20

Chapter 20: Beginning of the End

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"Alright, that does it!!" Jaune shouted up to the construction crew. It was as good as the turret emplacement was going to get, at least on such short notice. Besides, they had already installed all the others, this was the last one for the day. Signal needed everything it could get, but even with all the defenses that Jaune, Ruby, and Oscar helped put together, along with countless other hunters, Jaune still worried it wasn't enough. Salem would be here any day, and Signal needed to hold out against her attack.

Jaune did his best not to think about their chances.

"Ah, Jaune. I was hoping to find you." Oscar rounded the corner as Jaune turned around to greet him. He leaned on his cane more and more these days.

"Oscar!" Jaune bounded over to his friend.

Oscar smiled. "It's good to see you too. I wondering if I could get yourself and Ruby to stop by tonight. I'm hoping to… try an experiment, so to speak."

"What kind of experiment?" Jaune asked, curious.

Oscar lowered his voice. "One best not discussed in the open. I should go find Ruby, you know where to find me." He took his leave.

Jaune rushed back to his room to shower and change. A full day of manual labor could make even him want to change out of his beloved hoodie. With a fresh set of clothes, Jaune re-donned his armor to go meet Oscar.

Jaune had scarcely knocked on the door when Oscar let him in, closing the door behind him.

"Hey Jaune!" Ruby greeted him with a smile.

"Hi Ruby. So, what's this about, Oscar?"

Oscar pulled out the crown of choice from its safekeeping place. "I believe the crown has the potential to give us a decisive advantage in this conflict."

"You want us to put it on?" Ruby asked.

Oscar nodded. "The crown may tell us something we do not already know. Something important about this upcoming fight." With that, Oscar handed the relic over to Ruby. "Long ago I wore the crown, and it showed me a terrifying vision." He sighed and sat down on one of the beds, looking far older than he ever had. "It has not changed since. I believe the day of that vision is fast approaching."

Ruby looked at the crown in her hands. With a deep breath, she placed it on her head. She wore it for only a moment, but when she took it off, whatever she had seen had rattled her. She was doing her best to hide it, but Jaune knew her far too well for that.

"What did you see?" He asked. Ruby explained that she had seen the God of Light. Jaune's face crumpled. It was all over. It was all going to be for nothing. All of this, all of his effort in trying to honor Pyrrha's memory, to do what she would've done. It would all come to nothing.

Ruby desperately tried to rationalize what she saw. "Maybe it's not what it looks like. Maybe it's in the future, or- or we summon the gods ourselves! Or-"

"… or maybe we don't win." Jaune finished. He took a deep breath. "We should see what the crown shows me."

Ruby handed over the crown, and Jaune took a deep breath. He carefully lowered the crown onto his head. Instantly, the world around him flickered to something completely foreign. No longer was he in a dorm room at Signal, but somewhere completely different.

Jaune looked around. He was outside. Somewhere familiar. The air felt warmer than he remembered.

"Jaune…" A voice came from his left, and Jaune's heart stopped. He turned to face the voice that he had come to accept he would never hear again. "What are we going to do? We can't let her destroy the tower." Pyrrha Nikos stood beside him, in her full armor. She was even more radiant than Jaune remembered. Older, too. They had all been so young at Beacon. Jaune guessed he had just exaggerated their youth in his mind, because the Pyrrha before him looked older than the one in his memories.

Wait, destroy the tower? Jaune looked across Beacon's courtyard. The tower stood at the end, but something was wrong. It was starting to glow. A soft glow at first, but soon an all-consuming inferno.

This was the Fall of Beacon, Jaune thought. But… where was the White Fang? Where were all the grimm? Was it the crown? Did it not show him everything, but only what was relevant to his choice? What was the choice?

Jaune looked back and forth between Pyrrha and Beacon. As he did, a sharp pain sprouted in his heart. With every look, it grew heavier, threatening to force Jaune to give into it. In the distance, a laugh sounded, deep and hollow, thick with darkness.

Panic started to bubble within him, and Jaune quickly threw off the crown. The vision was cut immediately, and Jaune found himself holding the crown, back in the dorm room at Signal.

Jaune explained what he saw to the others, as inexplicable as it was. The crown had showed him the past, but he hadn't remembered it. The Fall of Beacon was traumatic, for all of them, maybe he had just forgotten it? Blocked it out, like he had tried to do with so much else.

It wouldn't matter in a few days anyway.

---

Jaune awoke with a start. He sat bolt upright in bed. His pajamas were damp with sweat. Jaune pulled out his scroll. Just after 4 AM.

The moment Jaune set the scroll down, he knew there would be no getting back to sleep. Having a nightmare, the morning they were set to put their massive plan into motion? That wasn't a good start. Jaune looked around the room at his teammates. Pyrrha first, then Ren and Nora. Each were still okay, and fast asleep.

Jaune considered just heading to the training room to pass the time, but Pyrrha had said it was okay to wake her. She needed her rest before the mission just as much as him though. But… it was that same nightmare. Again. Jaune was starting to think he couldn't just ignore it. It was happening almost every night anymore. Pyrrha would want to know that.

Jaune carefully extricated himself from his bed, and sat on the edge of Pyrrha's bed. He tried not to stare at her for too long, but she looked so peaceful, so tranquil. Jaune gently nudged her, and Pyrrha rolled over before opening her eyes.

"…Jaune?" Pyrrha reached up and placed a hand on his cheek groggily.

Jaune could feel all the blood rush to his face at the touch and was glad that the low light hid his blush. "Um, yeah. Do you… can we, uh, talk for a bit?"

Pyrrha pushed herself into a sitting position, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "Nightmares?"

Jaune nodded. "Yeah. The same one." He hadn't wanted to believe that it meant something more, but now Jaune felt like he couldn't ignore it anymore.

Pyrrha frowned. "Let's get some coffee."

They both quietly exited the dorm room, careful not to disturb their teammates. After a few minutes, both of them held hot cups of coffee in their hands as they sat in the common room that hosted their game nights.

"I'm afraid that something bad is going to happen today." Jaune said. "My dreams… they're not just dreams, I think. Do you remember the crown of choice?"

Pyrrha nodded. "It shows the wearer a glimpse of a choice they must make in the future." She took a tentative sip from her cup.

"Yeah. I wore it, before coming back here. Beacon wasn't destroyed." Jaune scowled. "I always thought that meant it was the past. That the crown showed me something that had already happened."

"And now…?" Pyrrha looked at Jaune.

Jaune met her gaze. "That reoccurring nightmare is what the crown showed me. I keep having it more often. I think… I think it's going to happen soon. If… if what the crown showed me happens today… What if this is the wrong thing to do?" Jaune's voice dropped to a whisper. "What if… what if we don't all come back?" Jaune's hands shook around his cup.

Pyrrha reached out and wrapped her hands around Jaune's. "I can't promise that everything will be okay. But—if this is as dangerous as you think, there is no one else I would rather face it with."

Jaune looked up hopefully. "Do you really mean that?"

"I do." Pyrrha nodded, her expression resolute. "I know I can trust you to protect me, just like you can trust me to protect you. We'll protect each other. We're partners."

Jaune nodded slowly. He knew he would protect Pyrrha. He had to. He owed it to her for everything, past and present. Whatever happened, Jaune would make sure that Pyrrha survived, no matter the cost.

---

Oscar walked down towards the cliffs that Beacon sat on, overlooking Vale. He had been at Beacon for weeks now, and yet still hadn't left the campus. He went to classes he really wasn't ready for, trained mostly by himself, and he slept in the special room that had been set aside for him in Beacon Tower, away from the other students. Ozpin and Qrow were both too busy these days to pay much attention to him.

Oscar didn't resent that, really. If what they said was true, then whatever consumed their days was far too important to be ignored. Still, it left him feeling like an outcast in his new home.

Oscar walked to the edge of the cliffs where the tram ferried students and tourists to and from the city below. Maybe they would be open. Oscar had tried to call for an airship taxi, but every place he called was either closed today or had nothing available. As he neared, he spotted his friend, Emerald, with her arms crossed.

"…I'm sorry, ma'am, but like I said, the trams closed today for emergency maintenance." Oscar heard the attendant say as he approached. Emerald had her arms crossed and a scowl on her face.

"You don't understand; I need to get into Vale today." She said.

The attendant was clearly growing weary of telling her over and over, and just shrugged her shoulders and went back to work, turning her back on Emerald.

"Emerald!" Oscar called out to his friend, waving.

Emerald turned towards him, and immediately some of the unhappiness that radiated off her dissipated. "Oscar? What's up?"

"Where have you been? Penny and I haven't seen you in class. She was starting to get worried." The three of them had been hanging out nearly every day, which Oscar liked. It helped to fill the hours, and break up the endless training. At least, they had, until for the past few days Emerald had been nowhere to be seen.

Emerald laughed nervously at the question. "I've been away, sort of. Sorry for not telling either of you." She uncrossed her arms. "What about you, what're you up to?"

"I'm trying to get down to Vale." Oscar grinned. "Emphasis on trying. I called a bunch of places to try and get an airship, but they're all either closed or booked, and it looks like the tram is closed too."

Emerald's eyes narrowed. "Wait, the airships are all unavailable too?"

"Yeah. What a weird coincidence, right? But yeah, I haven't actually seen the city since I got here, so I was going to go into town."

"Penny's been there, did you ask her to show you around?" Emerald asked.

"I did, but she said that she was going to be busy for a few days but not to worry about her. Oh, and she said I should give you a hug from her if I saw you before her." Oscar smiled apologetically.

Emerald smiled. "I'll pass, but thanks." Her expression quickly fell though.

Oscar frowned. "Why do you have to get to Vale so badly?"

"I have to meet up with my team. I, uh, promised I would help them with something." Emerald said.

"Oh…" Oscar said, disappointed. Emerald never really mentioned her team, which suited Oscar just fine. Penny said she didn't have one, at least not a real one, and with Emerald never talking about hers. It made Oscar feel like he was a little less different, a little less out of place at Beacon. Or at the very least, that they were out of place with him. He didn't need any more reminders that he was different.

Emerald fidgeted nervously. "Yeah. Um…" She looked like she was debating whether or not she should say more. "Listen, uh, Oscar. I think you shouldn't try to go to Vale today."

"Why? Is something happening?" Oscar asked.

"I- um, I don't know, but… I have a bad feeling." Emerald looked away, embarrassed, "and… I think on second thought I'll accept that hug."

Oscar smiled and embraced his friend. It was a little awkward, for both of them, but Oscar couldn't help but feel like he had made two good friends in Penny and Emerald.

"I might not be around much soon." Emerald said as they separated. Oscar nodded. He didn't like to think about it, but after the Vytal Festival, both of his new friends would be going back to their schools, and he would be alone again. "Thanks, Oscar. For being my friend."

Oscar chuckled lightly. "Where did that come from? It's not like I'm not going to see you again."

Emerald studied Oscar carefully. "Yeah, of course."

---

Yang listened to the gentle hum of the airship as she and her team waited for their final approach. Outside, four other airships were filled with hunters. Together the five ships would comprise their strike force for Mountain Glenn.

Yang leaned back, trying her best to rest against the uncomfortable metal hull. Beside her, Weiss held one of her hands, and Ruby the other. Blake sat on the other side of Ruby, holding her other hand too. The four of them were linked together, clutching each other's hands tightly.

They had been busy earlier in their trip. Yang and Blake had gone over all the intel they had on the mission again, while Ruby and Weiss did a last minute weapons and dust check. Everything had looked good, and now all they had to do was wait.

None of them spoke. They all knew the plan, there wasn't anything left to say until they were on the ground. The skies grew darker as they approached. The pilot gave them their three-minute warning, and Yang pressed a kiss into both her girlfriend's and her sister's head.

The door opened, and all four jumped. Ruby used her semblance before they hit the ground, gathering them all up and depositing them safely on the ground below.

Ruby pulled out her scroll. "Pilot got us close. Rendezvous spot isn't far." She pinged the spot they needed to go and showed her scroll to Blake. Her ears twitched and she turned in the direction they'd need to go. Yang brought up the rear as their little team headed out.

They met up with Qrow and the others quickly. He was surrounded by Altesian military hunters, dressed in their standard uniforms. Yang gave a nod to her uncle, and waited until he gave the signal for them to move out. Qrow performed a quick head count, and they got moving.

RWBY led the way, curtesy of all the scouting they had done previously. It wasn't long before they found the breach point. Altesians set the charges, and everyone stood back. Yang eyed their rear wearily. The moment they set off the charge an invisible timer would start. Every grimm in range would start descending on the compound. Not only did they need to subdue whoever was inside, but they also needed to do it quickly, before the grimm overwhelmed them all.

The demolition specialist held up his fingers and counted down before pressing the detonator. The stone wall collapsed as it was blasted inwards. Atlesians rushed through the breach, followed by RWBY and Qrow. The cavern was massive, and the group surged forward, ready to engage the enemy.

Several White Fang had heard their entrance and startled. A few of the smarter ones started reaching for weapons. The rest quickly followed once the Atlesians started firing. The White Fang scattered, ducking behind whatever they could to avoid the hail of projectiles. Beside her, Yang saw Weiss summon a glyph that shot a beam of ice into a table that was being used as a shield so hard that the table cracked in half. The surprised White Fang grunt was only able to squeak in surprise before one of the Atlesian fighters got a shot on them. The grunts aura flickered and they quickly dove into whatever cover they could find.

Ruby lagged behind the others, because every few moments she would spot an opportune shot with her sniper and took it. Yang and Blake charged ahead, they were both close quarters fighters anyway.

Yang smashed through the White Fang's line, sending the nearest grunt cartwheeling over a workbench. She dodged and weaved around the other grunts attempts to engage her in hand-to-hand. One of the idiots tried to charge her head on, and she sent him crumbling to the floor with a shotgun enhanced punch to his stomach, with the help of Ember Cecelia.

Blake was right beside her, taking down opponent after opponent. Every time someone got close, Blake merely went up in a wisp of black shadow. Yang knew from experience just how frustrating that fighting style could be.

More White Fang started pouring out of the train and the main compound. At this point, Ruby and Blake said that the White Fang might try to start the train and leave, but they didn't seem to have any intention of fleeing. The train stood stock still as every second more White Fang aboard jumped out to help their colleagues. Yet still, it wasn't as many as Yang had expected.

Uncle Qrow appeared next to Yang, tripping up one of the grunts that tried to sneak up on her, his scythe fully extended. Yang could've sworn he wasn't there a moment ago.

The Altesians had started a running gun battle with those smart enough to stay out of the way of the Beacon hunters. In the background, Yang heard the ever present wails of grimm getting closer. Ruby semblanced past Yang and landed on the back of the train, Weiss in tow. "Let's go!" She shouted to them.

Yang wasted no time, and soon the five of them were on board the train, leaving the gunfight behind them. Ruby and Blake said that if there any of their important targets were going to be here, they would be on the train. Also on the train were a number of bombs, all of which they needed to disarm and capture.

They made it four cars in and disabled three bombs before they met their first resistance. One of the White Fang lieutenants stood, chainsaw at the ready. Qrow sized him up before ordering Weiss and Yang to deal with him while they pressed ahead. There would be others on the train that they needed to capture, and the invisible timer ticked down still further. They couldn't all afford to fight him.

Weiss and Yang assumed their combat stances as the rest of their group skirted around him. He let them go, and laughed. "Finally, I get to kill a Schnee." Yang's face darkened. Chainsaw was going down.

If Yang had anything to say about it, Chainsaw wasn't getting anywhere close to her girlfriend. As she screamed and charged in, it turned out she did have something to say about it. Chainsaw tried to slash at her with his chainsaw, but Yang met strength with strength. She blocked the weapon with one gauntlet, the aura coursing through the weapon protecting it from damage. She threw the other into Chainsaw's ribs and blasted a shotgun round.

Chainsaw stumbled back, only to be hit by a dozen ice crystals from Weiss. He growled and swatted and swiped at Yang with his free hand. She ducked under the clumsy swipe and caught him in the chest. Chainsaw barely moved, it was like punching an iron bar. He swung his chainsaw and it caught Yang in the side, scrapping across her aura and throwing her against the side of the car.

Yang landed with a grunt, but before Chainsaw could capitalize on her position, Weiss summoned a glyph under Yang, letting her quickly dodge out of the way. Chainsaw tried to turn to face her, but Weiss had encased one of his feet in ice, rooting him to the ground. He bellowed and roared, shattered the ice before turning on Weiss. Clearly he was done paying attention to Yang's distractions, and he charged the heiress.

Weiss eyes widened momentarily as she raised her guard, but Yang was faster. In an instant her hair ignited and her eyes went red. She shouted as she pushed off with her gauntlets and caught Chainsaw in the jaw. He spun sideways before slamming into the side of the train car, his aura breaking on contact. He hit the floor and didn't move.

"What on Remnant… Yang are you okay??" Weiss asked.

Yang blinked and her eyes went back to their normal color. Weiss had never seen Yang fully use her semblance before. "Yeah, I'm fine. He's down then?"

"Anyone would go down after the punch you just gave him." She shook her head. She looked awfully calm for someone who had just met a terrorist who wanted to kill her. Yang remembered though that this wasn't something new to her. She had lost family members to the White Fang before. The thought made Yang sad.

Yang pulled out one of the sets of handcuffs they were given. Not that chainsaw was getting up any time soon, but just to be sure she handcuffed him. "We should go find the others." Yang said. Weiss nodded, and together they dashed through the train cars on their way to help the others.

"So... can you do that whenever you want?" Weiss asked.

"Oh my semblance? Uh… only when I get hit and lose my temper." Yang smirked. "Did you find it hot, snow angel?" Weiss said nothing and Yang grinned even more. "Oh my gods you did, didn't you?!"

"Shut up, you oaf! Now is hardly the time!!"

Yang laughed as Weiss blushed. She thought it was cute, and had they not been in the middle of a mission, she would've kissed her and told her so.

Most cars had a disabled bomb in it, and Yang wasn't ready when they burst into the front car without opposition. Standing there were Qrow, Ruby, and Blake, disarming the last bomb. The power to it faded and Qrow let out a sigh of relief.

"There wasn't anyone else on the train?" Yang asked, perplexed.

Qrow shook his head. "No, there wasn't. None of our targets are here." He glanced over at Ruby. "Looks like Torchwick's a no show. Same with Taurus." Ruby frowned.

All of them gathered up the disarmed bombs and made their way back out. Qrow let out a whistle when he inspected the massive dent that Yang had made by slamming Chainsaw into the side of the train. "That was one hell of a punch, firecracker," he said as he slung the unconscious man over his shoulder.

Outside, the Atlesians had cuffed all of the White Fang members. Qrow deposited Chainsaw next to them. Yang counted the number she could see and frowned. It was way less than what she had expected, or at least what they had all been told to expect. Plus, the train had been virtually empty. In fact, it was all easier than expected.

"Shit." Qrow cursed next to Yang.

"What's wrong?" Ruby asked.

"One of the bombs is missing. There are supposed to be twelve total, right? I'm only seeing eleven."

"I'll go check if we missed one." Blake quickly said before getting back on the train.

"Maybe we just had bad intelligence?" Ruby asked.

"No, it's more than that. Something's not right. This whole raid is easier than it should be. Even if they weren't expecting us, this isn't half of what we expected." Qrow reached for his scroll and quickly opens the comms channel for the mission. "This is Qrow Branwen, Mountain Glenn is clear, none of our targets present. What's the status of the Vale teams?"

One by one the other teams checked in. "We're doing great over here!!" Nora shouted. In the background, Yang could hear Ren saying something about not stealing Elm's scroll.

Blake reappeared from the train. "No bombs left inside."

"There aren't any in the rest of the compound." Weiss reported, walking back from talking with the Altesian commander.

The Beacon professors both reported in. They had captured some White Fang, but no one major. Elm reclaimed her scroll and reported something similar. So did Clover, though his team had seen a bit more action. Harriet reported in, along with Vine.

"Tortuga, what's your status?" Qrow asked. Nothing. "What's your status, Tortuga?"

Yang shared a worried look with her teammates.

---

Jaune held his sword and shield in front of him. Pyrrha stood across from him, along with Tortuga and the five military police that were helping them. Jaune felt his stomach churn as he watched the lead soldier slide a thin wire under the door. Another held a scroll which showed a live feed of what the spycam could see on the inside.

Apparently the soldier saw nothing that alarmed them, because they gave Tortuga the thumbs up. The lead hunter pulled back the wire while another picked the lock. Jaune felt his palms growing sweaty as he waited for the hunter to get the door open. Dread filled his entire body. Every instinct was telling him that something was going to go wrong.

The lock clicked, and the team pushed the door open, guns raised. Seeing no one inside, Tortuga and the hunters quickly rushed into the first room, Jaune and Pyrrha the last to go in. Jaune took one last look at the outside world before crossing the threshold.

Jaune scanned the room. A decrepit couch sat next to a broken TV on the left wall, the windows were covered with makeshift curtains, and a thin layer of rubble littered the floor. Jaune turned the corner to peek down the first hallway, their first obstacle to clear. But to his surprise, Jaune found that it wasn't a hallway at all. Instead, a fresh new wall stood with a door in the center, covered in fresh paint.

Jaune and Pyrrha exchanged looks. This definitely wasn't here when they completed their reconnaissance. Tortuga gave Jaune a pointed look, as if to ask what this was about. Jaune shook his head. Tortuga raised her battle axe in one hand and tested the doorknob in the other. 'Unlocked,' she mouthed to the rest of the hunters, who had gathered behind her, guns up.

There was no way to get to the rest of the safe house without going through hallway. Tortuga silently counted down, and opened the door. It swung outward and revealed a small metallic object crisscrossed with wires sitting on the ground in front of them. The object beeped twice.

Jaune immediately grabbed Pyrrha's hand and flared his semblance. Tortuga only had time to shout "IED-!" before the bomb exploded.

Jaune and Pyrrha were thrown into the opposite wall from the blast. Spots swam in Jaune's vision as smoke filled the air. The wall around the bomb had been blown to smithereens. Jaune shoved a piece of drywall off his armor. He was vaguely aware of Pyrrha next to him, saying something he couldn't hear. His ears were still ringing.

Jaune tried to look around. Immediately his eyes focused on Tortuga. She was lying face down on the ground, having taken the full force of the blast. Beside her one of the Altesian hunters had blood streaking down his face as he slumped against the wall, staring ahead vacantly.

Other hunters rose on unsteady legs, most covered in cuts and bruises. They surveyed the damage and tried to help their wounded comrades. The ringing in Jaune's ears slowly subsided, his aura having taken most of the blast. One of the hunters who had been furthest away reached down and offered Jaune a hand. Jaune grabbed it, but instead of pulling him up, the hunter tensed, coughed up blood, and collapsed onto Jaune.

Jaune's eyes went wide as he pushed the hunter off him. White Fang, fully armed and ready for combat, streamed through the doorway where the bomb had once been. At least a dozen, probably more. One held the smoking gun that had shot the hunter that tried to help Jaune up. At their head, Cinder Fall sneered at the scene before her.

"If it isn't Ozpin's lapdogs." She said.

Jaune scrambled to his feet. Cinder looked ready for a fight, and Jaune felt a sinking feeling. She had been prepared, she was expecting them. There weren't going to be just a few White Fang members to capture here. This was going to be the fight of his life.

Fortunately, he had held onto his weapons during the explosion, and Pyrrha was on her feet right beside him. Behind them, two of the Altesians were using the overturned couch as cover, while another hid behind the TV stand. The TV itself had fallen over, smashed to bits in the explosion, glass littering the floor.

Jaune extended his hard light dust shield extensions. Pyrrha raised her short sword. Cinder smiled at them. It was a smile that promised death. Then everyone charged.

The White Fang quickly realized their ranged weapons weren't very effective against Jaune and Pyrrha, with their dual shields. They quickly closed the distance. Jaune was vaguely aware of the fact that the Atlesians were quickly being overrun, but he didn't dare take his attention off Cinder.

She took her time wading into the fight, letting the White Fang grunts soften up her prey. Jaune protected Pyrrha as she sent enemy after enemy tumbling. Milo flashed as she attacked with a flurry of strikes, fully trusting Jaune to cover for any openings she left. Against so many opponents, there was simply no other way to fight.

After sending the fifth white fang grunt flying across the room with her javelin, the others stopped approaching her, their faces filled with hesitation. Jaune could see them mentally calculating who they feared more, Cinder or Pyrrha.

Cinder surged forward, her dual swords being created out of thin air as she attacked. She left a trail of fire in her wake, and her eyes burned with the maiden flames. Jaune blocked the first swipe, then the second on his shield. Pyrrha came around his side and fired Milo while in javelin form, the spear point nearly skewering Cinder, but she ducked under the weapon.

Jaune tried to bash Cinder with his shield, but she grabbed the shield and tried to tear it from his grasp with her maiden enhanced strength. It was all Jaune could do to hold on to it until Pyrrha was able to force her to dodge away.

At the dance it had taken the four of them to even stand up to Cinder, and just Cinder. Now it was only the two of them facing a whole lot more than just Cinder. Jaune started to get scared. What if he couldn't keep his promise to Pyrrha? Fear started to bloom in Jaune's chest, and with it, a little pinprick of pain if his heart.

Jaune did his best to ignore it as he shoved another grunt that had gotten too close to Pyrrha away. Cinder pressed Pyrrha as Jaune desperately defended her. The White Fang had taken care of the Altesians and were turning their full force to them.

Jaune caught one of Cinder's fireballs on his shield. The ball of fire exploded on contact, showering him with sparks. The fire singed his clothing and where his skin was exposed he could feel his aura depleting. Jaune panted as he looked over Pyrrha, but she wasn't in much better shape. The pinprick of pain in Jaune's heart grew yet further.

He needed to get them out of here. Their mission had failed the moment they opened that door, and now they just needed to get out. His mind raced as he tried to figure out what their exit strategy could be.

Cinder summoned her bow and shot an arrow that broke through Jaune's hard light dust extensions. White Fang shots were being blocked less and less by their shields, and more and more by their aura. Their defenses were crumbling and it wouldn't be more than a few minutes before they both ran out of aura, the last survivors of their mission.

But then, it turned out they weren't the last survivors. One of the grunts screamed as he was hefted into the air, and thrown at Cinder who went down in a heap. Tortuga, bloodied but not dead, howled as she swung her great battle-axe, sending another grunt flying through a wall. Everyone's stunned attention shifted to her. She cleaved through the grunts closest to her as the others fired as quickly as they could.

Most of the bullets bounced off her tortoise shell, but others found their targets. Dark red spots stained her limbs as she fought like a madwoman. Jaune's heart sunk as he realized that this was likely her final stand. The pain in his heart grew as he forced down his panic. It was threatening to overwhelm him.

He could feel it begging him to give in, to simply accept the pain and be pulled down with it, but he refused. It would be so easy to give in, to accept that he couldn't save her. The pain was excruciating, it dulled his ability to think. It promised safety, as long as he gave himself up to it. There was something not right about what he was feeling, but Jaune hardly had time to dwell on it.

Pyrrha grabbed Jaune while the others were distracted. "I need you to use your semblance on me! Use as much as you can!" She yelled.

"I'm almost out of aura!!" Jaune said.

"It will have to be enough!" She said. Jaune stood behind Pyrrha, placed a hand on her shoulder, and channeled his semblance. His aura flowed into Pyrrha, strengthening her own. But instead of the transfer being only one way as it usually was, this time Jaune could feel something too. He gasped as he felt Pyrrha sending her own aura into him, revitalizing him.

But it was more than just that. The pain that had been threatening to overwhelm him reversed. The twisted knots in his aura that had developed after Pyrrha's death loosened. Jaune poured his revitalized aura back into Pyrrha, as much as he possibly dared.

Jaune looked over at Pyrrha, her eyes closed in deep concentration. He looked over at Tortuga. One of Cinder's arrows sprouted from her shoulder as she fell to her knees. Jaune realized they only had seconds left before Cinder overwhelmed her. Jaune said a silent prayer and hoped that whatever Pyrrha was planning was enough.

The first thing Jaune noticed that started to vibrate was the broken TV. It moved ever so slightly, controlled by an unknown force. Then the entire house started to rumble. The White Fang stopped firing and looked around as pictures fell off the walls. The entire building shook, as Pyrrha started to tear it apart. Pipes burst from the walls, the metal roof sheared off and reassembled itself into a thousand tiny fragments. Nails popped through the walls as they were torn out of the wood. Kitchen utensils flew through the air. A car door shattered a window.

Pyrrha had magnetized every single piece of metal in the house, ripping it to pieces as she collected the metal. A kettle whizzed past one of the White Fang grunts and smacked her in the head. Wrought iron fence links streamed in from every window and door.

The metal tore through walls like swiss cheese and swirled around everyone. Jaune watched in awe as the White Fang panicked. Even Cinder stood motionless in astonishment, dazed by the ever growing swirls of metal that surrounded her.

Pyrrha strained as the metal rearranged itself. It formed long chains that wrapped itself around Cinder and the White Fang. Cinder tried to heat the metal but every chain that melted was replaced with another just as fast. She desperately tried to rip them off her before falling to her knees. Chains pinned her arms to her side. Her eyes burned with anger even as the maiden's light extinguished. Chain after chain wrapped around her, cocooning her.

Jaune tried to hold but his aura gave out, the cream colored field crumbling. Pyrrha's gave out a moment afterward, and all the metal unceremoniously dropped along with her. Jaune momentarily felt his panic return until he rolled her over and she smiled weakly up at him.

"That was…" Jaune didn't have any words. Insane? Amazing? Terrifying?

"PYRRHA!!" Someone screamed from the doorway. Jaune turned to see Nora running towards them, Ren and Elm right behind her. She grabbed Pyrrha's hand.

"We got here as fast as we could." Ren said, kneeling down next to Jaune.

"What… happened…?" Elm looked shocked as she surveyed the house. It looked more like a demolition sight than a structure. Between the bomb exploding and Pyrrha pushing her semblance to its limits, everything was broken. The White Fang were in chains and, along with Cinder, completely incapacitated.

Jaune tried to briefly explain everything, from the bomb going off to Pyrrha using her semblance.

"Can you stand?" Nora gingerly tried to help Pyrrha up.

"I… I think so." Pyrrha replied. Ren helped her get to her feet along with his partner.

Hunters started showing up from the other groups. Each inspected the chaos with the same awe-inspired look. Elm collected Tortuga's body with a stony face and took Cinder into custody.

Jaune was on an airship back to Beacon before it all sunk in. They had captured Cinder. She wasn't going to be able to cause the Fall of Beacon. Pyrrha held his hand.

"Are you okay?" She asked. Their auras had already replenished enough that the scars of their battle were quickly fading.

Okay? He should be, shouldn't he? This was what he had worked for, ever since he and Ruby had been sent back, right? What he had worked for before that, ever since that horrible, horrible night down in the vault below Beacon.

Having Cinder in custody now, it was almost overwhelming. Jaune felt like he could finally breath again but couldn't take a single breath.

"I don't know," he said honestly.

Pyrrha wrapped an arm around him and he rested his head on her shoulder, wrapping his arms around her midsection. He never wanted to leave her side.

And now, he would never have to.

Notes:

Chapter 20.

I wanted Pyrrha's semblance usage to mirror Fria's usage of the maiden powers in V7C13, The Enemy of Trust. You know, when Penny asks "what is that?" and Winter replies, "that's the power of a fully realized maiden." I hoped to achieve that same awe-inspiring scope.

Cinder's capture doesn't mean the plot is over, far from it. But it does mark the end of act 2 of this story. That just leaves the last act, which I suspect will be longer than the other two by a few chapters. This is just the beginning of the end, after all. There's still lots more story to tell.