Fandom Distorted Mirror [IC]

[Indolent]

In the wake of that attack impacting her and knocking it back a ways, as well as a quick glance over where the other bruiser had fallen? Yang's eyes shifted between all the other combatants that were against her, weighing her odds...and despite her hatred for cowardice, she swiftly turned to start sprinting a calculated retreat. Any longer and she might have gone down just as Nora had, and she refused to let that be the case.​

That incensed him furthermore, inciting him into a frothing madness as he scrambled after the back of the fleeing blonde. The desire for retribution had such a hold over Hazel in this moment, its grasp so unpliable one'd have better chances splitting the earth and the heaven. A flailing frenzy was all that Yang would see were she to look back, if she even did so at all, complete with detritus from the melee whipped in her general direction in a bid to hamper and gain on her.

But whatever he did, she was too swift, her agility unparalleled in comparison with the aid of her gauntlets. That did not daunt him whatsoever, only emboldening him further on still. That was until an olive blur set itself square in his path, a weasel trailing on the scarf's end in the wind holding on for dear life.

"YOU"

Hazel barely registered the new presence, a cursory grunt all that stemmed from a hazy half-recognition that went ignored in his stampede.

"FREAKING"

The pitched volume of the voice elicited more of a reaction, a niggling voice at the back of his mind whispering he knew her.

"IDIOT!!!"

Too late, the realization undercutting the fury he wore on his face as he stumbled in halting himself, his locomotive momentum sending him forward with no hope of stopping. Except nah, Gretchen decked her brother in the face with her shillelagh from the chin up, screaming with the eyes shut in tandem with Brosel, the weapon's heft with all her strength behind it altering his trajectory. The abrupt shift in his course combined with his staggering motions caused the taller sibling to careen at an angle away, before tripping and rolling across the battered floor of the academy. Hazel's mind was ajar, the vestiges of his anger slowly flushing away as it dawned on him he'd almost run his younger sister over in his rage. His eyes blinked, finding himself resting within a runnel etched in the ground from his catastrophic landing. A shift in the light, a glance, and

An angry Gretchen hovered over, tears streaming down her face as she said something to him. Yelled at him from the way her mouth opened at rapid fire. He blinked again, stammering in hapless fashion as like a child who realized the magnitude of their error. He couldn't turn his neck to see her face better, a force gripping his neck. The growth of the mass of dust crystal were encroaching beyond now, taking a hold of his joints and extremities. She was removing the dust he embedded, ripping them out with makeshift gauze plugging the wounds. Sourced from the fabric of the unconscious and fallen on her way.

Was she hitting him still? The sounds returned bit by bit, the shattering of glass growing being all he could hear. Another blink, another realization. She forcefully cleared the growth off, sobbing still. A sharp intake of breath was the first real sound he made, as he struggled in his prone position. He could crane his neck now, could speak.

"... Never liked it when you cried." He murmured, regret laden in his features.

She hit him again, called him an enormous imbecile of an unprecedented degree.

 

[Gus Gungus]

"...…………...…………...............................................................................................................................Oh."

It was a soft quiet whimper, not a roar that many might have expected from such an energetic soul, that escaped her lips after the *shnk* sound of Qrow's blade cleaving through her shoulder and digging deeper still. After the sensation of pain coursed through her entire body as intensely as any lightning ever had. Nora collapsed to her knees, the blood already heavily staining her clothes. Her aura had extinguished some time ago. Despite her bold thought of preferring to die on her feet, it seemed she hadn't actually expected she would die here. That she had genuinely not believed Qrow would be capable of going through with it. "So this...this is how it ends, huh?" She fell backwards completely, head coming to rest on the cold stone ground. It was...oddly comforting. Her head turned slightly, looking Ren's way. "R-Ren." Valkyrie coughed out weakly.

Despite how quietly she had called his name and how loud the sounds of Hazel going for Yang were, Ren heard it. In an instant he turned, and in an instant, he abandoned any attempt at fighting, his weapons dropping to the ground as he rushed to her side. He knelt beside her and clutched her hand, a grip that she returned as tightly as she still could. Her other hand reached out to cup his face, running a thumb over his cheek. "You know, you always were the best..." That sentence went unfinished, her right hand falling from his face and the grip of her left hand going slack. The shine in her eyes vanished, leaving only a dull lifeless unfocused stare. A far cry from the look so many grew used to the hyperactive Nora having, no matter what world she was from.

There was no sound of choked sobs or any words, but in that moment his eyes slid shut, not wanting to look at that sight any longer and lowering his head to hold it close to hers. And even though none could hear any sign of him crying, there were tears rolling down his face and dripping against her bloodstained outfit.

Just one more body among the many scattered around.

"..."

Qrow wasn't that guy. He wasn't gonna start getting all teary and mopey over something he made the call to do. He knew what it was to kill someone, what it meant to fight a war. Even a war waged in the shadows. This world's Valkyrie was a dangerous, deranged lunatic who bought into Ozpin's crap for the promise of power and... and...

It was just... She was older, almost his age even, and the sadistic streak and relentless violence combined with that factor had made it easy to set her apart, think of her in the same light as Salem's stooges back home, someone he had to fight for his very survival against, but in these final moments, at her most vulnerable point...

...He really just killed... Nora...

Again, warrior brain. There was an element of unpleasant necessity to all of this, a bridge he was grateful his nieces hadn't had to cross back home yet (as far as he knew). But watching the light leave that manic little syrup ball's eyes, knowing he was the cause of it...

Outwardly, all he had to show for it was that lingering, haunted look, transfixed on Nora and Ren for he didn't know how long as he stood with Harbinger gripped uncertainly. But deep inside the veteran huntsman something broke, something that had been broken again and again in his life and slowly glued back together again in a more fragile condition each time.

What was one more?

He didn't apologize. Anything he could've said to Ren in that moment just would've made him a hypocrite. In the end, he averted his eyes and turned, giving them that final moment together alone as a tiny black shadow took flight across the battlefield, following the trail of devastation left in the wake of the Yang fight. A few short minutes later, his niece was extricated from under whatever pile of rubble she ended up in, slung over the huntsman's shoulders as he spoke into his scroll using the broadcast override.

"Pull out. Spring's gone... this was all for nothing."

With Yang stashed to regain her senses in the safety of a bush, Qrow took flight over the battlefield and kept his eyes sharpened for Ruby, scanning the fray for a general idea of where every one of their allies were so he could cover retreats if necessary.

That was enough.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

Roman watched his leader attempt to fix up the hole in him with a mixture of pity and saddness.

His vision was starting to blur and he was starting to lose feeling in his arms and hands. If he wanted to do this, now would be the time. He gently held Mercury's hand and slowly shook his head from side to side. MTEN's members didn't sugarcoat things. They'd been through enough in life to come to that unspoken of agreement between the four of them.

"merc..."

Roman shook his head again.

"don't waste your time. I've been waiting for something like this since mt glen.. Besides...even the best healers couldn't do anything now....she tore me apart....i'd be a vegetable if nothing else...'

He sighed.

'I'm gonna die, Merc. It's the long and short of it."

'It's not too often I see too much emotion aside from likable asshole from our team's leader. I guess seeing your friend dying really brings something out in you! ...Well, I know it did when I saw what happened to Neo's parents. They were good people. Neo....She deserved better than I could have ever given her. ...Back on Mt Glen, we would have still been up while our parents slept. Early to bed early to rise my old man would always tell us. Ahh, the memories of times long since past...' Roman blinked as the realization slowly dawned on him.

'...I guess in a couple of minutes I'll be nothing but memories.'

'....hope they don't forget me....'

He only hoped that if there was anything after you died, that he could see his parents again, and Neo's too. Tell her how amazing she was. That'd be nice...wouldn't it? Giving a tighter grip onto Mercury's hand, Roman reached inside his jacket and pulled out his scroll. The screen had been chipped somewhat due to Yang's attack but it was still operational. "Merc....I....I made something on my scroll....incase something like this happened. Please...You've....you've gotta show Emerald...and....and..."

Roman's bottom lip trembled and he struggled with what little strength he had left in him to hold back tears.

"Promise me you'll show Neo..."

Setting the scroll down beside him, Roman sighed.

'I'm sorry I caused so much trouble, Merc. Everything's getting blurry now but....you know....I was never mad at you after you told us what you did. Just that you got my lil buddy all upset. I never doubted you for a second..." Roman's face scrunched up into a tear soaked smile. "You've always been my friend."

Mercury could see Roman growing paler and his grip getting weaker by the minute. He didn't have long left.

'I...i want to hang on....just enough to see her....'

Mercury's grip tightened on Roman's hand throughout the other student's words, to the point that it actually kinda would've hurt if not for Roman's fading sensation in his limbs. His teeth were clenched so hard he thought they were going to shatter, and his brain was frankly so broken after all that that he couldn't do much besides shake his head.

"...If you keep babbling you're just gonna bleed everywhere and die faster, you melodramatic asshole, so man just shut up for once..."

The banter was supposed to raise Roman's spirits, but it didn't sound convincing even to his own ears. Just beaten. At his teammate's final request, Mercury just looked away with a flickering expression of pain, not even his caustic bluntness enough to communicate to Roman that he was pretty sure that wasn't on the cards. That he had a minute left, maybe less. That his final moments were gonna be spent in the arms of a total douche who didn't even know what it was to have friends.

Or hadn't, before he met his team.

So instead of carelessly saying exactly what he thought, like always, he turned back and nodded with a warm, reassuring smirk. However forced it might've been.

"Not a problem, Roman my guy. I'm calling her right now."

And true to his word, he did. He didn't know if Roman was gonna slip away during the tone, or while he spoke to her with a heart so heavy it completely shattered the air of reassurance he was trying to fake, no idea what to say to her to impress the urgency of how fast she had to get here, no idea how he was ever even gonna look her in the eye again after what he'd failed to di. He didn't know if it'd happen while they waited, or even somehow in time for his partner to be present in his last breaths.

However long it took to get through, as soon as she could hear him he kept it brief, shaky and concise, voice oddly toneless for how strained and raw it sounded from all the screaming.

"You need to be here. Now. Goddammit, Neo, I'm so sorry."

His pitch showed signs of cracking in the last syllable, so he hung up with an unsteady breath and stayed by Roman's side for however long it took.​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"Pull out. Spring's gone... this was all for nothing."

With Yang stashed to regain her senses in the safety of a bush, Qrow took flight over the battlefield and kept his eyes sharpened for Ruby, scanning the fray for a general idea of where every one of their allies were so he could cover retreats if necessary.

“...Damn.” Raven commented in frustration upon hearing that news. All this for a waste of time... “Afraid that’s not the only reason to pull out though. Can see it from here, the CCT’s littered with bombs and somebody’s already activated them. No telling the yield...time to go is right. We can regroup at Tock’s place.”

“Hey Ray! Little cover over ‘ere?” There was the brief sounds of a scuffle before a muffled “thanks” and then more clearly: “So ‘ey, anybody that knows the answer, ‘ow many wounded we got? Scorpion kid’s got it pretty bad, which is somethin’ else we gotta talk about.”

Ruby happened to be closer to the outskirts of the battlefield, just finishing mopping up a group of Shadow Fang troops.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

Eve had really steeled herself for this moment. Every waking second of every day since the battle at Beacon had been spent reflecting, clearing her mind and sharpening her focus so that she would be prepared to do what had to be done. For Blake more than anyone. That thought, that Blake could still be pulled out of this, that there was still a glimmer of hope for the girl she had long since given up on ever getting over, even if it had to come against her wishes, had been what threaded her fierce determination together in the buildup to this confrontation. She had convinced herself she was more than ready. Even brewed a sinister monologue or two to deliver during the fight to get inside her head, make Blake see how much she was hurting her by forcing her hand like this.

The problem was, Eve had never been very good at controlling her emotions. Not without Blake to hold her hand through it, anyway. And as her once-partner so effortlessly avoided her strike and served up her ultimatum like she was just another enemy, even if the pain in her eyes was apparent, there wasn't even an attempt made to suppress the howl of pure histrionic outrage that escaped Eve's throat as the wooden beam clattered violently to the ground. Her mask followed shortly after, flung there in a fit of almost childish frustration as her maverick red locks fell over the now-exposed face Blake had come to know so intimately.

She did not look good.

It wasn't the scars; they were the same as ever. But Eve's cheeks were gaunter than Blake ever remembered them, the dark circles under her blue eyes like shadows being cast by the moon. She was almost as pale as her mask was, and even brimming with tears her eyes looked like she hadn't sustained a consistent sleeping pattern in months.

"WHY are you doing this to me?! I love you! I only want what's best for you! Ever since I left you I've been so scared, Blake, I-I regretted it so much, but it took seeing who you were becoming to finally realize what a mistake I made! I could've REACHED you! If I'd stayed it never would've gone this far, even you know that, but it felt like I was losing you and I was afraid you'd say you didn't love me anymore, I couldn't hear you say that, rrrrgh, I COULDN'T, I-"

Eve gripped the side of her head, whatever full on breakdown she seemed to be in the middle of apparently to the point of causing physical pain as the extent of the White Fang leader's mental decline in the time since they parted became apparent to Blake for the first time. Blake was someone who anchored her, helped tame her wildest emotions when she felt them threatening to consume her. They'd been side by side for so long she became complacent enough to believe she was strong enough to get by apart from her.

She was wrong. Her foot stomped as her hand swung wide in a wild gesticulation, her typically lethal fury reduced to little more than a tantrum.

"I'm only doing all this to save YOU! I can't live without you, Blake, I've tried but I can't, but I can't be by your side while you're doing these things either so WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?! Just MAKE THIS EASY FOR ME! Please! If you're really past saving, then there's only one other way this ends for me, so just put me out of my misery like you tried to at Beacon! But you better look me in the eyes this time, because if you can't do that then I'll NEVER stop believing there's a chance for you!"

Out of breath, she took three long, confrontational strides forward towards the conclusion of her rant, arms spread wide as if daring her for as distinctly little authority as she was exuding right now in her practically hyperventilating state. But no further hostile action was taken, Eve simply standing there with heaving shoulders to await a hail of gunfire mowing her down. As far as she was concerned, if Blake truly was going to commit herself to this path then she was gonna have to shed the excuse of her hand being forced at some point or another. She was going to have to fully embrace the habit of killing someone, unarmed and auraless, whose only sin was taking a stand against her creating a world they wanted no part of living in.

And what better person to start with than her?

She waited, both eyes that were still clear blue despite the extensive damage to the left one glaring at Blake accusingly as she waited for her to do it. And if she did, then at least this world's variation of Taurus died for something.

If those bullets never came, however, and Blake's ultimatum endured, then Eve could only hold the other faunus's gaze a few seconds longer before she tore herself away with an ugly, humiliated sob, the last of her resolve finally crumbling as she snatched Ilia up and fled.

​

Blake's mask hid whatever expression she may have worn as Eve unraveled at the seams in front of her, the only thing they revealed being the amber eyes that almost seemed to glow even in the sunlight. But it didn't hide everything; her shoulders shifted up and downas her breathing quickened, and the grip on her weapons tightened enough that her arms were shaking. When Eve took that first step forward, gambol shroud instantly snapped up as it shifted into gun form as she met the other faunus' gaze head on.

Nothing had changed from last time. Eve was already a dead woman walking, and now there wasn't some blonde monstrosity in their way. This was mercy. A single round through the skull, and Eve would be safe from Ozpin and Sienna's vengeance in the only way Blake felt she could.

'She didn't look dead. Exhausted, dejected, and angry, but not dead. You're killing her. Not them'

No! The only reason she was working with a monster like Ozpin was because his reach was absolute. If he wanted something, it was his. If he wanted Eve's head, he'd have it.

'He didn't get Beacon'

That was... it didn't matter. It was an inevitability, even with a stumble. Besides, the faunus standing before her was a traitor to the cause. She chose to stand in the way of The Work, and she'd already been given her chances, more than most got.

'She said herself wasn't here for the work. She's here for you.'

No, that was wrong, Blake was the work. It was all she could let herself be! If she let herself be anything more, the weight of her actions would drag her down to the depths. Ilia, Eve, Yang, all these people treating her like a person were wrong; Sienna had made her a weapon, the sword raised to draw blood for faunus in the last war they would ever need to fight if they won. Her pride in that fact was all she needed, all the self worth she should've required, a duty so solemn and important than nothing else should have trumped it. Trying to disarm her from Sienna's hand was enough of a betrayal in and of itself.

'This didn't sound like a betrayal. It sounded like a request. Like begging.'

EVE DIDN'T GET TO MAKE REQUESTS! Not when she was the last one to abandon her in what felt like an endless string. Not when she was the one who hurt most, who took the last pieces of what Blake had been with her when she left.

'That's why she's here. Because she realized that was wrong. Because she still loves you-'

It didn't matter it didn't matter it didn'tmatteritdidn'tmatterITDIDN'TMATTER-

*BANG*

The shot went wide, grazing the side of Eve's cheek in a single line of blood. It would've been easy to call it a warning shot; Blake was lethally accurate in most everything she did, and so perhaps she decided to test Eve's resolve, call her bluff without a permanent end.

But that wasn't it. Blake's arm was shaking far too much as the gun practically shivered in her hand as she stared down at eve.

"If you're going to stand in my way.... then ACTUALLY FIGHT ME!"

Don't just die standing there. Not while looking at her like that. Not while making her be the one to do it. Blake had spent years honing herself to a razor's edge, hardening every part of herself. But she was supposed to be a sword; not a guillotine.

 

[MyrtenRose]

By this point, the shock in her system...that overwhelming instinctual need to do whatever it took to survive was fading and more of the person Ilia actually was rushed back to take its place in her mind...and she was absolutely horrified. Not only had she stabbed Blake in the shoulder as she had, but...she had actually ripped Blake's own weapon out of her body and had...she'd been about to...

Tears that had nothing to do with the physical pain of her wound started falling from her eyes. That wasn't how you saved anybody, that was as far from saving somebody as anyone could get. Blake she thought, both this lost cat faunus and the one she knew, the one that had gotten through to her, both popped up in her mind. Mental images of both stood side by side as her thought continued: I'm so so so sorry that I almost had...the chameleon's hands raised to her eyes in a show of extreme sorrow and distress. Perhaps the years spent going along with the White Fang as they spiraled further and further into violence...maybe the marks that it left on her soul ran deeper than she believed they did. That wasn't a fun thought.

But it didn't overstay its welcome.

The stinging pain of the wound still coursed its way through her nerves and Ilia winced, hands lowering from her eyes. Both moved to press against the wound and both hands came away with palms slick with blood. The blood flow had to be staunched. One hand moved to rest against the wound again while her eyes snapped around, looking for...there. She leaned forward with hand outstretched to snatch up her weapon where it had fallen to the ground. With a click it shifted from sword back to whip, glowing bright with the powerful gold of lightning dust.

Slowly she pulled her other hand from her wound and pressed her whip against it, intent on using the heat of the lightning to cauterize her wound and keep from bleeding any further. It really freaking hurt and Ilia barely stifled the screams from coming out by gritting her teeth together tightly. That done and her mind returning more and more...she could only sit there, leaning back against a wall and watching in silence.​

"WHY are you doing this to me?! I love you! I only want what's best for you! Ever since I left you I've been so scared, Blake, I-I regretted it so much, but it took seeing who you were becoming to finally realize what a mistake I made! I could've REACHED you! If I'd stayed it never would've gone this far, even you know that, but it felt like I was losing you and I was afraid you'd say you didn't love me anymore, I couldn't hear you say that, rrrrgh, I COULDN'T, I-"

Eve gripped the side of her head, whatever full on breakdown she seemed to be in the middle of apparently to the point of causing physical pain as the extent of the White Fang leader's mental decline in the time since they parted became apparent to Blake for the first time. Blake was someone who anchored her, helped tame her wildest emotions when she felt them threatening to consume her. They'd been side by side for so long she became complacent enough to believe she was strong enough to get by apart from her.

She was wrong. Her foot stomped as her hand swung wide in a wild gesticulation, her typically lethal fury reduced to little more than a tantrum.

"I'm only doing all this to save YOU! I can't live without you, Blake, I've tried but I can't, but I can't be by your side while you're doing these things either so WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?! Just MAKE THIS EASY FOR ME! Please! If you're really past saving, then there's only one other way this ends for me, so just put me out of my misery like you tried to at Beacon! But you better look me in the eyes this time, because if you can't do that then I'll NEVER stop believing there's a chance for you!"

That................

That was something she never could have imagined coming from the mouth of Adam. Just yet another difference between the two? That raw impassioned plea, it was...painful to watch, for more reasons than she could count. For one it very much felt like something she could have possibly said to Blake, her Blake, while both were on Menagerie and while one still believed in the cause of the more violent extremist White Fang and the other had not.

So desperately wanting to save Blake by warning her to not interfere in the missions Corsac or Fennec or their High Leader were planning.

The struggle of wanting so badly to be by Blake's side but believing it to be an impossibility while Blake did all she could to stand in the White Fang's way.

The love. The regret. The conflicting feelings tearing her apart inside as Blake's words ran through her head and pulled her one way just as the fox brothers' words pulled her a different way. And if it had been reversed...if Blake had been the one to stay and Ilia the one that left first...if it got bad enough, like it had here in this world...would she too have asked to be put out of her misery like that? That was so far beyond depressing that even just imagining it made her feel unbearably numb inside.​

It didn't matter it didn't matter it didn'tmatteritdidn'tmatterITDIDN'TMATTER-

*BANG*

The shot went wide, grazing the side of Eve's cheek in a single line of blood. It would've been easy to call it a warning shot; Blake was lethally accurate in most everything she did, and so perhaps she decided to test Eve's resolve, call her bluff without a permanent end.

But that wasn't it. Blake's arm was shaking far too much as the gun practically shivered in her hand as she stared down at eve.

"If you're going to stand in my way.... then ACTUALLY FIGHT ME!"

Don't just die standing there. Not while looking at her like that. Not while making her be the one to do it. Blake had spent years honing herself to a razor's edge, hardening every part of herself. But she was supposed to be a sword; not a guillotine.

Watching that was...in a weird way, relieving to witness before her eyes. Something that managed to soothe the pain she felt while just sitting there. Enough so that her eyes flickered to a bright golden color that was as close as she could get to the warm feelings a pleasant looking sunshine could inspire on a nice day, with hope practically gleaming in those eyes. Perhaps it was a fool's hope but right now, after what Blake had done to her and what she had almost done to Blake in turn...she wholeheartedly wished that this would work and further violence could be avoided. It did seem to be working, at least.

It was the first indication that she'd seen since waking up on this messed up world that Blake still had a heart deep down inside. Something that she had not seen when she had tried to help Blake and got a garrote against her throat for her trouble, or in the time spent in that nightmare castle where Blake had cut right through flesh and bone to sever her hand without even the slightest hint of hesitation, or the downright hateful looks she had gotten from the cat faunus when Ilia tried to reach her counterpart on this world, or...her eyes slowly roved down to the wound where Blake had stabbed through her.

Of course, it made sense that Eve would be the one that could even remotely get through to Blake. Maybe the only one who could. Perhaps her counterpart could have done it as well, but the other chameleon was too trapped by Blake dragging her down to even try. As for herself...no.

Ilia was a stranger to this world, a new arrival completely lost in many of its strange and different turns. That was not so for Eve and this Blake.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

In the halls of Haven itself, Neo grunted as she gently lifted Emerald off her shoulders to lay her against the wall. She wiped a bit of sweat off her brow as she looked around and tried to figure out where, exactly, she'd snuck them into as she rested against the wall next to Emerald. She hadn't done much of the fighting directly, but she'd used her semblance a lot today, and it was starting to wear her down. They weren't far into the academy, only a few doors in, and the windows ensured she could still hear the fighting outside. The Shadowfang had been pretty much decimated by then, between Watts' trick, the arrival of the White Fang, and the focus of the inimitable Ruby Rose. But there had still been quite a few of Ozpin's lieutenants standing when she'd slid in here. What were they even fighting over at this point? Vernal had disappeared like a bat out of hell, so what could have been their-

'*anguished wail*"

That sound shook Neopolitan's soul down to the very roots of its existence. It was something that shouldn't have existed, something she herself shouldn't have even recognized, but she did, because it was her. Even if she'd never heard the sound of it herself, it was like seeing her own spirit outside of her body. Pure, instinctual recognition.

What... what had just happened out there?

What could have possibly made that monstrous version of her make such a broken sound?

Her scroll rang, and she immediately tried to snatch it out of her pocket, her normal atrociously high levels of dexterity lost in the face of a confused dread that seemed to be seeping into every pore of her body as she fumbled it to the ground once before she finally got it to her ears.

However long it took to get through, as soon as she could hear him he kept it brief, shaky and concise, voice oddly toneless for how strained and raw it sounded from all the screaming.

"You need to be here. Now. Goddammit, Neo, I'm so sorry."

His pitch showed signs of cracking in the last syllable, so he hung up with an unsteady breath and stayed by Roman's side for however long it took.

Her scroll clattered to the ground.

No. This was a joke. A terrible, god awful joke, the penultimate version of Roman lying on his hospital bed with a rose and holding his breath like a complete and utter dork, only now Merc was in on it too. There wasn't anything funny about this. It even sounded like the violence outside had started to die down. After a fight like this? Using all this bloodshed to sell a shitty con game, a gotcha that went way over the line in vengeance for Neo stealing his wallet that time? ohoho, They were gonna regret this. She'd be drowning in apologies. They'd literally be at her feet, clutching at the hems of her pants, begging, no, grovelling for forgiveness when those two idiots saw just how not funny she found this. She was so angry about it she was crying.

She placed a hand on Emerald, her form shimmering and taking on the appearance of a bloodied shadowfang member, before she turned and sprinted with everything her little legs could manage. For once, Neo's height actually bothered her. Every second she had to waste taking an extra step was another second she wasn't kicking these boys' asses for trying to play her like this. She and Roman had pulled some incredibly boneheaded pranks over each other over the years, but this one...

She skidded to a halt outside the doors, and as easily as always, her eyes picked Roman up out of the crowd, Mercury kneeling at his side. Her face screwed up into a furious snarl as tears burned in her eyes, and she broke out into a sprint. This was the worst joke. Ever. This was a joke. It had to be a joke, please let it just be a joke-

There was so much blood.

She didn't so much stop running so much as she collapsed as her legs gave out from under her and hit the concrete with a red splash, one hand shooting out to stop herself from falling completely and the other clasping at her mouth in horrified shock. There... there was a hole in him. No. This wasn't supposed to happen. Mercury said he'd find him, protect him. They'd all trained so much, there were so many reasons this shouldn't have happened.

She pulled herself closer and fumbled for a hand, the shock of the wound itself overshadowed by what it meant as her face twisted into visage of pure terror as she shakily reached for her partner's face to check for any signs of life.

 

[Gus Gungus]

It didn't matter it didn't matter it didn'tmatteritdidn'tmatterITDIDN'TMATTER-

*BANG*

The shot went wide, grazing the side of Eve's cheek in a single line of blood. It would've been easy to call it a warning shot; Blake was lethally accurate in most everything she did, and so perhaps she decided to test Eve's resolve, call her bluff without a permanent end.

But that wasn't it. Blake's arm was shaking far too much as the gun practically shivered in her hand as she stared down at eve.

"If you're going to stand in my way.... then ACTUALLY FIGHT ME!"

Don't just die standing there. Not while looking at her like that. Not while making her be the one to do it. Blake had spent years honing herself to a razor's edge, hardening every part of her heart. But she was supposed to be a sword; not a guillotine.

It was funny. When Eve delivered her own twisted ultimatum, she only ever really considered three outcomes. Either she finally made a crack in Blake's hateful resolve big enough to break through, in which case she got what she wanted; Blake finally took that step and made herself lost to her for good, in which case she also kind of got what she wanted; or else she just didn't show any signs of cracking or wavering even in the face of such a hysterical breakdown, in which case Eve didn't know what to do except run away like a kicked dog. What actually transpired floated somewhere between the options, the bull faunus's eyes widening in shock as she touched her cheek, senses honed enough to pick out the shakiness in Blake's hands even at this distance and in this unhinged a state.

"S-so it's still you... I almost wasn't sure anymore..."

The voice that answered was quieter, in a different sense to how scratchy it now was in light of the White Fang general pretty much screaming herself hoarse, the ratcheting rise and fall of her breath still not entirely regulated yet as she wiped at her eyes again. It even sounded relieved, like Blake had been able to bring whatever indefatigable tempest rolled inside Eve a little peace just by revealing that much. It actually emboldened her to take another step forward, the biting accusation that previously reigned over her expression now replaced by a wide-eyed look of hope. Still, there was a meager, even pitiful despondence to her tone as those eyes fell all the way to Blake's shoes for a second, both fists balling up in quiet frustration. Not directed at Sienna's hand, this time, but rather herself.

"...Haven't I made it clear to you I've been trying?! I told myself I'd fight you with everything I had! I told myself it was part of the war, what needed to be done, just like I always have, but when I actually face you I just, I don't know what's happening, I, I don't think I can. I can't. We're supposed to be together." Her voice cracked, the tiny, defeated inflection she spoke the words with making it clear it was her first time admitting this to anyone. Herself included. The breath she drew was deep, intended to be steadying, but her nerves were too utterly frayed at this point, her lungs not even filling up a quarter of the way she wanted them to. Her cheeks felt hot, and while she was doing her best to will them into staying in her eye sockets another stream of tears was threatening to escape their confines, a threat they soon made good on even while she whipped her gaze back up again angrily. "So what, Blake? What is it you're waiting to hear?! You want me to say it, is that it? If I admit you win then everything can be okay again? Well FINE! I CAN'T! I CAN'T BE THE HERO THIS TIME BECAUSE I'M NOT STRONG ENOUGH! I always KNEW you'd make me WEAK!"

There was a clear of the throat from behind. Fennec had emerged from the shadows with his typical eerieness, standing with his dagger in a reverse grip and a skeptically arched eyebrow as he watched the exchange, one that surprisingly let much of its weight fall on Eve. As if reevaluating her.

"Ah... 'leader'? We are withdrawing. The explosives-"

"Then stop wasting time and GO! Take her!" For just a moment, the fearsome, menacing aura of the White Fang's battlemaster was back in full effect, Eve flapping a hand in Ilia's direction with obvious ire at the interruption. She was grateful, at least in that moment, that the wildness of her hair was almost as effective at hiding her eyes sometimes as her mask was. She had let the red tresses bear down fully up until Fennec bowed his head and headed for Ilia's side, but once he was gone she swept it back to her forehead with a renewal of that near delusional optimism in her eyes as she raised her hands.

"Just... just please, please listen to me, whatever Ozpin's telling you the faunus are gonna get out of this is a trick! You and Sienna have been lied to, he might not seem human but I swear to you his promises ring just as false-" Fennec's brief appearance called to mind something, voice rising in pitched volume as she cut over herself. "-I mean, have you even stopped to take a look around at just what kind of 'better world' you're actually creating?! Atlas is about to SECEDE! They're putting the kingdoms' biggest army in the hands of a war criminal and a Schnee! How is that a good thing for us!? For ANYONE?! DID YOU EVER EVEN BELIEVE HIM IN THE FIRST PLACE, OR ARE YOU JUST OUT FOR BLOOD?!"

She stepped closer, dangerously so at this point, as her voice finally broke again at the end of its apex shout. Wide-eyed and pleading was not exactly a look that suited the terrifying warrior. She wore it anyway, because it really was like she said; This girl made her weak. Not in the way she always feared, though, the way humans had made her feel time and time again. A good way. A way she wanted back more than anything. She took another deep breath, a more successful attempt to steady herself, and when she resumed speaking it was without the dangerous, revolutionary edge that had been rising, threatening to break free. As much as her purpose and her feelings might've been locked in bloody war at the moment, all her thoughts towards humanity, about the faunus having to carve out a place in this world for themselves, what she thought of Blake and Sienna's methods, all of it was still true. It was who she was, and she never thought anything was capable of putting a dent in that. It just turned out what she felt for Blake, when stacked against literally every other facet of her existence, was stronger.

"It's not too late! I know it's still you in there, I can see you, I-I... what about just the two of us? We can go anywhere you want! Just somewhere away from all this violence and carnage. Let whatever happens to Remnant happen, it was never our responsibility in the first place, we should never have let it do this to us! Can't you see what a mistake this has all been?! We were young and angry, okay, we wanted to make a difference, and maybe we have, but we've also been breeding more people like us, the cycle just gets bigger and more bloody and I... can't you see what it's been doing to us? I'm so tired of it, Blake. I'm so tired of everything. I just want to be with you again."

The words were tumbling from her mouth before she could stop them at this point, and if Blake really planned on gunning her down then she made sure she had to do it in the midst of a sentence as she delivered them concurrently with her approach, all authority and menace thoroughly drained away by now. And if she was finally successful in passing into grabbing proximity, only then did she let her true intentions show.

To slowly, nonthreateningly take both Blake's hands in her own, completely spent at this point after what had effectively been the emotional breakdown Eve Taurus had been building up towards her entire life. No attempt was made to either take the gun or lower it; she just cupped Blake's hands like that, her own palms warm even through the gloves as they tried to steady the other woman's trembling. And her eyes, though tired, bloodshot and heartbroken, showed no ultimate judgment of whatever decision was ultimately made, Eve finally giving in to fate after raging against it for most of her life, simply letting her eyes lid over as she savored this final chance to hold Blake's hand.​

 

[MidwayLives]

There was so much blood.

She didn't so much stop running so much as she collapsed as her legs gave out from under her and hit the concrete with a red splash, one hand shooting out to stop herself from falling completely and the other clasping at her mouth in horrified shock. There... there was a hole in him. No. This wasn't supposed to happen. Mercury said he'd find him, protect him. They'd all trained so much, there were so many reasons this shouldn't have happened.

She pulled herself closer and fumbled for a hand, the shock of the wound itself overshadowed by what it meant as her face twisted into visage of pure terror as she shakily reached for her partner's face to check for any signs of life.

'i'm so tired....i want to just...rest my eyes.'

All this time, he'd both feared and respected death. Everyone's time came eventually after all. His just came earlier than expected. it almost felt relieving though as if a massive weight had been taken off his shoulders. He didn't have to worry about pain anymore. He could just close his eyes and drift off. No more alarm clocks, no more needing to train.

He'd lost nearly all feeling and his hand had slipped away from Mercury's falling to his side. His eyes had clouded over and his breathing had grown so faint you needed to be right beside his chest to hear it.

As Neo approached and gently placed her hand to his face, nothing seemed to happen.

'I....i don't feel anything. I can't even make out what's in front of me anymore. Has...Did she show up? Ugh, I must be such a mess. She's probably so upset...'

Roman nuzzled his cheek against Neo's palm and smiled at what he believed to be her.

'hey....sorry.....i guess i couldn't hack it. I'm really sorry for worrying you.. Are you okay...?'

'This sucks. I'm going to disappear and I can't even see her face one last time. I...I...'

The faintest flickers of an orange glow appeared around Roman's person as he held onto Neo's hand. He couldn't feel his fingers touching hers . But if Neo paid attention, she'd see a dim glow in his eye's pupil.

'See...'

it was barely audible but he phrased it like an order. Not to Neo or even to Merc. But to himself and whatever had happened, Roman's eyes lit up with the same light they'd had moments before everything went to shit. He smiled at the confirmation of what he'd desired most. It was her. She'd shown up just like he'd wished.

'Ah. She looks so distraught. That's my bad, Neo. I never wanted to be a huntsman but....I promise I'll be around. Even if you can't see me..' He reached down and picking up his hat, he placed it atop Neo's head and gingerly wiped away some of her tears with his thumb.

"neo.....don't cry....i always hated seeing you upset.'

He closed his eyes and smiled warmly.

'Neo....You and me were as close as two peas in a pod. You never needed to say it. I always knew how you felt. That was the connection we had and not even death can break that.'

'You know....I always liked when you smiled...'

Roman's hand started to fall and the glow faded from his eyes.

'If there's one regret? It's that I'll never get to see you guys again....but that's ok. It was fun, wasn't it?'

His hand hit the floor and his head lulled to the side.

'....I think I finally figured out what my semblance was....heh....heh...'

He was gone. With a smile on his face and surrounded by his friends and the girl he loved.

{Roman Torchwick has died.}​

 

[MidwayLives]

He was gone...Just like that.

That was now the second time she'd seen Roman Torchwick die before her eyes.

And this one just about broke her.

She rose to her feet, her makeup all ruined with tears. Holding her hands out, the remaining students and good guys who hadn't evacuated/fled were all shrouded by appearing as just more Shadow Fang goons as far as Ozpin's thugs and others were concerned. They could leave now with hopefully little interruption. It's probably what this world's Roman would have wanted.

As for her?

She didn't care what happened to her.

Go back to a world where she was treated with no respect or stay here and have nobody?

What was the damn point. At least....this way her other would survive. No point in fighting with her anymore.

"*pathetic sobbing*"​

 

[Gus Gungus]

Mercury was still.

Almost as still as Roman was, unnervingly so ever since he shifted aside to kneel to one side while he gave Neo his last moments, features blank and eyes hardened into a grim sobriety by the time the pintsized illusionist made her way over. His gaze was averted, and a small part of it was because it was hard not to feel like he was intruding, even if Roman wanted him here too.

That accounted for about two percent. The other ninety-eight were squarely because he couldn't even imagine looking at Neo right now, couldn't fathom looking her in her multicolored eyes and having to confront whatever blend of confusion, sadness and anger awaited him there. Mercury hadn't been brought up to be the most sensitive guy. Any attempt at a hug or frank discussion of emotions just led to a beating. When certain words fell out of use for so long, they ceased to be part of your vocabulary altogether.

That didn't mean he wasn't going to make some kind of an attempt though. For her. It just wasn't going to be very good. His shoulders were limp, and he still didn't look up at Neo as his voice finally addressed her, lifeless and jaded.

"...Look, Neo... I don't know the words to tell you how sorry I am."

​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

This wasn't happening. It couldn't be happening. If there was anything she could've done in that moment to save Roman's life, she would have. She would've fought Ozpin by herself, she would've killed without hesitation, she would have turned on anyone, burned all of Haven down if it would have somehow fixed what she was looking at. Except she couldn't have even stood up if she tried. Not a single bone or nerve in her body wanted to listen right, and body silently heaved as it took all of control to just keep holding that hand and keeping Roman's head cradled.

She couldn't do anything for him. This was really happening.

She'd had exactly one task in her life since that awful day, one solemn duty that she'd swore she'd keep to. Everything else, her dreams of being a huntress, making friends, staying alive, it was all secondary to protecting him.

and she'd failed

'hey....sorry.....i guess i couldn't hack it. I'm really sorry for worrying you.. Are you okay...?'
​

She violently shook her head no. No, no jokes. Maybe it was for his own benefit, to soften his passing, but she was always a selfish and vain creature, and she couldn't lie to Roman, not now. She wasn't okay, not an iota of this was okay! He wasn't even looking at her, a clouded look in his eyes as he spoke. Once again, a teammate who wouldn't hear her words in the way she could share them. her mouth opened, and a scratchy, miserable sound coughed out of them.

"....p......pl...."

No no no, please, please please no, don't let this happen. Don't let him pass from this life without hearing you just once you STUPID BITCH-

The faintest flickers of an orange glow appeared around Roman's person as he held onto Neo's hand. He couldn't feel his fingers touching hers . But if Neo paid attention, she'd see a dim glow in his eye's pupil.

'See...'

it was barely audible but he phrased it like an order. Not to Neo or even to Merc. But to himself and whatever had happened, Roman's eyes lit up with the same light they'd had moments before everything went to shit. He smiled at the confirmation of what he'd desired most. It was her. She'd shown up just like he'd wished.

'Ah. She looks so distraught. That's my bad, Neo. I never wanted to be a huntsman but....I promise I'll be around. Even if you can't see me..' He reached down and picking up his hat, he placed it atop Neo's head and gingerly wiped away some of her tears with his thumb.

"neo.....don't cry....i always hated seeing you upset.'

She gasped as sh saw the light in his eyes, a spark of hope that she grasped for like a woman lost at sea thrown a line, desperate to interpret anything she could as a sign of life. She gripped the arm of the hand she held with her other hand and held it tight against her chest, a hiccup of a laugh bubbling out of her despite herself. If he didn't want to see her upset then maybe he shouldn't have gotten hurt. She nuzzled against the hand in hers with a sob breaking the smile, the hat just a little too big as it settled on her head

Then his eyes closed again, and her smile vanished in horror

He closed his eyes and smiled warmly.

'Neo....You and me were as close as two peas in a pod. You never needed to say it. I always knew how you felt. That was the connection we had and not even death can break that.'

'You know....I always liked when you smiled...'

No no no no no no no, she wasn't ready, she wasn't ever going to be ready for this, she-

Her grip on his arm tightened like a vise, as if she thought she could physically hold him here on this side of the divide. She shook violently shook her head and opened her mouth, a coughing jumble of nothings coming out instead of the words she was so desperately trying to make. None came out. She tried to just scream, to do anything to let Roman know she was still here for him and that he didn't have to go, she didn't want him to go it wasn't allowed-

Roman's hand started to fall and the glow faded from his eyes.

'If there's one regret? It's that I'll never get to see you guys again....but that's ok. It was fun, wasn't it?'

His hand hit the floor and his head lulled to the side.

'....I think I finally figured out what my semblance was....heh....heh...'

He was gone. With a smile on his face and surrounded by his friends and the girl he loved.

{Roman Torchwick has died.}

When Roman's breathing stopped and the hand in her's stopped grabbing back, Neo froze. She didn't even breath. It was too loud. she listened harder than she ever had before, for any signs of life. Anything. For something coming towards them that could save his life, for the beat of his heart, for his breathing to suddenly gasp to life again. One hand weakly reached out to press against his chest, before it slowly slid back down and the hand holding Torchwick's slowly went limp itself.

Mercury was still.

Almost as still as Roman was, unnervingly so ever since he shifted aside to kneel to one side while he gave Neo his last moments, features blank and eyes hardened into a grim sobriety by the time the pintsized illusionist made her way over. His gaze was averted, and a small part of it was because it was hard not to feel like he was intruding, even if Roman wanted him here too.

That accounted for about two percent. The other ninety-eight were squarely because he couldn't even imagine looking at Neo right now, couldn't fathom looking her in her multicolored eyes and having to confront whatever blend of confusion, sadness and anger awaited him there. Mercury hadn't been brought up to be the most sensitive guy. Any attempt at a hug or frank discussion of emotions just led to a beating. When certain words fell out of use for so long, they ceased to be part of your vocabulary altogether.

That didn't mean he wasn't going to make some kind of an attempt though. For her. It just wasn't going to be very good. His shoulders were limp, and he still didn't look up at Neo as his voice finally addressed her, lifeless and jaded.

"...Look, Neo... I don't know the words to tell you how sorry I am."

​

There wasn't any of that.

She didn't try to scream again. She didn't beat the floor in a rage or lunge for Mercury's neck. Nor did she curl up in a ball and cry. There wasn't any attempts at questioning how this happened. She didn't smile and look to the skies as she wished Roman a safe journey to the other side through the tears. The Neo sitting there didn't shatter as she fled the scene either to mourn in private or begin a one woman crusade for Ozpin's head. It wasn't even clear if she heard anything that Mercury just said.

She just sat there. coated up to the knees and elbows in her partner's blood as she stared at his face, her eyes utterly devoid of light as her arms hanging limpy at her sides.

 

[Gus Gungus]

There wasn't any of that.

She didn't try to scream again. She didn't beat the floor in a rage or lunge for Mercury's. Nor did she curl up in a ball and cry. There wasn't any attempts at questioning how this happened. She didn't smile and look to the skies as she wished Roman a safe journey to the other side through the tears. The Neo sitting there didn't shatter as she fled the scene either to mourn in private or begin a one woman crusade for Ozpin's head.. It wasn't even clear if she heard anything that Mercury just said.

She just sat there. coated up to the knees and elbows in her partner's blood as she stared at his face, her eyes utterly devoid of light as her arms hanging limpy at her sides.

"...We're going."

Mercury's eventual statement was firm, not that he expected her to argue. It was an attempt to snap her out of it more than anything, his reservations supplanted by an anxious concern as he peeked at Neo's face. He tried not to let his own features reflect the dread that was twisting his gut, the worst-case thoughts that maybe he just lost all three of them in the same battle, still trying to play the tough-as-nails leader even despite it all. He failed.

In more ways than one, the fear and apprehension he felt slipping through in the urgency he scooted over with.

"C'mon. Tell me you're not deaf now, too. Neo!"

That last delivery of her name was almost snapped, channeling that browbeating authority again as he reached out and shook her gently. Then not so gently. Then thumped her arm.

"HEY! YOU COULD BE THE LAST ONE LEFT, GODDAMN IT! DON'T DO THIS TO ME!"

But if none of it did the trick, he just growled in frustration that was entirely self-directed before he scooped her onto his shoulders and turned away... only to halt. Most of the combatants seemed to be scattered or retreating by this point; they'd been frozen here so long they were among the last left.

"Hazel."

He didn't turn his head to where the big guy was recovering, but raised his voice so it carried over. Rather than make the request verbally he just gestured, vaguely indicating towards Roman's body without looking at that either.

"...Please."

He wasn't carrying Neo under one arm and her dead best friend under the other. No way. She was going through enough because of him.

He took off, heading for the building Neo had come from to try figure out where his partner was, if she was even still alive. Huh. No sign of her. Some dead guy though.​

 

[MyrtenRose]

[One post set in the future slightly ahead of everything else still happening, incoming]

"..."

Nearly a week. It had been nearly one whole week since she fled from Haven Academy and still, she hadn't seen a single one of them. Not a single member of the Branwen tribe had returned to their camp. Not even Qrow himself. She didn't know if a lot of them were dead and some imprisoned, or if a lot of them were imprisoned and some dead, or if they were all dead or all imprisoned. Whatever the case, none of them were showing up. And she didn't want to go back to check, not while there was even the slightest chance that Emerald was over there. Those monstrosities.....never in her life had she seen things that so greatly inspired fear like those twisted creatures.

With a extra heavy sigh, Vernal turned away from her vantage point on one of the hills hidden away in the woods nearby that let her watch the camp and strode over to her captive. The young Cinder Fall was secured properly with some stolen cuffs and a gag fastened over her mouth, but that didn't stop her from glaring daggers at her fellow maiden.

"Don't start, I'm not in the mood."

There was a muffled reply as Cinder tried to say something, but none of it was comprehensible. Vernal shook her head but despite herself, she looked over at the fall maiden with some curiosity. The girl looked back at her with pleading eyes and then down to the gag around her mouth before shooting back up to the bandit. Vernal sighed again, not sure what exactly came over her but she did reach out to rip the gag off. "You know the drill, don't try to run and don't try to scream. If you do..." Blue eyes suddenly flared with the magical power of a more realized maiden. "...but you can spit out whatever you want."

"How kind of you." The sarcasm was overwhelming. Vernal rolled her eyes, the blue at the edge of them fading away. "Why-" Cinder continued more seriously. "-why did you take me?"

"You asked me that once already."

"Yes I did and you refused to answer. I'm hoping now you might."

"I needed a bargaining chip."

"...I don't buy that. If you were actually intending to use me like that ...we wouldn't be here wasting time as you stare off into the distance and make no effort to try contacting someone."

"...I'm just in no hurry is all, can't believe you seem to be that eager to be."

"Hmph. Still don't believe that's what you are trying to do. In fact I think in your own strange way, you were trying to help me."

"How do you figure that? Was it all the lightning I hit you with, or the way I took you from your idiot friends? How I'm marching you around as a prisoner?"

"Okay, yeah no, the lightning wasn't really helpful. But...you could have continued it even after I was out, straight up killed me. You didn't. And yeah, the whole prisoner thing isn't helpful either...but better your captive than Ozpin's. If you were really even half as willing to throw me to Ozpin as you try to suggest you are, you could have just let them take me. Pyrrha or Nora or Ren or any of them. You wouldn't have to lift a finger to do it, just let them handle the problem. Instead...you took me. I think that's because, though you will probably deny it, you actually care more than you let on. Not sure why exactly though."

"...…...You're a damn pest, you know that?"

"Yep." Cinder brushed that off with a grin, not caring about petty insults. "So how would you explain it then, if you don't believe that's why you took me then?"

"..."

"Tch. Fine, don't tell me. But at least let me know why the heck you're just hanging around here."

"I'm...waiting."

"It's been days. You have to know nobody is coming. Nobody you want to show up, anyway."

"Shut up."

"Look, I'm just--"

"I SAID SHUT UP!" She roared before adding in a more quiet voice. "A couple more days, that's it. Qrow or somebody, they'll come back. They have to." She finished in a tone desperately trying to express certainty.

Cinder, despite her current status as a hostage, couldn't help but look at Vernal with a hint of pity. "...You can try to deny it as much as you like, but they're not coming. So again, why are we still lingering here?"

"You...you wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

"I..." She looked away in disbelief that she was actually considering admitting anything to her captive. But...without the conversation she would just be sitting here alone with her thoughts...and the fear. "Look. Without them, I...wouldn't have anything. My family, my place in the world? All that and more is gone without them. I'd have nothing...nothing of worth in my life without them. Not that I'd expect you to understand that."

"You're wrong."

"What you talking about?"

"I do understand. I know what it feels like to have nothing. Growing up, I felt that feeling more often than I wanted, more than anyone ever should. My family, they were an oppressive mean bunch, as nasty as people can get. Almost my entire life was spent under their thumb. I still would be, if I hadn't met her."

"Her?"

"Salem." Cinder clarified. Her mind flashed back to the day she met the headmistress, after she had spent quite some time with a newfound power she didn't really understand. The three words she asked, the ones that would change her life.

"That day, she offered me something I always dreamed was possible but that I had grown to believe would never come. An escape from that miserable life. And suddenly, just like that...I hadn't realized it yet but my life had just been flipped in ways I couldn't even start to comprehend. For the first time in my life, I actually had something. Something that mattered. For whatever reason, the world had chosen me. Some poor girl from some nowhere town...I had become special. Important. Salem brought me to Beacon early and soon enough I found people in my life that.....I ended up loving them more than I thought I could ever love anyone." She lifted her eyes to the moonlit sky, staring with a frown at the shattered moon.

"Hazel Rainart. Tyrian Callows. Mercury Black, Roman Torchwick, Emerald Sustrai, Neopolitan...even Arthur Watts."

"...Why are you telling me this? Do you think I care?"

"I don't know." She answered bluntly. "I'm not certain about what you care or don't care about, other than yourself and the pack of criminals you run...ran with. But I'm saying it because you're wrong about me, and you're also equally wrong on one other point." Cinder pulled her gaze down to look over at the bandit. "You still do have something in your life, even if your tribe is gone. You're special in the same way I am."

"..."

"That also means we both have a responsibility to the world. Like it or not."

"You should save your breath, kiddo. I never signed up for any of that."

"Yeah, there's a chance you didn't." Cinder conceded. "But that doesn't change the fact that you do have a duty to the world. You have the power within you to do so much good for the world, but you hold yourself back from it. You hide away in some corner of the world, just hoping to go unnoticed in the grand scheme of things. You want to know why I think that is?"

"No, but I think you're gonna tell me anyway like the annoying pest you are."

"Same reason you're sitting here waiting instead of rushing back to Haven to doublecheck. You're afraid."

"No I'm not." She denied, though the words sounded just as weak to herself as she thought they did to Cinder.

"Yes, yes you are. You're hiding away because you fear the target on your back since you're a maiden. Just as you fear Emerald. Whatever she made you see...it made you terrified of what she can do. And you're even more terrified of Ozpin. But what does it say about you, if a fifteen year old girl is less of a coward than you are?"

Ordinarily those would have been fighting words enough to provoke Vernal to violence but coming from somebody cuffed? it just didn't have the same effect. Nowhere near it. "...What the hell are you expecting from me?"

"Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeell-" She stressed the word extra long. "-you are the person holding me prisoner and a bandit and a doublecrosser and just overall really shady...but you're also one of the very few people on the planet who could help me learn what I need to, with y'know, our powers. Beggars can't be choosers, right?" Cinder said with a smile.

"I ain't much of a teacher, kid."

"You know more than I do, though." She pointed out.

"Tch. That's not that high a bar. Besides, I don't see what's in it for me."

"I don't have anything to give you." She deadpanned, raising her cuffed hands for proof. "But...what do you really have to lose?"

Vernal fell uncomfortably silent in response to that. She didn't really have an answer. After a few moments she pulled Cinder up and pushed the girl forward to make her start walking, though she made no effort to slip the gag over the fall maiden's mouth. She glanced over her shoulder to look down at the camp in the distance before turning her back and following after the optimistic kid, the bandit's thoughts currently a jumbled mess.

"heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey you think maybe we can talk about removing these cuffs too...?"

"You don't want to keep pressing me kid, I will strangle you in your sleep."

"Sheesh, just a thought. Not like I could get anywhere before you maiden whoosh after me."

"Before I what?"

"You know...maiden whoosh." Cinder imitated the sounds of somebody flying through the air at great speeds as best she could.

"Fucking hell..." Perhaps it wasn't too late to try to use her for a bargaining chip after all. Deliver her to...Ozpin...or Salem. Either way. In that moment she was open to all options.​

 

[MidwayLives]

The other Neo had vanished with only the distinct shattering to herald her exit.

She’d...seen enough.

Where had she gone, where was she going? Only she knew and she wasn’t saying.​

 

[MyrtenRose]

She had let the red tresses bear down fully up until Fennec bowed his head and headed for Ilia's side

"Don't touch me."​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

It

She stepped closer, dangerously so at this point, as her voice finally broke again at the end of its apex shout. Wide-eyed and pleading was not exactly a look that suited the terrifying warrior. She wore it anyway, because it really was like she said; This girl made her weak. Not in the way she always feared, though, the way humans had made her feel time and time again. A good way. A way she wanted back more than anything. She took another deep breath, a more successful attempt to steady herself, and when she resumed speaking it was without the dangerous, revolutionary edge that had been rising, threatening to break free. As much as her purpose and her feelings might've been locked in bloody war at the moment, all her thoughts towards humanity, about the faunus having to carve out a place in this world for themselves, what she thought of Blake and Sienna's methods, all of it was still true. It was who she was, and she never thought anything was capable of putting a dent in that. It just turned out what she felt for Blake, when stacked against literally every other facet of her existence, was stronger.

"It's not too late! I know it's still you in there, I can see you, I-I... what about just the two of us? We can go anywhere you want! Just somewhere away from all this violence and carnage. Let whatever happens to Remnant happen, it was never our responsibility in the first place, we should never have let it do this to us! Can't you see what a mistake this has all been?! We were young and angry, okay, we wanted to make a difference, and maybe we have, but we've also been breeding more people like us, the cycle just gets bigger and more bloody and I... can't you see what it's been doing to us? I'm so tired of it, Blake. I'm so tired of everything. I just want to be with you again."

The words were tumbling from her mouth before she could stop them at this point, and if Blake really planned on gunning her down then she made sure she had to do it in the midst of a sentence as she delivered them concurrently with her approach, all authority and menace thoroughly drained away by now. And if she was finally successful in passing into grabbing proximity, only then did she let her true intentions show.

To slowly, nonthreateningly take both Blake's hands in her own, completely spent at this point after what had effectively been the emotional breakdown Eve Taurus had been building up towards her entire life. No attempt was made to either take the gun or lower it; she just cupped Blake's hands like that, her own palms warm even through the gloves as they tried to steady the other woman's trembling. And her eyes, though tired, bloodshot and heartbroken, showed no ultimate judgment of whatever decision was ultimately made, Eve finally giving in to fate after raging against it for most of her life, simply letting her eyes lid over as she savored this final chance to hold Blake's hand.​

Before eve took those last steps closer, the ground at her feet sparked with gunfire.

"Do not come any closer."

Blake's breathes were heavy and erratic, and this close Eve could see the wild, distraught look in her eyes as she stared Eve down. If Eve didn't listen, then she found a bullet in her leg before Blake disappeared over the side of the railing, disappearing into the streets below

If she did... nothing was said at first. Blake was at war with herself inside as she, too, weighed her discipline and beliefs against the girl in front of her. Because she did still believe Ozpin. He had no reason to lie. Salem was his enemy, not life itself. He may have been a monster, but she learned a long, long time ago that monsters were just what you called the people in power. When Ozpin ruled the world, they'd just be trading one monster for another as far as she was concerned, only one who the faunus had earned the right to rule besides.

It was worth it. She did not revel in the bloodshed, but she would spill however much it took until she'd bled humanity into breaking.

Eve would never understand that. She wasn't strong enough to. There was an arrogance to the thought, yet Blake knew that she was, and they were so close to the end. All Eve ever had to do was stay out of the way, sit quiet and let Blake save them, save her, yet here she was, opening her heart to her and begging Blake to step off the path, to let the faunus continue to suffer for the sake of her own happiness.

It horrified her how much she wanted to. To ignore the weight of the bodies she'd piled up on her shoulders, to let Salem and Ozpin sort themselves out, and to simply live life in safety, away from all the bloodshed before she had soaked so much of it up the piece of herself she'd buried until The Work was done found itself drowned. But if she did...

She knew Ozpin was a monster, and she'd seen what failing him looked like. If she left now, all the improvements the faunus had gotten would be cast aside, and they'd find themselves in a hell even worse than they'd been when they started. There wasn't an out. She knew that when she signed up for this, that it was a path she'd have to walk to the end, that she'd carry the hope of the faunus on her shoulders and their damnation in her heart. Eve almost made her forget that.

"...I'm sorry. I'm s-sorry but-"

*Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep beep beep beep beep beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep-*

Whatever she was sorry for was lost as she heard the sound of the bombs reaching the end of their timer, and she whirled to look at the nearest one before she snatched Eve's hand and dived off the tower, Gambol lashing out to snag a nearby rooftop and slingshotting them into the air just as the on at the top of the tower exploded first. The Bull faunus found herself released in mid-air, and she started to fall as blake kept rocketing forward, disappearing over the building and into the streets of Haven behind it

 

[Gus Gungus]

"..."

From the moment Blake forced her to stop, it was as if Eve had died. Like each bullet had buried itself in her heart as eagerly and accurately as they did the floor, her hands dropping lifelessly to her sides as her gaze fell along with them, unable to meet Blake's own. The storm of nigh-manic hysteria and distress overcoming her mere seconds ago seemed to shrivel and dissipate as abruptly as Vernal's tempest of flame had earlier, Eve's spirit, drive, will to fight for anything blown out like they were no more than a series of candles that plunged whatever even remained of her into darkness. Her mind wasn't quite a blank screen; with whatever romantic delusions she'd been forcing herself to believe in so thoroughly shattered, her brain was replaying over everything she'd said, all the things she renounced and disparaged during whatever complete delirium she let herself spiral into the moment she saw Blake's eyes. And Fennec, possibly the most conniving and naysaying person under her command, was there to drink in every syllable. There had already been so many whispers about her stability of late, questions surrounding her suitability to command, the necessity of a drawn-out conflict with other faunus, whether she was truly strong enough to prioritize the good of her own followers over her own selfish pursuits. And this...

This proved every one of them right. She was ruined. In her hazy, unhinged state, brought on by emotions she never quite learned to tame, she had genuinely believed it would be as simple as walking over there, that Blake would take her in her arms and everything would be okay, that nothing else mattered except for that.

Blake's warning shots were like a bucket of ice water flung all the way through her messy psychosis, and now that her thoughts were catching up with her actions Blake had never seen her look so humiliated in her life. From compromising her own position, from her heart opening only to be put back in its place by the only one she ever thought it was safe to open for, from all of it. There had been an element of rage, even petulance to her crying before; the softer, more muted weeping she lapsed into was self-directed and genuinely pathetic to watch, silent barring the occasional hiccup, more resembling a child caught doing something it shouldn't have than anything Blake had ever observed in the raging bull before. Even still, something about the way she stood was so hollow, eyes so glazed over and lifeless, that it was difficult to ignore the feeling that another fragile layer of a psyche that had been ground down since childhood had shattered, reduced to dust in how efficiently the deed was done.

She didn't even register the beeping picking up tempo, nor Blake's reaction to it. The body Blake yanked off the tower with her was so limp it was like a carcass, right up until the moment she went to let go.

Then she felt it returned so tightly it was painful, her arm yanked so hard another angle might've torn it from its socket, and Eve pouncing at her with an unbridled, practically feral scream, aura having apparently not so much been depleted as disengaged. Both hands closed around Blake's throat, and there was no way to accurately describe how tight that grip became in a second as she tried to tackle her love out of the sky and make sure she couldn't shake free, eyes flared so wildly a little red trickled from her opened scars and mingled with the tear tracks.

"I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE SORRY! YOU'RE GOING TO LISTEN TO ME!"​

 

[Gus Gungus]

"Don't touch me."

He dumped her down on a neighboring rooftop. :|

"My, my. Quite the show we were treated to, wouldn't you say?"

​

 

[Indolent]

"...We're going."

Mercury's eventual statement was firm, not that he expected her to argue. It was an attempt to snap her out of it more than anything, his reservations supplanted by an anxious concern as he peeked at Neo's face. He tried not to let his own features reflect the dread that was twisting his gut, the worst-case thoughts that maybe he just lost all three of them in the same battle, still trying to play the tough-as-nails leader even despite it all. He failed.

In more ways than one, the fear and apprehension he felt slipping through in the urgency he scooted over with.

"C'mon. Tell me you're not deaf now, too. Neo!"

That last delivery of her name was almost snapped, channeling that browbeating authority again as he reached out and shook her gently. Then not so gently. Then thumped her arm.

"HEY! YOU COULD BE THE LAST ONE LEFT, GODDAMN IT! DON'T DO THIS TO ME!"

But if none of it did the trick, he just growled in frustration that was entirely self-directed before he scooped her onto his shoulders and turned away... only to halt. Most of the combatants seemed to be scattered or retreating by this point; they'd been frozen here so long they were among the last left.

"Hazel."

He didn't turn his head to where the big guy was recovering, but raised his voice so it carried over. Rather than make the request verbally he just gestured, vaguely indicating towards Roman's body without looking at that either.

"...Please."

He wasn't carrying Neo under one arm and her dead best friend under the other. No way. She was going through enough because of him.

He took off, heading for the building Neo had come from to try figure out where his partner was, if she was even still alive. Huh. No sign of her. Some dead guy though.​

Hazel managed to extricate himself from the earth's embrace with his sister's help, resting momentarily as the worst of the discomfort started to dissipate. It was nothing like he'd ever felt before, as if an iridescent ball of molten lead had expanded to the very ends of his extremities. His body felt heavy, more so than the usual and it was very much obviously not from the usual causes as exhaustion or injury. Somewhere at the back of his mind, he pondered whether his stunt would have lasting ramifications, hoped that it wouldn't be much more than lingering sensations like the usual. In a way, he didn't so much care. Hazel knew well why he'd done what he did, out of impassioned furor, a singular focus on exacting vengeance. He'd accept whatever he'd sown. For now, his attention belonged elsewhere.

"Oh... no. Nooo..." Gretchen uttered, the epiphany of why her brother had gone berserk manifesting. She would have reached out to comfort him only not to, a grunt discouraging the act as Hazel's lidded eyes met the ground. Ambling to his feet, he turned with a trepidatious flick of the eyes over to where Roman lied, his features hard as stone though his misting eyes and shuddering breaths betrayed his emotions.

"You don't need to see this." He said with an inflection that brooked nothing in way of protests, a solemn desire that she be kept far from witnessing the sad affair personally. He knew proximity would change nothing but he said it anyway, the protective desire compelling the statement regardless. Rainart began his approach for Roman's body, his gait slow and purposeful as typical of a funeral procession. If Mercury asked him to, if Neo needed him to, Hazel would have carried Roman home to his final resting place.

Gretchen watched as her brother departed, both arms crossing over to grip her upper arms, her lower lip chewed on before she looked away. She shuddered, reminded of the night in Beacon, the tears working away at the dam ready to burst. She didn't want a repeat of what happened and it happened away. She knew Team MTEN in a peripheral way unlike her brother, and while they were a truly interesting, definitely storied lot just from the outside, she knew she liked them. Choking her tears, she took off to assist with the retreat, covering anyone who needed or helping them.

Hazel reached his body, standing over Torchwick in study. The injury was grievous with nothing to be done for it but he could tell Mercury tried anyway. Blood was everywhere, staining both Roman's clothes and the concrete ground. It was a gruesome end for someone, especially one like Roman Torchwick. But in spite of the melancholy in it all, he'd smiled even as he expired and it was still there yet. It made the ordeal worse for Hazel as he attempted to steel himself, hardening himself in whatever way he could. But an errant tear broke through the fortified fortress he attempted to erect, the rest following in a cascade. His body quivered as he loomed over, sniffling for a moment before he exhaled a wheezing, shaky sigh. It shouldn't have been like this. None of it... but thoughts like these were dust in the wind, carried away and affected nothing. An affirmation by way of the nod of the head was given before Hazel knelt, his knees and shin contacting the blood, as he reached to fold Roman's arms onto his chest. Before he lifted him into his arms, he made certain to close his eyes if they hadn't been already.

"Let's go home..." He said, knowing he couldn't say anymore without summoning his emotions. So Hazel carried his body from the battlefield, a grim bearer soaked in blood.

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

He didn't turn his head to where the big guy was recovering, but raised his voice so it carried over. Rather than make the request verbally he just gestured, vaguely indicating towards Roman's body without looking at that either.

"...Please."

He wasn't carrying Neo under one arm and her dead best friend under the other. No way. She was going through enough because of him.

He took off, heading for the building Neo had come from to try figure out where his partner was, if she was even still alive. Huh. No sign of her. Some dead guy though.

She didn't react to any of the talking, or the yelling, or even being thumped. She reached weakly towards Torchwick when she was picked up, but not even that had any real life to it, and she laid loosely in Mercury's arms, for the first time he'd known her seeming as small as she really was.

When the reached the room she'd stashed emerald in, a vague wave of her hand made the illusion shatter. If nothing else, proof that she wasn't entirely dead to the world around her

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"..."

From the moment Blake forced her to stop, it was as if Eve had died. Like each bullet had buried itself in her heart as eagerly and accurately as they did the floor, her hands dropping lifelessly to her sides as her gaze fell along with them, unable to meet Blake's own. The storm of nigh-manic hysteria and distress overcoming her mere seconds ago seemed to shrivel and dissipate as abruptly as Vernal's tempest of flame had earlier, Eve's spirit, drive, will to fight for anything blown out like they were no more than a series of candles that plunged whatever even remained of her into darkness. Her mind wasn't quite a blank screen; with whatever romantic delusions she'd been forcing herself to believe in so thoroughly shattered, her brain was replaying over everything she'd said, all the things she renounced and disparaged during whatever complete delirium she let herself spiral into the moment she saw Blake's eyes. And Fennec, possibly the most conniving and naysaying person under her command, was there to drink in every syllable. There had already been so many whispers about her stability of late, questions surrounding her suitability to command, the necessity of a drawn-out conflict with other faunus, whether she was truly strong enough to prioritize the good of her own followers over her own selfish pursuits. And this...

This proved every one of them right. She was ruined. In her hazy, unhinged state, brought on by emotions she never quite learned to tame, she had genuinely believed it would be as simple as walking over there, that Blake would take her in her arms and everything would be okay, that nothing else mattered except for that.

Blake's warning shots were like a bucket of ice water flung all the way through her messy psychosis, and now that her thoughts were catching up with her actions Blake had never seen her look so humiliated in her life. From compromising her own position, from her heart opening only to be put back in its place by the only one she ever thought it was safe to open for, from all of it. There had been an element of rage, even petulance to her crying before; the softer, more muted weeping she lapsed into was self-directed and genuinely pathetic to watch, silent barring the occasional hiccup, more resembling a child caught doing something it shouldn't have than anything Blake had ever observed in the raging bull before. Even still, something about the way she stood was so hollow, eyes so glazed over and lifeless, that it was difficult to ignore the feeling that another fragile layer of a psyche that had been ground down since childhood had shattered, reduced to dust in how efficiently the deed was done.

She didn't even register the beeping picking up tempo, nor Blake's reaction to it. The body Blake yanked off the tower with her was so limp it was like a carcass, right up until the moment she went to let go.

Then she felt it returned so tightly it was painful, her arm yanked so hard another angle might've torn it from its socket, and Eve pouncing at her with an unbridled, practically feral scream, aura having apparently not so much been depleted as disengaged. Both hands closed around Blake's throat, and there was no way to accurately describe how tight that grip became in a second as she tried to tackle her love out of the sky and make sure she couldn't shake free, eyes flared so wildly a little red trickled from her opened scars and mingled with the tear tracks.

"I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE SORRY! YOU'RE GOING TO LISTEN TO ME!"​

It was the easiest chokehold anyone ever had and would get on Blake in her life, the look on her face as her breathing suddenly came to a painful stop unable to portray the depths of utter shock overcame her. She was confused, heartbroken, and vindicated all over the course of a few seconds.


"...You.... you..."

Then it all burned away into rage. Her eyes were less like gold and more akin to flames as she did her best to flip them around in the air so that Eve slammed into the street first, what little bit of air she was able to get coming out in tiny wheezes that somehow carried all of the weight of the screams of fury they were supposed to be.

She'd wanted Eve to fight her, even as every part of her hoped she didn't; the only way she saw them both being content was if Eve simply backed down, and Blake never truly believed that was ever going to happen. So instead she wanted her to lash out, to justify Blake being the sword or the knife in the back; to let her be the one to send Eve through to the next life without remorse. Yet twice now it hadn't happened. Eve may have been the one to finish Blake at Beacon, but only after Blake struck first; she very clearly didn't intend to fight then, either. Just like here, and this time Blake had to look her in the eyes. There wouldn't be any gentle touches shielding her from the oncoming painless embrace of an instant death. She would have known exactly what was coming, and that Blake was the one who did it.

Blake couldnt' do it. There wasn't a depth she could sink to that'd let her go against the core of what Blake Belladonna was to that amount. She'd come to accept that Eve Taurus was never going to give her the combat she wished for, and that Blake would either have to cut that last bit of her own heart out with the massive weight of the executioner's axe rather than the killer's knife, or Eve would've fallen into the hands of someone far worse. Her first thoughts as she leaped away was that there was some comfort in that; Even if Eve felt she had to stand in the way of Blake's path, it wasn't abandonment; just bullheaded stubborness.

And then the hands went around her neck, and all of that went out the window in pure, murderous rage.

If she did manage to get Eve's back pointed towards the ground, they hit the mistralian streets with a violent crash as the tower exploded in their wake. A gunshot heralded Gambol Shroud spinning back to Blake's hand, and it transformed into its bladed form as she spun its grip so that she could try and stab it into both the arms around her throat at the same time

 

[Gus Gungus]

If she did manage to get Eve's back pointed towards the ground, they hit the mistralian streets with a violent crash as the tower exploded in their wake. A gunshot heralded Gambol Shroud spinning back to Blake's hand, and it transformed into its bladed form as she spun its grip so that she could try and stab it into both the arms around her throat at the same time

Eve's rage was single-minded, and Blake was able to get the leverage to flip her and send her crashing back-first into the street with a grunt. But those hands didn't loosen, not even a little bit, and there was animal savagery in the eyes that burned with every bit as much violence, seething anger, and betrayed accusation as Blake's had in the seconds since making that grab for her throat. She less shook and more rattled the Shadow Fang elite as she seethed through a clenched jaw, tone evoking the same juvenile frustration as before ramped up to a million.

"NONE OF THIS WOULD'VE HAPPENED IF YOU JUST LISTENED! IF YOU DIDN'T THINK YOU WERE SO MUCH GODDAMN SMARTER THAN EVERYONE ELSE, THE PEOPLE WHO CARE ABOUT YOU!"

Wilt had been abandoned, but Blush still hung from her side, and there was a ringing ptang that lingered in both their ears as Gambol Shroud was struck with terrifying precision an inch from Blake's hand, ricocheting wildly back into the night and serving as good a notice as any that Eve was feeling much more herself again. Her other hand still held the throat in that relentless vice, and Eve pushed off the ground with her foot to try flip them over so she straddled the other faunus instead, transitioning to trying to force Blush horizontally down across Blake's jugular as an alternative method of choking her out.

"LIKE THERE'S SOME BIG PICTURE NOBODY ELSE CAN SEE! WHAT IF THERE'S NO BIG PICTURE, BLAKE? WHAT IF YOU'RE JUST CRAZY?!"​

 

[Indolent]

This whooooooooole thing is... what's the word? Mercury knew these stupid words. Fubar? Yeah, none of this makes sense, all of it.

Her crimson eyes glinted from beneath the shadowed hood of the cloak she'd stolen earlier, the thief flitting through the area as she took it all in. Sure, she kept to the fringes of the fighting just be sure nobody's prying eyes caught her. It wasn't worth the hassle that would have followed. Even though she very much nearly ran across Ruby Rose. She had half a mind to extract some kind of payback for what she'd done to Cinder all those years ago... but it wasn't the time for it. So once again, she turned tail and ducked out into another direction. It was either some twisted force at work that sent her this way or it was purely happenstance but she inadvertently encountered a scene she never thought she'd see.

The death of Roman Torchwick. That was emotionally charged, not for her but his teammate. Mercury was there, by his side, consoling a dying man and friend. It was a serious cognitive dissonance that washed over her, her idea of her Mercury clashing with this one she watched. He was so very much alike in his conveyance, his inability to express and handle his emotions the same with a distinct difference. The kindness and sadness he showed, the camaraderie cropping up between two friends who'd see each other for the last time.

Emerald never had any love for Roman Torchwick, her impression of him eternally that of an opportunistic scumbag that just so happened to have connections worth taking advantage of. Maybe he had something in way of a good sense of fashion but that was all she allowed. Her Mercury very much was alike in opinion.

Even armed with the knowledge of these differences, the obvious fact that this wasn't her Mercury whatsoever... she couldn't deny an urge that grew with each second she watched the scene unfolded. As it changed from Mercury to including Neo. When he finally died. When Mercury took her away from Roman's corpse with this world's Hazel stepping in to dress and collect the body in a sad farewell. The urge flourished into something that was more than demanding. A visceral compulsion that bid her body move before she even thought of it.

And she found herself in that building, behind Mercury and Neo. Found herself reaching out for Mercury's shoulder, the gesture of a companion's with the warm assurance everything would be well in the grip. Then she saw her alternate self half dead against the wall after the illusion was dispelled and a soft gasp slipped out. If either looked, there was nothing there; maybe the sound was a quirk of air movement in the building.

That was... so stupid, Emerald. So stupid! Not even the same person. What...

She couldn't stick around any longer... this place was making her crazy.

 

[MyrtenRose]

He dumped her down on a neighboring rooftop. :|

"My, my. Quite the show we were treated to, wouldn't you say?"

​

"...………………"

What part of that had been anything close to a show? Shows were meant to be wholesome or good or entertaining or something close to that, not...what she'd just watched. The fact that here this fox was helping a good cause stayed her hand. Plus the whole, saving her just now...still, there was just something creepy about him that she couldn't help wondering how she had been so blinded by loyalty that she couldn't see it. Just the vague sense that something was off. "No." She bluntly replied. And then she was walking away, forcing herself to move despite the pain that ached with every step. When she reached the building's edge, she dropped down and out of view, the sound of her whip extending and pulling her further and further away.​

"..."

From the moment Blake forced her to stop, it was as if Eve had died. Like each bullet had buried itself in her heart as eagerly and accurately as they did the floor, her hands dropping lifelessly to her sides as her gaze fell along with them, unable to meet Blake's own. The storm of nigh-manic hysteria and distress overcoming her mere seconds ago seemed to shrivel and dissipate as abruptly as Vernal's tempest of flame had earlier, Eve's spirit, drive, will to fight for anything blown out like they were no more than a series of candles that plunged whatever even remained of her into darkness. Her mind wasn't quite a blank screen; with whatever romantic delusions she'd been forcing herself to believe in so thoroughly shattered, her brain was replaying over everything she'd said, all the things she renounced and disparaged during whatever complete delirium she let herself spiral into the moment she saw Blake's eyes. And Fennec, possibly the most conniving and naysaying person under her command, was there to drink in every syllable. There had already been so many whispers about her stability of late, questions surrounding her suitability to command, the necessity of a drawn-out conflict with other faunus, whether she was truly strong enough to prioritize the good of her own followers over her own selfish pursuits. And this...

This proved every one of them right. She was ruined. In her hazy, unhinged state, brought on by emotions she never quite learned to tame, she had genuinely believed it would be as simple as walking over there, that Blake would take her in her arms and everything would be okay, that nothing else mattered except for that.

Blake's warning shots were like a bucket of ice water flung all the way through her messy psychosis, and now that her thoughts were catching up with her actions Blake had never seen her look so humiliated in her life. From compromising her own position, from her heart opening only to be put back in its place by the only one she ever thought it was safe to open for, from all of it. There had been an element of rage, even petulance to her crying before; the softer, more muted weeping she lapsed into was self-directed and genuinely pathetic to watch, silent barring the occasional hiccup, more resembling a child caught doing something it shouldn't have than anything Blake had ever observed in the raging bull before. Even still, something about the way she stood was so hollow, eyes so glazed over and lifeless, that it was difficult to ignore the feeling that another fragile layer of a psyche that had been ground down since childhood had shattered, reduced to dust in how efficiently the deed was done.

She didn't even register the beeping picking up tempo, nor Blake's reaction to it. The body Blake yanked off the tower with her was so limp it was like a carcass, right up until the moment she went to let go.

Then she felt it returned so tightly it was painful, her arm yanked so hard another angle might've torn it from its socket, and Eve pouncing at her with an unbridled, practically feral scream, aura having apparently not so much been depleted as disengaged. Both hands closed around Blake's throat, and there was no way to accurately describe how tight that grip became in a second as she tried to tackle her love out of the sky and make sure she couldn't shake free, eyes flared so wildly a little red trickled from her opened scars and mingled with the tear tracks.

"I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE SORRY! YOU'RE GOING TO LISTEN TO ME!"​

It was the easiest chokehold anyone ever had and would get on Blake in her life, the look on her face as her breathing suddenly came to a painful stop unable to portray the depths of utter shock overcame her. She was confused, heartbroken, and vindicated all over the course of a few seconds.


"...You.... you..."

Then it all burned away into rage. Her eyes were less like gold and more akin to flames as she did her best to flip them around in the air so that Eve slammed into the street first, what little bit of air she was able to get coming out in tiny wheezes that somehow carried all of the weight of the screams of fury they were supposed to be.

She'd wanted Eve to fight her, even as every part of her hoped she didn't; the only way she saw them both being content was if Eve simply backed down, and Blake never truly believed that was ever going to happen. So instead she wanted her to lash out, to justify Blake being the sword or the knife in the back; to let her be the one to send Eve through to the next life without remorse. Yet twice now it hadn't happened. Eve may have been the one to finish Blake at Beacon, but only after Blake struck first; she very clearly didn't intend to fight then, either. Just like here, and this time Blake had to look her in the eyes. There wouldn't be any gentle touches shielding her from the oncoming painless embrace of an instant death. She would have known exactly what was coming, and that Blake was the one who did it.

Blake couldnt' do it. There wasn't a depth she could sink to that'd let her go against the core of what Blake Belladonna was to that amount. She'd come to accept that Eve Taurus was never going to give her the combat she wished for, and that Blake would either have to cut that last bit of her own heart out with the massive weight of the executioner's axe rather than the killer's knife, or Eve would've fallen into the hands of someone far worse. Her first thoughts as she leaped away was that there was some comfort in that; Even if Eve felt she had to stand in the way of Blake's path, it wasn't abandonment; just bullheaded stubborness.

And then the hands went around her neck, and all of that went out the window in pure, murderous rage.

If she did manage to get Eve's back pointed towards the ground, they hit the mistralian streets with a violent crash as the tower exploded in their wake. A gunshot heralded Gambol Shroud spinning back to Blake's hand, and it transformed into its bladed form as she spun its grip so that she could try and stab it into both the arms around her throat at the same time

She absolutely had to keep moving regardless of how much it hurt. She had made a promise to herself, to this other Blake, and no matter how bad it got or foolish it seemed not to do so, she wasn't about to abandon Blake. No one would have ever held it against her after how she'd almost lost her hand or after getting stabbed through......but she just couldn't do it. Even if that meant--

A sudden round of dust exploded upon impact, knocking the chameleon off course of her next whip swing and sending her crashing to the street below her. Before she could even see who had hit her, a fierce kick followed it up. Hard. Ilia felt she might be seeing stars for a week after that blow. There was somebody standing there overlooking her, a faint outline behind the hazy vision...and then in a blink, gone.​

Wilt had been abandoned

A gloved hand moved to snatch up the red blade where it had fallen, not having been missed.​

"LIKE THERE'S SOME BIG PICTURE NOBODY ELSE CAN SEE! WHAT IF THERE'S NO BIG PICTURE, BLAKE? WHAT IF YOU'RE JUST CRAZY?!"

And as the yelling intensified, somebody else charged in with a blast of rounds that both announced her presence and propelled her forward at great speeds. A powerful haymaker struck the redheaded faunus in the face at that point, knocking the bull loose and off Blake. A second after Eve hit the ground wherever, the red sword was thrown like a spear intent to run her through and impale her to the ground. Following that, the blonde glared down harshly at Blake.

"Get up, you dumbass. You aren't allowed to get captured twice. He doesn't need a useless cat stuck in some prison cell. Only so many times that could happen before he decides you're better off discarded for your weakness." There was a grin of such savagery that it seemed she wouldn't personally mind if that did happen, if only to notch another kill to her count. Still, it was his will she followed, not her own.

"Now hurry the hell up."​