Destiny - Finale

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I saw some mild confusion, so I will explain-

Cinder references Emerald helping her beat Ozpin. Emerald simply used her Semblance to trick him, and Cinder stabbed him. Ruby was not in melee with Emerald, she was protecting the injured people with Ironwood and shooting from long range to try and help.

Sorry if I wasn't clear, there were a lot of moving pieces.

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"Good, good." The blonde man laughed, the sound harsh and almost chilling. Shaking his head, the man cocked his head to the side and, smiling far wider than a man whose partner had just been mutilated should, asked. "Do you believe in Destiny?"

"What a strange… Question..." Her response died in her throat, the heat choked out by a strange, chilling pressure that had suddenly blossomed in her stomach.

It was a familiar sensation, the kind she had gotten when she was younger, whenever she failed in her training and Salem had… Words for her. The simple question of 'should I take you to my quarters?' had chilled her to her very being even before the first time it had been said. And after, the mere mention of a night of Salem's teaching was enough to motivate her to heights of skill and power.

It was fear, deep, instinctive and primal, welling up against her will and taking hold of her like a tide of cold water that had washed over her. It was almost painful, even, compared to the adrenaline high of beating Ozpin she had felt before. Like a man lost in the blazing desert that suddenly downed a bottle of ice cold water, that settled in his guts and throbbed painfully.

Threateningly, warning of a coming shock that would kill her.

'Why?' She asked herself, 'I have the upper hand. The high ground…'

Yet, her instincts screamed wariness at her, looking at that cheshire smile and those narrow, yellow eyes. His face was split in that grin, still, but it didn't reach those sharp eyes. No, those remained glassy and impassive, glowing so faintly she could barely see it. So faintly, she wasn't sure that she was seeing it, and that it wasn't just the reflection of the lights hanging from the ceiling and the walls.

Still, she reigned her instincts in, forced a smile and cocked a hip, "My name is Cinder Fall, boy. I very, very much believe in destiny."

"Good." He repeated, catching his weapon and turning, holding his left hand across his chest and the saber out. Holding it horizontally, the glowing blades framed his face and lit it in red, drawing the glow of his eyes out more and making his teeth glint as he finished, "Because I don't, anymore."

That was as much of a warning as she got, the young man launching forward with floor cracking power. He rolled as he reached the roof and then shot towards her with the same force, spinning through the air so fast that his red blades blurred into one spinning glow. She knew the damage those weapons could do, Aura or not, and leapt back as he came down, red blade stabbing down into stone that bubbled and melted around it.

He yanked it up and towards her, hurling molten rock at her and forcing her to dodge to the side as he leapt for her again, before she could dodge away.

He landed on a heel and spun, thrusting the point towards her face and forcing her to duck to the side and down. Right into a knee that snapped up and caught her on the chin, snapping her head up and sending her reeling back as the man spun again. Staggering away she hissed in pain as searing heat bloomed along her Grimm infested shoulder. Planting a heel, she drew on the raw, painful Maiden power within her, suffusing her swords with it and hurling one into the air between them.

It detonated like a shaped charge, blasting sharnel at the man and forcing him back a step.

Spinning on her own heel, she hurled the second through the smoke of the first, detonating in a second shaped explosion that showered where the man was in heat and razor sharp glass. She didn't see him leap to either side or up and smiled, summoning two more swords and pouring her power into them as well. Hurling them through the smoke as well she smiles, showering where he had to be in super-heated glass shards and just a touch of Maiden fire. Summoning a bow, she turned and leapt to the side, nocking an arrow and searching for her prey.

She found him inside a moment, his black robes smoldering in a hundred tiny places and one hand held out, the shower of shards she had launched at him floating before him. He saw her when she saw him, turning and snapping his hands towards her in the same moment that she released her glass arrow.

The sheer mass of the glass that slammed into her was enough to send her flying back and away, screaming from the sweet agony of the countless glass shards carving across her Aura. Her back hit the cold stone and she rolled, rising and snarling from the pain of their short skirmish. Her shoulder was burned, too, the fabric of her dress charged when she flicked a gaze to it.

Her Aura was already seeing to that, though she hated wasting it on healing. But the pain made moving her shoulder harder, enough that she needed it. Which was probably the bastard's plan, effectively hitting her Aura twice. It was clever, and so sadistic that she was genuinely surprised someone under Ozpin's control would even consider it. But damn if it wasn't effective.

Mercury had learned that lesson already…

"You're quite the vicious fighter, you know." She complimented as the man reached her, rising to meet him and summoning two more of her curved, expendable blades. A drain on already dwindling reserves, but she needed them as much as she needed the time that prompted her to try and draw the man into conversation. "I'm surprised Ozpin would let someone like you-"

He cut her off by stepping in, crossing the couple feet between them and spinning on a heel. The bottom blade thrust for her stomach and she ducked back and to the side, then bent back at her waist to dodged the follow up that came with his turn. A foot snapped out to sweep her legs. She fell, landing on her back and rolling to the side as he pursued, spinning the staff in his hands as he came, melting the stone right behind her until she abandoned a sword to blast him away from her.

He saw it and came to a sudden stop, invisible hand snapping out to catch it and hurl it up, into the roof where it exploded, showering them in broken ceiling tiles and brick. That hadn't been the intention, but it worked well enough to buy the second she needed.

Seizing it she hurled her sword at him, forcing him to flick it away as she leapt and called on two more or her Aura infused swords. The left slammed down on the handle of his weapon as she snapped it out, stopping a slash meant for her face. The second thrust up and in at the same moment, carving a thin line in the flesh under his eye and drawing a snarl from the man and a smile from her. Pivoting on the spot, he snapped the handle up and into her face hard enough to split her lip and force her back, and then cut down between them.

The blow hurt, drawing a scream from her as skin seared through her Aura, but she didn't back away. Instead, she cut in and up, her sword carving a shallow cut into the flesh of his left arm from his elbow to his shoulder before he could pull away. Turning his uninjured right side to her he raised a hand, hurling her away using his aggravating Semblance.

Using a short, painful blast of Maiden fire, she spun in mid-air and hurled her swords back towards him, detonating them both short to shower him in the glass shards. As expected, he snapped his hands up and then to the side, parting the black sea and sending the two sides buffeting into the distant walls to either side. She landed and summoned two more, then threw those and summoned another pair to hurl just behind the first. They detonated on a delay but Arc didn't fall for the little trick, parting one shrapnel cloud and hurling them towards the wall and then hurling the second towards the ceiling.

Still, they and the space bought her a moment to get her bearings.

Emerald had moved during the fight, exhausted and kneeling beside the elevator's blasted opening a dozen yards away. A glance showed her the children and the useless Atlesian, still shielding their wounded a fistful of yards behind her. Both were armed, but neither could do anything regardless lest she turn on them. It was a solid bet that that was the only reason they weren't shooting her in the back right now, she figured.

"I'm not very patient!" Arc called, a second before a hunk of stone slammed down at her feet and forced her back.

Weapon sheathed on his back, he stretched his hands high and smiled, pulling chunks of the roof free with his Semblance and hurtling them towards her. She leapt back to dodge one and then forward to dodge another, vaulting over the first as a fourth slammed where she'd been standing and exploded, showering her in rocks and dirt. He kept it up, yanking down hunks of concrete and slamming them down into her with reckless abandon.

"Stop!" She called out as she leapt forward, closing the distance with him steadily and summoning her bow again, "You'll kill us all, you moron!"

"Nope!" He laughed, grinning so widely she was sure even Tyrian would have been unnerved by it. "Just you!"

As if to punctuate his words he hurled another man-sized hunk of concrete her way, forcing her to leap far to the side or be crushed. No sooner had she hit the ground and rolled to her knees did a smaller one slam into her stomach hard enough to drive her onto her back with a strangled cry. Shoving it off of her she rolled over as another slammed into the spot her head had occupied a moment later, and she snarled, snapping a hand up and letting the Maiden power sear through her freely.

The lance of magically conjured and focused fire slammed into the cracked stone, blasting it apart and hurling shrapnel in a wide, sparse cone that covered the other side of the room. Then, she turned it skyward, carving through the ceiling and showering the Huntsman in rock, dirt, wiring and most importantly, a thick cloud of dust. The power surge died quickly, leaving her feeling drained and weak, but she didn't falter.

Faltering meant dying, and she was not dying today, even if that meant taking the power and running for her life.

Salem appreciated failures less than she did cowards, after all.

Summoning her bow and turning, she drew back an Aura and Maiden power infused, incredibly explosive shot. She aimed for the group and as she'd hoped for a moment and, just as she'd hoped, the silver-eyed girl and the general stood and turned their backs on her, shielding the lot of them with their bodies. At the last moment, though, she snapped her aim up and loosed her shot into the cailing high above their heads. It exploded with a great, stone cracking force, sending massive slabs of concrete falling towards the group faster than they could have hoped to move them all.

Half-way down, it stopped, loose dirt and stone falling onto the children but the greater mass holding in mid-air.

It began to slowly move to the side and back, away from the woman's targets and Cinder snarled. Summoning another arrow she turned, searching the settling dust for the blonde. After a moment she saw the red glow of his blade bloom into life and smiled, firing a single shot to the side of it where she knew his body ought to be. The wet thwack of a heavy glass arrow hitting flesh reached her. The red blades seemed to flinch, but they didn't wink out until she fired two more shots at the same place, the same thwack echoing back to her a moment before the much heavier rumbling of the concrete debris falling reached her.

Smiling, she turned back to the assembly of children and cripples and asked, "Now then, I believe you have something that's mine?"

"They don't," a familiar voice called out from behind her, "but I do, if you still want her."

"What?!"

Spinning on her heel she nocked another summoned arrow and then froze, watching the man emerge from the smoke with his staff at his side in one hand. The other held Emerald in front of him, gripped by some invisible force and held in front of him like a shield. A shield with three of her black arrows in its back, her limbs hanging limply by her side. With a flick of his wrist he tossed Emerald toward her, letting her collapse in a heap between them while Cinder stared.

"E-Emerald…?" She blinked, taking a single step towards the girl while her heart chilled in her breast. Turning a look on the blonde man she asked, quietly, "W-What did you…?"

"You weren't using her, but I needed her, so I borrowed her." The blonde answered, smiling widely and shrugging as if it were obvious. "I think I broke her, though."

Snarling, she hurled her bow down and let the Maiden power run free once more, hurling herself at the grinning bastard as swords of living fire bloomed to life in her hands.

His smile only widened as he turned and slid back into his starting stance again, bright red blades flaring to life on either end. One flaming blade slammed down into his own red one and held, which at least seemed to surprise the man. He recovered fast, though, dropping the blade and snapping the other up, towards her face. She ducked back to dodge it and his hand snapped up, electricity arcing out and into her from his curled, splayed fingers.

It only lasted a moment, but her entire body seized as the electricity coursed through her, forcing her back a step. Then, she was lifted up and yanked towards the blonde, heat and agony blossoming across the side of her face as she staggered past him, sinking to a knee with a hiss of pain. Blinking through the stars in her vision she felt her heart speed up, hammering in her chest as her fingers reached up to touch the aching side of her face.

She couldn't see her fingers on her left side.

White hot pain shot through her shoulder, next, and she howled. The searing pain carved up and then a boot hit her in the spine, sending her sprawling across the cold stone floor. Rolling over, she felt a foot slam down, into her sternum, driving the breath out of her lungs. Glaring up at him, Cinder felt the heat of his weapon as he brought it down, hovering threateningly over her face.

"So," Jaune Arc asked quietly, "do you still believe in destiny, Cinder?"

"I-I do..." A weak voice murmured, before the rapid crack of an auto-pistol split the silence, sparking across his Aura and forcing him back a step.

Then, it was like he was fighting an invisible enemy, ducking back again and again and countering with his saber. His hand snapped up, lightning arcing out from it to crack along the floor in front of him, and then he leapt back and away. What he was seeing, she had no idea, but rolling onto her stomach it was easy for her to guess the culprit. Standing, she staggered on, ignoring the agony of her shoulder and the distinct burned pork smell as she went.

"Get up, Emerald." She grunted as she reached the bleeding woman and knelt by her head. "We have to go."

"I c-can't." She murmured, laid where she'd fallen and how save for her head, which she'd turned towards the blonde.

Even now, her glassy eyes followed the blonde bastard. Weak and drained, closer to brown than the glossy red they normally were. Yet so very defiant. More defiant than Cinder had ever seen them, in fact.

"I'm not done with you yet, Emerald." She argued, quietly, a sudden anxiety overtaking her along with something else. Something distinctly cold yet somehow hot at the same time in a way that she didn't understand.

"I have to… Distract him." She coughed, flecks of red spittling out with the wet hack that wracked her.

"I'm not leaving you- Gah!" She cried out and staggered as a heavy shot slammed into her back, driving her forward and making her weakened Aura flicker threateningly.

A second shot split the air, but this one went high and to the side, followed by a third and a fourth that did the same, trailing back until the young Rose turned on Ironwood himself. A flick disarmed the surprised man and then she was on him, forcing him to stagger and dodge desperately until he finally grabbed her, wrestling her to the ground with his larger mass and shouting for her to stop.

"Emerald are you-"

"I can't do two for long." She answered, cutting her off for the first time in her entire life. "I c-can't walk, and even if I c-could, I have to keep them here. Off you."

"I…" The woman was right, and Cinder knew it, even if it made her angry in a way she couldn't understand. "Goodbye, Emerald."

Sighing, she stood and stumbled towards the door, frowning deeply as she left the last of her pawns behind to do its job. Unfortunate that it could not become a Queen piece, but it could at least be sacrificed for one. As angry as that fact made her, for reasons she didn't understand.

'Jaune Arc...' She growled as she considered his name, stepping into the blasted out elevator shaft and laying a hand on one rung of the ladder. Looking up, at the long, painful climb, she growled.

"He will pay, Emerald." She promised, pulling herself up, "I'll make him."

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Cinder laughed as the glowing edge of his saber took her head, the body and head both dissolving into nothingness as they fell. Confused, he froze, lightsaber in hand and eyes narrowed. A gunshot split the air a moment later and he snapped around, looking towards the sound only to find Ruby sheepishly standing with Crescent Rose clutched to her chest while Ironwood groaned on the ground.

Weak, hacking laughter drew him back around to the green-haired source of that sound, lips curling down as he stormed towards her.

"W-What's wrong?" The woman choked out, white clothes stained red and her dark skin pale. She didn't move as he approached her, only laughing weakly and asking, "D-Did you have a bad dream?"

"I thought you were dead." He said in answer, kneeling beside her head and looking in her weak eyes. "You look like you're on the way. Mind sharing how long you were using your Semblance on me?"

"Why should I?"

"Dunno." He shrugged, anger burning in his gut and drawing a deep scowl to his face. Still, he at least tried to sound diplomatic, "Might be able to save you if you help me catch that one-eyed cunt."

"No you w-won't." She laughed, the sound dying in a wet little rattle that shook her entire body. Voice weak and slurring, she answered, finally, "Doesn't matter now, 'sgone b'now. Five minutes 'go maybe."

"Damn it." He didn't sense her nearby, either. Standing, he paused just long enough to chuck the dying woman's weapons away before he turned his back on her.

"Jaune!" Ruby called out, flashing in front of him with a trail of petals scattering in her wake. She looked exhausted and drained, from the fighting and the death he supposed, but she kept on anyway and still pushed a smile onto her face. "It's Pyrrha, she's awake, asking for you."

"Is she okay?" He asked, brushing by her before she could answer and sprinting to where she lay.

With the fighting over and done with, Yang had volunteered her mildly more exposed bed for Pyrrha to use while she leaned against the wall at its head. She looked drained, her legs just the least bit shaky, but she was standing at least. Ironwood couldn't say the same, collapsed against the wall behind her, massaging his cybernetic shoulder with a pinched, pain filled face. Blake was still unconscious, face covered in sweat and hands twitching under the thin sheet she'd been covered with, but he ignored her.

"Hey, Jaune." Pyrrha murmured as Yang shuffled around Ironwood to give him space. Smiling weakly she forced a laugh, "I'd sit up but… Sitting hurts."

"You're fine, Pyr. I- You're fine." He assured her, laying a hand on her shoulder in case she tried to get up and turning a look on the foot of the bed.

The same thin medical sheet had been laid over her, covering her stomach pooling in a loose pile at the end of what was left of her thighs. Past the bed, on the opposite side of the room, his eyes found the Faunus. Who had done it, he wasn't sure, but the man had been disarmed and cuffed. Then bound like a pig and left on his side, facing the wall. Growling, he turned towards him, saber blade humming to life.

"Jaune." Pyrrha's voice stopped him and he turned, looking down on her. "He's beaten. Leave it."

"But he-"

"Beat me in a battle, and then lost to you." Pyrrha cut him off, her pale face turning grim as she looked on the man. "He's been arrested by the general, and that is enough."

"But Pyr, he-" His emotions welled up suddenly and he turned to her, leaning on the bed and taking a deep, deep breath to try and get himself back under control. "Look what he did! Your legs a-are- They're-"

"I'm acutely aware, Jaune, believe you me." The woman sighed, looking at his shoulder and grimacing. "Your shoulder, Jaune. You are bleeding. Ruby-"

"Got the bandages!" The young woman cheered, holding up an already opened, mostly empty first-aid kit beside him and waving for him to sit at the foot of the bed.

"I'm-"

"Jaune Arc, I am in a lot of pain, but I will make you sit down if I have to." He hesitated, looking at the Mistralian, and she sighed. When she tried to rise he sighed and sat down at the foot of the bed, offering his shoulder to the tired girl. "Thank you, Jaune."

"Whatever." He growled, irritated to no end and watching Ruby clean the ragged cut along his arm. "It's fine, I don't need it."

"Jaune, your arm is-"

"But," he sighed, giving Pyrrha a look before she could argue the point, "if it makes you feel better, I'll sit through it. No one else is hurt enough to need tending except you. And I doubt that anything in there will be much help for you."

"A first aid kit isn't exactly useful for amputations." Pyrrha confirmed, smiling sadly and taking a shaky breath. Turning a look on Yang and, beyond her, Ironwood she asked, quietly and anxiously, "General, how much do prosthetics like yours cost?"

"I don't know." The man answered quietly, voice strained and pained. "Mine were provided by the military, so I could continue service."

"Oh…"

"I'll arrange for some for you, Nikos, don't worry about that." He ground out, stiling rubbing the flesh around his implants. "Once the battle is over we'll all be tended to properly, Taurus will go to prison, and we can all move on. For now, just rest.

"I'm just glad it's all over…"

"It isn't, Ruby." He growled, holding up his arm while she wrapped a bandage around it. "Cinder got away. She's the archer from my vision, and that means it isn't over. Not until she's dead."

"It's over for now." Pyrrha said quietly, her hand seeking out his when Ruby was satisfied his arm was bandaged well enough and let him relax. Squeezing it affectionately, she said, "We can deal with everything else later. For now, we are victorious."

"Yeah…" He sighed, trying to ignore the empty space behind him where Pyrrha's legs would have been. "We won the battle, at least.

"And tomorrow we can worry about the war." Pyrrha nodded, squeezing his hand again. "For now, let us just be happy to be alive. More than can be said for many of our enemies, and few of us."

"What about Adam?" He asked, hand fingering his saber at the foot of her bed. Ruby gave him a sad look but shuffled off when Yang groaned and called for her, using the younger girl to help her sit and letting her look at her burned back and the bandages that had come undone on it. "He took your legs, Pyrrha. I could-"

"As the victim, I think that I deserve final say on what should be done to avenge my wounds." Pyrrha argued icily, turning a look on him until he nodded quietly. "Well, I happen to think being dragged into court, torn apart by the public eye and then imprisoned for all he deserves while I live free and happy is quite a good revenge. Don't you?"

"I suppose…"

"I could even visit him, tell him about the outside world." She smiled, raising an eyebrow at him. "I could tell him about food, about Grimm hunts, the news. All the things he won't be allowed access to in prison."

"That's pretty vicious." He laughed, rubbing a thumb in a small circle on the back of her hand. Sliding his lightsaber into the sheath on his back he sighed and threw a hand up in fux-surrender, "Fine. We'll rest for now."

"Good." She tugged her hand free and, using both her arms and grunting for the effort, slid a bit to the side and patted the spot beside her, smiling thinly. "Then please, if you don't mind, rest with me."

"Sure." He sighed, shrugging off his sheath and laying down with her.

At least for now, they could relax, her head on his shoulder in spite of the dirt and grime. It was nice already, to be able to genuinely enjoy some time where Pyrrha wasn't in any danger again. One day, he'd make that the norm, but for now he could at least bask in the moment, even if he was fairly certain Pyrrha just wanted to steal his heat.

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That fight scene murdered me. I hope you all enjoyed it, it was so difficult to get it going and then it just sort of bloomed into life all on it's own. Kinda hectic, kinda thicc, tried to go for that large scale Force display and dunno how it turned out.

Thoughts are appreciated.

Hope you enjoyed it, hope you look forward to the next arc of this tale, hope you have a good day.

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Insane Wombat :

Much power. Unlimited, it is.

Sly Sage :

Revanism is a complicated topic, with a lot of versions depending on when you look at it. So I readily forgive anyone's confusion. As for ships… We shall see where the story, overall, ends. For now, at least, is Arkos. I recommend you follow me for when the sequel drops, though.

Knightshade is pretty good, though.

Gunblade :

AN at the top, friend.

Generic wryter :

I mean, I've changed a lot, friend. Mercury, for example, is out and out dead as of last chapter.

The One You Don't See:

Yup! Woe unto she who fights Adam Taurus without knowing his Semblance.

Argus 456 :

Yeah, that's basically what he did. Full on mad cackle. And yeah, this is… A pretty intense set piece I got goin' on here.

Autobot Seeker :

I… Don't think he Force Choked Cinder, but Emerald got some.

Joeyginise :

Yeah, she got scared at the start. Pushed through it, the arrogant cunt she is, but at the start she froze up a bit. And yeah, he kicked her ass, too. Shame Emerald exists, ain't it?

Yavin Yams :

They were both severed a bit of the knee, around mid-thigh.

And… No. If/when Pyr gets new legs, they will be custom.

Hirshja :

I answered in the AN at the top.

Have fun theorizing about Ozpin's distant, mysterious past!

Ficeater :

Fighting Adam Taurus without knowing his Semblance is a bad life choice, friend. Also, he was acting like a Revanite, not a jedi. Were he acting as a Jedi, he'd never have started dating Pyrrha.

Maul Fan (Guest) :

He has various styles he fights with. In this one, he used some Maul stylings. But bear in mind that Maul's techniques are built around fighting lightsaber wielders, so they don't apply uber well.