Flying wasn't nearly as frightening as she expected it to be. In fact, after the Maiden rose past the top of the buildings around her, she realized she wasn't frightened at all. The feeling was much like floating in a pool, except instead of water it was the wind that held her aloft, and once she got used to it, she could direct it to take her wherever she wished with but a simple thought and a gesture.
The sensation was so wondrous that she nearly missed it when a Griffon came diving at her. Something more than warrior's instinct warned her to its presence at the last second. She propelled herself down and out of the way, yet one of its talons still raked across her scalp, taking with it a tuft of red hair as it flew past.
The Maiden grit her teeth and thrust out a hand, her palm held open towards the Grimm that had harmed her. She felt the air in front of her heat up, and then watched as it ignited and crossed the distance in a ray of eye-watering fire. It hit the Griffon on its side as it flew back around to face her, burning through its wings, then its legs on that side, and finally its torso, at which point the Grimm plummeted and turned to ash and smoke before it could ever hit the ground.
She unclenched her jaw. The Maiden looked at her own hands, for a moment unsettled by how naturally that power had come to her, and how destructive it was. She made an effort to push down the rage, but it was impossibly hard when it seemed to be boiling just beneath her skin.
There was something else, too. A tight feeling in her chest, dark and foreboding. Something was off in the world, she just didn't quite know what it was yet.
Pushing that down as well, the Maiden stopped to look at the city below. She could feel the Relic ast it moved through its streets, and could plainly follow the Grimm's movements as they chased after it. She ought to go to it. She so badly wanted to go to it. Why?
It was her duty as Maiden to protect the Relic. That was why.
But the enemy was right there. She saw it in the skyline, that dragon born from the magic of generations of Maidens before her. The Wrath. As she watched, it took a steep turn, its beacon-like eyes falling on her. She felt that anger rise inside her once more, and knew at once that she had been recognized.
"Face me," the Maiden said, and flew to meet the Wrath.
The door slammed open under the force of Blake's boot. "Inside!" she shouted, pushing a limping Weiss past the threshold, and swiftly spun to cover her.
A Ravager swooped down, stark white wings and bone armor materializing out of the night sky. It nearly sunk its talons into her before she raised her pistol and shot it point-blank in the abdomen, sending it crashing against a building on the other side of the street. Smoke exploded from the point of impact, spreading thinly over the road.
She felt the ground shaking under her feet before the smoke had completely dissipated. The pack of Grimm that had been hot on her and Weiss' trail appeared around the corner, stomping directly towards her. Blake flinched, holding her pistol in a death grip with both hands, but she didn't budge from the doorway. The Grimm were single-minded in their purpose and wouldn't hesitate to barrel straight through her to get to the Relic, she knew, but she also knew that Weiss was in no condition to put up a real fight right now.
Blake raised her weapon. Not a single one would be getting past her.
She closed one eye and took aim at the smallest Grimm of the bunch, picking them off one by one with perfect precision. The surviving rest closed the distance fast. Blake met them head-on, her blade flashing back and forth. Claws and fangs tried to rend her flesh but found only her clones. She was making so many of them she could hardly keep count, replacing each as soon as they were felled and alternating between them in a haze of movement, yet she never left the doorway unprotected for any longer than a second.
By the time the last Grimm collapsed, the muscles in her legs and arms were burning. Blake leaned on her knees to catch her breath, and as she looked down at herself, realized she had accrued some wounds on her own person after all, though luckily they were nothing worse than a few slight cuts and bruises.
That was all the opportunity she had to catch her breath. She felt the ground rumble again and turned to see more Grimm flooding into the street from the opposite direction. This pack was smaller than the first, but that was hardly any relief. In her condition, Blake doubted she could pull off a repeat performance – which didn't mean she wouldn't try.
She began to reach for her pistol again, but she didn't even get that far. Nora and Ren appeared out of thin air, running hand-in-hand out of an alleyway, charging at the Grimm from the side. Electric sparks trailed behind Nora's hammer as she dragged it across the ground, until she met the Grimm and swung up powerfully, sending a bunch of them flying skyward. Ren fell in after her, his daggers flashing as he dispatched the Grimm at her back.
They've got this. Blake looked at the sky, where the dragon still rampaged, shining its rainbow hues over the city. It was hard to see with the distance and all the lights, but she could just barely make out the silhouette of a person flying towards it. She watched them stop and hover near the dragon, and then suddenly fire and lightning were exploding across the night sky. And whoever that is has got that.
She turned her back to the lightshow and entered the building. Past the doorway, the lights immediately dimmed into near-complete darkness, though her eyes could still see in it. The room she came into had a number of tables set out and a service counter at the back. A sweet scent filled her nostrils. Blake hadn't realized it until now, but the building she'd picked out in a haste must be a bakery.
Weiss was sitting on the ground near the back, resting against the service counter. She had the Relic on her lap, its faint glow piercing the dark. Blake rushed over and knelt beside her, balking at the sight of her arm.
"Oh hey, Blake." Weiss shifted slightly to look at her, her voice faint. She blinked languidly and brought up a hand to rub behind her ear. "How interesting. It would appear my hearing has returned."
Outside, Nora let out a maddened battle cry. A second later, a Grimm splattered on the pavement just beyond the doorway.
"Positively," Weiss mumbled. She took a shuddering breath. "How bad do I look?"
"You want me to be honest?" Blake said. "You shouldn't have done that, Weiss. You're lucky you're not dead."
"Tell me you wouldn't have done the same," Weiss said. "Or rather, don't. Let's save this argument for when I'm not…"
She trailed off, starting to dip to the side, her eyelids drooping heavily. Cursing, Blake caught her before she hit the ground and sat her back up. She gave a not-so-light tap to each of Weiss' cheeks in turn, and her eyes went wide open.
"Don't slap me, I'm wounded!"
"Weiss, whatever you do, don't pass out on me. Don't close your eyes, not for a second," Blake said. "Just keep talking to me. I'm going to dress your arm."
"That doesn't sound like it'll be pleasant," Weiss groaned.
"It won't be." Blake ripped a strip of fabric from her own shirt and took another look at Weiss's arm. "I can't do this in the dark." She looked around the room. "Where's a damn light switch?"
Nearly immediately, Weiss pointed behind her and over the counter. "That should suffice."
Blake leapt over the counter and flicked the switch on the wall, and the lights flickered on and off for a moment before they stabilized. She came back around and knelt next to Weiss again, considering how she was going to go about this. She didn't have the time to scour the shop for alcohol to clean the wound first, if it even had any, so she'd have to settle for just stopping the bleed for now.
She started to wrap the fabric around Weiss' arm. "You're not talking to me."
"Of course I'm not!" Weiss hissed through her teeth. She leaned back and curled her fingers, fixing her eyes on the ceiling. "I'm trying not to bother you. Father - Father used to say I talk too much."
"Well, I'm not your father." Blake tied the fabric up with a knot and made sure it was firm. "Which is good news for the both of us, isn't it?"
A loud crash occurred above them, followed shortly by a thump. Blake looked up, pursing her lips.
"Fantastic," she muttered to herself. "What the hell was that now?"
"Grimm crashed through a window on the second floor."
Blake looked around, but she couldn't find any stairs. "What second floor?"
"That way." Weiss pointed at a door on the left side of the room. "There's stairs."
"How do you know all this? Did you go looking around in the dark?" Blake asked.
"I didn't." Weiss lifted the Relic a bit, her wounded arm trembling slightly. The light it shed seemed much brighter now, though it subdued after a few seconds. "It told me."
Blake frowned, but before she could ask any follow-up questions, Nora and Ren came running inside, both breathing hard and gleaming with sweat.
"Grimm!" Nora shouted. "Upstairs, through the-"
"-the window, we know," Blake said. "Ren, can you go take care of that? You can get up there that way."
Ren started towards the door, though he stopped when he got a better look at Weiss. "Is there anything we can do to help her?"
"I've already got it handled." Another window broke upstairs. "Just make sure nothing comes at us from above."
Ren nodded and skipped to the door. He opened it and took out his daggers once again, and the next instant he vanished from view. Blake looked at Nora.
"Is the street clear?"
Nora looked behind her, rolling her hammer nervously between her hands. "For now, I guess. Everything's gone completely bonkers!"
"That's how it usually goes," Blake said. "Can you guard the entrance for me while I take care of Weiss?"
"Roger roger!" Nora ran back outside.
Blake checked Weiss' arm once more and took a deep breath, allowing herself a moment of respite. It was brief, as not ten seconds passed before she heard Nora shout a warning to Ren. The ceiling rumbled with another impact, and then smoke filled the street again.
"This isn't a very safe position you've picked for us, Blake," Weiss said dreamily.
"Well, I didn't exactly have the luxury of considering my options." Blake rubbed the corners of her eyes and stood up. "We need more bodies to guard this place. I thought Jaune said he was coming to us." She pressed a hand to her earpiece. "Jaune, where are you?"
Nothing. The silence almost stretched into a minute, before static came through, followed by his voice. "Sorry! I'm on my way."
Blake pursed her lips. Jaune sounded strange, though she couldn't quite put her finger on how. It could just be the static, combined with the hecticness of the battle. "You're okay?"
"Yeah. Just ran into some trouble on the way, had to take care of that first," Jaune replied. "I think I see where you guys are holed up. Might be a few minutes 'til I'm there."
"Just get here as soon as you can."
Lowering her hand, Blake looked at Weiss again. She held the Relic in both hands, her mouth hanging open as she stared at it with wide, misty eyes. Her shoulders jumped as she took in a lungful of air, a tremble at her chin.
"Weiss." Blake crouched next to her. "What's going on?"
Weiss seemed to flinch at the sound of her voice. She moved her head sharply to look at Blake, tears building in her eyes, before she lifted her good hand and wiped them hastily. "The back. You need to go to the b-back right now," she whispered. "There's another way in. The door's reinforced but-"
The building reverberated with a thunderous rumble. Blake didn't need Weiss to elaborate any further. She jumped to her feet and quickly identified a door on the back wall. She slid over the counter to get to it and soon found herself in a storage room. Shelves filled the room in numerous rows, all stocked full of product, and a short hallway at the back led to a single door to the outside.
Like Weiss had mentioned, the door was reinforced, a solid slab of steel with a grate of iron bars coupled to it. It was more than sturdy enough to stop all but the most prepared and tenacious of robbers. If only that was all that was banging on it from the other side. The door and bars were already heavily dented inwards, the hinges screaming in protest.
Things came to an explosive end just as Blake took out her pistol. The door collapsed onto the floor with a punch to the ears, while the grate went flying. Dropping into a crouch, Blake just barely managed to keep her head. The grate hit one of the shelves behind her, which tipped and fell onto another one, setting off a chain reaction of disastrous proportions.
Blake stopped herself short of ducking and shielding her ears from the infernal noise, keeping her focus on the Grimm responsible for it instead. An Ursa Major charged into the room with a mighty roar, and shaken as she was, Blake dodged out of its way much too late. The Ursa's charge clipped her shoulder, sending her spinning. Her ankle crashed against the corner of a collapsed shelf and she fell painfully onto it.
Her arms stinging, Blake pushed herself up onto her hands and knees. She watched the Ursa stop its charge in the middle of the room. Ignoring her completely, it looked at the door to the front of the shop, and barreled towards it.
"No!" Blake shouted. She tossed her ribbon out, wrapping it twice around the Ursa's leg just before it got out of reach, and tugged hard. She was nowhere as strong as the much larger Grimm, but the opposite force was enough to upset its balance. Skidding off-course, the Ursa hit its foot against a shelf and fell head-first.
Blake was aware of other, smaller Grimm fighting their way into the room, but she ignored them and pounced on the Ursa's back. Her pistol lost somewhere, she took out her blade and scanned for an unarmored patch of flesh – the nape of its neck! – but it rose back up, a mountainous tower of darkness and muscle, throwing her aim off.
Blake wrapped her arms around the Ursa's thick neck, holding on for dear life, and tried to stab at its face, its eyes. Her blade hit bone instead, until suddenly the Ursa reared back, crushing her between it and the wall. Blake shouted, her ribs feeling like they'd been reduced to mush.
The Ursa took a step forward, seeming to decide that she was an annoying enough obstacle that it momentarily stopped its mad dash for the Relic. It lurched backwards, again crushing her against the wall. Blake gasped, her blade slipping between her fingers. Dark blots filled her vision, the air burned in her lungs, yet somehow, she held on.
The Ursa shuffled forward again, and Blake braced herself for a third smash. This time she knew it would be too much for her, but she was too weak, her thoughts were much too slow for her to do anything but hang there, useless.
The Grimm reached behind its back and wrapped a huge claw around her arm. With all the ease in the world, it yanked her from around its neck, lifted her over its head, and threw her on the ground like a child's discarded doll.
Dazed, Blake rolled onto her back, and through the blurriness of her eyes, saw the Ursa lift its foot to stomp on her.
The sound of Cinder hitting the ground seemed to echo in Ruby's ears for an eternity. For a moment, she could only stare from afar. Cinder was unmoving, an ungainly pile of sprawled, twisted limbs. She breathed raggedly, and made no other side.
Ruby clenched her fists, and walked.
Every step she took sent a jolt of pain up her leg. Crescent Rose lay on the ground where it had landed after she'd been disarmed. Ruby stopped briefly to recover it, and continued forth. Finally, she stood before Cinder, and again could only stare.
Cinder stirred. Trembling, she pushed herself up to her knees, and looked up at Ruby. Her left arm was bent wrongly at the elbow, her shoulder dislocated from its socket. Grime and sweat had made a mess of her face, but Ruby could still see her pale skin through it, revealed by thin trails that came down from her eyes.
Ruby raised her scythe to Cinder's forehead. "Don't get up."
"It's gone." Cinder flexed her hand open and closed at her side. "It's gone. It's gone."
"Yeah, it is. Was it worth it?"
Cinder bowed her head, her hair falling over her eyes. She broke, loud sobs sending her wavering back and forth while her fingers clutched desperately at her knees. Ruby kept a firm grip on Crescent Rose, pushing down the big lump in her throat.
"You did this to yourself," she said. "We gave you every chance to stop. You could have made things right. And instead you did this. What did you accomplish, Cinder?"
Cinder balled her fists. "I didn't have a choice!"
"There's always a choice," Ruby said. "And if you can't ever make the right one, that's on you. It's not Ozpin's fault, or Salem's, or your parents', or anyone else's. At some point, you've got to take responsibility for your own actions."
The gentle sounds of the water streaming by echoed across the tunnel. Cinder brought a hand to her face, wiping her cheeks and tucking her hair behind her ears. She looked up at Ruby, the once-burning amber of her eyes now dull and morose.
"You're right," Cinder said. She leaned forward, pressing her forehead to the barrel of Ruby's scythe. "Do it, then. Slay the devil."
For a second, Ruby froze, before she yanked Crescent Rose back. Cinder stumbled forward and caught herself on her hands.
"Why won't you just do it?!" Cinder yelled. "Stop hesitating, it's what I deserve!"
"No! You don't get to take the easy way out." Shaking, Ruby folded Crescent Rose and attached it to the back of her belt. "What you deserve is to live knowing that you were wrong. You're going to pay for all the pain you've caused. And you're going to make up for it by helping us fight Salem. You know stuff about her. That's valuable."
Cinder glared at her, unbudging.
"And before you tell me that you don't have a choice," Ruby said, "you do. Right now you've got two options to pick from – either you do what I'm telling you, or I hand you over to Beacon and the World Council and you'll go to prison again, for the rest of your life. You think you can break out a second time without Salem's help and your Maiden powers?"
Cinder stared impotently for a second, before a dead smile came to her lips. "You want to know about Salem? Fine," she said. "I'll tell you about Salem."
Ruby took her elbows into her hands. She paced backwards and forward, trying to stop her arms from shaking, but she couldn't.
"What does she want? Destroy the world?"
Cinder sneered, her eyes going to the ceiling for a moment before she met Ruby's again. "Far from that. She wants to transform it," she said. "And she will. Once she has the four Relics, she'll shape the world into her image of paradise. A world without suffering and loss, where power has no bearing on peoples' lives." She paused for a second, her eyes shimmering with raw emotion. "Think about it. In a world like that, you could be with your mother again. It could be like you never lost her."
Ruby's breath caught in her throat. "You're lying."
"I am not." Cinder's lips made a rigid line. "And you can ask for so much more… if only you help her."
"Shut up. I don't believe you." Ruby stopped pacing and whirled to point at Cinder. "I'll never help Salem."
"Oh, but you will, whether you like it or not," Cinder said. "She didn't tell me, but I figured it out. It's why she ordered me to surrender at Vale. To learn about you. She wanted to be sure. And why she ordered me not to kill you." She paused. "All because you're important to her plans."
Ruby stumbled back a step, breathless all of a sudden. Her heartbeat rose to her ears, thrumming loudly, and her clammy hands grasped at empty air. "That's not true."
"There's no sense in denying the inevitable. You can accept it, or you can suffer," Cinder said. Her expression softened. "Accept it. Work with her. With me. It'll be easier that way. When Salem gets her way, none of this will matter anymore. And Salem always gets her way."
"No. I won't accept it," Ruby said. "I'm not like you. I'll fight her until the end."
Cinder closed her eyes, her chin quivering. After a long silence, she said, "Then I'll help you."
And before Ruby could reply, before she could let the relief flood through her system, Cinder sprang forward, an obsidian blade clutched in her palm. Ruby lunged aside, another jolt of pain bolting up her leg. A fraction of a second passed before she scattered into petals and rocketed away. She came back together at the edge of the stream, spinning around to face Cinder again.
She hadn't fully reformed yet when a sharp pain skewered her through. Ruby pressed a hand to her side, the world swerving before her eyes. Blood was oozing between her fingers, flowing from beneath her ribs down past her waist and thigh.
She stumbled back, the darkness closing around her as the flames in the tunnel muted and faded from view. Her foot fell through open air - I'm sorry, she thought she heard someone say - before her back hit the water.
All that remained of the rain were puddles on the cobblestone roads. Yang didn't care that water splashed up her calves with each one she stomped down on. She just kept running, her lungs burning harder with every street block she passed. She was getting close to the Grimm now, dreadfully close, she could feel it in her bones.
She ought to turn back now, she knew.
She finally saw them as she turned a corner, a half dozen or so Beowolves gathered behind a house. They stood around an Ursa Major, watching it bang its claws against a heavy metal door. The Grimm howled and snarled in anticipation, every subsequent strike making harsher and harsher dents.
Yang stopped. A chill spread across her body as she beheld the Grimm, waiting for them to turn and take notice of her at any second. But they didn't. She wasn't even on their radar.
The world turned into a blurry mess, the air hitching in her too-tight throat. Suddenly her arm prickled so bad she had to hiss through her teeth – the one that was no longer there.
Once this would have been easy. There weren't that many Grimm. But now, now she couldn't do this, she couldn't take them, she couldn't take a single one of them, they'd hurt her worse than Tyrian ever had if she was lucky and if she wasn't they'd-
The door exploded off its hinges, and the Ursa Major charged right in.
Yang didn't think. She ran towards the house.
A couple of the Beowolves followed after the Ursa. The rest remained outside, seeming to finally notice Yang as she came close. She came to a complete halt before them, her heart beating like a war drum as she watched them spread out, vile ichor dripping from their maws. Red eyes fixed on her. She balled her hand into a fist.
The first leapt at her with little warning, crossing the air between them with its claws poised to slice her into ribbons, but they never made contact. She kicked it in the chest while it was still off its feet, and was surprised when it went flying and erupted into smoke several houses away.
A second Beowolf came at her from the side at nearly the same time, swiping at her ribs. She almost slipped as she ducked under its claw. Before it could attack again, she grabbed its outstretched arm and hoisted the Grimm off the ground, hauled it over her head, and threw it at a house across the street.
The third and fourth charged at her together. Yang hopped backwards on the balls of her feet as she scrambled for a way to get rid of the two at once, but the pain was so sharp she couldn't begin to formulate a plan.
Suddenly a blur of black feathers came down from the skies. It flew at the Grimm from the side, darting from one's face to the other, talons lashing out with lightning-fast precision. As quickly as it had appeared, the raven vanished. The Grimm howled in pain, and Yang saw a red-and-black viscousness running down their faces from where they'd once had eyes.
She ran at the one to the left, putting her whole weight behind her good shoulder as she barreled into it. It crashed far away, but the impact left her dizzy – dizzier. Fight smart, not hard. She whirled around at the last Beowolf as it caught her scent and bared its fangs at her. She swept its legs out from under it before it could attack, and once it hit the ground, she cracked its skull with a kick.
The world was red. The air around her sweltered. She was tempted to catch her breath, but the fight wasn't over yet. She heard a pained yell and turned to look inside. A good fifty Beowolves crowded the hallway past the doorway, though most of them must be a product of her delirious mind. In the room past them was the Ursa, with something in its grasp – someone – throwing them to the ground – lifting its foot to stomp on Blake's head-
Flames ate up the Beowolves, turning them to ash in an instant as Yang dashed down the hallway into the room beyond. Her fist met the Ursa's hip, bone-armor shattering under her knuckles. It collided against a wall and collapsed onto its side, sending ceramic splinters flying everywhere.
Yang's legs issued no warning before they gave out. She stretched out her hand and her stub both and barely managed to catch herself before she got a nasty concussion. She breathed hard, watching beads of sweat drip from her forehead and splash on the floor under her.
A deep rumbling came from somewhere in the room. "Yang!" she heard Blake shout, and lifted her head to see the Ursa standing back up. It hobbled away from the wall a couple steps, fixed Yang and Blake with a vengeful glare, before it turned and lumbered towards another doorway deeper into the building.
"Don't let it get away!" Blake yelled. She was back on her feet, holding one end of her ribbon in both hands, the other end wrapped around the Ursa's leg. She pulled hard, and the weakened Ursa was spun halfway around. It grabbed the door frame with one claw, howling furiously, and with the other reached down to cut the fabric.
Yang pushed herself up to her feet and ran, not at the Ursa but at the wall right next to it. She took a running jump, kicked off the wall, and came back towards the Grimm, lashing out with a wide swing of her leg. The tip of her foot connected with the Ursa's skull, twisting its head all the way around with a sharp crack that rang out across the room.
Yang didn't get to see if that was enough, because she blacked out before she even hit the ground.
When she came to, she was flat on her back, feeling like she'd been passed through an industrial meat grinder. It stung too bad if she opened her eyes fully, but she could see Blake kneeling by her.
"Did I…" Yang opened her mouth to speak, but her words were swallowed up by a heaving breath. She filled her lungs twice and tried again. "Did I make it in time?"
Blake stared at her with wavering eyes, not saying a word in response.
"Shit. Help me sit." Yang grunted. "I think I'm lying on something."
Blake's eyes went wide. She swiftly passed an arm around Yang's shoulders and lifted her up. Yang patted the floor behind her back blindly until her fingers closed around the offending object. She held it in front of her, and for a long minute they just stared at Blake's blade in her hand.
"There you go." Yang extended the weapon for Blake to take. "Lucky me this thing wasn't sticking up when I fell on it, huh?"
With trembling fingers, Blake took the blade and, apparently not knowing what to do with it, just held it by her side.
"You know, you really should be more careful about not losing that. Because…" Yang paused. "You never know when it might come in handy."
And then, probably because she'd not taken her meds before she decided to walk through a portal to the other side of the world in order to fight nightmare aliens, she waved her stump at Blake.
Blake's face went from anxious to shocked, then she looked almost angry, before she finally dropped the weapon and hugged Yang.
"You're so stupid!" Blake's voice sounded muffled against Yang's hair. "Yes. You were just in time."
"Good." Yang looked around. This place, whatever it was, was a complete mess. "What the hell's this? Is it just you here?"
Blake shook her head. "A lot's happening. Let me get you up and we'll-"
"Yang?"
Yang moved her head to look so fast she nearly made herself sick. Weiss stood in the doorway, leaning against a wall and holding a weird lamp at her side, though it soon slipped from her fingers as she stared at Yang.
"Why are you here?"
Blake helped Yang stand up. She looked from her to Weiss. "She just saved my life. And yours probably."
"That hardly answers my question," Weiss replied, sharp as a whip.
Yang wanted to say something, but she was suddenly mute. She almost bowed her head in submission before she noticed the makeshift bandage around Weiss' arm. She could clearly see blood pooling under it, and some trickled down to her wrist.
She detached herself from Blake and rushed over to Weiss, nearly stumbling into her from how fast she went. Weiss started to back away, but in only a couple steps hit her back against the door frame.
"What the hell happened?" Yang asked breathily. She realized all of a sudden that she was towering over Weiss like this. She didn't retreat, instead grabbing Weiss' wrist. "Are you okay? You look like you're about to faint."
"And you look just the same, you oaf." Weiss turned her face away. "It's nothing. A Grimm bit me."
"That was after she dove into that dragon to grab the Relic, to be clear," Blake said behind Yang. "I already told her that was stupid, so don't bother." After a moment, she added. "Although, to be fair, it was also very brave."
"I don't remember anyone asking your opinion, Blake, or at all including you in this conversation, for that matter!" Weiss retorted, and a millisecond later she was laser-focused on Yang again. "How did you get here anyway, you're supposed to be home."
"My mom gave me a lift," Yang said. "She showed up after you guys left. What was that again about diving into-"
"Well you shouldn't have come!" Weiss cut her off. "We're stuck here, surrounded on all sides to protect the Relic. Pyrrha is MIA. The last we heard of Ruby, she was fighting Cinder. And Jaune-" She pressed her lips tight, grabbing her elbows as if to stop herself from shaking. "We're in a terrible situation and it doesn't seem like it'll be getting better. You-"
"I know everything's terrible!" Yang snapped. "Why the fuck else do you think I came here?"
They stared at each other, Yang leaning over Weiss, Weiss raising her chin to meet her eyes. Weiss' expression softened. Yang felt a hand grasp her own. Something in her chest tightened, then released, and the distance between them started to narrow-
A whimper cut through the silence. Yang pulled back and looked towards the hallway to the outside. Jaune stood there, his sword sticking through a Beowolf's chest from back to front. He let the Grimm slide off the blade and poof on the floor.
"You guys missed one." Jaune waved the smoke off with a hand and finally looked up. "Wait. Did I just interrupt something?"
"Yes. Those two were about to kiss, finally," Blake said, and somehow she had never sounded quite so annoyed. "That was the one good thing that was going to happen today, and you completely ruined the moment."
"Oh." Jaune shifted his weight between his feet. "My bad." He rested the tip of his sword between his feet, and leaned on the wall beside him. "Weiss, Yang, you can start back from where you left off if you want. I'll close my eyes."
Yang expected to get a collateral earful from Weiss for that comment, but the hand gripping her was suddenly shaking so bad it was impossible to ignore. She looked at Weiss and saw her eyes welling up, and a second later heard a sharp inhale from Blake. Yang looked at Jaune again, and finally noticed what was wrong.
She knew what had happened at once. Her body went cold from top to bottom, her heart and stomach going into freefall. Yang didn't want to believe it but the truth was right in front of her eyes, and as much as she wanted to look away, she couldn't.
"Hey!" Jaune said. "My eyes are up here."
He coughed, his face twisting in a grimace. Blake rushed over to him and passed an arm around him, helping him walk to the middle of the room, though he soon shook her off.
"I'm fine, I don't need help," he said.
Blake looked at him skeptically. "So the poison…?"
"Nope. It's working, alright. Trust me, I can tell." Jaune tried to wipe his brow with his sleeve and winced. "I took care of Tyrian. For good, this time."
"You're sure?" Blake asked. "How?"
"Timing," Jaune said. "Look, you can ask Qrow for details later. Long story short, Tyrian's dead."
He looked at Yang. Somehow, she couldn't find it in herself to be grateful. "Nice work, Noodles," she said anyway, her mouth dry.
Jaune nodded. He turned to look at Weiss, and his eyes immediately went to her arm. He took one step forward, but she suddenly sprung to attention, skirting away from Yang and holding out a hand to stop him.
"Don't you dare," she said, the words coming out of her mouth heavy. "I'll kick you if you come any closer."
Jaune raised a hand in peace, the message clearly received. He pointed his sword at the lamp on the floor. "Is that the Relic?"
Weiss wiped her eyes and crouched to grab the lamp. She rose back up with it cradled in her arms and nodded at him.
"Okay, so-" Jaune gestured over his shoulder. "I'm pretty sure there's more Grimm coming our way. We gotta keep this thing safe from them."
"He's right," Blake said. "Nora's got the front covered, Ren's upstairs. Weiss, you should get back to the entrance. Yang, you go with her. Bodyguard duty, just in case."
Yang wanted to argue, especially seeing as she'd seen Blake nearly get stomped to death five minutes ago. But she knew Blake was right. Yang's legs were starting to buckle, and with most of the adrenaline gone, it was getting harder and harder to put up with her arm.
"I'll stay with you," Jaune said to Blake, puffing out his chest, though the effect was immediately lost when he winced and coughed into his fist.
Blake looked at him, her ears flat atop her hair. Yang tried not to stare.
"Could you all stop staring at me like that? Seriously, I didn't walk all the way here so everyone could be mopey and depressed." Jaune rounded on Blake. "You're the one who said you'd go down fighting like hell."
After a moment, Blake exhaled. "Fine." She drew her pistol from her belt and tossed it to him. "But I'm taking the lead, you're back-up."
Jaune shrugged. "Works for me."
Something hit the ground outside, shaking the house from its foundations. The howling of multiple Grimm came closer and closer.
"That's our cue," Yang whispered to Weiss. "Come on, Snowflake."
She took Weiss' hand and turned to walk away, but Weiss refused to move, her eyes trained on Jaune's back. Only when Yang tugged on her arm did she finally follow after her. Yang snaked her arm around Weiss' shoulders.
"Don't worry about him. He'll be okay."
Weiss clutched the Relic to her chest. "No, he won't be."
The elements danced in the night sky. The Maiden clashed with the Wrath again and again, raining down fire and frost, hurling lightning from the heavens, sending the wind itself to lash against it. The power bent to her will like second nature. It was intoxicating, every new use revealing greater depths within.
Yet for all that power, she could not seem to affect the Wrath. To even think of it as a foe seemed absurd. She was as an ant compared to it, a miniscule creature nibbling at an unfathomable force a thousand times her size. The only reason it hadn't destroyed her yet seemed to be pure luck.
It was mindless, the Maiden was sure of it now. What she'd mistaken as intelligence before was nothing more than a primal urge to consume anything and everything around it. And faced with that, the Maiden awoke to something just as primal inside of her, a need to resist, to remain, to fight back against a world that wanted to take away everything that she was.
"What do you want?" she screamed, forming icicles in the air and launching them at the Wrath. It roared back, rattling her mind and soul, and nothing else was its response.
Spiraling flames erupted from the Wrath as it turned towards her. The Maiden weaved between them all, the winds carrying her to safety. She came to hover above it, bombarding it with endless attacks, none any more effective than the ones before.
"What do you want?" she repeated her question, her voice thundering across the sky.
The Wrath turned upwards alarmingly fast, nearly closing its jaws around her legs. The Maiden spun out of the way.
"What do you want?" she asked again, and again, and again, until her voice went hoarse and transformed into wordless screams.
A lightning bolt struck her chest. Stunned, the Maiden teetered back, for a moment suspended in the air as if held by a string, before the winds left her and she plummeted. The earth grew nearer, the city obfuscating her vision with its blinding lights. She tried to turn, tried to reverse the fall, defying her fate even as her muscles refused to obey her.
The winds embraced her again, halting her fall an instant before she was to hit the ground. She reoriented herself, rolling her shoulders as feeling came back to her body, and turned her eyes back to the sky.
She soared upwards, flying the fastest she'd yet flown, until she came level with the Wrath again. It was far away, but as she watched, it turned and came directly at her. The Maiden stood in its path, unmoving. She would conquer it now, or be consumed by it. No path else remained.
The Wrath rushed towards her. A soft voice spoke at the Maiden's ear, carried to her in the breeze. Joy and anger, it's all the same, it said, one who had come before her. And a moment later, remember who you are.
The Maiden faltered, that primal fury inside of her stirring, trying to shape itself into something else. Emerald eyes wide open, she did not move, she waited, and as the Wrath descended on her with its jaws wide open, she remembered-
-she remembered walking down the sidewalk to get ice cream, lifting her arms high above her head to hold hands with the adults on either side of her; she remembered staring at a little toy car as it floated over the palm of her hand, and apologizing shrilly as she sent it flying at a man's face; she remembered bespectacled eyes looking over her with pride as she aced another physical drill; she remembered enjoying chocolate milkshakes with a new friend in a hot Vacuan desert; she remembered sitting on a bench and wondering who this boy was and why he looked so shaken; she remembered raising arms to fight alongside others and discovering that she did not feel alone; she remembered pizza nights; and daily, inconsequential quarrels; and kisses in the rain; and comfort in sorrow; and she remembered-
Pyrrha raised her hands in front of her, and as the Wrath coursed through her, she took it into herself. Every particle of those wild elements, every bit of magic, she welcomed into her breast, and in there she held it firm. Inside her, it raged, trashed, and roared, threatening to warp her to the core, into something that she could, but would not be.
She didn't let it have her. She held firm to Pyrrha, and it was easy. And when she felt the Wrath cool inside her, she took her hands off her breast and let it go.
The magic left her in soothing waves, falling around her like shining, rainbow-colored snowdrops. In time they morphed into the shape of butterflies, and birds, seeds, and petals. They were too many to count – so many that for a moment night turned into day.
"Thank you," Pyrrha whispered to the air, a smile on her lips.
But not everything was right. She knew it in her heart, and she knew it in the thrumming of her skin. Darkness awaited her, something she could not hope to change.
She held herself aloft, watching the lights spread across the city below, to delay the inevitable for just a minute longer.
Finally, she began her descent.
A sharp pain dug into Ruby's side as she broke the water's surface, gasping for air. She flailed desperately with her feet, trying to pick up any speed at all of her own to kickstart her Semblance. That only made the pain worse. She curled into herself, nearly going under again.
Darkness surrounded her. She'd left the beaten path of the tunnel behind. Now there was only the stream that dragged her away, the current getting faster and faster. The sound of water crashing against rocks grew louder in her ears, accompanied by rushing wind. She turned, fighting to keep her mouth and nose above the surface, and too late saw the fall that awaited her.
Suddenly she was plummeting through open air, half-lidded eyes gazing into the starry sky. It seemed much too bright for this time of night, she thought. Then her back hit water again, and the impact was so explosive that all the pain went away.
Arms and legs splayed out before her, Ruby sank into the murky depths. Bubbles escaped from her open mouth, popping in front of her eyes. Clouds of blood turned the water around her into a thick crimson.
Ruby watched as the stars and the lights disappeared, darkness filling her vision. She closed her eyes and thought about the many times her dad had told she was her mother's daughter, her mother's daughter, her mother's daughter-
A dull splash came from somewhere above her.
Firm arms closed around her. Suddenly she was no longer sinking, she was being carried upwards, and then the water was gone. She felt wind on her skin. Ruby coughed up water, her lips stinging like they were raw, and managed to open her eyes just enough to see the loveliest green staring back at her.
"I've got you, Ruby!"
Penny touched her forehead to hers.
"I've got you."
In a single moment, it seemed, night had turned into day. Hundreds of lights appeared in the sky at once, the stars vanishing behind their glow. Slowly they floated down across the city, leaving trails of so many colors in their wake.
Jaune marveled at the lights, his eyes starting to water as they fell past the rooftops around him, shedding colors from one end of the street to the other. Blake stepped past him, reaching a hand out towards one of them. It landed on the palm of her hand – a glowing red-and-blue butterfly. It beats its wings twice, producing no sound. Suddenly its glow intensified, and the next second it burst into shimmering sparkles.
Blake turned to Jaune, a question on her lips, but a growl from down the street stopped her short. An Ursa ambled towards them, alone but no less ferocious for it.
"I'll get it," Blake said. She took out her blade and stepped towards the Ursa.
Suddenly, the lights around them stopped falling. Jaune gawked at them as for a moment, they hung in the air, completely still.. Then they started moving again, so fast he couldn't keep track of a single one, and he nearly yelled as he felt them flutter past him like bullets. They whizzed past Blake as well, from all points converging on the Ursa. The lights swirled around the Grimm, coming together in a whirlwind of color, their glow getting so intense that Jaune was forced to look away.
When he looked again, the lights were gone, as was the Ursa, without a wisp of smoke left behind.
Blake turned around, looking about as startled as he felt. Jaune blinked at her. "The hell was that?" he asked.
"I've no idea," Blake said. She dipped her head back, her ears tilting this way and that. "Do you hear that?"
Jaune tried to listen, but there was only silence. "I don't hear anything."
"Exactly." Blake put her weapon away and gestured at the sky. "Look."
Far above their heads, the lights were seeking out the Grimm, wiping them out one-by-one as if they were nothing more than insects. The lights vanished along with the Grimm, and bit by bit the stars and the moon became visible again. Night returned to Haven, the only remaining lights coming from the buildings that hadn't lost power in the course of the battle. The dragon was nowhere to be seen.
Jaune watched it all with a burgeoning realization. "I think that was our Maiden."
Blake frowned. "Amber?"
"Nah," Jaune said. "Who do you think?"
He swelled with pride, even as a pang of sorrow hit him in the gut. This had been supposed to be their last recourse. But he didn't dwell on that long. Sometimes this was just how things went, he should know that better than anyone.
A wave of nausea hit him out of nowhere. He doubled over, having to lean on his sword to stay upright. Before he knew it, Blake was by his side, holding his arm to support him.
"Oh jeez." Jaune grunted. "I just got super dizzy out of nowhere."
"We've gotta get you back inside," Blake said.
She helped him limp inside the bakery and took him to the entrance, navigating through the mess in the storage room in between. When they arrived at the front, they found Weiss and Yang sitting on the floor, mid-conversation with Nora, who was standing by the door.
"-hecking crazy! All the Grimm just went fwoosh and – and oh hey, it's you!" Nora looked at Jaune. "Look who finally decided to show up. Did ya really think it was okay to leave all the hard work to the newbies while you went to take a nap in an alley somewhere?"
"I wasn't napping." Jaune frowned. "I got caught up in stuff."
"Stuff like abusing your seniority?" Nora crossed her arms. "Yeah, I see how things work around here."
"Well, you probably shouldn't be talking to me like that, then. I could have you kicked out of the team, you know."
Nora began to retort, only to fall mute when she saw the wound on his chest. Her mouth hung open, her eyes going wide. A heavy silence filled the room.
Footsteps came from up above. Moments later, Ren appeared. He took in the mood and nearly immediately recognized the source of it. A grimace took the place of his usual unphased expression as their eyes met. Jaune looked away after a second – it was too uncomfortable – but everywhere he looked, someone else was staring at him.
"Well this is cheery," he said. "Everybody's looking at me like I'm already dead."
Weiss hugged her knees. "Excuse us if we're not in a celebratory mood."
"What happened?" Nora asked.
"Just – stuff." Jaune sighed. He hadn't stopped to consider that he was going to have to explain this more than once. It just made things even worse than they already were. "I killed Tyrian, it's just that it was complicated."
Nora pursed her lips, going from distraught to angry. "It's not fair. This sucks."
Jaune shrugged, not knowing what to say in response to that. He wasn't sure there was anything he could say. Thankfully, Blake saved him from having to speak up.
"The dragon's gone, and the thing that just happened outside," she said, "Jaune says that was all Pyrrha."
"Pyrrha?" Yang rubbed her forehead, looking disoriented. "Sorry, did I miss something? I don't get it."
"You didn't," Jaune said. "She's the new Maiden."
"What?"
Ren tore his eyes away from Jaune's wound, schooling a thoughtful expression on his face. "I thought that was off the table without Ozpin. Are you sure that's right?"
Jaune was pretty sure, although Ren did raise an excellent point. This wasn't supposed to be possible anymore – unless something had changed. Had anything changed? There was something important he just wasn't catching on to. It was getting hard to keep his thoughts straight. He closed his eyes and counted to ten in his head, hoping that might help somehow.
"It would appear Jaune is right," Weiss was saying. "Although how, I cannot say."
Wow, Jaune's right about something, that is surprising, he wanted to joke, but all that came out of his mouth was a grunt.
"I'm sure Pyrrha will explain everything," Blake said. "Where is she? Do we need to get her, because I'll go." The urgency in her voice didn't have anything to do with any of this Maiden business.
Weiss replied a few seconds later, "No need, she's coming to us."
Jaune released a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. The pain in his chest seemed to alleviate just the tiniest bit, and he could bring himself to open his eyes again. True terror had struck him for the first time when he thought he might not get to talk to Pyrrha again. But she was on her way. She was on her way.
The conversation continued around him. Jaune didn't pay much attention to it, though he was sure a lot of it involved him. Everyone was worried about him, and that was swell. There just wasn't much he could say that wouldn't sound empty.
Plus, it felt really weird to speak with a hole in his chest.
Everyone fell silent at once as a loud crash occurred just outside. "Was that her?" Weiss asked, and Nora leaned out the doorway to look. Her eyes went wide and she shook her head, but before she said anything, a shrill scream cut through the air.
"Help! It's Ruby!"
Somehow, Yang was out the door before anyone else, nearly knocking Nora over as she shoved past. The rest followed quickly, all but Blake, who still had Jaune by the arm. She looked anxiously from him to the door.
"So? What are you waiting for, let's go!" Jaune said.
Blake's grip tightened. "You need to conserve your strength," she said. "Sit down. I'll go look and come right back to tell you-"
"Blake, I swear to whatever gods gave Ozpin eternal life, I'm gonna haunt your ass if you don't take me outside right now," Jaune said. "I'll turn the lights off whenever you're trying to read. I'll fold the pages of your books. I'll-"
"Don't threaten me." She pushed him forward.
The group was gathered by a flickering lamp post, crowding around Penny. She was on her knees, Yang as well beside her. Weiss leaned over the both of them, all the color drained from her face, and Nora and Ren stood close holding each other's hands.
"I don't know what happened. I got her out of the water and she was already bleeding, I-" Penny looked around at everyone, her voice fluctuating with every word. "Should I have taken her elsewhere? I was scared of flying with her. Of hurting her. Beacon – but you were closer. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what to do. I didn't-"
"It was Cinder," Nora said. "Wasn't she fighting Cinder?"
"I don't care whoever the fuck she was fighting! Stop standing around and somebody do something!" Yang shouted.
Jaune shook free of Blake and limped past Ren and Nora. "Everybody give me space." He crouched, finally able to get a proper look at Ruby.
He thought he was prepared, but he wasn't. Terrible didn't cover it. The blood was seeping into her clothes, all the red making it hard to see where it was coming from. He bit on his tongue to fight back the nausea and forced himself to keep looking. The wound started in the region of her belly, in the intestines, maybe – a deep stab that carved up and to the right in an uneven line, until it curved sharply and came out just under the ribcage.
"Can you help her?" Penny urged him. "Jaune, can you help her?"
Jaune ran a hand back through his hair and exhaled. "I should be able to, yeah."
Weiss touched his shoulder. "Jaune, maybe this isn't the best idea."
"What's a better idea, call Beacon for help and pray for the best while we wait? We don't even know if they'll be able to save her!" Jaune said. "This is Ruby we're talking about."
Weiss backed off, not saying a word of argument, and neither did anyone else. A strange sort of calm fell over Jaune as he looked down at Ruby, or maybe he was just going mad in his last moments.
Feeling Yang and Penny's desperate eyes on him, he positioned his hands over the length of the wound and willed his Aura to flow into Ruby's. For a moment, nothing happened. It was like trying to squeeze juice out of a box when there just wasn't anything left. His breath hitched in his throat as he thought he might not be able to make it work after all – then the floodgates opened.
It didn't last long, less than half a minute, though he did the best he could with each second. When the glow around his hands faded, Ruby was still drenched in blood and more continued to spill out, but nothing else did, and the cut was much narrower now. Terrible still didn't cover it, but at least she didn't look like she was on the brink anymore.
Jaune braced himself on the asphalt, wheezing. "That's all I had."
"It'll have to be enough," Weiss said. "Penny, you had the right idea about Beacon. They must have medical personnel assisting in the evacuation. Can you find them and take her there?"
Penny's irises spun as she looked Ruby over. "She appears to be stable for the moment. I will do it."
"Maybe you should take her to a hospital instead," Blake said. "We can speak with Qrow, have him send people to meet you there."
"Yes, that!" Weiss said. "Penny-"
"Wait." Yang hadn't taken her eyes off Ruby for the past minute, but she finally did now. She stood up laboriously and turned her face to the sky. "Mom!"
Her shout rang through the air. Silence. Five, ten, fifteen seconds. The sound of cutting air came overhead, followed by a flapping of heavy wings as a raven landed on the asphalt just by them.
"Ruby's hurt," Yang said. "I need you to take us to Uncle Qrow."
She stared at the raven, and the raven stared back, something like anger flashing in its crimson eyes. There was a blur, and suddenly a woman stood in the raven's place, a carbon copy of Yang except for a mane of ebony hair and the huge katana on her waist. She turned her gaze to Ruby on the ground, then to Jaune, before she met Yang's again.
"Told you so," she said, and swiped her hand at the air. A portal of swirling red energies opened behind her. She stepped towards Ruby and began to crouch.
"No!" Penny spoke suddenly. "I'll carry her." She lifted Ruby onto her arms, one under her upper back and the other behind her knees, and stood up.
"Get going, then," the dark woman said, and cast a cursory look at the others. "Whoever's coming, make up your minds now. I'm not anyone's taxi, and I'm not waiting around."
"I'm staying," Jaune rasped, before anyone could suggest otherwise. "No hospital or doctor's gonna help me." Plus, Pyrrha's gonna be here any second.
No one seemed eager to argue with him. Penny adjusted Ruby in her arms. She looked at Jaune like she was only then noticing him, her eyes shrinking and enlarging in quick sequence before they stabilized.
"Thank you, Jaune," she said. She glanced down at Ruby, her brow furrowing in dismay. "I… do not currently have the arms to hug you, friend."
Jaune smiled despite himself. "It's the intention that counts," he said, pushing himself to his knees so he could face her, at least. He looked at Ruby in Penny's arms, and felt a bit selfish for wishing she'd open her eyes, if only for a moment. "If she wakes up, don't tell her about me. Wait until she's okay."
Gravely, Penny nodded. She turned and walked into the portal. Jaune watched until the last moment when she and Ruby vanished beyond the red.
Yang fell to her knees beside him. "I have to go with Ruby," she said, speaking like she had something stuck in her throat. She threw her arm around him, pulling him into her, and pressed her lips to the top of his forehead. "Sorry if I ever made any stupid jokes about you."
"That's okay. They were probably a little bit funny, at least," Jaune said, making a superhuman effort of keeping his own voice light. "You should probably go now, your mom looks pissed."
Yang didn't seem to care much. She held him for a few seconds more, before she let go abruptly and went straight for the portal, her shoulders stiff. She passed through, and her mother followed right after.
The portal closed. The flickering lamp post went out for a stretch, before it came back on. Jaune tried to push himself up to his feet, but his arms buckled under him and he nearly fell on his face. It was very hard to breathe all of a sudden.
Strong arms grabbed him. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he was sitting on the sidewalk with his back against a building. Weiss knelt by his side, holding the Relic still, though she didn't seem able to quite look at him. Blake and Ren stood in front of him, and Nora was pacing, her hands clenched so hard that her knuckles had turned white.
"Weiss," Blake said suddenly. "The Relic." There was an odd edge in her voice, Jaune couldn't remember ever hearing her speak like that. Although, his head was pretty hazy.
Weiss took a moment to reply. She looked up at Blake, shaken. "What about it?"
"You've been using it all this time," Blake said, not a question. "Find Cinder for us."
Whatever Weiss thought of the request, she complied pretty quickly, bowing her head towards the Relic and closing her eyes. She frowned. A few seconds passed, and she shook her head. "It's not working."
"What do you mean it's not working?"
"I – I don't know. It's not like I know it inside and out," Weiss said. "There was a voice before. Like a woman. When I asked a question, she answered. But I don't hear her anymore."
"Well, ask again," Blake said. "Maybe she's shy."
Weiss shrank away, furrowing her brow. Ren put a hand on Blake's arm.
"I don't think learning Cinder's location is going to help us," he said. "For all we know, she's long gone, and all of us are tired and beat up. Even if we cornered her, do we really want to fight her right now?"
"We do," Blake said. She looked at Weiss again, and Jaune, and her expression softened somewhat. "Sorry. You're right. I'm just pissed."
"You're not the only one," Nora blurted out, pacing behind her. She spun on her feet, refusing to look their way, and her fists seemed to tighten even more. "Where did I leave my freaking hammer?"
She stormed back inside the bakery, angry tears trailing down her cheeks. A heavy sigh escaped Blake's lips. She turned away and went to stand in the middle of the road, hands on her hips.
Ren crouched by Jaune. "Is there anything we can do to make you more comfortable?"
I got to see everyone. That's pretty comfortable, I think. "I'm good," Jaune said. "Actually, can you go check on Nora and tell her I'm sorry? She seems really upset."
"She's not angry at you," Ren said. "But I'll check on her, sure."
"My man." Jaune grinned. "Sorry I'm leaving you as the only guy on the team."
Ren squinted at him. "Somehow, I don't think they'll be teasing me as much."
He patted Jaune on the shoulder, shared a look with him, and walked off to join Nora. Too late, Jaune thought to ask him how it felt, dying. Well, he already knew it hurt a lot, but Ren had some small experience with what came after. Ren was already gone, though. Maybe that was for the best.
Weiss was staring at him, he knew it before he even looked.
"If you keep looking at me like that, I'm gonna start crying too," he muttered.
Weiss nodded hastily and rubbed at her eyes, which only had the effect of leaving her face all red. She still looked pretty, though. Weiss always looked pretty.
"Jaune, I'm-"
"Don't. Start." Jaune breathed in. "Don't start apologizing, Weiss. Not you." He breathed out. "That's not the stuff I want you to remember."
Weiss opened and closed her mouth. She couldn't get anything out. Speak for her, then. Even if it hurts.
"I didn't prepare a will," he grunted, "'cause I'm not smart like you. You think you can…?"
Weiss took his hand. "Yes."
"Okay. It's just one thing. My comic books."
She pulled back. "That's what you're thinking about?"
"I know you think they're dumb, but they're pretty fun reads. Some of them are even good," he said. "And they're all yours now."
"Mine?"
"Yup. And you gotta read all of 'em. It's my death wish."
Weiss stared at him for a moment, before she nodded. "I promise."
She sounded so solemn, Jaune had to laugh. It was a short one, because he couldn't hold that much air. He grimaced.
"I wish you didn't have to go," Weiss said, her voice very small.
"Yeah. But look on the bright side," Jaune said. "I get to be your guardian angel now."
Her lips curved in a lopsided smile. "I think you always were."
Part of him wanted to tease her for saying that. Blake had surely heard that. If she told the others, Weiss would never live this down. But all he could feel was grateful.
There are worse ways to go, he thought. And worse company to keep.
A soft breeze blew through the street.
Pyrrha landed almost without a sound. Her boots made a slight clang as she touched down on the road, but that was it. They met eyes immediately, she standing tall as ever, her hair blowing in a wind that didn't seem to affect anyone else.
She turned towards Blake. "Can you lay her down somewhere quiet for me, please?"
Wordlessly, Blake took Amber's limp body into her own arms and walked away. Next to him, Weiss muttered something which Jaune didn't quite register, before she stood up and followed Blake, brushing a hand on Pyrrha's arm as she walked past.
An eternity seemed to pass in a second, and then Pyrrha walked to him.
"I'm sorry that I didn't come right away," she said. "I didn't feel right leaving her where she was."
Jaune faked a sigh. "Okay, but my feelings are hurt."
"You'll get over it," Pyrrha said, a faint smile on her lips.
There was something different about her, something almost palpably alien. But the way she looked at him was the same. That little quiver at the tip of her thumb as she traced her fingers along the length of his jawline, a tell that she wasn't as composed as she let on. Still the same. Everything he loved about her was right there in front of his eyes.
She let her gaze fall to his chest, her smile wavering. "I might have been stalling a bit, too," she said, and all of a sudden he regretted holding on for so long for her. He thought he wanted this, but that had been a mistake. He couldn't stand to be sitting in front of her, forcing her to put on a brave face when all of this was his fault.
"I'm so sorry, Pyrrha. I- I think I did something really dumb, I-" He stopped, a sudden squeeze around his heart robbing him of his voice. "I figured out Tyrian's weakness, but I had to create an opening and the only way – but maybe there was another way, I should have stopped to think more, I shouldn't have-"
"Jaune."
She cupped his face between her hands, staring deep into his eyes with those magnetic greens of hers.
"You don't have to explain yourself to me."
Pain stabbed through his lungs like an icy lance. He dragged the words out of throat kicking and screaming. "And you… don't have to pretend for me."
"I know. I'm not pretending," Pyrrha said. "We're still here, for now. We're okay."
She sat beside him, her body touching his. She ran her hand up his neck and pushed his head to lay gently on her shoulder.
"Don't speak," she whispered. "Does it hurt?"
He nodded his head the smallest bit to tell her yes.
"Are you scared?"
Kinda. Not anymore.
"Whenever you're ready. I'm with you."
His sword lay on the ground just out of reach, slipping halfway out of its sheath. The others must have left it there when they dragged him from the road. Light bounced off the blade as the lamp post flickered on and off.
It was worth it.
Jaune closed his eyes. He felt Pyrrha running her fingers through his hair, and listened to her speak softly into his ear.
All of it.