"People of Mantle. Atlas. Vale," Jaune began in the recording. "What we have to tell you is extremely important. Atlas is falling, and Vale will soon be under attack. But we have created a way for you to escape. In the middle of each city is a portal that leads to two paths. One path leads to a one-way portal to Vacuo, the other leads to a one-way portal to Mistral."
There was a pause before he continued, his ocean blue eyes locked on the camera. "There's something else I need to say. I'm rejecting Prince Chad's invitation to The Hunt. The things that people want me to do to Cinder are sick. She doesn't deserve that. Nobody deserves the kinds of things that have happened to people in the Hunt. I know many of you cared about Pyrrha- I cared about her too. But hurting an innocent woman will not bring her back, and Pyrrha wouldn't have wanted-"
The audio cut out.
...
Just as Arthur Watts finished his job, Neo used her semblance to transform herself into someone else and transformed the parasol sword in her remaining hand into a dagger. She slit Arthur's throat.
After all,Neo thought,Roman did say all males working for Salem must die. That way when Cinder is tortured and killed, people will be less likely to see the things that are done to her on our show as misogynistic.
She smiled, because she knew that Ruby Rose was about to pay for taking her arm.
...
On the pathways leading to the portals, Ruby was just about to part ways with Cinder and tell her good-bye when she saw the change come over her.
Cinder twitched, and suddenly unleashed a fireball, sending several people to their deaths.
A pair of blonde twins showed up and started attacking team RWBY, knocking Yang into the void below them.
...
Perhaps the cruelest thing about Jax Asturias's semblance was the knowing. He certainly had the ability to blank someone's mind while he took control of it. But he chose not to do that as he controlled Cinder.
Cinder was aware of everything as she watched Ruby dangling over the ledge.
She watched powerlessly as she was made to take the staff of creation and the relic of knowledge away from Ruby.
"Cinder?" Ruby asked, a look of fear and confusion over her face.
"Ruby, I- I'm not in control," she said.
Then she kicked Ruby off the ledge.
"Ruby!" Cinder screamed as the girl she loved fell into the dark abyss below.
She watched as Blake propelled herself toward Ruby with Gambol Shroud, attempting to catch her. But the weapon came loose, sending both girls falling.
Cinder tried to lurch toward them so she could fly down and catch them, but Jax's mind control was too strong. She fell to her knees on the path in grief, wanting to cry.
But the tears wouldn't fall, because Jax wasn't done with her yet. She found herself flying past her two half-sisters faces she thought she'd never have the misfortune of seeing again. Against her will, she found her grimm arm reaching out for someone.
"Penny!" Cinder yelled. "Look out!"
...
Jaune knew something was wrong. As he ran out onto the path, he saw a horrific sight: Cinder's grimm claw gouging into Penny's chest.
Wordlessly, Cinder dropped Penny onto the ground and flew off in the opposite direction.
Jaune looked around and saw that Weiss was fighting two blonde twins at once.
"I've got to take her power!" One of the twins shouted.
Jaune rushed over to Penny and activated his semblance.
"Don't worry Penny," he said, hearing the fear in his own voice. "You're going to be ok. I can heal you.
"No, Jaune," Penny said weakly. "There's not enough time. You have to kill me."
Sheer horror washed through Jaune. "Penny, I can't do that."
"You have to. If you don't, one of those girls will kill Weiss, take the Maiden power, and use it for evil. But if you kill me, I can make sure the power goes to someone good."
With a heavy heart, Jaune made his first kill.
With tears in his eyes, he went to help Weiss against the twins. You can grieve later, he told himself.
...
Filled and glowing with the power of the winter maiden, Winter entered the void. The paths were mostly empty now- nearly everyone had been evacuated to either Mistral or Vacuo.
But Winter was already too late. She watched as a young woman with blonde hair knocked Weiss off the path.
"Weiss!" Winter screamed.
Faster than she could fly to her, her younger sister disappeared into the darkness. She felt the rage build inside of her as she turned her attention to the two blonde twins.
"I won't let you get away with this!"
She fired a blast at the path and sent one of the girls falling.
"Dria!" The remaining girl cried. She jumped into the void after her sister.
Jaune Arc remained, a look of devastation on his face. The void and the paths began to shake, and Winter had a feeling that it meant they were running out of time.
She and Jaune raced for the portal to Vacuo. Halfway through the portal, Winter turned to make sure Jaune was right behind her.
But he wasn't. He fell of the crumbling path.
...
Still under the influence of mind control, Cinder walked beside the Asturias twins through the entrance to the vault. An airship was waiting for them. They'd confiscated the relics from her. Cinder's mind was foggy with grief. She had killed Ruby.
"Why, Jax?" She rasped. "Why did you make me kill her? How could you make me murder two innocent people?"
Gillian shoved Cinder to her knees.
"Because you cheated on me with Ruby Rose," Jax answered. His anger was quiet, possibly because he had already found an outlet for it. "I should have known something was going on between you two the moment she released that video begging for you not to be hurt in the Hunt. You're a traitor, and now Salem knows it too."
"I never liked you, Cinder Fall," Gillian said. "I always knew that you didn't really care about my brother, that you were using him for power."
Suddenly Cinder's grimm arm throbbed. Black mist containing a familiar presence swirled around her before pausing in front of her.
Salem materialized before her, her eyes glowing red as they locked onto Cinder.