Chapter 4

Day 1: Late Morning

"THIS. IS. FOR. MY. TAIL!" Tyrian yelled between blows as he expertly swiped his blades at Ruby.

Ruby desperately parried or deflected every strike the insane Faunus launched at her, each one driving her further and further away from Weiss. Watts' hard-light wall had been successful in separating the two girls, leaving her to fight Tyrian alone until they managed to find a way back to each other. From the few glances she managed to steal of Weiss' fight, both of their opponents were doing their best to keep the two of them apart.

Tyrian, his eyes wide with vicious glee, leapt at her with a strike that Ruby knew she wouldn't be able to parry in time. She disappeared in a puff of petals, reappearing just behind him, immediately leaping at him and beginning an aggressive scythe form, starting with a vicious horizontal swipe at his chest.

Sensing her attack, he turned to meet her, but the speed and aggressiveness of her first strike caught him off guard, resulting in a small cut on his exposed chest as he barely avoided the worst of the damage. He was able to parry or avoid the rest of her series before quickly closing the short distance between them and sending Ruby back on the defensive.

Through the flow of combat, she was able to get a sense of the environment they'd crash landed in. She had to watch her footing carefully as there were large boulders and rocks scattered everywhere, no doubt rolled down off the mountains they were fighting close to. Dead trees were also scattered here and there across the snow plain in all directions, but none close enough to provide any hazards in combat. The snow also did not prove much of a challenge, luckily for them it was crunchy and not slippery; other than where they stepped, the snowpack was pristine, glittering brightly in the morning sun.

'Dammit...' she thought, as she avoided and dodged his latest series of attacks, 'They wanted these exact matchups. They're playing specifically to our weaknesses. He's gonna wear me down sooner or later and that'll be the end of the fight.' She managed to steal a quick glance at Weiss' and saw that she too was struggling, only confirming her suspicion. Acting purely on instinct, Ruby lept backwards, narrowly avoiding a vicious swipe at her neck from one of his arm blades. The attack was clearly meant to slice open her throat, and she cursed her lack of concentration. 'And it'd be the end of me too! He's definitely trying to kill me this time. I wonder what changed?'

Ruby knew she was at a distinct disadvantage in a one on one fight against Tyrian. His fighting style and weapons, even down to his high fire-rate but low accuracy wrist-mounted guns, were designed for devastating up-close combat. That, plus his aura disrupting semblance, made him a deadly foe; the slightest hit could spell doom for his opponent. Qrow had found that out the hard way.

Her combat style, on the other hand, was not ideal for an upclose battle. With her speedy semblance and Crescent Rose's sheer size, she was much more of a mid to long range combatant. From the corner of her eye, she could see that Weiss was still struggling in her fight; she didn't know anything about this Watts guy but she knew that Weiss' skillset was a much better fit than hers for fighting Tyrian in an up close battle.

Ruby knew she had to buy time to come up with a plan to get back to Weiss. A sudden idea occurred: if anyone loved to hear himself talk it was Tyrian, especially when it came to extolling the virtues of his master. Using her semblance, she zoomed a good distance away and skidded to a stop. "Tyrian!" she shouted, pulling the bolt on her weapon back, ejecting the spent cartridge, "I thought your precious queen wanted me alive! Why the change of heart?" She left the bolt pulled back, leaving the chamber empty for the moment.

He stopped and cocked his head at her, a manic grin spreading across his face. "Well ideally she wants you alive…" he began walking towards her threateningly, his arms spread wide, almost inviting her to attack, "but she also knows that sometimes a potential pawn must be sacrificed in order to win a war."

"Pawn?" Ruby asked, recoiling slightly at the mere thought, "I'd never work for that monster!" she had to start backing up as Tyrian continued to advance towards her.

"Oh," he said, his grin growing even wider, "I don't think you'd actually have a choice." he cracked his neck, waving his tail threateningly, "She has this...thing she does to people like you…" he gestured at his eyes, "Fuses you with Grimm essence." his eyes grew wide with glee, "She commands the Grimm part, while whatever is left of you is forced to watch the things she makes you do to people. To your friends. To your family."

Ruby's eyes widened in terror and she couldn't stop the horrified gasp that left her mouth. Tyrian somehow smiled even wider, relishing her fear. Ruby still had the mental faculties to take advantage of his momentary distraction; subtly, she loaded an electric dust round into the still open chamber of Crescent Rose, then quietly slid the bolt home.

"Luckily for you," he said, scraping his wrist blades together, "You'll be long dead before you get to Salem." his voice dipped into a low threatening growl, his mechanical tail whipping back and forth, "You won't become her slave, But I'll make you wish you were by the time I'm done with you." He surged forward, opening fire with his weapons.

Ruby rapidly spun her scythe, managing to deflect every round he fired. Before he could close the distance too much, she snapped Crescent Rose up in rifle mode and fired straight at his head, the Faunus bringing his metal tail down to protect his face. But the round detonated against the stinger and his entire body seized up as electricity coursed through him; he dropped to the snow, twitching and temporarily immobilized. Ruby quickly took the opportunity to move as fast as she could towards Weiss' combat area.

Weiss was breathing hard, her muscles already starting to burn and her recently healed knee starting to ache. Arthur Watts had turned out to be a more capable combatant than she expected. He was keeping her from launching any effective attacks with pinpoint accurate pistol shots, requiring her to call glyph shields into being to protect herself.

She saw his foot slip on a patch of ice and saw an opportunity, she went on the offensive. She slid across the snow on a series of glyphs, circling around his back and attacking him with a series of slashes and stabs with her rapier. Watts managed to avoid most of her swipes and deflected the rest with expert use of hard-light dust.

Weiss noted that he was wearing special gloves on his hands, there were tubes seemingly full of dust running from the fingers to some kind of dust reservoir inside his jacket. 'That explains the size of the light walls he's able to conjure.' Weiss mused, 'I'll have to get them off of him if I want to take him out.'

Her next series of strikes were carefully aimed to sever the tubes, but they were easily turned aside by him deploying light shields around his hands.

"Typical Schnee…" he sneered, firing a volley from his revolver, forcing Weiss quickly skate away on a line of glyphs, "Always overestimating their own skill."

Weiss skidded to a stop, a scowl on her face, and planted Myrtenaster into the snow, a glyph spawned and a large sword began to emerge. "Overestimate this, you pompous ass-AUGH!" Weiss cried out as the ground shifted under her, disrupting her summoning.

"Point in case!" he laughed mockingly, as Weiss rolled to the side, avoiding the flat hard-light field emerging from the snow, trying to trap her legs. he shook his head "You're just like your father," he said goading her once again, Weiss couldn't help but feel rage blossom in her chest at his accusation. "He thinks he can outsmart us too, thinks that we'll just go away once he comes to power…"

"Power…? OH DUST." she exclaimed, preparing to launch a volley of projectiles at him, "You monsters are stealing the election for him!" the ice spikes just impacted uselessly on a shield. 'Fine.' she thought conjuring more glyphs, 'We'll do this the hard way.'

She surrounded Watts with gravity infused glyphs, she ran and bounced off the first one, sailing right past the doctor, swiping her sword at him as she passed by on her way to the next glyph. She rapidly bounced between her glyphs, slashing and stabbing with her sword, but he still managed to block everything she threw at him.

'He's good.' she thought, bouncing off yet another glyph, trying to gain some momentum, 'Very good.' she grunted in pain as she landed on another glyph, her bad knee complaining as she crouched. The doctors and physical therapists in Haven had told her that while her aura would heal her shattered knee over time, it would never be fully back to normal, which she was quickly finding out the hard way now.

'I'm just not fast enough.' she mused, pushing off the glyph and sailing towards the doctor once again, 'Ruby would be able to handle this guy, he wouldn't know what hit him. Oh…' she came to a realization, 'that's why they're keeping us apart, preventing us from playing to our strengths.'

As she neared Watts again, she saw that not only was a shield up blocking her strike, she saw his pistol was up and tracking her. "Enough of this." he snarled.

BANG

Weiss cried out as her aura ate the fire-dust bullet. She tumbled head over heels through the air before slamming straight into a rock, driving all the air from her lungs. Watts advanced on her, as she tried to breathe through her spasming chest, desperately trying to bring her sword to bear.

She threw up a shield glyph as he leveled his pistol at her

"Your pompous father needs to be taught a lesson."

BANG

A round impacted her shield sending a small spider web of cracks through it.

"And you'll be the perfect example."

BANG

"If we can kill his powerful huntress daughter, then he needs to consider what we can do to the rest of his family."

BANG

"Also, killing you removes a thorn from Salem's side, everybody wins."

Weiss finally managed to get a decent lungful of air, she quickly glanced around and spotted Ruby sprinting towards her across the battlefield, Tyrian just rising to his feet some ways behind her.

"As usual," Watts sneered, "you're not even a pawn in this game."

BANG

She knew that one more fire-dust round would shatter her shield. Ruby's voice drifted to her over the tundra "WEISS! SAUNA!"

Her eyes widened and, almost on instinct, she spun the cylinder on Myrtenaster and quickly infused the almost-broken glyph with water-dust. She smirked at him and his eyes narrowed, just as he squeezed the trigger.

BANG

The glyph detonated and a massive cloud of fog blanketed the area. Weiss was quickly on her feet, running towards where she last saw Ruby.

A few seconds later, she heard the pounding of feet coming towards her out of the dense fog. She readied her rapier, expecting either of their two opponents; she quickly lowered the blade as she saw Ruby's bright red cloak flapping towards her.

"Wanna switch?" Ruby asked, "Looks like you're having a tough time!" she said cheerfully, not a hint of mockery in her voice.

Weiss nodded, they'd clearly come to the same conclusions. "They've been keeping us away from each other, I think we should do the same to them." She said, "That way we can keep them from switching partners again."

Ruby nodded in agreement, and they both took a moment to catch their breath, still keeping a sharp eye out for shadows in the fog.

Weiss straightened up after a few seconds, the fog was starting to dissipate and she was as ready as she was going to be. She noticed that Ruby was still slouched and catching her breath. "Are you with me Ruby?" she said, uttering their catchphrase almost on instinct.

Ruby grinned at her and straightened up, "Always." she said quietly.

Weiss began to walk in the direction Ruby had come from; in front of her, the younger girl disappeared in a burst of red petals, zooming past her. Weiss felt a quick kiss on her lips and heard Ruby's giggle fade into the distance.

She slowly shook her head, brushing a stray petal off her shoulder, as an amused smile played across her lips. She resumed a combat ready stance as Tyrian's menacing form emerged from the dissipating mist.

Ruby cut her semblance as the form of Arthur Watts appeared out of the fog, his pistol tracking side to side, looking for a target; she stood to his left, just out of his line of sight. She'd already noted the special gloves he was wearing, no doubt how he was able to project light walls.

"Hey!" Ruby shouted at him, his pistol instantly snapping over to aim at her, "Saw you trying to kill my bestie." she scowled, and racked a fresh round into Crescent Rose's chamber, "Why don't you try me instead?"

He scoffed, beginning to circle her, looking for an opening, "Your 'bestie' is the least talented Schnee and you're an inexperienced child, I'm sure I'll have little trouble dealing with you." he threw up a quick shield as Ruby quickly aimed and fired her scythe, the bullet shattering on impact. "Your little friend already tried that-wha?"

Ruby was gone, zooming around the back of her opponent, swinging her scythe. The man dove away from her, managing to avoid the worst of her swing. The glancing blow sent him skidding across the snow. He thudded to a stop against a tree.

"You little bitch…" Watts snarled, getting to his feet and firing three shots from his weapon, but Ruby was already gone; zooming across the snow as a mass of petals. She reformed herself and took aim at Watts, grinning to herself as she heard Weiss make a proclamation from across the snow.

"You want to kill Ruby?" Weiss said loudly, deliberately planting herself in front of where Ruby and Watts were battling, "You go through me first." She dropped into her stance, bringing her sword across her body, the point aimed right at Tyrian's heart.

"Well…" he replied, tilting his head in thought, "the good Doctor wanted to be the one to kill you but…" Weiss heard the distinct sound of Crescent Rose firing, "Seeing as he's occupied at the moment," he began to advance towards her menacingly, "Looks like I'll have to kill you and THEN little red."

He launched himself at her with a manic grin, his blades flashing. Weiss took one controlled step back, bringing her sword up to meet his, and quickly falling into a rhythm. With graceful and precise movements, she turned aside and parried his wild blows. The smile slowly left his face as he found himself unable to break through her defenses. She sprang backwards as he angrily swiped at her with his tail, skating a good distance away from him on some glyphs,

She smirked confidently, giving him a flashy salute with Myrtenaster, "I've been trained in fencing and swordplay since I was old enough to hold a blade." she resumed a ready stance, "You won't be able to push me around like you did Ruby."

"You," he snarled angrily, his face a mask of rage, "Are annoying. I have a debt to settle with her, so I'll tell you what…" he held his hands out, "You give up now and I'll make it quick and painless."

"Yeah, I don't think so." she responded, giving her blade a cocky twirl. He growled in annoyance and began running towards her. She quickly knelt, stabbing her sword into the ground. Tyrian pulled up short when he saw her summoning glyph materialize, her Boarbatusk emerging and standing at her side.

He glowered at her, hate and madness burning in his eyes. Weiss smirked and sent the ghostly Grimm barreling towards him.

Ruby skidded backwards as she dodged the last four rounds in Watts' revolver. He cursed and threw up a hard-light box around himself as flipped out the now-empty cylinder of the fancy pistol. Ruby had never seen anything like the rounds he was currently loading into the cylinder. They weren't shaped like any bullet, dust or otherwise, that she'd encountered before, they were almost torpedo-like in their shape. She began to circle the box looking for an opening.

He cursed to himself as he dropped one on the ground, "We went through so much effort to make sure that the other hunters were busy, so the good general would send you two." he snapped the cylinder back into place and glowered at her. "I am not leaving here empty handed."

He dropped his shields and fired a shot at her, but Ruby was already dashing to the side. She smirked as she slid to a stop, whatever that new bullet was hadn't worked, "You already tried that you dumm-" she was suddenly thrown off her feet, crashing into a snowbank some feet away, something having detonated on her side, taking a large chunk of her Aura with it. 'That's gonna bruise.' She thought, springing to her feet and shaking snow out of her hair, 'What the heck happened?'

"Aura-seeking explosive rounds," he said, advancing on her, "I didn't think I'd have to use them on brats like you."

Ruby's mind kicked into high gear as Watts leveled his pistol once again. She'd never even heard of aura tracking bullets. 'But,' she thought, 'if he's as brilliant an engineer as Weiss made it sound, then he probably invented them himself.' Ruby wasn't really sure why she was debating the plausibility of the rounds, the dull ache in her side was proof enough that they worked.

He fired again, jolting her out of her thoughts. She zoomed away using her semblance; she turned and looked behind her and saw the bullet tracking her every move. She was fast, but not as fast as the bullet, she quickly curled into a ball to protect herself, taking the blast on her back as the bullet detonated. She could feel that her aura was low, definitely in the red; one more hit on her and this fight would be over, she had to end this now.

Suddenly, she had an idea, she hit the ground and quickly bounced back to her feet and began zooming back towards Watts, trying to ignore the aching in her body. His revolver barked two more times, she could barely perceive the bullets change course as they locked on to her, but she wasn't afraid this time. Now she had a plan, she stowed Crescent rose on her back and charged straight at the doctor; she could almost feel the explosive rounds trailing right behind her.

'I really hope this works!' she thought, mentally crossing her fingers. She concentrated hard as she neared the doctor and felt her body separate and flow around him.

"Oh Fu-" was all he had time to get out before the rounds detonated. Ruby stopped behind him and saw his pistol fly past her. She spun around as the doctor flew towards her, propelled by the explosions. She slammed the blunt end of Crescent Rose into his chest as hard as she could, shattering his aura and sending him flying back in the other direction. He landed hard in the snow, coughing and spluttering as he desperately tried to get air back into his lungs.

He tried to rise to his feet, but Ruby appeared in a burst of petals, her boot on his chest and her scythe at his throat. "Don't move." she said, shooting him a glare. She saw his fingers twitch and she quickly sliced the tubes leading from his jacket to his gloves, "And no more shields!" He glared at her and put his hands up in surrender as dust began to pour out onto the ground. Ruby took a second to glance over at Weiss.

Weiss' breath came to her in gasps, after taking a few hits from it, Tyrian had managed to dispatch her boarbatusk. She crouched down and quickly summoned a giant version of her knight. As she rose back up from her crouch, pain shot through her bad knee. She winced and stood, trying to stand in a way that put less pressure on it; 'I really wish I had worn my knee brace today.' she thought, gingerly testing its weight bearing capabilities. She called glyphs into being, trying to pelt the Faunus with ice-spikes as he dodged a swipe from the knight's giant sword.

Rage flashed in his eyes, beyond frustrated at how long this fight was taking. "ENOUGH!" he screamed; in a blur of motion, he rapidly climbed Weiss' knight and swiftly decapitated it. As it dissolved, Weiss launched her ice spikes, but he managed to dodge all of them.

He ran straight at her, his face a mask of rage. Weiss stepped back in an effort to get into a defensive stance but her left foot unexpectedly stepped on a rock and sudden pain lanced through her bad knee and it buckled, sending her tumbling to the ground, landing on her back. She tried to bring her sword up to defend herself but his blade lashed out, sending her sword skidding across the snow, and opening up a deep gash on her palm.

Ruby watched, worry and fear etched on her face, as Weiss tumbled to the ground and Tyrian disarmed her. He slammed his glowing, purple fist into Weiss' midsection, dropping her aura and sending her skidding into a snowdrift. Ruby glanced down at Watts who wore a sadistic smirk on his face. An unspoken understanding passed between them: You can keep me pinned here, or you can save your friend.

Tyrian towered over Weiss, his tail bobbing threateningly behind him. She tried to reform the aura over her stomach, but to no avail; his semblance had left her extremely vulnerable. She made to flatten her palm on the ground, trying to summon her lancer but he clicked his tongue at her, aiming the barrel of his weapons at her head, his finger tightening on the trigger; she stopped moving and lay still.

"Any last words, princess?" he sneered at her. Weiss fixed him with a withering glare and spat right in his face. He wiped the gob of saliva off his cheek, "Fair enough!" he cackled, drawing his tail back, the mechanical muscles coiling.

Weiss flinched, bracing for the impact, but became confused when Tyrian paused. "WEISS!" a panicked voice screamed from her left, Weiss saw Tyrian's eyes flick towards the voice, he grinned gleefully.

Weiss' eyes grew wide, "Ruby don't!" she yelled, realizing Tyrian was using her as bait, "It's a tr-"

Weiss was barely able to process what happened next. Out of the corner of her left eye, she saw a red blur, seemingly coming straight for her. Tyrian's tail lashed out, turning into a silver streak. A slightly glowing red mist in the air as Ruby's aura shattered. The clang of Crescent Rose as it skidded across the snow. A loud WHUMPH as her partner slammed into the snow, just out of arms reach.

Weiss slowly glanced over, her mouth opening in horror. Ruby lay next to her, a shocked look on her face, desperately trying to comprehend the metal stinger embedded in her stomach.

And I'm back to the dramatic cliffhangers. Sorry it's been so long since the last update, I've been fairly busy and this chapter is almost twice the length of the other chapters. I should be able to post the next chapter in two weeks or less this time. Thanks for your patience! leave a review if you enjoyed!