felt a spark of electricity shoot through his body. Making him unable to move entirely. But, Sarah also seemed to have been affected. Cinder floated down, using some fire similar to Pyrrha to land on the ground.
"I did have some help…little sweet girl." Cinder replied. "However, not by the little alien freak shows that your master Ozpin told you so diligently about."
"But instead…by me!" Moon hissed in annoyance as Pokey appeared in a flash of Pink Light. He swiftly turned his attention to Nora and Ren, who both recovered from the Aura, and simply chucked a bomb at them, which blew them to pieces.
Jesus Moon hated her voice, and the fact he had to listen to Pokey monologue alongside her was torture enough.
It was already irritating to think that he and Sarah were used as dirty work again for Pokey and now for this little fuckshow to get rid of Jaune, Nora, and Ren. But…that being said…it was hard to be so emotional from people that had just antagonized him and Sarah for enough bullshit. Even Sarah didn't seem very upset.
"You see Pyrrha." Pokey clapped his hands together as Cinder took off a glove, revealing a grimm-like black gooey hand that stretched out and grabbed onto her. Shouting an immense amount of pain that genuinely had both of them flinch.
"Moon and Sarah, never had anything against you, they told you the truth…but…at the end of the day. Your teammates, the people you knew and trusted, chose to blindly follow the bold faced lies of a headmaster who tells half truths. I already took care of Ozpin for ya. My expertise in the technology of this world was quite fascinating don't ya see?"
"Now, the part about what those Maiden powers that old man foolishly gave to you. Those being designed to help you KILL the little freaks behind us. That part was true. Our master…on the other hand…can't allow that to happen. She has some nice and big plans for them."
"So…honestly…" Pokey snickered. "You played right into our hands. You talked all that shit about protecting Remnant from Salem, when in reality, she played you all like a fucking fiddle. Not only did you give us the remaining Maiden Powers Cinder couldn't drain from Amber thanks to Qrow, but you also gave us the opportunity to sneak up and capture Moon and Sarah."
Moon could see the absolute horror struck realization on Pyrrha's face. While he felt no sympathy for the likes of Jaune, Ren, and Nora after the horrible things they said. Pyrrha did feel genuinely disheartening, almost enraging to see Pokey taunt someone who genuinely was torn between herself.
"I believe the quote you once used in your interview about coming to Beacon." Cinder continued. "I believe you were asked if you believed in destiny? Well…I truly think that if you did, that hope was dashed in the flicker of light so very long ago. As my beetle parasite drains the powers from your body. I get to relish in seeing the light flicker out from your eyes."
"And just think…" Pokey placed a finger on his chin. "Maybe if you and your teammates didn't get so caught up in your high pride of Huntsmen naivety, and maybe actually took just a second to think about what you were doing. You might have actually been the heroes of this story. Dare we say… you could've actually won."
"However…" Cinder continued. "Before that light inside you finally dies. I want to show you just how much damage you're pride caused. You were no prodigy, you just a tool, and tool in a cruel fate that you had no control over…Pokey?!"
Pokey simply pressed a button on a remote, and a loud explosive roar erupted from the ground, Moon and Sarah both felt a rush behind them as something quite literally burst behind them, and they could hear the rumble as Ozpin's Beacon tower began to fall.
"It's a damn shame, really." Pokey said. "Maybe, if the world was just a tad bit nicer to the freaks behind us, you could've been such a happier huntress, one who would go on to do amazing things, be the hero of some epic adventure…you and your teammates!"
"But instead, there are simply…no more heroes…goodbye Pyrrha." Cinder's grimm arm detached itself from Pyrrha, and her body simply collapsed onto the ground, her pupils faded, and blood leaking from the punctured chest where Cinder's Parasite once was.
"MOON! SARAH!"
Cinder and Pokey both turned as Ruby, Weiss, Sapphire, and Erick all skidded to a halt.
For a brief moment, Moon watched the horror from a distance that his teammates, alongside Ruby and Weiss, were looking at. However, his head suddenly flashed the image of a silver light. Panicking, with no other option he quickly called Dark Moon forward and let his darkness take over.
Sarah, though still paralyzed, felt Moon's hand grab onto her. And Dark Moon's hissy voice shouts out a PSI shield.
Across the walkway to Beacon, Ruby felt her legs shake in uncomfortably Beacon was destroyed, Pyrrha's bleeding body lay motionless on the ground, no sign of Jaune, Nora, or Ren. Ozpin was likely dead, and Cinder and Pokey stood with taunting glares at her, just challenging her to ask what she was going to do.
Her scroll in her pocket began ring, and it didn't take long before it went to auto message. Blake sounded like she was fighting back tears, telling her the horrific state that her sister was in.
And her whole world began to spin, Sapphire, Erick, and Weiss for some odd reason each backed up, her eyes began to glow,
"NOOOOOOOOOO!" She shouted.
A blast of silver light erupted from her eyes, encasing Beacon in an all-encompassing nuclear explosion of Silver Light.
"WHAT THE HELL?!" Cinder heard the vanishing sound of Pokey, who she turned and saw leave just in time. "YOU LITTLE DUMBFU-"
A blast of silver light erupted through the streets of Vale, destroying all remaining Grimm. Some even say that the other four kingdoms could see a silver beacon of light from a distance. But all that remained, was the faint glint of red, as Beacon Academy collapsed, and whole world seemingly felt the echo of destruction.
And thus, Beacon Academy is no more.
Now, I know what everyone is thinking, but, in all honesty, I don't want to hear anyone say I copped out of an emotional payoff for the deaths of Team JNPR in this chapter. They're all gone, permanently. The story will continue without them, and I don't care what relevance Jaune has in future volumes. I simply can't juggle lugging him, Nora, and Ren around alongside RWBY and MESS.
Did their death's feel unnaturally cold? Absolutely, but that's in nature for MESS, with the exception of Pyrrha, I specifically ensured that everything JNPR did comes off as meanspirited and out of character for them. Why would I destroy such...um...Important characters you may be wondering? Well, all will be revealed...whenever I decide.
I had a lot of people in my PMs speculating that JNPR would eventually be killed off, and glad to say, you all were correct. I didn't always intend to kill them all off here. I will be completely honest with you, I changed it on the fly when I realized it wasn't feasible to juggle all of them and give them arcs. So, just RWBY, MESS, and the supporting cast that comes and goes with each passing volume.
Now, all that being said, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it's over and done with, and I've had this fully written for a whole month. However, since I'm in summer school, don't expect the next chapter to start up Volume 4 next month. I still need to decide what I'm going to do with Blake and Yang. I know what I'll be doing with Weiss and Erick. But I don't have it in me to try and do Volume 4 the way it was done by CRWBY. and with Jaune, Nora, and Ren out of the way, you can already tell I've got some original work to be had here.
Starting fresh and diving off a cliff, this is still uncharted territory for me, as I've never strayed very far from the source material to the point, I just outright murder main characters. But, I'll try and see this story through to the end. I've come to far to quit with now.
Please feel free to let me know how this chapter was for you, I'm not particularly good with emotional payoffs in terms of death scenes, there's a reason I try to avoid them all together, I much prefer just never bringing a character up if I know I'm not using them, that way I don't just lug them around forever. But since they're here, and Pyrrha's death is essential to RWBY's narrative, I still needed Pyrrha to die, so, take the rest of JNPR down with em. I'm sure I can figure something out for RWBY and MESS losing them.
Anyway, that's about it for today's chapter.
See you all, next time.