Tyrian howled in pain. The stub of his tail flailed uselessly in the air, while the rest of it fell on the floor behind him, flopping in a final throe of motion before it lay still. His voice morphed from a howl to a gurgled screech. He spun around, chakrams flashing.
Jaune brought his sword up just in time to block. He took a step back but Tyrian followed him, spreading his blades to attack from both sides at once. Jaune scrambled to defend himself, but he was saved the trouble as a Dust round punctured Tyrian's skull from behind. For a second Tyrian remained standing, frenzied eyes glaring at Jaune, before he dropped on the floor, motionless.
Across the room, Blake locked eyes with Jaune and lowered her pistol. "Sorry for the delay."
Jaune shrugged his shoulders. "You sure know how to make an entrance." He kept his sword pointed at Tyrian's prone body, not ready to believe yet that he was actually dead. "It's Britney, bitch, really?"
Blake sighed. "It's been a long week."
The hostages in the corner started to stand up, scared out of their minds. Lionheart scrambled to his feet and looked around the room, flinching when he made eye contact with Qrow. He started inching away, but was stopped short when Ren appeared beside him and grabbed him by the shoulder.
Qrow addressed the hostages. "You all head on down quick. There'll be people waiting for you outside to help. You-" he pointed at Ren- "escort them. Take the stairs, it'll be faster than figuring out the elevator. And don't let the slimy one out of your sight."
"With pleasure," Ren said, lifting Lionheart onto his feet. He gave Jaune a nod and started leading the people to the stairwell.
As the room emptied, Qrow let out a huge sigh, before he rounded on Blake. "That was reckless. You could have shot Lionheart."
"No," Blake said, challenging him with a scowl, "I couldn't have."
Jaune stepped in. "Blake was just following the plan. And it worked, didn't it, so why are we fighting?"
Qrow scowled at the two of them for a moment, before he shook his head and put his hands on his hips. He walked over to Tyrian's limp body and shook it with the tip of his boot. How long does it usually take for him to get back up?"
Blake eyes Tyrian warily, not yet putting her gun away. "He should have already."
"He should be dead dead this time, I think," Jaune said, pointing at Tyrian's tail stub with his sword. "It was the tail. I'm pretty sure that was the source of his mojo."
Blake rolled her shoulder, the arm that had gotten scratched. "It checks out."
"Maybe." Qrow crouched beside the body. "We're restraining him anyway. I'm not taking a chance on an assumption." He felt up his jacket, frowning. "Shit, why did I stop carrying handcuffs on me-"
A noise like a roar rippled through the air. The lights in the room flickered, before the noise repeated itself and they went completely dark.
Jaune found Blake's amber eyes in the darkness. "I don't think that was the storm," he said, and ran to look out a window. Most of the lights in the other buildings and on the street below were out as well. Together with the rain, it made it difficult to see anything. Yet there was light coming from up above, too bright and colorful for it to be moonlight, and as he turned his eyes to the sky, it was hard not to see.
He drew back from the window. "Uh… Blake, can you check if there's a giant elemental dragon flying over the city?"
Blake joined him at the window. She stared for a few seconds before she nodded. "There's a giant elemental dragon flying over the city."
"There's a what?" Qrow said, looking up.
"Also, Grimm."
Qrow cursed and stood up.
"How far along is the evacuation?" Jaune asked.
"Not far enough. We've still got people waiting for transport all over the city, but there's only so much to go around," Qrow said, dusting off his shirt. "I'm gonna give the orders to load up as many people as can fit on every airship we have. The rest will have to be escorted out on foot. That won't leave any agents to engage the Grimm or the – the dragon thing."
"You can leave that part to us," Jaune said. "Try to keep people in the same area. If we're spread too thin we're not gonna be able to protect anyone. And-"
Suddenly Tyrian sprang up, kicking Qrow's below the ribs and stealing the air from his lungs. He skittered away low to the ground, a shadow in the darkness. Dust explosions briefly revealed his features as Blake unloaded her pistol on him, but every round went wide, a new tail whipping them away. He jumped and perched on a windowsill.
"Did you really think it was going to be that easy to get rid of me?" Tyrian grinned, and Jaune found himself rooted to the spot as his eyes fixed on him. "I'll admit, it really peeves me, that stunt you pulled – you don't cut out a man's precious parts like that! – but that's all that was, an annoyance."
"Don't move," Blake said, taking a step forward with her pistol raised.
"And stay here and miss out on all the fun outside?" Tyrian licked his lips. "I can't ever say no to a feast."
He lurched back, shattering the glass behind him, and fell out of view. Jaune ran towards the window, but Qrow held him back with an arm.
"Just go do your part! I'll handle him," Qrow said. In a shimmer he turned into a bird and flew out the shattered window, giving chase.
Jaune sheathed his sword. He didn't have any time to argue, but it didn't matter, Qrow was right. "Blake, let's go!" he said, and they took off to the stairwell. As they raced down the steps, Jaune put a hand to his ear. "Weiss-"
"Hello!" Weiss replied immediately. "I have bad news. There's-"
"A giant dragon, I know," Jaune said. "We're all safe. What's happening up there?"
"That's what I'm trying to figure out," Weiss said. "Pyrrha says this thing has something to do with the Relic, but she doesn't seem very sure of anything herself."
"You talked with Pyrrha?"
"She's fine. Something went wrong with the Relic. She's coming down to join us with Amber, but Amber's not well," Weiss said."Also, it appears Ruby tackled Cinder off the mountain."
Jaune stopped in the middle of the stairs.
"Ruby did what?"
Cinder's back made a satisfying crunch as it hit the rocks below. Ruby pressed down on her, an elbow crushing Cinder's windpipe while a hand grabbed for her face. She couldn't get a hold on her, they were rolling down the mountain, Cinder was struggling too much and Ruby couldn't think straight.
Suddenly Cinder exploded in a shell of a fire, and Ruby was shoved off. She fell, fell, fell towards the city, hot tears lost in the rain, until she fell past the roof of a tall building and spun. Scattering into a thousand petals, she turned and raced back up the face of the mountain, to where Cinder had stalled her descent.
Crescent Rose was in her hands when she reformed. Ruby swung it at Cinder`s neck, all her momentum carried into that single movement. Cinder had less than a second to react, hastily bringing up her arms and forging an obsidian shield before her. Ruby smashed through it, and her scythe struck Cinder`s elbow instead, robbing her of her balance and sending her trailing down the mountain again.
Cinder didn't fall for long. Soon enough she pressed a hand to the rocks and blasted away from the cliffs, towards the top of the nearby buildings. Ruby kicked off the mountain, rocketing past her in swirling petals. She landed on the rooftop seconds before Cinder did, intercepting her and bringing Crescent Rose around in a savage arc.
Cinder reeled back with a painful shout. Ruby closed in with another swing, but Cinder ground her feet and loosed a fireball on her at close range, forcing her to dodge. As the fire sizzled in the rain and the smoke cleared, Ruby saw Cinder jumping to another building, and chased after her.
The fight turned into a chase, a game of cat-and-mouse across rooftops and streets. Cinder was powerful and slippery, but Ruby was faster, and she was relentless, bringing her scythe down with the same brutality each time. Every near miss got a little bit closer to home, every impact wore down Cinder's defenses just a little bit further.
Ruby had the vague understanding that this wasn't her. This wasn't right, to bring the full might of her power on someone else. It was one thing to fight Grimm – she was a monster when she fought Grimm, scarier than Pyrrha, scarier than Yang even. On the rare occasions when she had to fight other people, she always held back. Blunt strikes and slower speeds. Taking another person's life was pretty much her worst nightmare.
Ruby acknowledged all that and threw it aside. She saw the fear in Cinder`s eyes and relished it.
They flew through the air, jumping between two buildings, and Ruby closed in from above. This time for sure. Cinder`s back was presented to her, she was vulnerable, tired, no ground beneath her feet. Ruby drove Crescent Rose down-
Suddenly, Cinder turned in midair, and from her hand shot out not a bolt of fire, but a bolt of lightning. Ruby swerved to the right, but the lightning bolt still grazed her. She dropped to the road, wincing. Pain and numbness poked at her left arm like pinpricks. She gripped Crescent Rose harder and scattered up the side of a building, coming to stand on the rooftop across from Cinder.
"This is pointless! I just want the Relic, and then I'll go!" Cinder shouted. "You know you can't hurt me. I have the full power of a Maiden!"
The rain fell between them.
"You're gonna need more than that," Ruby said, and fell upon Cinder again.
Pyrrha cursed as she nearly slipped on the last step. She held Amber firmer, cradling her in her arms, and continued forth. The street spread out before her, flooded and without sign of life. The bulk of the fighting was happening in the districts below. She had a long way to go before she joined the others.
As she marched on, hair plastered to her forehead, Pyrrha turned her eyes to the horizon. Her skin thrummed as she beheld that massive beast flying over the city, its rainbow colors as bright as a hundred neon signs. In contrast, the Grimm were barely visible in the night, only their red eyes shining in the darkness.
Three of them were coming at her now. "Shit," Pyrrha muttered under her breath, and scrambled off the road. She found a protected spot beneath the canopy of a shop and put Amber down, resting her easy against the wall, then ran back to the middle of the street.
The first Griffon dived at her with its talon stretched out to rend her flesh. She waited for it to come close and raised her shield at the last second. The beast bounced back, and while it was still dazed, Pyrrha knocked it to the ground and slammed down her shield to shatter its skull.
The other two Griffon lagged behind, giving her time to take out her rifle. One of them fell easily, her first shot tearing it apart from front to back, but the other swerved out of the way and disappeared behind the body of a building. Pyrrha followed its trajectory with her rifle, and as it became visible again in the space of an alley, she took her shot. The Grimm fell to the ground and dissipated in the rain.
Pyrrha held her position, scanning the skyline with her rifle yet raised, but no more Grimm approached. She breathed out slowly and put her weapons away. She ran back to Amber and knelt on the ground to pick her up.
"Don't," Amber said, stirring. "Leave me."
Pyrrha stopped for a second, her heart wrenching. "I'm not leaving you behind."
"You have to. I'm gone," Amber muttered. "I'm gone."
She raised a hand to the rain. A few drops ceased their fall, one, two, three, suspended over her palm as if time stopped still. A second later they splashed onto her hand, as they were wont to.
"I dared to dream otherwise," Amber said, "but I am gone."
"No. You're not gone," Pyrrha said. "You're still alive and you're gonna stay that way."
"If only fate gave way so easily to the will of the young," Amber said. "What a marvel life would be then."
She looked at Pyrrha, eyes wet with tears, and Pyrrha didn't know what to do. She didn't know what to do.
"I knew this is how it would end. I knew from the moment I felt Ozpin leave me," Amber said. "Because Oz is gone, and so I must be gone. That is what we are. Echoes and rhymes. Echoes and rhymes."
She turned her eyes to the sky.
"Have you realized what that is yet?" Amber said, looking at the dragon in the distance. "Do you feel it in your heart, in your gut?"
Pyrrha thought she did. "I don't know what it is."
"That… is the wrath of a thousand Maidens, brought to life and unleashed upon the world," Amber said. "Every Maiden has a fury inside her, a fury such that could destroy all life. And there it flies, before our eyes."
"I don't understand," Pyrrha said. "You made it sound like you loved being a Maiden. That it saved you, that it-"
"Joy and anger, it's all the same," Amber said. "Life is a complicated beast, Pyrrha. I understand it no better than you do."
She bowed her head, and the tears ran free from her eyes now, trailing down her cheeks and falling onto her lap. Her shoulders came up and down in a great sob, and her voice came out as an errant breath.
"I thought I'd be ready for this. I always knew I'd die someday. That's just the way of life. But I thought – I thought I wouldn't be gone after. That's the deal," Amber said. "But now Oz is gone, and the others are gone. I'm nothing and I'm alone and I don't know what's going to happen to me and I'm scared. Gods, I'm so scared."
Pyrrha took Amber's hand. "You're not alone," she said. "And you're so much more than what Ozpin made you into."
"Maybe." Amber wiped her eyes. "But I'm still scared. Maybe that's all that's left, when everything else is gone. Fear and loneliness." She looked at Pyrrha, a tremulant smile on her lips. "And warmth, if we're lucky."
She fell silent then, the only sign that she was still awake being the slightest rise and fall of her chest. Pyrrha took Amber's chin and angled her head back so she rested it against the wall, and then sat down herself beside Amber, and held her hand between her own.
"If you have to go, then go," Pyrrha said. "But stay with me, for as long as you can. As you are."
Amber whispered, "I don't want to keep you."
"You deserve that much," Pyrrha said. "Hold on. Stay. Stay."
Amber sighed.
"I will try," she said, and closed her eyes.
"Get us close!"
"We're very close already."
"Closer!"
Weiss winced. It didn't seem necessary to her that Nora should yell in her ear, but she supposed in the context of everything happening right now, that was a pretty minor concern.
She changed the angle of her glyph, taking her and Nora even closer to the flying snake-thing – what had Jaune called it, a giant elemental dragon? Absurd. – she took them even closer to the dragon, flying just beside its slender body, so close that they were almost touching it.
Nora lifted her hammer above her head, the weapon already crackling with electricity. "Here goes nothing!" she yelled, and brought her hammer down.
The stored electricity shot out in a blinding flash of light, but that was all it was, a light show. The energy made contact with the dragon and vanished – whether absorbed or dispersed, Weiss wasn't sure – and the creature had no reaction except to continue rampaging across the city.
"Damnit!" Nora shouted. "Why won't anything work?"
"Well," Weiss said bitterly, "I suppose we were bound to come across a problem we couldn't solve by beating it into the ground, eventually."
"Grimm behind us!" Nora warned, and Weiss looked over her shoulder just in time to see her swatting a Manticore away with a swipe of her hammer, its head dissolving in wispy smoke. "Took care of it. Hey, you should get us even closer to that thing. Maybe if I actually hit it, it'll finally do some damage!"
Weiss shook her head. "I highly doubt so."
Instead of listening to Nora's inane suggestions, she took them further away from the dragon, getting them a bird's eye view of it and the city.
"What's it even doing?" Nora asked as they observed the dragon. Everything it passed, it warped, leaving flames or ice or overgrown vines or floods in its wake, as if the storm wasn't bad enough.
"I don't know," Weiss said. "Maybe it's just angry."
"Angry with who? Cinder? It should just gobble her up, then, no need to lump everyone else in with her!"
"I don't think it's angry with anyone in particular."
Something was odd, Weiss noted. The Grimm weren't attacking the city. The vast majority of them were flocking around the dragon, no matter that it seemed to be able to destroy with its mere presence. They pecked and slashed and slammed at it, ineffective and dying in masse, and yet they kept at it with mindless persistence.
But Grimm are not mindless, Weiss thought, something she'd always known. And something more recent – they take direction from elsewhere.
She watched as a Nevermore dived into the dragon, piercing its way far inside the wild energies, closing in on a singular point – an object – and it got to it and grabbed the object in its talons, but did not make it any farther before it was torn apart into atoms.
And then it clicked.
"The Relic," Weiss said. "They're trying to take the Relic."
Nora coughed. "Excuse me, what?"
"I'm taking us down, hold on." Weiss quickly lowered her glyph to the street. "Step off now. I have an idea."
"Uh, no," Nora said. "Not before you explain what this idea is."
"We really cannot spare the time for me to elaborate, so kindly do as I ask."
Nora crossed her arms in stark refusal, so Weiss took drastic measures and vanished her glyph, dropping them both to their feet onto the asphalt. She hopped and made another glyph for herself, and before Nora could get any ideas, shot upwards.
"Hey, wait!" she heard Nora yelling below her. "Guys, Weiss has gone rogue! I repeat, Weiss has gone rogue!"
Jaune's voice buzzed in her ear. "Weiss? What's Nora yelling about?"
"The Relic is inside the dragon," Weiss said. "That's why Salem sent these Grimm. Not to assault the city, but to take the Relic."
"And?"
"I'm going to grab it before they can."
Weiss halted her ascent as she came parallel to the dragon and hovered in its periphery, trying to get a read on its movements. She needed to be in the right position at the right moment, to dive in from one side and come out the other as fast as possible. Like swimming across a river where it was thinnest.
Weiss was by no means a good swimmer, never had been. Neither was she one to turn away from a challenge because she was scared.
"That sounds incredibly risky," Ren piped in.
"Riskier than letting Salem get her hands on it?" Weiss said. "If that happens, it's game over. But it won't, seeing as I don't intend to fail." She paused. "But just in case I do, my will is in the third drawer of my nightstand, under my diary. The diary is a little blue notebook. Under no circumstances is anyone to open it."
"You have a diary?" Jaune asked.
"You have a will?!" Nora shouted.
"Of course I do," Weiss said. "I'm the only one of this bunch of idiots with a sensible head on her shoulders."
She saw her opening and took it, bending her knees briefly and then kicking off her glyph, shooting towards the dragon like a bullet. As she grew closer, she conjured her rapier in her left hand and thrust it before her, piercing the creature's ephemeral hide.
Once she was in, Weiss quickly realized she had been so worried about the pain and getting her trajectory just right, she'd failed to account for several things. Chiefly among them was the problem that she couldn't see anything. It was like she'd been dunked in the ocean, except this ocean was comprised of hundreds of bright, conflicting colors. Even as she forced her eyes shut, she could still see them, and nothing more.
So she was still moving, and moving fast, but blind, and she felt her Aura being stripped away as if she'd been doused in acid. A cacophony of sounds battered her, growing louder and louder until something popped in her ears and suddenly she couldn't hear anything at all. Her muscles went taunt, her consciousness waning. For a moment, Weiss had the strangest feeling that she'd left her body behind, and now she was simply traveling inside the carcass of a woman who had been arrogant enough to believe she could outthink the unknown.
But she was moving. She was moving and she had made the calculations, so easy in her head that she hadn't had to check them twice. This arrogant woman made plenty of mistakes, but never when it came to mere physics and mathematics. So she reached out with her hand, painful as it was, and stayed her course.
Her fingers closed around something – rusted metal, a handle – and a jolt ran up her arm, curved around her shoulder, and shot down her spine. She clutched the object to her chest, and before she knew it, she was in open air again, spinning end over end.
Weiss opened her eyes. The ground was coming towards her – correction, she was falling towards it, falling hopelessly fast. She made an attempt to stop her spinning and produced a glyph to halt her fall, but her feet barely touched it before it shattered and she was plummeting again. Dazed, confused, she tried again and again, shattering and sliding off glyphs until she collided against the parapet of a house, and an instant later, the ground.
For what felt like an eternity, Weiss lay on her side in a puddle, curled up like a baby with the Relic cradled between her knees and her chest. She made the mistake of closing her eyes. The lights returned, exploding like fireworks in her eyelids and plunging needles into her brain. Weiss made the executive decision to not blink again before a full week had passed.
She bowed her head to look at the Relic, truly examining it for the first time. It was a lamp. She had risked meat and bone for a lamp.
It had better be worth it.
Weiss pushed herself to her feet, the effort and the soreness in her muscles drawing a groan from her lips. It was then that she realized something was very wrong. She couldn't hear anything. Not the wind, not the noises of the city, not even her own voice.
I've gone deaf, she thought. I'm deaf. Temporary? It has to be temporary. What if it's permanent?
She didn't know. She had no way to know. What she'd done – where she'd been – how could she be sure of anything? An icy hand squeezed her heart, and she felt the air vanish from her chest.
"It will pass," a voice said, clear as a note. Before she could question where it came from, Weiss felt the ground tremble under her feet. She turned and was met face-to-face with a Manticore.
Before she could even think to defend herself, the Grimm closed what little distance remained between them and sunk its fangs into her arm. Weiss went to the ground, her pain coming out in a shout that never reached her ears. The Relic slipped from her grasp and rolled away. The Manticore reared back, her arm still caught in its maw, and Weiss nearly passed out from the pain.
Somehow, she kept her wits, scattered as they were. She opened her free hand, fingers closing around her rapier again, and stopped resisting. The Manticore pulled her violently, and going with the motion, Weiss sank the rapier right between its eyes. The Grimm dissipated into smoke immediately, and Weiss fell to her knees, deep gouges in her arm dripping crimson onto the asphalt.
Panting, Weiss scrambled to her feet and grabbed the Relic. She didn't have to look up to know that more Grimm were coming. So many Grimm, all at once, coming straight for her. She tried to hold on to her rapier but it lost form and vanished. She was so weak – how was she supposed to survive this fight?
"Turn to your left and run," the voice returned. "Help is on the way."
Weiss didn't hesitate. She slipped into an alleyway, narrowly avoiding a Nevermore as it dive bombed into the sidewalk behind her. She ran as fast as her feet allowed her, hugging the Relic hard to her chest, nearly passing out from the exertion. Grimm pursued her from above and tried to corner her at every turn, and thank her genes she was so small, or else she might not have been able to give them the slip.
But her good fortune did not last forever. As she ran out of an alley and made a beeline for the next one across from her, she slipped on a patch of rain, and a Beowolf suddenly interposed itself in her way, baring fangs and claws. Weiss skidded to a near-halt and turned to dodge to the right, but she knew she never stood a chance.
Just as the Beowolf brought up a claw to tear across her face, a ribbon wrapped around its arm and pulled it back. A blade skewered its chest from behind, and as it dissipated, Blake appeared, running through the smoke and grabbing Weiss by the shoulders. She shouted something.
"I can't hear you!" Weiss shouted back.
If Blake was alarmed, she didn't show it. She drew her pistol to shoot down a Ravager as it swooped down at them, then pointed down the street. Weiss ran in that direction, breathless. She couldn't hear Blake running behind her, but she saw her shadow projected in the light of the dragon high above, and Grimm fell around her as Blake covered them both.
The voice spoke again, "Do not stray from her. She will protect you with her life."
As she ran, Weiss spared a look at the Relic in her arms. This was a powerful object, to be sure, but it was slightly less impressive when it told her information she already knew.
"Keep going that way," Jaune said. "Get to the gates, run as fast as you can and don't stop for anything. Beacon will be there to help you."
He ushered the kids and their mom on, pointing down the street. The woman gave some thanks which he didn't quite hear before she went. He watched them until they were out of sight to make sure they'd be okay, then leaned on his knees to catch his breath.
There were so many people who hadn't joined the evacuation yet. The Grimm seemed more occupied with taking the Relic, but even then, a lot of them just couldn't pass up on easy prey.
Blake's voice interrupted his brief respite. "I've got Weiss!"
"Is she okay?" Jaune asked.
"She's very hurt, we're running for now but she won't manage for much longer." Gunshots rang out from Blake's end of the line before she spoke again. "We've got the Relic. The Grimm are swarming us. I'm going to try and lose them, then I'll find a place for us to hole up."
"We'll come to you," Ren said. "Just follow the Grimm, right?"
"Yes." Blake took another shot. "You'll have no trouble."
"Roger roger, team! Let's go!" Nora exclaimed.
Jaune stood up straight and looked at the sky. Blake wasn't kidding. It was very obvious where the Grimm were converging, though currently they were flying away from him. He'd have to catch up fast, but he could manage it. "On my way."
He began to run, though he was soon forced to stop as a Beowolf leaped out of an alleyway at him. Jaune swerved out of its way and grabbed his sword, though a sudden lightness in his chest stopped him from swinging it. He blinked, feeling a strange pressure in the air, and the Grimm too wasn't moving, a low bestial whine escaping its maw.
Jaune looked up and was nearly blinded. The dragon was right there, flying past the very street he was in. Some deep instinct told him to get away, and he did, jumping for cover under the canopy of a building.
In an instant, half the street was coated in ice. The next second, the dragon was gone from view, taking off towards another far corner of the city.
The Beowolf stood in the middle of the road, cast from head to toe in ice. A Grimm sculpture. Jaune trudged over to it, making his way slowly so as not to slip and hurt himself, and stared at the Beowolf from up close. Its eyes still darted about in a panic under the frozen layers. Jaune smashed it into pieces, for good measures.
His stomach felt hollow. He hoped no one had gotten caught up in the dragon's path like this. Someone really needed to do something about it soon.
Shaking his head, Jaune took off running again. No other distractions appeared on the way, though he kept his eyes peeled for anyone in need of rescue. But the Grimm were all zeroing in on Weiss and Blake, it seemed, and it looked like they wouldn't have anywhere left to run soon.
Jaune was getting close now. Just a few more minutes.
A flash of movement caught his attention at the edge of his vision. He turned to look, and just barely caught a glimpse of Tyrian running past a street corner, followed shortly by a black bird with angry red eyes.
Jaune came to a gradual halt, resting his hand on the pommel of his sword. He frowned, thinking about the world of pain Weiss must be in after what she did, and about the talk he and Blake had back in the house. Nora and Ren were coming to help, though. They wouldn't be alone.
"I'll be with you guys soon," Jaune said, touching his earpiece. "Gotta take care of something first."
He turned and chased after Tyrian and Qrow.
Yang didn't know when she'd started holding her breath. When she realized she was, the air came out of her in such a heave that she nearly fell back on her bed. Still, she couldn't take her eyes off her Scroll, for fear of what she might miss if her attention lapsed for even a second.
"Raven!" she called out at the top of her voice, to no response.
A part of her knew it wasn't just fear that kept her rooted to her bed. Not the same fear, at least. Putting her Scroll down meant she'd have to make a decision, and watching the news in abject horror was much easier than that, even if her guts were all twisted up inside.
At some point it became too much, though, and she slammed her Scroll face-down on the mattress. She stared at the wall, still seeing those images of destruction and confusion in her mind. The uncertainty of what was going on drove her mad, and her thoughts soon landed on Ruby, then Weiss, and then everybody else stuck in that stupid city on the stupid other side of the world.
And suddenly she was on her feet, her dinner rising up to her throat, and she was walking out the door with a fervor she hadn't known since before she'd woken up in the hospital days ago.
"Mom! I know you're still in the house!"
She found Raven in the kitchen with a sandwich in hand, apparently having helped herself to their fridge, and quite generously at that. Before Raven had even opened her mouth to talk, Yang shoved her Scroll in her face. For a second Raven appeared astonished as she stared, before she schooled her expression into practiced apathy.
"That sure looks like a mess." She took a big bite off her sandwich, then extended it towards Yang. "Sorry, did you want me to make one for you too? I'll even put it in a lunchbox for you. Kids like that, right?"
"I need to get to Haven right now," Yang said firmly.
"Hmm. Right now might be a bit of a problem. You might be able to catch a plane in the next couple hours, but it's a long flight to Haven. If they're even accepting landings there." Raven munched on her sandwich. "Are you asking me money for the passage? 'cause I don't have any change on me."
"I don't have time for your games," Yang said. "Uncle Qrow's there. I know you can open a portal to him, so do it and I'll pass through. You don't have to come with, okay?"
Seemingly losing her appetite, Raven put her sandwich down on a plate and slid it away from her. She turned to look at Yang, her expression hard and cold.
"We've well established that I'm not an exemplary parent," she said, "but holy shit, you really must think horribly of me if you think I'd send my daughter – a cripple – into that warzone."
"I'm not a cripple," Yang said. "And anyway it doesn't matter what you think. I don't care what you think. All I want from you is a portal, and if you can't give me that then just leave already and we'll never talk again."
"That's a poor threat," Raven said. "We rarely talk anyway, and it's hardly ever pleasant. Truthfully, it'd be a relief."
She said that, but Yang saw that harshness in her expression start to crack, and something like desperation danced in her eyes. Yang set her jaw, her fingers closing tight around her Scroll.
"I know I'm probably not ready to do any fighting. I know this is crazy. But I have to do this anyway," Yang said. "You told me before to make up my mind. Well, this is it, whether you like it or not."
Raven studied her, her lips making a hard line. "That might have convinced me if you weren't shaking like a damn leaf."
"Well yeah, of course I'm shaking," Yang said. "It's my family we're talking about here."
Raven turned her eyes to the ceiling. She muttered a long series of expletives under her breath. Then, with a grudging swiftness, she waved her hand and a portal appeared beside them, swirling a few centimeters off the ground and casting the walls in a red glow. Raindrops splashed on the kitchen floor, coming from the other side along with a chill wind.
Yang stared at it, a lump in her throat.
"Well?" Raven glared at her for a moment. "Fucking kill me. Fine, I'll go first."
She stepped through the portal. After a moment's hesitation, Yang followed her.
They stood in the middle of a road. The rain and wind battered Yang harshly, though it was nothing compared to the other thing that assaulted Yang's senses. She couldn't put into words what it was but she knew that it was all around her, in the air, in the skies, in the water drops that splattered on her scalp and in the lightning clouds.
Raven rubbed the side of her neck, a strained look on her face. "Hells above," she muttered. "What the fuck did you kids set off?" She looked at Yang. "What now?"
Yang frowned. "Where's Uncle Qrow?"
Raven looked around. The street was deserted except for them. After a few seconds, she gestured vaguely to the right. "He's flying that way, and wherever he's going, he's in a hell of a hurry," she said. "Shall we follow?"
Yang looked at the sky. She had to strain her eyes, but after a while she could make out the shapes of Grimm in the horizon, flying in low circles above a city district just below them.
She nodded her head in that direction. "We're going that way."
"Towards the gargantuan Grimm flock?" Raven asked.
"Seems like the obvious choice," Yang said. "What, you think they're just getting together for their nightly tea party?"
She started walking, though she didn't take more than two steps before Raven grabbed her by the arm and spun her around.
"Listen. She-" Raven stopped. "Salem can't know I was here. I'll intervene if I have to, but - I can't be seen here, okay?"
Yang stared at her. Her mother's fingers trembled around her arm, and the irises of her eyes seemed frighteningly small against the white surrounding them.
"I told you you didn't have to come," Yang said. "But I get it."
Raven turned away, face stricken by shame. She let go of Yang's arm, took a step back, and after a blur of motion, a black-feathered bird stood in her place. She perched on Yang's shoulder for a phantom of a second before taking flight. In just a few seconds, Yang lost sight of her in the storm.
Yang turned to look at the Grimm again. She took a shuddering breath, ignoring the part of her that wanted to flee in exactly the opposite direction. "Here goes nothing," she said, and took off running.
Cinder swiped her hand, and the rain complied. She shaped it into pressurized torrents and knives of ice, and reached for the electric charge in the clouds above and sent it down in lances of blinding light.
The power was exhilarating, and she felt it growing with every breath she took. It was everything she had lusted for, and in a stroke of irony, she had no opportunity to appreciate it.
Ruby Rose had turned into a demon. No matter how Cinder employed the elements against her, she would not be stopped. She weaved between attacks in curtains of swirling petals, and her scythe was a vision of blurred metal. Even when Cinder struck her true, Ruby did not falter for more than a second.
The Maiden's power was overwhelming, and yet Cinder did not have the upper hand.
It's because you're holding back, she told herself. Salem had told her to keep Ruby alive. She was following orders.
The thought distracted her. She tossed a flaming javelin at her foe, but Ruby was long gone, once more closing the distance between them in a flurry of petals. Cinder slid back on her feet, preparing to defend herself, yet unlike before, Ruby didn't come out of her Semblance to strike at her. The petals shot past Cinder and turned back, flying around her in a building hurricane.
An invisible force struck Cinder from the front, and then something pierced into the small of her back. Whatever it was reached deep inside her, hooked the core of her being, and pulled. Her body came apart, baring everything that she was for the whole world to see.
It took her a moment for her to realize she was petals as well. The world was a blur of indistinguishable shapes and colors, and she was being dragged away from the rooftops and streets where she and Ruby were making battle.
A moment after she made that realization, she became aware that she wasn't alone. There was another presence with her, a conscience that was both familiar and utterly alien. It surrounded her on all sides and burrowed its way into her, carrying with it such a rage that it seared and cut into her.
For an instant, Cinder understood. She felt that pain like it was her own, and she knew that she was the one who caused it. She nearly yielded then, let that other presence take over and do to her whatever it willed, because she deserved it.
For an instant, Cinder understood.
And then she remembered herself and kicked and screamed and screamed fire, until she was back in her own body.
She rolled on rocky ground, eventually coming to a stop and rising to her knees. She had barely a second to gather herself before she saw the end of a scythe flying towards her face. It cut a jagged line on her forearm and elbow as she haphazardly blocked, before she slid backwards, driving Ruby off with a salvo of fireballs.
Running on instinct, Cinder called for the rain, but it was long gone. Walls of damp rock surrounded them - the only reason she could see anything was for the light of her own flames. A tunnel inside the mountain, most likely, leading from one end to another. A stream ran by to her left, its waters gaining speed until they fell in a far-off waterfall she could hear but not yet see.
Cinder brought a hand to her mouth and realized it was shaking. She stared at it, willing it to stop, but it refused to. She lowered it and set her eyes on Ruby.
"How dare you," she snarled.
Ruby held her scythe behind her back, poised to attack at any second. "You killed my mom."
Cinder clenched her fists. The air felt heavy around her.
"I did," she said, her voice lashing out like a whip. "I killed her, and I wish I had done more. I wish I had done it with my own hands. I wish I had finished the job, and saved myself the agony of listening to you whine like a petulant child!"
"I talked with you about her," Ruby said. "You sat there and you listened like it was nothing!"
Cinder shrugged. "It was nothing."
Ruby's shoulders fell. Thunder boomed in the distance, followed by a roar of the creature that ravaged the city.
"All this. Everything you've done," Ruby said. "What was it all for? Power?"
"Yes, it was for power!" Cinder shouted. "Power is the only thing that matters."
Ruby shook her head.
"But of course you don't get it," Cinder said. "You were coddled and protected from the day you were born. A golden child. You've never known what it's like to be at someone's mercy, to be so afraid that you'd do anything for the smallest sense of safety."
She held her speech, a cold crawling down her throat and settling unwelcome in her stomach. The walls of the tunnels seemed so much smaller now, the light cast by her flames so much dimmer.
"You have no idea. You had the ticket to a perfect life. And you know the worst part? You threw it away. You chose to be here instead," Cinder said. "I hate you for that. Do you understand how much I hate you for that?"
And Ruby did not flinch. She stood her ground wearing that stupid little cape of hers, gripping that toy of a weapon, and just stared at Cinder.
"I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you," she said.
Cinder smiled. "Maybe. And if that's not irony…" She rose to the tip of her feet. A whirlwind lifted her off the ground, carrying her halfway up to the ceiling. "But what point is there in contemplating these things? I'd rather use this opportunity to impart a lesson on you. And since you're adamant on not listening to words, we'll just have to resort to something more practical."
She stared down at Ruby, embers crackling in her eyes.
"I'm going to teach you about power."
The clanging of steel against steel reached Jaune's ears as he ran down the street. A moment later he turned the corner and saw Tyrian and Qrow locked in battle in the middle of the road. The rain fell around them as Tyrian slashed wildly with his chakrams, and Qrow's look was one of intense concentration as he alternated between blocking with the flat of his scythe and sliding out of reach.
Jaune watched for a few seconds to take stock of the situation, before he drew his sword and rushed in, approaching from behind Tyrian. Qrow saw him coming and swiftly readjusted, blocking a blow from Tyrian and turning his scythe to hook the offending chakram. The weapon remained stuck as Tyrian pulled back, and he snarled viciously as he tried to wrench it free. When it didn't work, he lifted his other chakram, and Qrow had no recourse to defend himself unless he chose to let go.
Jaune got there before Tyrian could strike, coming in with a wide slash. Tyrian noticed him and let go of his weapon, but he was a second too late, and Jaune's sword cut deep into his side before he scampered away.
"You again!" Tyrian growled. "What's with you kids always barging in on my private business?" Blood seeped from his wound and colored the rainwater around his feet.
Qrow took the snatched chakram off his scythe and tossed it over his shoulder. He gave Jaune a look without turning from Tyrian. "What're you doing here?"
"I thought you could use some help," Jaune said.
Qrow considered that for a second. "Well, you weren't wrong," he grunted. "Alright, kid. If we're gonna do this, just watch your footing."
Jaune nodded. They exchanged a look, and Jaune slowly circled around to Tyrian's left, holding his sword in a low guard, while Qrow positioned himself to his right. Tyrian glanced between the two of them, teeth bared in a hiss. "Ganging up on a wounded fellow. How very chivalrous!"
"Scared of a real fight, Callows?" Qrow sneered. "That is your thing, right? Ambushing people, taking cheap shots and running away with your tail tucked between your legs when the odds turn against you."
Tyrian put a hand to his chest and gasped. "That is so offensive, and untrue! I just don't see the point in wasting my time and energy. You can't blame me for being efficient."
"You're lying. Admit it, you're just a coward," Jaune said. "You don't even have the decency to die yourself."
Tyrian glared at him for a second, before his expression lightened and he gestured with a shrug. "Fair enough. You're not all that wrong about me," he conceded. "And so what? I have no misgivings about who I am. In fact, I consider myself quite the benevolent individual!"
Jaune came at him with a slash. Tyrian parried it to the side, then ducked under Qrow's scythe and put some distance between them.
"Have you ever considered what happens to my dear tenants when I die and they so kindly offer themselves up for me to return?" Tyrian knocked on the side of his head. "I'll tell you - they don't go away to wherever it is dead people end up, no no. They just sorta stop being. Just poof – and they're not a thing anymore. And you'd think that's awful, but if you ask me, I'm doing them a big favor, saving them from this miserable existence and the next!"
Jaune's blood ran cold. "Shut up."
"Sorry, am I upsetting the wee little baby?" Tyrian grinned. "What are you going to do about it, kill me?"
Qrow set upon Tyrian again. After a moment's hesitation, Jaune joined him.
They assaulted Tyrian from opposite sides, keeping him pinned between them. Qrow's scythe flew in tight arcs and Jaune slashed and stabbed with his sword. More blood trickled from new wounds, and yet Tyrian did not slow in the slightest. He paid back every hit he took with his remaining chakram, and his tail soon uncurled from his waist to join it, its length whipping about for protection and offense both.
The fight took them up and down the street, water sloshing around them as they moved. As they neared the sidewalk, Qrow took his scythe in one hand and swung it at Tyrian's neck, but it was a feint – his free hand connected with Tyrian's jaw, sending a tooth flying from his mouth in a splash of blood. He stumbled, and Jaune saw his chance then, bringing his sword down to cleave the top of Tyrian's head.
At the last second, he turned his grip and sank his sword into Tyrian's clavicle instead. Tyrian thrust his leg behind him, kicking Jaune away, howling as the blade sliced skin and muscle before it left him. Qrow made to grab him, but Tyrian jumped away, landing atop a flickering lamp post.
"Cheap shots?!" he shouted, hunched over like a prowling beast. "I take cheap shots?!"
Qrow whirled on Jaune. "What the hell do you think you're doing? You had him!"
"You heard him," Jaune said. "There's no point. We'll be doing more harm than good if we just keep killing him!"
"He wants you to think that. Don't play into his hand," Qrow huffed. "There's nothing we can do for those people. They'd tell you to kill him."
"You don't know that."
"I know one way to settle this dispute! You can ask them yourselves. You'll just have to, well - you'll have to come to them." Tyrian smiled at them from above, tail swaying behind him. "Any volunteers? Or would you prefer I choose?"
"Fuck off," Qrow said.
"A strong application," Tyrian said. He pointed his tail at Jaune. "You, noodle-armed boy. What's your deal?"
"My deal?" Jaune said. "I don't know. I'm just a Huntsman."
Tyrian groaned. "I don't know what that means but it sounds pretentiously self-righteous. No thank you, I have plenty of those already," he said, and licked his lips as he set his eyes on Qrow again. "The old man it is, then. Good for me – I've been wanting to add a Branwen to my collection!"
He jumped atop Qrow, kicking off his scythe as he raised it to shield himself. With a somersault, he landed behind Qrow and sliced down his back. Qrow spun around, face twisted in pain.
Jaune took a running step to help – and his foot slipped on the wet roadstones. Suddenly the world turned ninety-degrees, and his head hit the ground.
"I told you to watch your damn footing!" he thought he heard Qrow shout, but his ears were ringing too badly for him to be sure of anything.
Jaune pushed himself up to his knees, panting. He looked towards where he heard Qrow and Tyrian fighting, but his vision was doubled and blurry. He wiped his eyes frantically with his sleeve and blinked several times, but that only helped with the latter.
When his vision did clear up, it was just in time for him to witness Qrow swing his scythe in a full circle, intending to catch Tyrian on the side. Jaune knew immediately that Qrow had made a mistake. He'd put too much strength behind the attack, and when Tyrian ducked under it, it left him entirely vulnerable below his arms and neck. Tyrian cackled, his tail suddenly shedding purple light before it shot forward.
Qrow's scythe clattered on the ground as he let go of it. He closed his hands around Tyrian's tail, and it kept going for just an instant more before he got a proper hold on it. The glowing stinger stopped a hairbreadth away from piercing his neck.
They stood at a stalemate, Qrow's arms trembling as he pushed back with all his strength. Tyrian cackled and stepped forward, applying more pressure.
Jumping to his feet, Jaune raised his sword above his head and focused his Aura into it. He yelled as he brought it down. Tyrian's eyes flickered to him, going wide, and he jerked back, pulling his tail free and causing Qrow to collapse on his back with a great crash. Rainwater splashed on them both as Jaune's Aura slashed the air between them.
Tyrian stumbled back, a scowl on his face. The glow of his tail faded as he coiled it around his waist twice. He huffed, then suddenly his irritation was replaced with one of his big, demented smiles.
Jaune watched it all, and suddenly it dawned on him. I wasn't wrong. For a moment, all strength seemed to wane from his body as he contemplated what the realization meant. He turned it over in his head, thinking frantically if there was another option, if he was missing something obvious.
But he wasn't.
He steeled himself and charged.
If Qrow intended to join him, Jaune gave him no chance. He attacked Tyrian without pause, every swing of his sword carrying with it a fraction of his Aura, such that Tyrian had no choice but to pull back every time. Jaune pursued his every step, giving him no quarter, and watched as Tyrian's face took on a visceral delight.
"Now this is more like it! Where was this fervor hiding all this time?" Tyrian cackled. "Maybe you're a worthy addition, after all!"
They left the road and stepped onto the sidewalk. Seconds later, Jaune had Tyrian backed against a house. With no other recourse, Tyrian raised his chakram to fight back. Jaune smacked it out of his hand as if it were nothing, and then brought his sword back around in a savage blow.
He stopped his sword just as it touched the side of Tyrian's neck, and held it there, unwilling to go any further. The toll of his onslaught came out in heavy breaths.
"Or maybe you aren't," Tyrian said, and plunged his glowing stinger into Jaune's chest.
The pain was there for a fraction of a second, huge and all-consuming like a Dust bomb, and then there was nothing. The dark of the night became more like a gray, and the sound of the rain became so faint that for a second he thought it had suddenly stopped. His whole body went slack, his arms falling limp at his sides. Only by some miracle did he not drop his sword, and it took an otherworldly effort to keep hold of it afterward.
He should have been prepared for this. In part, he was. Yang had told him a bit of how it had felt for her. But no words could do justice to the real thing. That nothingness. How his conscience seemed to be drifting away from his body, about to abandon it entirely. The worst part was that he wanted to be horrified, but he just couldn't. He could barely feel anything at all.
It was the flashes of white that got him back on task. White specters at the corners of his eyes, featureless silhouettes. Souls. Ghosts. Prisoners. They spoke in whispers, pleading, urging, inviting.
Jaune tightened his grip around the handle of his sword and swung skyward, cutting clean through Tyrian's tail.
In an instant, the world came back into focus, as did the pain. Jaune yanked the stinger out of his chest and dropped it on the ground, which only made it slightly better – but he had no time to linger on that feeling as a shrill cry assaulted his ears.
He looked up and saw Tyrian stumbling back, staring with utter terror at the stub of his tail. Light spewed from the point of incision, so bright that Jaune was nearly blinded by it. It was not purple, but white, and the longer Jaune stared the more it seemed that there were shapes in it, vaguely humanoid figures, escaping back into the world and disappearing the next second.
Then the light faded, and Tyrian screeched again. "You-" he grunted, his voice breaking. "How-"
"Because I paid attention. And you underestimated me," Jaune said. "Amateur mistake, bucko."
And without further ado, he stabbed Tyrian through the chest and let him fall to the ground.
He knew he wasn't going to be getting up this time.
As softly as it had started, the rain petered off. The splash of raindrops on asphalt faded away, and silence took its place, one that felt equal parts hopeful and eerie.
Beside Pyrrha, Amber stirred and opened her eyes.
"He's back," she said, and though her voice was weak, it filled the silence absolutely.
Pyrrha shifted onto her knees. "What?"
"Oz. I can feel him again," Amber said. "I don't understand why, but he's back."
A quiet mirth gleamed in her eyes for a second or two, before she closed them again. Pyrrha realized there had been no need for her to ask. Somehow, she'd already known.
She squeezed Amber's hand. "Does that mean you're…?" she asked, but Amber shook her head no, and Pyrrha realized she had known that too.
Feeling a tightness in her chest, Pyrrha slowly rose to her feet and turned away. She walked a couple steps, into the open street, and looked up. Without the rain to obfuscate it, the Maiden's wrath was clearer than ever. She'd been feeling it in her skin all this time, but now Pyrrha could better see the extent of the destruction it wrought in the city.
"I need you to give me your blessing now," Pyrrha said, her own voice sounding strange to her ears. When Amber didn't respond, Pyrrha turned around and found her with her eyes open again. "You can do that now, can't you? It's not too late?"
Amber only stared. Grief and relief fought for dominance in her eyes. The emotions were muted, however, barely there.
Pyrrha walked back to Amber. She dropped to one knee before her and took her hand again. "Only the Maiden can put a stop to that thing," she said. "Am I wrong?"
Amber's lips barely moved. "You are not."
"Then you have to let me take your place." A second after she said it, it occurred to Pyrrha that this wasn't something she ought to be demanding. "I'm sorry. Please, will you trust me with your blessing, so I may save the city?"
"Oh, Pyrrha, I do trust you," Amber murmured. "But this shouldn't be something forced upon you."
"It's not," Pyrrha said. "It's a choice. My choice."
Amber became quiet, and Pyrrha knew this was something she couldn't walk back from. She couldn't pretend that didn't scare her, or that she didn't have her doubts. But those were small feelings compared to the certainty in her heart.
"I'll give you my blessing," Amber said, "under one condition."
"Name it," Pyrrha said.
"You have to promise me you'll remember who you are. Cling to all the things you hold dear. Hold them tight to your chest, so you may never forget them. And your name. Your name is important. Hold it tight too."
Pyrrha couldn't say anything in response. She wasn't even sure what Amber was asking of her.
"I have to hear you say it," Amber said. "Or else I won't do it."
"I promise," Pyrrha said. "I won't forget."
Amber exhaled. "I wish we had more time," she muttered. "But I suppose now, we will have forever."
She squeezed Pyrrha's hand in return, so faintly it was hardly felt. A moment passed.
"It's yours now," Amber said. She let go of Pyrrha's hand and settled back against the wall.
Pyrrha looked down at herself. "I don't feel any different."
Amber spoke, but her voice was so faint Pyrrha couldn't make out a single word. She inched closer and asked Amber to repeat herself, and it was then that she noticed Amber was no longer breathing. Her eyes were on Pyrrha, but they didn't see her.
Pyrrha closed them for her, and kissed the back of Amber's hand.
Rising to her feet, she stared at Amber, who had always seemed so much larger than life, even in her final moments when she'd been so weak. She looked different now. Normal, almost. And she didn't look scared.
Pyrrha felt a need to say goodbye, but she stopped herself. Amber lay dead before her, but she was not gone. She was a figure standing beside her, invisible to the eye, and her voice was the breeze on Pyrrha's skin.
Pyrrha's footsteps echoed across the street as she walked into the open. "I don't know how I'm supposed to do this," she said, looking at the Wrath. "Will you help me?"
The wind answered her in an instant, wrapping around her and lifting her off the ground. Resolute, the Maiden soared.
Ruby rolled on the ground, her cape catching fire behind her. She let it fall from her shoulders and scrambled to her feet, swinging her scythe around to aim at Cinder. Before she could pull the trigger, a bolt of lightning streaked towards her and rendered her vision white. Crescent Rose flew from her hands, spinning through the air until it clattered on the rocks.
Ruby dashed to get it back, scattering around a blast of fire along the way. She got to Crescent Rose and reached to grab it, but just as her fingers closed around the handle, something hit her from behind. A boulder, as big as her torso and flying scarily fast, struck her on the back of her left knee and took her leg out from under her. She fell on her front, gasping in pain.
"Had enough?" Cinder shouted, hovering high above her in a whirlwind. She lifted a hand, and another boulder broke off the ground, this one in front of Ruby.
She launched the boulder with a thrust of her hand, and Ruby tried to dive to the side, but her leg flared under her. Broken, she thought as she stumbled, and then the boulder crashed against her side, shattering into pieces and sending her skidding across the tunnel.
"Well?" Cinder said, nursing a growing fireball between her hands. "Answer me!"
Her arms trembling, Ruby pushed herself up to her feet. She bit back a scream as she put her weight on her leg. Her ribs felt like mush too.
Panting, she wiped the blood from her lips and looked up at Cinder. "No."
Cinder's eyes narrowed. "So be it."
She raised her hands above her head, wisps of fire weaving between her fingers. The fireball grew so bright that it became like a miniature sun, banishing every shadow in the tunnel, and Ruby felt the sweltering heat on her skin as if she were standing right next to it. She braced herself to run.
Cinder bent her elbows to throw the fireball – and suddenly, it vanished, shrinking into embers that floated away in the wind. A wordless shout escaped Cinder's lips, and she reached for the embers as if she could somehow grab them and reclaim them.
A second passed, and Ruby watched her fall.
Jaune sat down on the curb and let his sword slip from his hand to land beside him. He winced as he looked down at his chest. His Aura dulled the pain a bit, but it was still worse than anything he'd ever felt before. It didn't help that just the sight of the wound alone made him want to puke.
He closed his eyes and breathed in and out evenly. This really sucked.
A strange feeling bade him to open his eyes again. It was like feeling sunlight on your face, except that couldn't possibly be the case, seeing as it was obviously night. When he did open his eyes, he was even more confused. There were lights in the dark all around him. They didn't come from any lampposts or the moon or the big dragon in the sky. They almost seemed to be standing there, staring at him.
It took him almost a full minute to realize that they were doing exactly that. And then they started speaking, and even though their voices were silent, Jaune somehow understood. It was a pretty simple message.
Thank you.
One by one, the lights vanished, leaving no trace behind, until at last just one remained. It stood directly in front of him, holding an object that might very well have been a cane, and rather than saying anything, it simply bowed its head to him. And then, like the others, it was gone.
Following the encounter, Jaune had two major thoughts. First off, the pain didn't bother him anymore. It was inconsequential. Second off, he had no idea how he was going to explain this to anyone without making himself sound like a total lunatic.
Qrow shuffled over to him, reaching behind his back to rub it up and down.
Jaune snickered. "Did you break your back, old man?"
"Shush, you. Anyone would be sore after a fall like that," Qrow said. "Thanks for the save, anyway." He looked at Tyrian's motionless body. "He's really dead this time, isn't he?"
"He better be, or else I'm gonna have complaints," Jaune said.
Qrow looked at Jaune's chest, his face twisted in a deep scowl, though for once, Jaune felt he wasn't angry with him.
"Shit, kid." Qrow sighed. "Did you have to go and do that?"
Jaune shrugged impotently. "It was the only way I could think to make sure. If he caught on that I knew, he woulda ran for the hills for sure."
"True." Qrow was silent for a good while. "Still. He wasn't worth your toenail."
"Good thing it wasn't about him," Jaune said. "Or me."
He grabbed his sword and asked for a hand in getting up. Qrow helped him to his feet, a look of consternation on his face.
"What the hell are you thinking now, kid?" he asked.
"I'm thinking that I promised to be somewhere fifteen minutes ago, and that you probably should be helping with the evacuation right now," Jaune said. "Right?"
Qrow scratched his chin. "Right." He looked Jaune up and down. "You sure you don't wanna sit down somewhere?"
"Nah, I'm good," Jaune said. "I'm just mildly dying, no big."
"What you are is fucking stubborn," Qrow said. He stared at Jaune for a moment more, before he shook his head and walked away. Looking over his shoulder, he said, "You weren't that bad, Arc."
He shifted and flew away on feathered wings.
Jaune stood alone, unconsciously rubbing his wrist in circles around the hole in his chest. There didn't seem to be much of a point to acknowledging it, so he dropped doing that. He twirled his sword once and put it back in its sheath.
"Well," he said, "back to work."