33
Jaune screamed, loud and long a roaring sound that thundered from his lips as he dashed forwards. It was too late, however, as Ruby tumbled towards him, scarlet blood gushing from the gash in her neck. She was light in his arms as he caught her and gently laid the trembling girl down. Her eyes were wide and trembling, she was struggling to breath, and grasping weakly onto him even as he stared, terrified, back at her.
Almost instinctively he let his aura flow out as his heart thundered in his chest. Even through the surge of amplified aura, she still seemed to be struggling to breath. He didn't know what to do but kept pushing his aura into hers, giving everything he had in the hopes that it would do anything. Her eyes fluttered closed as she passed out, her breathing stopping.
"Ruby!" A voice yelled and the crunching of glass signalled the arrival of Qrow and RAven as they alighted onto the tower, "What happened?! Why is she here?"
"Find Cinder!" Jaune growled, "I'm trying to save her but don't let her get away with this!"
"But-"
"GO!" He roared at the two of them, only then taking in the both of them. Qrow looked in shock and even Raven stood wide eyed. She forced herself to look away and dove off the tower but Qrow stayed. The older man knelt by his niece.
"It's gonna be okay, Ruby." He looked up to Jaune, "Right?"
"Cinder slit her throat," He gasped out, "I can help heal her with my semblance but she can't breathe."
"I can help… I think. We need to clear her lungs. All the healing in the world won't save her if she drowns in her own blood."
As Qrow began trying to get her breathing again, to make her spit up whatever blood she'd swallowed, Jaune nearly lost himself. He began to only focus on what was in front of him. She had to be okay, he couldn't accept anything else. He'd lost everyone else, he couldn't lose Ruby too.
And so he pushed on with his semblance, even as his aura flashed and crackled across his body and Qrow looked at him with concern. But the man never said anything, never told him to stop, not that he would if he did. This was far more important, it was all consuming. He could feel his aura not only draining out of him but being pushed out as he willed it into her.
Until, with a snap, his aura shattered. Even still he tried to push on, but his semblance sputtered out as the exhaustion took hold. It was extreme, his body feeling heavy as he collapsed to the ground next to her. He was dimly aware of Qrow shouting his name but he only had eyes for the girl in front of him, dying.
With the last ounces of his strength he tried to reach out to her with his blood-soaked hand.
-SY-
Carmine looked around the dancefloor, spotting the telltale tufts of Blake's black ears poking out. She looked ton be in a conversation with Sun, his face not quite as jovial as usual as he listened intently and she even caught him glancing at her.
On her way over to them, someone caught her arm, she looked up from the white gloved hand to General Ironwood, his face grave, "Carmine we have a situation."
The alarm bells started ringing in her mind and she quickly whipped around, scanning the hall. Nowhere did she see Emerald or Mercury.
"What happened?"
"Branwen reported in. Something went wrong at the tower. When I moved to secure the two, they disappeared. It seems they got out of the hall."
"What about Oz and Glynda?"
He shook his head, "They couldn't get close in time to grab them. At the very least they want to avoid a scene as much as we do. Winter is currently tracking them with my men."
She hissed, "That's not going to be enough."
She looked around and Ozpin and Glynda were nowhere in sight. Where had they gone? Why was Ironwood here and not going after the other two? Raven, Qrow, and Jaune could handle themselves against Cinder. She may have slipped past them but she couldn't run forever.
"There's another thing you need to know." He brought her attention back to him, "A student happened upon the operation and got involved. They were grievously injured, fatally even."
Fatal? "Who? Who got injured?" She asked, her eyes roving the hall to tally up everyone who was there.
"Ruby Rose."
For a moment she didn't register the name, almost didn't recognize it until the meaning had sunk in and the memories came back to her. Of her own dance, way back when, and how she, too, had gone to the CCT. Except that she had been alone and had been fine. That was why she had stuck her younger self with Penny, hoping that they would keep each other distracted.
And yet when she had been looking away, she had gone off on her own. She couldn't even truly blame Ruby for it, since she had done it as well, "You said fatal?"
For someone so gruff,his manner was rather gentle and her near hysterical mind thought that he must have delivered terrible news frequently, "Cinder Fall slit Miss Rose's throat. We've as yet been able to get any answers as to how it happened since Arc was unconscious when the medics arrived. Branwen reported everything but he was too late to tell us to watch out for Fall's accomplices."
"Shit." She cursed, "I need to get my weapons and help Winter."
He looked surprised, "What of your sister?"
Carmine steeled her mind, Ruby would either be fine or she wouldn't. The important thing was to make sure that if she did die, it wasn't for nothing. To let the woman who had done it walk free was an insult she refused to suffer. They needed to make the mission a success, as cruel as it sounded.
"There is nothing that I can do for her right now. Instead it would be better to make myself busy."
He nodded and she had the feeling he respected her answer as much as she hated saying the words.
"Very well. Ozpin has gone to inform her team and Glynda is helping to secure the school as we speak."
She nodded and headed out, pulling her scroll out and typing a few numbers in. Within a few moments there was a loud impact outside, startling a couple making out. One of Beacon's rocket lockers popped open, revealing Bloom and Scatter. While she didn't have time to change, she had at least had the forethought to pack a pair of boots and her weapons into the locker. It would have to do. Within a few moments, she sprinted into Beacon's grounds. She through hard about where she could go, their most likely route.
It entirely depended on if Cinder knew their identity was compromised or not. Would they try to leave or blend back into the school? She weighed her options before heading towards the CCT.
-SY-
Raven spotted her with some grim satisfaction. The woman was flitting from alleyway to alley, trying to make her way towards the dorms. It seemed like her hunch, and a bird's eye view, had paid off. Cinder was heading in the opposite direction of the dancehall, it looked like she wasn't interested in blending back in anymore. That was fine by her.
Raven had a score to settle. It was Cinder who had, or rather would, bring Salem's attention to her and the Tribe. Cinder who she had watched time and again slip away from Jaune and his friends, cause chaos and death, and generally just be a bitch.
What was about to happen wasn't just ironic, it was karma.
Raven shifted back to her human form, dropping like a meteorite towards the unsuspecting woman. It was a good sign when she sensed her coming, turning to look up, golden eyes widening as she dove out of the way to avoid what would have been a devastating blow.
Aura flexing as she stood up from the small cracks she had caused in the pavement, drawing Omen from its sheath as she did so, the red dust blade extending to its full length. She remembered Jaune's past, his issues with the woman, and couldn't help but feel a little vindictive herself.
Though seeing Summer's daughter laying a a pool of her own blood hadn't been pleasant for her, it reminded her far too much of her own partner. Made her wonder if Summer had suffered a similar or worse fate. And she hated that feeling.
So she was going to relish beating Cinder Fall into a pulp. She was going to enjoy the challenge and the realization on her face when she realized Raven was her better.
And then she was going to slit her throat.
-SY-
"Stop!" Winter commanded, her voice firm and authoritative. She managed to head off the two criminals, her men spread out behind them.
Cornered in an alleyway were Emerald and Mercury, both still in their finery from the dance and seemingly unarmed, though she knew better. She remembered the brief on Cinder and her team. The girl had a hallucinatory semblance and the boy had armed prosthesis below his knees. Neither was innocent or harmless.
"Woah there!" The boy smiled, spreading his hands carefully, "Where's the fire officer? We were just heading back to our dorm."
"You are both being detained under suspicion of terrorism against the city of Vale and Beacon Academy." She announced, drawing her saber, "Surrender peacefully."
The two looked at each other before looking back at her, "Sure thing, lady."
Neither moved as she approached them carefully, her men fanning out at the ready. Both of them had their hands up as she approached but as she drew near she noticed her soldiers raise their rifles.
"Don't move!" They shouted, but they hadn't moved. Or rather she hadn't seen them move.
Quickly, she slashed out with her saber and felt it stop short in mid-air. It rippled and the boy appeared, leg up to block her weapon. The girl was nowhere to be found but the men started firing past her. She had aura and they knew it, having her explicit permission to fire in her direction.
"Oops. Looks like it's just me." The boy mocked her and she pushed him back. Mercury was a combat expert so she couldn't leave him to her men.
"Pursue the girl. I will handle Black." With a chorus of confirmations the men started rushing past them, and she had to hurriedly prevent Mercury from attacking them as they ran past. She struck out with her blade as he backflipped away from her and she pushed forward. It became quickly apparent that he was skilled, more so than a student should be.
Winter leapt to the side as a blast of air rushed by her face, missing her by a small margin, the boy spinning like a top to ward off her reprisal. Suddenly he leapt back and started sprinting away from her, attempting to disengage from her and she had to use a glyph to shoot herself forwards at blinding speeds.
Which is why she couldn't react when he jumped into the air, twisting about and sending his heavy leg into her face. To say that she lost control would have been an understatement, she flipped through the air before bouncing off of the pavement painfully. Winter was still a Specialist, though, and recovered. She flipped to her feet, one hand on the ground as she slid to a stop to find Mercury once again running away from her.
With a growl she stuck her blade to the ground, white glyph humming to life underneath her. Two Beowolves, shimmering and white, were summoned alongside her. They sprung into action, chasing down the young man as she was hot on their heels.
-SY-
Cinder was proving more troublesome than she had thought. Of course she had the memories to know the woman was like a cockroach that refused to die but without the full Fall maiden powers she should have been easier to handle. However the woman was clearly recruiters for a reason and it annoyed her to admit that the woman was good. Maybe even better than her inh combat.
Omen parried a thrust towards her stomach as she spun on her heel to bring a viscous kick into Cinder's guard that launched the woman away. As the woman flipped back she flung out dust that glowed a bright orange, forming into jagged crystals that she launched at Raven. A slice of her blade tore a rift into space that swirled to life, twinned by another next to it. It was a little used aspect of her semblance that she rarely had a chance to take advantage of. Just because she could make a portal to those she bonded with, didn't mean she couldn't portal to herself .
As the projectiles reached her they were redirected back at Cinder through the portals and she had the satisfaction of seeing the woman's eyes widen. A slash of flame, a veil of heat that disintegrated the attack obscured her vision and that's when Raven struck, an ice dust blade on Omen slicing through the flames and scoring a direct hit across Cinder's cheek as it skittered off her aura.
The woman had to be getting low on aura, between fighting Jaune and her she had to have spent quite a lot of it. She blocked the blade that came up in retaliation but blinked when there was no force behind it. A pressure against her stomach had her flinching back a split second before an eruption of fire blasted her away from Cinder. Omen's dust blade shattered as she tried to break her momentum, instead being forced to put her hand behind her, summoning a powerful gust of wind to stop her.
"What?!" Cinder shouted in outrage, unable to process exactly what she had seen for a moment, but it soon clicked for her and she snarled, "You're a maiden!"
There was no question in it, a simple accusation. Raven pulled her mask for, smirking at Cinder as she revealed the blazing fire that was flowing from her eyes. It was a deep red that matched her eye color and proof, if Cinder needed it, that she was a fully fledged maiden. It was a delicious feeling as she watched the impotent rage on the woman's face.
Cinder couldn't beat her and she knew it.
"I would ask you to surrender but…" Raven's smile was predatory, "I'm not interested in taking prisoners."
Cinder summoned flames to her hands, a cornered rat ready to fight with everything she had and Raven was glad. The woman deserved to suffer.
Raven summoned a mass of ice to herself. If Cinder wanted to compare powers than who was she to deny her. Her array of ice spears formed, a dozen, two dozen, three. They flew at her as a massive wall of sharp objects but passed right through her. Cinder's form wavered and then multiplied. Raven's eyebrows drew down. This wasn't something Cinder had been able to do but a memory did surface of someone who could .
Emerald Sustrai .
The stupid girl was still loyal to Cinder and was most likely near. With the girl messing with her head it left her vulnerable. A wind whipped up around her, blocking back anyone who may have been trying to attack her. The copies of Cinder advanced on her, gouts of flame launched at Raven. In response she summoned her own fire, swirling around her like a tornado she thrust out her hands as it expanded out from her body. Over the roar of the flame she heard a cry of pain and when it faded she was left on the empty street they had been batting in, no Cinder in sight.
Looking towards the sound she heard she saw Emerald picking herself up off the ground, rubbing her eyes. It seemed she had tried to keep them open through the fire and had suffered for it. When those pale red eyes opened again they went wide with fear at the blazing anger on RAven's face. She had advanced on the girl to grab her by the throat. Lifting her bodily into the air she slammed her against the wall, choking the air from her.
"Where is she?!"
Emerald didn't answer, wasn't able to even if she wanted to but Raven had a feeling she knew what the girl would choose. As the girl vanished from her hands, running down the alleyway to escape her, she simply squeezed harder until she reappeared in her gasp.
"Tell me where Cinder is!"
"Never!" Emerald croaked, her hands scrabbled at the hand around her throat.
Blind faith was annoying to deal with, "Suit yourself."
Raven drew back, still gripping the girl, before slamming her head into the bricks. Of course, to an aura user that kind of impact was trivial, which is why she repeated it. Again and again she slammed Emerald's head against the wall with all of her might. A dozen or so blows later her aura crackled and failed, the pale green shimmer fading from her body.
The girl hung limp in her grasp, no longer conscious and she was faced with her failure to kill Cinder. RAven was angry enough to run the girl through there and be done with it but thought better of it. Jaune's memories told her things, things like the girl's allegiance not being absolute.
With the press of a button she discharged the shattered blade of Omen before sticking it back into the sheath. It rotated with a whir and she drew it with a flourish, slashing the air once more so that a swirling portal appeared next to her.
Raven dragged the unconscious girl through the portal with her.