Author's Note: A new chapter, and hey, look, it's actually on time… mostly.

The halls of Beacon around them echoed the sounds of battle distantly, which were at first muted, but growing ever louder as they moved forward. The rapid and repetitive sound of weapons fire was most apparent, but the occasional boom from the Atlesian ships in the distance could still be heard as they did their best to bring down the Wyvern. Above it all however, Pyrrha felt the itch of Magic in the air. The wrongness of the Maiden's power was so heavy in the air that she felt it on her skin and in her lungs. The burning there was a distraction, one that she tried not to focus on as she charged through the halls with Coco and Yatsuhashi at her back. They were second years, but despite that, Pyrrha knew the school halls just as well as them, and had taken the lead as she felt the Maiden powers grow in the distance.

Penny was gifted, that much had been clear, she was a quick learner and had managed to hold many of the lessons Pyrrha tried to teach her to heart, but there was only so much one person could learn in so short a time, let alone when taught by someone who only had a small grasp of the power themselves. After an entire day of fighting, Pyrrha didn't want to think on how drained Penny must have felt; she hardly wanted to acknowledge her own exhaustion. Aura low, her body sore and aching, and her Magic and Maiden powers far from full. She was far from her best.

Pyrrha spotted a junction ahead, a cross section where the hall they were running through met with another. Pushing her Aura to her front, she sprinted around the corner as quickly as she could, bringing Allos up in a defensive position. There was no attack, and so Pyrrha kept pushing on. Coco had slowed when she rounded the corner, spinning to check behind them as Yatsuhashi pushed past. Once they had all cleared the crossing, she retook her place between Yatsuhashi and Pyrrha.

Urban fighting wasn't something covered all too often in the Academy's, the intense fighting that could take place when you and your enemy were only a scant few feet apart from one another with nowhere to go, and any number of easily ambushed points. They focused most often on open, more straight forward fighting, since that was where Huntsmen were most often expected to serve. Pyrrha and her friends were the exception however, and had spent more than enough time on missions with just such limitations. They knew to keep their eyes open and their guard up.

It was only because of that reason, that they weren't killed in an instant.

Aura was a fantastic thing, one that allowed a warrior to challenge nearly any modern implement in combat and still stand a chance, but, as Nora had once told her, enough explosives could level any skill gap. The explosion that rocked the halls had gone off just ahead of them, causing Pyrrha to grind to a halt as the wall caved in and the ceiling began to crumble. The construction was sturdy however, and the building did not immediately topple.

Smoke and dust billowed out, filling the air and threatening to choke their vision before it slowly started to settle towards the ground. Not one of them moved any closer, Coco turning to watch their back while Yatsuhashi moved to stand in front of Pyrrha. For her part, Pyrrha searched the walls near them for any further sign of explosives. There were none that she could see, but that didn't mean that there weren't any to find.

"The halls are starting to look like less of a good idea Yats…" Coco's was steady, and she raised a fair point.

"It is possible the attack was not meant for us." Yatsuhashi replied calmly, yet he didn't sound fully convinced. There was a battle raging outside, one that would define the history of Vale, so it wasn't beyond a possibility, and yet that felt too convenient. The attack hadn't hit them directly, rather the section in front of them, as if to halt them rather than kill.

"We need to keep moving." Pyrrha moved forward. It was something she had read in one of the books Clover had given her after her impromptu commission as a Specialist. The book spoke of ambushes, how to best lay them, and how to deal with them. The best strategy, at least according to Atlas, was to fight your way through it, and circle back if necessary. Never stop in the middle.

"Agreed." Coco stepped to follow as Yatsuhasi and Pyrrha slowly and carefully climbed their way over the rubble.

Setting foot on the other side, Pyrrha was quick to check the hall for combatants. The lights had been broken during the blast, flickering occasionally, but still offering enough light to see while casting long and shifting shadows. It was from one of those shadows that Pyrrha saw them.

Allos began to shift, even before Pyrrha had fully processed who she saw; a subconscious action to take advantage of the distance between them. Her weapon was still damaged, the metal grinding and shifting slowly, but she had her rifle in her hand just as Coco crested the rubble. Firing three shots in quick succession, not one hit her target, as her allies stepped forward to deflect the bullets.

Pyrrha's eyes narrowed as they met gold.

"Is that-" Coco started.

Pyrrha didn't let her finish. "Yes." Flicking the switch, Allos slowly began to shift back. She would need her sword more than her rifle. "That's Cinder."

"My reputation precedes me." The woman smiled, but it lacked warmth. With the lights flickering above, shadows cast down over her, and though it was almost certainly Pyrrha's imagination, it felt as if the woman's teeth were sharp as she watched them with a predatory look. "I hope you've heard good things?"

Pyrrha's blood boiled, and she struggled to restrain herself. After all this time, and everything she had done, this woman, this monster, was finally standing before her. Pyrrha gripped the hilt of Allos tightly, her knuckles turning white as her hand shook slightly.

"Hmm?" Cinder hummed softly, her smile somehow turning even more sinister. "Nothing to say? I thought that heroes loved to play the part, no?" The hall was far from quiet, the echoes of battle still abundantly clear all around them, but Pyrrha and her friends remained silent. That seemed to affect Cinder in some way, as her smile fell away. "I suppose it doesn't matter, it won't change anything." Her eyes, which had never shifted from Pyrrha's own, seemed to fill with something; a dark emotion that Pyrrha would have once struggled to understand. Not anymore. It was hate, pure and simple. "I've come to finish what I started." She held her hand up, gesturing to Pyrrha's scared face.

Pyrrha allowed her eyes to shift, to look over the three of them standing below. Mercury and Emerald she knew little about, other than the fact they had served Cinder faithfully. She knew Mercury fought with his legs, and Emerald a pair of gun-sickles. Looking them over, she could also tell they were fresh, no signs of battle nor even a hint of exhaustion.

"Are you done hiding?" Pyrrha growled.

"Pyr-" Coco started.

For months they had been hunting her, trying to put her on the back foot, to face her on their terms, and yet she had eluded them. Cinder Fall had managed to not only escape, but turn back around and show up exactly when it would be best for her. When that had become the plan, Pyrrha would likely never know, but she didn't care. "Are you sure you won't run away again, like you did last time?"

Pyrrha had hoped that the words, while simple, would get under the woman's skin. They didn't, and in fact, they seemed to amuse her.

"Oh, I don't think I am the one who should be running."

"Pyrrha, calm down." Coco whispered harshly. "She's trying to rile you up, don't fall for it."

This was far from the first time someone had tried a tactic like that, back in her tournament days most of her opponents had tried to say things to throw her off during a fight. Things ranging from hateful or insidious comments, to friendly gossip, to even a confession of love once. None of it had worked then, but now… Pyrrha was struggling to remember just how she ignored it back then. She knew that the woman's words, her body language, and the way she spoke so casually, had all been chosen to get her to lose her head. To make stupid mistakes she otherwise wouldn't have. She knew that, but it didn't stop it from working. This was the woman that had killed her in the past. The woman that had tried to kill her when she first arrived back in her new body. The woman that planned to take everything from her simply because she wanted a power that wasn't her's?

Hating Cinder was easy because there was nothing else to feel. Even so, Pyrrha tried to heed her friend's words and force a calm over herself; if for no other reason than that she wanted full control of her powers.

"I am going to kill you." Pyrrha felt a strange and eerie feeling come over her, a numbness that seemed to push all of the world away as she focused solely on the monster before them. She took a long, deep breath, and felt her Magic shift.

The monster smiled. "I'd love to see you try-"

Allos was moving for her throat before she could finish the sentence, Pyrrha's movement enhanced by her power. Mercury and Emerald didn't have the time to react, allowing Pyrrha to push past with ease. Cinder's eyes widened slightly but her smile was still there, she was surprised, but not concerned. Her hand came up to push the blade aside, managing to shift it out of the way of her neck as Pyrrha crashed shoulder-first into her.

Cinder fell back and, to prevent the chance for a grapple, Pyrrha pushed off of her as she fell; spinning as she turned around her opponent and brought Allos down on where she would have fallen. Cinder did not stay there, rolling to the side and summoning her swords as she cut up. Allos met glass as a distinct yet familiar sound rang out.

"So it is true." Cinder stared up at her, smiling even wider than before. "I wonder, when I kill you, will I also inherit you Magic?"

Pyrrha stared back as she pushed down on the monster's weapon. There were footsteps behind her as the other four people there finally started to react. Acting quickly to prevent herself from being attacked on two sides, Pyrrha relented on her pressure. Removing one hand from her hilt, she held it behind her and leapt into the air, propelled over Cinder by a jettison of fire, she cut it off and flipped in mid-air, successfully placing herself on the other side of her opponent and warding off Mercury and Emerald in their attempted ambush long enough for Yatsuhashi and Coco to approach.

Cinder filled her vision once more, her blade cutting down with quick precision as Allos leapt out to meet it. The blades crashed, grinding against one another for a moment before Cinder started to push her back. Pyrrha withdrew Allos, stepping back and stabbing out with her hand, sending a fireball into the woman's abdomen. The fire washed over her, her Aura flaring to protect her, but she quickly pursued Pyrrha.

Another flurry of blows reached out, Pyrrha struggling to block or deflect all of them as the woman advanced. Allos caught an attack, and as she attempted to shift the blade to the side, Cinder pulled one of her hands back, another sword appearing in her hand as she plunged it into Pyrrha's stomach. Aura flared, preventing any damage, but the force of it knocked the wind from her lungs even with the added protection of her armor, and her guard faltered, Allos slipping to the side just enough that Cinder's sword was able to cut down into her shoulder, flaring Aura once more.

Short of breath and in pain, Pyrrha used her off hand to crash an ice spike directly into the underside of Cinder's jaw, snapping the woman's head back and creating enough space for Pyrrha to withdraw far enough to gain her bearing once more. Taking a deep breath, she channeled her Magic and rocketed forward. Cinder managed to block the first strike, but Allos shattered the fragile weapon and pushed through, scoring three hits on the woman's chest and one on her neck before she managed to get her second blade up and ward off any more.

Pyrrha leapt back, holding her hand out and sending shards of ice down on her opponent. Cinder's Aura held it off until she was able to dodge to the side. Resummoning her sword, she crashed the hilts together and summoned a bow; firing three arrows at Pyrrha with a single shot.

Allos caught the first, Pyrrha side stepped the second and ducked under the third before stabbing out with her sword as Cinder approached. The woman ducked under it, her blades crashing into Allos and forcing her back farther down the hall. One blade stayed locked with Allos while she pulled the other down and tried to cut her side. Pyrrha pressed down as hard as she could with Allos, breaking the lock and stepping back to avoid her weapon. Cinder followed, striking with both of her weapons in unison from either direction.

Holding Allos up, Pyrrha managed to catch the point the swords crossed and effectively block both, but the force of it pushed her back again. The sound of Coco's gatling gun drew her eyes up to see the other fight taking place. Coco and Yatsuhashi, much like herself, were not at their best, and just like Cinder, their opponents were. They were losing, but, in the volley of fire that Coco was letting loose, she had managed to push Mercury back and away from Yatsuhashi.

Pyrrha ducked back as Cinder's blades came in for her throat. Taking a deep breath, she pulled up her Magic and focused on the exact details of what it is she wished to achieve. She had tried it twice before and it had been painful to the extreme on both occasions, but she at least had an idea of how she wanted to direct it this time. She was used to throwing fire and ice now, thanks to her Maiden powers, and so she kept her efforts to something familiar.

Cinder was closing the distance, but Pyrrha kept her focus on containing and controlling her power. Control was key. A fire hotter than any that Pyrrha had managed billowed out from her hand, before focusing into a stream set directly ahead of her. Cinder ducked under the column of fire, but she had never been the target, and the fire rocketed towards Mercury before a sharp pain hit the bottom of Pyrrha's arm and forced her arm up. The gap in time for Cinder to recover had been miniscule, but somehow she'd still managed to get around Pyrrha's guard.

The fire went high and to the right, striking the ceiling with a thunderous crash. The walls and ceiling exploded out, the building shaking slightly and knocking Pyrrha back. The walls around them creaked ominously, before they started to collapse. Coco and Yatsuhashi noticed it first and had started to withdraw, their opponents having their backs to the explosion were ill-prepared. That thought only had a second to register however, as Pyrrha turned towards the nearest window. With a sprint and a healthy application of Aura, she was out through the window just as the wall collapsed inwards. She had just enough time to register the other building about ten feet ahead on the other side as she landed in the grass of the secluded garden she had spent so much time in. She rolled as she hit the ground, burning her momentum even as she used it to her advantage.

Turning on her knee, she punched out with her hand, a fireball intercepting an arrow as Cinder came charging out the very same window she had. The wall collapsed, and dust rocketed out to fill the small space, obscuring her vision. There was no time for her to look for Yatsuhashi or Coco, and even if there was, it was hard to see through all of the debris in the air.

The dust pricked at her eyes, but she forced them to remain open even as she struggled to breathe. Despite her best efforts, she could not resist coughing as the dust threatened to fill her lungs, her body simply reacting involuntarily. As she did, an arrow came from the dust, one that she deflected with Allos. She responded with an ice spike of her own, but she heard it shatter against stone. Moving, she saw two arrows hit where she had been. She responded in kind, but once again the attacks missed and simply revealed her location, forcing her to move.

Having enough of the distraction, she knelt and snapped out with both of her arms, a sudden force of wind cleared the smoke and knocked two arrows back towards the person who had fired them. Cinder was thrown back towards the wall, the sudden force having come just as she was moving and thus unprepared, but she was able to leap off the wall and towards Pyrrha with ease.

Pyrrha cut down with Allos, Cinder blocking and redirecting the hit with an open palm as she crashed the grip of her bow into Pyrrha's face, snapping her head back with a crack. Cinder didn't stop to let Pyrrha counterattack, pushing past and turning only to fire two more shots at her.

Allos intercepted one, but the second hit her in the chest. Gritting her teeth, Pyrrha swiped her hand before her, summoning a small wave of fire that washed over the area and flowed over Cinder like water, singeing grass and the crushed remains of once carefully-tended flowers.

Cinder pushed through the flames, crashing back into Pyrrha with a ferocity that threatened to overwhelm her. Pyrrha managed to step out of the way of her bow this time, but Cinder was inside her guard and thus too close for Allos. The woman's open hand crashed into Pyrrha's jaw, but she kept her head down and struck back, her off hand smashing into Cinder's stomach with magically enhanced force. It was enough to push her back, and Pyrrha brought Allos down, focusing her Magic through it as she did and coating the blade in flame.

Cinder's Aura flashed brightly as the strike landed, the flames falling from the blade like rain. Stepping back, Cinder knelt, notched an Arrow and fired it up towards Pyrrha's throat. She took a panicked step back as she tried to pull her head back, the arrow knocking the side of her neck. When she looked back down, Cinder was attempting to pull back.

Stabbing out with Allos, she attempted to once again infuse the blade with flame. The sword, worn, cracked, and dented from the last few hours of fighting, was unable to stand the force. The metal shattered, sending hot shards into both of them, before the blade itself was replaced by a wreath of flame. Cinder's bow came up to catch it, but the blade was not solid, and it passed straight through to crash into her.

The fire dissipated and Cinder yelled out as she fell back, her clothes burnt, Aura flared, and eyes filled with fire. Allos' handle grew impossibly hot, forcing Pyrrha to drop the remnants of her weapon. Sliding her foot back, she adopted a stance she had seen Yang use countless times. While far from her best area, she had been trained in unarmed combat. Ozpin had promised to show her how to control her Magic enough to reliably summon weapons, but those lessons hadn't come. There hadn't been time. For now, she was out of luck.

Two arrows rocketed towards her, with a flick of her hand she summoned a wall of flame to burn away the arrows. Throwing her other hand out, she sent the fire rocketing after Cinder. The woman had started moving the moment she fired the arrows, but even then, she wasn't able to fully clear the attack as the fire hit her legs. The fire pushed past her into the far side of the garden.

Cinder landed with a roll, avoiding the rapid ice spikes that Pyrrha launched at her before banishing her bow and resummoning her swords. Rushing in, she pushed Pyrrha back with a flurry of blows; she had no easy way to block them without losing Aura. Cinder knew this, and the vicious smile on her face spoke to her own self-confidence. Pyrrha redirected one of the blades, feeling her Aura struggle even as she tried to minimize its use. Crashing her palm into Cinder's chest, she summoned a powerful fire blast to send her back. Before she had even hit the ground, her bow was back out, and two arrows were fired her way.

Pyrrha managed to avoid the first, but the second hit squarely in her chest. Her Aura flexed, then shattered, and the arrow crashed into the body armor she wore. True to Qrow's words, it saved her life, but the pain of her Aura failing, not to mention the sudden loss of strength that it provided, was impossible to miss. Cinder's smile was feral, as Pyrrha fell to one knee, panting heavily.

Even though she had started with such an advantage, Cinder wasn't much better off. She was covered in sweat and dirt, her clothes burned beyond repair, her skin was red, and she was panting as well. Her Aura had to have been low now… despite all of that, she still smiled viciously down at her.

"I will say…" Cinder said slowly as she stood, it took her a moment to steady herself. "You put up a much better fight this time…"

Pyrrha glared back at the woman as the fog of battle slowly faded away. The adrenaline fled her as she fully became aware of exactly how hurt and exhausted she was. Her eyes roved over the secluded garden she had so often come to in order to find peace, the place the wall had made open when it collapsed. It was destroyed now. The grass teared up and the flowers turned to ash. The only thing left standing was the old tree in the far back, secluded, burnt, but still standing.

"-way you could never possibly imagine." Cinder was still talking, Pyrrha didn't listen, and yet she could guess what the words would be. She had heard the likes of them before, in a different place, a different life, different words even, but it was the same sentiment. Cinder would mock her, thinking herself secure in her victory, she chose to play with her rather than finish it.

Everything Pyrrha had done led to this moment. Cinder stood before her, bow in hand, as she was prepared to kill her again. Every choice she had made, to this single moment. The exhaustion threatened to overwhelm her, even as she chose one last act of defiance.

Even with her uneven breathing, Pyrrha steadied herself. Cinder noticed the change and she notched another arrow, pulling her bow up as she smirked. Allowing Cinder to see her move plainly, Pyrrha held her hand out, a fire building in her palm as her eyes locked with Cinder's. As Pyrrha let the fire flow out, Cinder loosed her arrow, before the flames blocked their vision. The moment that the fire left her hand, Pyrrha pushed off the ground with what little strength she had left.

The arrow and flame met halfway, or would have, were it not for the arrow breaking down and reforming on the other side in a move that spoke to Cinder's skillful use of her Semblance. It was a trick that had caught Pyrrha off guard the first time, but, for all the things that had changed, Cinder had proven to be the same. Confident, self assured.

Arrogant.

She wasn't ready for Pyrrha's follow up, every last ounce of her Magic poured into one attack that the woman wouldn't know to dodge. As Cinder ducked under the first attack Pyrrha had launched, she finally noticed that her opponent had moved.

Gold eyes, filled with panic, locked with eyes that seemed to glow green for the briefest moment as she spotted Pyrrha. The firestorm slammed into her a second later, crashing her into the wall as the stream continued to flow. The attack wouldn't have been all that long, not with how burnt out Pyrrha was, but to Cinder, it must have felt like the rest of her life. As the fire finally subsided, the monster fell to the ground, her skin charred and burnt. She hadn't even screamed through it all.

Breathing heavily, Pyrrha blinked rapidly as she tried to calm herself. Her hand shook as she watched Cinder's body, waiting for any sign of life. There were none from the charred corpse that had once been Cinder Fall, the would-be Maiden. Pyrrha slumped backwards against the opposite side of the secluded garden, her back against one of the few spots not scared or burnt from the fight. She would have to apologize to the Headmaster for its destruction, as he seemed to like this garden just as much as she did.

The echoes of battle could still be heard, the distant boom of cannons and, slowly, Pyrrha forced herself back up the wall. Doing her best to ignore the smell, she slowly made her way towards the entrance to the garden, just in time to see the Atlesian Fleet in the distance firing one last volley as the Wyvern fell from the sky. She heard a loud roar, and for a moment Pyrrha thought it the death cry of the Grimm, before she realized it was coming from the city. A moment later she was able to realize it wasn't Grimm at all, but rather a cry of victory. Still growing ever louder, was the shouting of voices.

Turning her head, she saw Qrow running in her direction, following closely behind were Coco and Yatsuhashi. Her legs gave out just as they got to her, Coco managing to catch her and offer her a shoulder to lean on.

"Woah there, take it easy!" Coco adjusted herself to better bear her weight. "Where's Cinder?"

Pyrrha nodded back towards the garden, Qrow and Yatsuhashi turning the corner to see the burnt remains of Cinder Fall.

"Damn… remind me never to piss off a Maiden." Qrow quipped. Yatsuhashi moved over to guarantee the kill, but Pyrrha turned away.

"You need medical attention." Coco pointed out.

"I know." Pyrrha nodded, chuckling softly. "I'll be fine though. Someone needs to go help Penny." She could still feel the burn of the Maiden Powers, so she knew her friend was still fighting.

"I'll take care of that." Qrow quickly said, not that Pyrrha had moved in that direction. "You three hold here, Atlas should be on their way. Just keep her awake!" He yelled out as he rushed off towards the east.

Slowly, Coco moved Pyrrha over to a bench along the path. Setting her down gently, Pyrrha looked out over the city, and the fleet of ships that were now rapidly dispersing to offer support to the defense of Vale. The largest of those ships was currently heading straight for Beacon. It was a surreal moment, made all the more so when Yatsuhashi rejoined them.

"She is dead."

That wasn't anything Pyrrha hadn't expected, not after seeing her body, but to have it confirmed… it was freeing. For months she had been afraid of what that monster would do, and now she was finally gone.

For the first time since she came back, and despite the battle still ongoing, Pyrrha felt as though she could finally relax. As the weight of her duty finally washed away.

Author's Note: As I've said before, this story went through a number of rewrites and plot drafts from an editing perspective. There were a lot of ideas through the course of writing this, a good number of which were dropped. There were three VERY distinct ideas for how this battle would go for example.

One where Pyrrha dies and wakes back up as Amber at the start again, a pretty bleak outcome but one with hope that she can try to do it all again. That being an homage to the very popular trend of "groundhogging". I didn't do this because it felt like too much of a let down for the reader. There would be no real conclusion, just the implication of one.

There was one where she dies but gets brought back one more time by the being at the start of the story. I didn't go for this one as it felt a bit unnecessary and forced.

And there was even a short-lived idea that I was strongly considering where Pyrrha becomes the third immortal in this world. Being reborn and having to "grow up" again, with the epilogue taking place eighteen years after she dies fighting Cinder. This would have been an extremely… shall we say unique, ending, but I decided against it as it felt too hopeless. I wanted a more happy ending to the climax, and I hope that's what you all got.

So yeah, a lot of ideas. I went into this story with a very rough outline I didn't really like and after the halfway point, I was pretty much making this up as I went along. A fact that unfortunately shows at times. But, that being said I hope it has been an overall good story.

There will be one more chapter after this to tie everything up and then… that's it. This story will finally be complete. Next chapter I will ask you all to review and give me your full and complete review for the story so I can start compiling notes for future works.

Other than that, I hope you all enjoy the chapter and I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely, SE