Fandom Distorted Mirror [IC]

[MyrtenRose]

As much as Yang hated being predictable, the initial glare she shot back into Ozwen's eyes was exactly the sort of blunt, angry defiance the ancient being expected, even if it was with a smirk. But after a second, it faltered.

"...What happened to you, Oz? I may not have liked the person you ended up as in mine world, but he still tried; Were you the one that lived here? Is this all a hissy fit cuz Salem died?"

For a ludicrous moment, it almost felt like Yang was falling into the same habits she had with the rest of the doubles, and and she gave a mournful sigh, lowering her head even if it pressed the tip of Myrtenaster against her neck.

"That's... so..."

There was another spike of temperature, and Yang's surroundings were suddenly engulfed in flames as she let loose with both her hands and her mouth, tapping into the same anger that almost had her set the room on fire in her shouting match with Raven as she let Ozwen have some of the same medicine.

"STUPID!!!"

There was enough force that Ozwen was either gonna have to step back or get blasted back as the explosion scorched the walls and floors around her, Letting Yang fall into a crouch as the arms were burned away again.

She couldn't help but let out a confident smirk. It was so weird that the winter maiden stuff let her do fire. She had to be the hottest winter maiden yet-

-Oh holy shit she was doing so much damage to her own aura, a realization that hit her like a truck when she finally decided to focus on it for a second instead of the elemental storm that was screaming to be let out of her veins every second of every minute, and she quickly turned the fire off.

That explosion of red hot angry fire did exactly as intended. Ozwen got blasted back with extreme prejudice, the pale aura flickering as she rolled to a stop along the floor, ending up facedown. She was motionless for several seconds, a harsh glare gradually intensifying as those red eyes burned a hole in the floor until she jumped back up and spun the irritated look around to settle firmly on the very new maiden.

Then to his shock, for a brief few moments, those eyes reflected the more familiar light blue than the blood red dangerous look of the more monstrous spirit. And those four words spilled out from Weiss directed at Yang as the pure indignation she felt carried her over to establish control. Yet it was only brief, her gaze wrenched back downwards as her head shook...but when her head lifted back up seconds later, the blue in her eyes had vanished again.

"Enough! Enough of this."

The tolerance of their presence had reached a limit. She had grand designs for this world and she had zero intention of letting these foolish otherworldly interlopers impede her progress for even a single second longer. The dust rapier was brought to bear, levelled solely for Yang as sharpened spikes of ice dust shot forth after the maiden bruiser had put the flames out to save what remained of her aura. The grimm master charged forth yet again at the girl and this time the few grimm hands she had left shot forth from an abyss that opened up beneath Yang's feet, aiming to yank her to the floor in synchronization with Ozwen's leap as she attempted to make good on her words from before and actually stab downwards into the maiden with the rapier.

And yet more began to show without her influence. As Qrow and Raven fought back to back as capably as any could, slaughtering and dealing with the grimm that had intruded, more both outside and within the whale began their approaches. Qrow was a tense, wary mess. Raven was doing her best to quell the fear within her about this insane situation and mission, acting in spite of that fear, but that didn't change that she felt it. Yang was literally burning with rage, and even Ozwen expressed irritation. With such strong emotions as these, the room was lit up like a signal flare for the monsters that lurked about.

Some far more deadly than others.

----------------------------



Ruby had done a remarkable job in holding up her end of this mission. Beringels, beowolves, centinels, ravagers and more, whether through eyes or scythe she had slain all that had come, leaving the halls free as the rest of her family did their work. But it didn't last. As she sped into another adjoining hallway, she got swept off her feet by an arm that lashed out far in a painful clothesline, knocking her to the ground. That was like the Nuckelavee! No way one of those can fit in here. No matter. Whatever it was, she would handle it too. Ruby jumped back to her feet, narrowed eyes focusing on what lay in front of her...and instantly those silver eyes widened back up in plain shocked alarm at what she saw there.

No...no, that can't...it couldn't be.

Ruby faltered, her grip on Crescent Rose loosening and she would have likely fallen to her knees...if her moment of weakness and hesitation wasn't taken advantage of. An arm surged forward again, reaching out far beyond what was natural. The hand locked around her throat and shoved her into one of the place's walls with a painful thud. The feelings with in raced, emotions swirling out of control...she couldn't bring her eyes to use. No light came forth, her eyes suddenly watery. For a bit of time there she couldn't even bring herself to use her scythe, though that grip around her neck was tightening painfully.

But eventually, self preservation won out and she did, slicing away at the arm. It didn't sever but it did pull away, freeing her and Ruby dropped to the floor gasping for breath. She knelt there in that precarious position, not wanting to look up, but knowing that she would have to do so if they were all going to get out of here. Her head slowly lifted. Some small part of her had hoped that what she saw would be gone by then, like it had been some fake image conjured up by Emerald, or Neo, or somebody similar. It wasn't. That painful sight was still there. Ruby felt the tears running across her face, and that state of mental focus and clarity that she needed to use her eyes was well and truly shot to pieces. She didn't know what...she hadn't been prepared for...

The monsters didn't give her time to figure it out. More emerged from the darkness, charging and stomping for her with animalistic instinct. Danger was closing in and she had to defend herself. To stand strong, even though she didn't currently feel strong at all. The monsters were coming, and she refused to let them put anyone in danger. Not if she could do something about it. Crescent Rose fired repeatedly and with each shot, she tried to bury the complex storm raging inside her and let the honed instinct of the huntress who had been trained by Qrow, Ozpin and even the Ace Ops take over. Shots became slashes and stabs and slices as the beasts got closer and closer.

The grimm needed to die.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

"We never did finish what I started back in that hotel..." Masque chirped.

Masque moved forward as Yang taunted Nora. Closing the distance between them in seconds.

Her hood fell back revealing the matted and unclean mess that her hair had become. The ragged look only furthering the seeming desire that Masque had to simply run away and live in the woods like a savage. Just forego society and all of it's attachments.

...Well, except for one.

"Oh? But you care about me don't you, Yang?.~" Masque held onto Yang's real arm, locking their hands together as Masque moved in closer. With those who had zero understanding of the kind of person Masque was and the dark urges she'd done her best to bury. In order to retain some semblance of willingness to fight the 'good fight', she held those urges under the figurative water, to drown them, to wash them away. But it could never be that easy. Which is why as she leaned in to kiss her Yang, the corners of her face turned upwards in the slightest inkling of a grin.

For all the mountains of baggage this one had warping her sense of self virtually beyond recognition, Yang didn't really consider herself a complex person. She never felt much of a need to come up with all these intricate rationales and motivations for how she was or why she did the things that she did the way ice queen and the kitty did; she knew full well both had always seen themselves as better than her, but the way she saw it the three of them could all be boiled down to the same core ingredients. Shitty, violent people taking out their issues on the rest of the universe. Three flavors of monster, one universal loss of control. Add one cup low self-worth, one cup terrible coping mechanisms and just a pinch of codependency; Reduce heat and let simmer. Daddy's favorite recipe. There was nothing complicated about that. If she had a dating profile, it would've read something like Yang, no last name, age who-the-fuck-knows. Likes: Hitting stuff, getting hit, really pretty much any kind of physical contact. Dislikes:

Whatever the fuck this bullshit was.

Yang had long since given up trying to decipher the inner mechanisms of the Masque's mind. She was an enigma, plain and simple. You couldn't break it down and single out the root cause and effect the same way you could for Oz's other three favorites. She pretty much just floated through life without a care, grabbing at shit and taking whatever she wanted from whoever she wanted, no apparent rhyme or reason to the ebb and flow of her whims. There was just... something wrong with her. Like, seriously, majorly fucked up in the head since birth.

Now that shit was complex. Too complex for Dragon to bother losing sleep thinking about anymore.

Thing was, sometimes you didn't need a complex response to stuff. If more people like the kitty and the heiress were willing to drop all the pretensions and admit they were some stone cold deadass basic bitches with an axe to grind the world probably would've been a far easier place to stomach. Sometimes a spade was a spade, a trash can was just a trash can, and sometimes the simplest reaction to a situation was the best one. And rather than turning into anything profound, the soft gasp and wide-eyed, entirely reflexive flinch of fear Dragon gave that had her head pull back barely a split-second before their lips could make contact as Masque latched onto her arm in a dash of rose petals gave way to a sneer of vindicated outrage and a reaction that was about as simple and straightforward as they came.



"EAT SHIT, BITCHLIPS!"

She was taking herself a big fat slice of credit on one thing, though. Totally nailed it on this whole 'domesticated savage' schtick being an act.

No matter how hard it tried, the trash can was never gonna stop being a trash can. And all that garbage? It was just that.

Garbage.

She skidded to a halt at the last possible second while the Dragon was distracted by the Masque. All her strength was put into a mighty swing of Magnhild that curved slightly upwards intent on sending the bitch soaring up, and then if it managed to do so, she pulled the trigger on her hammer to launch her explosively into the air after her and followed through with an overhead swing to smash her right back down like she was going for a spike and Yang was her volleyball. If that too went her way, her hammer transformed while she was still in the air, firing off the remainder of her grenades(save one) at wherever she landed. Yet she still didn't stop there. That last grenade was used to recoil blast herself straight down at the monster as well, and another overhead swing of the transformed back hammer came down meant to shove the Dragon even further down into the crater she'd just made.

"Eep-"

Whoops. Nothing quite like getting creeped on by your feral sorta-sister to make a gal forget all about the rapidly approaching fun-sized freight train making a beeline for her across the room with Pokémon traineresque determination. She was honestly such a ditz sometimes.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

The rest of Dragon's comically small vocalization was lost amid the wheeze of air driven from her chest, which itself was monumentally drowned out by the sheer force of impact of a hypercharged Nora slamming Magnhild into her gut with the kind of brute force that probably would've made even her world's Hazel struggle to get up this time. Given the last few minutes before kitty arrived had pretty much seen her getting stomped out with the essence of a Nazi superhero, the fact that Dragon's aura held up under that first blow was downright near ludicrous to a similar degree as anything she had seen from Salem's own berserk enforcer back on the Remnant where things made sense. But its golden flare shimmered dangerously under the impact, a protesting flicker spreading out across her body from where the warhammer hit home. Her pained gurgle was weak, practically inaudible to Nora as they hung in the air the instant before the second strike.



"C-come on..."

They both knew what an aura flicker like that meant. Dragon had taken enough hits to reach a primal, untamed level of physical power at this point, but she was spent. Her aura was on its last legs. She had scraped bottom of the barrel so hard she scratched all the way through it, reduced her fingernails to bloody nubs. There was no way it was going to survive another hit like that.

Then, inconceivably, it did.

Swing two spiked her into the weird, fleshy floor hard enough to leave a crater bigger than she was, powerful enough that everyone in the room (and even Vernal on the other side of the portal) felt the shockwave roll over their skin, and her aura's flicker was worse this time, the interval between its wane and return longer.

But it still didn't break. And the look she was giving Nora... it verged on downright ravishing, Dragon splayed out beneath her with lidded eyes and the headiest, most punch-drunkenly elated smile on her face as if the two of them were basking in the wake of something intimate, the flare of her semblance's golden fire no more than a potent form of afterglow. Her lips moved, and though it was definitely inaudible at this distance somehow it was still obvious what she was saying.

"Come... on..."

This, right here, was the only motivation she ever needed. It just took her a long time to get the memo, was all. Sometimes life wasn't a fairy tale, some bedtime story where you could go off and join a magic school and overcome adversity through a string of adventures with all your gay little brightly colored friends. Sometimes the world didn't give a shit who you were, what kind of pain or injustice you had suffered. Sometimes all the world was interested in was mounting you while you were down, weak, defenseless, and hitting you, and hitting you, and hitting you. Most people, they gave in right then and there. Covered up, whimpered, and begged for mercy until the end inevitably came a-calling. She could've so easily turned out like that. For a long time, she was that. Until she decided something different. She decided she could take the hits. Enjoy them, even.

And hit back.

And she had never felt more alive.

The rain of pink heart grenades kicked up one of her personal favorite things in the whole wide world: a conveniently dense and long lasting cloud of smoke. Gave her a chance to get creative, and they always made the look on her sparring partner's face so priceless when this next part happened.

When Nora came spinning down for her final onslaught like an act of god, the devil rose up to meet her. Only this time the devil wasn't just eating the hit; had she tried, she was gonna be left a cripple. Again.

It would've been fair to say she'd learned a thing or two since that last time.

Gripped in both her hands by the leg and neck was the Red Masque, and the Dragon was wielding her overhead like a riot shield as she caught Nora's hammer on her fully-stocked aura rather than her own threadbare one. The force of the final smash was so great it actually shattered both sisters' protective barriers in one go, Dragon's immediately following suit just from the shockwave that rippled outward from the complete and utter devastation of Ruby's even with the impromptu force buffer; none of which stopped this world's Yang from gnashing her teeth and leering maliciously, face a twisted blend of elation, anger, and simple, unmitigated desire to do harm as her hair suddenly exploded with light like the sun's. She drew her fist back.

"If you're gonna hit me..."



"THEN HIT ME LIKE YOU FUCKING MEAN IT, RED!"

Time to show this bitch how it was done.

KRAKA-THOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

The sound of Dragon's fist hitting Nora's jaw was like the clap of thunder to her lightning, the step she took in time with it laden with enough raw kinetic energy that it deepened the crater all by itself, the accumulated force from every single titanic hit Nora had dealt her these past few minutes coalescing into one single point of impact with her face.

Long story short? Nora woke up back in Vacuo to the sound of her aura shattering. More specifically, she woke up about three blocks and several Valkyrie-shaped holes in several walls from where Yang had belted her right back through the portal to wherever these fucking idiots were attacking her from, again. Only Vernal's eyes were barely able to track her this time. Then, and only then, did the Dragon finally let herself sag, a little unsteady on her feet as she tossed Masque to the side as dismissively as one might toss a bag of trash in the dumpster and tried to catch her breath.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

The tolerance of their presence had reached a limit. She had grand designs for this world and she had zero intention of letting these foolish otherworldly interlopers impede her progress for even a single second longer. The dust rapier was brought to bear, levelled solely for Yang as sharpened spikes of ice dust shot forth after the maiden bruiser had put the flames out to save what remained of her aura. The grimm master charged forth yet again at the girl and this time the few grimm hands she had left shot forth from an abyss that opened up beneath Yang's feet, aiming to yank her to the floor in synchronization with Ozwen's leap as she attempted to make good on her words from before and actually stab downwards into the maiden with the rapier.

Which was around when a loud cawing sounded to herald a scythe's tip sweeping out in a wide arc from where Qrow had suddenly transformed, maneuvered his way through the ever-swelling throng of Grimm to their position and transformed back, a boot lashing out to catch Ozwen in the solar plexus in an effort to clear some distance, Harbinger just barely skirting the floor as it severed two of the numerous hands suddenly pinning his niece so she could free herself from the rest. Because gross.

"Window's closing, Yang!"

The growl was a frustrated one, but he had to call it like he saw it. Three minutes. That was the timeframe he gave them; if, in three minutes, they couldn't manage to beat, disable or restrain Oz somehow, then that was when they called it quits and both sides of the assault pulled out. Any longer and the chance of someone not making it outta there started to rise exponentially.

By his count, they were up to two.

He spun in time with his weapon, ducking under a Lancer's stinger and wrenching the grip on the scythe upwards suddenly to bisect it cleanly down the middle.

"I gotta get to your sister! Do you two have this?"

His eyes darted over to wherever Raven was at this point, a flicker of uncertainty flashing in his eyes. He only dared do so momentarily, striving to keep an angle of vision on both Oz and the bulk force of her Grimm as he was, continuing to do what he did best and hacking away at the monsters left and right.​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"If you're gonna hit me..."

"THEN HIT ME LIKE YOU FUCKING MEAN IT, RED!"

Time to show this bitch how it was done.

KRAKA-THOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

The sound of Dragon's fist hitting Nora's jaw was like the clap of thunder to her lightning, the step she took in time with it laden with enough raw kinetic energy that it deepened the crater all by itself, the accumulated force from every single titanic hit Nora had dealt her these past few minutes coalescing into one single point of impact with her face.

Long story short? Nora woke up back in Vacuo to the sound of her aura shattering. More specifically, she woke up about three blocks and several Valkyrie-shaped holes in several walls from where Yang had belted her right back through the portal to wherever these fucking idiots were attacking her from, again. Only Vernal's eyes were barely able to track her this time. Then, and only then, did the Dragon finally let herself sag, a little unsteady on her feet as she tossed Masque dismissively to the side as though tossing a bag of trash in the dumpster and tried to catch her breath.

The Dragon's aura capacity was quite frankly, absurd.

Like, real Hazel levels or maybe even more and stronger than that!! After the initial heavy explosive salvos that started this battle, and the follow up hits and the shocks and the grenade literally exploding in her mouth and even the strikes that came when she was more fueled up than she'd ever been in her entire life, it was only right there at the end that Nora barely managed to shatter the crazy bitch's aura. She didn't even get the chance to go for any kind of knock-out blow now that she had broken through. The Dragon was quicker, and though Nora dug her heels in and braced herself with all her own considerable strength, all those strikes meant that the blonde was stronger, thanks in no small part to the ginger's own efforts.

Her attempt at standing her ground was a failure.

Something that only became apparent to her when she snapped back awake, a few blocks away from the portal she'd entered(where Vernal could only be like) and covered in fragments of several walls she'd smashed through. Nora groaned, a long and painful one as she lifted a hand to massage her jaw. She was going to be feeling that for quite some time. The leftover adrenaline in her system got her to stand, albeit with clear signs of straining to do so, and the shards of dust sticking out of her were pulled free as she stumbled closer to her imprint in the very last wall she'd flown through. When the last dust crystal was taken out, the glowing lines across her upper torso faded, leaving her with a far more mundane looking criss-cross of scars digging into her skin. She managed to reach the cartoonish Nora shaped hole in the wall, even grabbed hold of one of the edges when she fell the darkness creeping along the edges of her vision again.

Still, even as she felt her grip weaken and she began to fall backwards, she still wore a huge smile on her face. She'd done it. She'd held her own with one of the worst individuals this Remnant had and when it came down to it, the Dragon's aura had broken before hers had. A small victory, perhaps, considering her own condition, but a victory nevertheless. She was unconscious again before her auraless body even landed upon the harsh sands of Vacuo. Her last thought being that the poor dude who'd given them rooms was going to be so goddamn distraught.

Vernal blinked, standing at the very first Valkyrie-shaped hole and peering through. She glanced back at the portals before she shook her head and figured that she should probably go get that girl. The portals were left unattended on this end for a short time as she went to go do exactly that.​

 

[MidwayLives]

"EAT SHIT, BITCHLIPS!"

She was taking herself a big fat slice of credit on one thing, though. Totally nailed it on this whole 'domesticated savage' schtick being an act.

No matter how hard it tried, the trash can was never gonna stop being a trash can. And all that garbage? It was exactly that.

Garbage.

Masque looked forward to the incoming punch.

As a matter of fact she welcomed it.

Still holding onto Yang, Masque just flashed a smile.

"DO IT!"
​

It would've been fair to say she'd learned a thing or two since that last time.

Gripped in both her hands by the leg and neck was the Red Masque, and the Dragon was wielding her overhead like a riot shield as she caught Nora's hammer on her fully-stocked aura rather than her own threadbare one. The force of the final smash was so great it actually shattered both sisters' auras in one go, Dragon's immediately following suit just from the shockwave that rippled outward from Ruby's being devastated even with the impromptu force buffer; none of which stopped this world's Yang from gnashing her teeth and leering maliciously, face a twisted blend of elation, anger, and simple, unmitigated desire to do harm as her hair suddenly exploded with light like the sun's. She drew her fist back.

"IF YOU'RE GONNA HIT ME HIT ME LIKE YOU FUCKING MEAN IT, RED!"

Time to show this bitch how it was done.

KRAKA-THOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

The sound of Dragon's fist hitting Nora's jaw was like the clap of thunder to her lightning, the accumulated force from every single titanic hit Nora had dealt her these past few minutes coalescing into one single point of impact with her face. Long story short? Nora woke up back in Vacuo to the sound of her aura shattering.

Give or take three blocks and several Valkyrie-shaped holes in several walls from where Yang had belted her right back through the portal to wherever these fucking idiots were attacking her from, again. Only Vernal's eyes were barely able to track her this time.

Then, and only then, did the Dragon finally let herself sag, a little unsteady on her feet as she tossed Masque dismissively to the side as though tossing a bag of trash in the dumpster and tried to catch her breath.

Masque let out a gasp as she was grabbed.

Her eyes widened as the blow came in. She'd known beforehand that her actions here would end up with her hurt. She had just underestimated how much that pain was going to take out of her. The blow struck home and Masque's aura shattered like a pane of glass falling from a 30 story window frame. Her eyes rolled back and she screamed.

"aaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"

Once the dust finally cleared and Nora was no longer anywhere to see on this side of things, Masque was thrown aside. Her only use having been extinguished from the looks of it. But there was still a smug looking smile on her face even as she'd been knocked out.​

 

[MidwayLives]

Then, and only then, did the Dragon finally let herself sag, a little unsteady on her feet as she tossed Masque dismissively to the side as though tossing a bag of trash in the dumpster and tried to catch her breath.

It was only around this time that Dragon felt a horribly sharp pain around her back and one that continued to her left flank.

The blade soaking in her blood and poking it's way out through her side was probably the root cause of that. Just a guess and all.

If the Dragon craned her head to see who could have been responsible, she'd see someone looking up at her, blood on her forehead from being knocked around and all.

Neo grinned.

It'd been precious moments since Blake had taken her attention off the little murderer. Neo wasn't going to let those go to waste. Snapping the blade free from the Blake clone it'd been stuck in, Neo had watched everything else transpire. The whole attempted sister-on-sister kiss weirded her out a bit but the ginger had definitely come through for their side. She left the blonde open for Neo to do this one little thing. Wrapping one gloved hand around the shaft of the blade, Neo gave it a good twist, causing blood droplets to squirt out onto the floor and over Neo's chest and face. Glancing over at where Masque lay, Neo pulled her hand back and moved to sock Yang as hard as she could to knock her over on the ground next to Masque, leaving Yang practically laying atop the deviant gremlin.

Neo didn't have much to say (heh) on this Yang's sister. All she knew was that she was crazy and had tried killing her back at Beacon. Which meant that Neo disliked both of them. So, if they're sisters or whatever? Let em bleed together. Neo looked down at the downed dragon and gave a sharp kick to the side of the blade to further irritate the wound it'd made.

Well, it wasn't outright murder like she would have liked. Belladonna probably would have attacked her again if she took her time just stabbing away at Dragon. Which meant that for better or for worse this would have to be it. Which meant that the bitch would probably get patched up.

Still, Neo hoped it hurt.

*shake*

Ugh, that punch really did a number on her knuckle.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

It was only around this time that Dragon felt a horribly sharp pain around her back and one that continued to her left flank.

The blade soaking in her blood and poking it's way out through her side was probably the root cause of that. Just a guess and all.

If the Dragon craned her head to see who could have been responsible, she'd see someone looking up at her, blood on her forehead from being knocked around and all.

Neo grinned.

It'd been precious moments since Blake had taken her attention off the little murderer. Neo wasn't going to let those go to waste. Snapping the blade free from the Blake clone it'd been stuck in, Neo had watched everything else transpire. The whole attempted sister-on-sister kiss weirded her out a bit but the ginger had definitely come through for their side. She left the blonde open for Neo to do this one little thing. Wrapping one gloved hand around the shaft of the blade, Neo gave it a good twist, causing blood droplets to squirt out onto the floor and over Neo's chest and face. Glancing over at where Masque lay, Neo pulled her hand back and moved to sock Yang as hard as she could to knock her over on the ground next to Masque, leaving Yang practically laying atop the deviant gremlin.

Neo didn't have much to say (heh) on this Yang's sister. All she knew was that she was crazy and had tried killing her back at Beacon. Which meant that Neo disliked both of them. So, if they're sisters or whatever? Let em bleed together. Neo looked down at the downed dragon and gave a sharp kick to the side of the blade to further irritate the wound it'd made.

Well, it wasn't outright murder like she would have liked. Belladonna probably would have attacked her again if she took her time just stabbing away at Dragon. Which meant that for better or for worse this would have to be it. Which meant that the bitch would probably get patched up.

Still, Neo hoped it hurt.

*shake*

Ugh, that punch really did a number on her knuckle.

If there were ever times when the Dragon could breathe fire, it would've been times like right now. She practically was. Her blood was on fire. Her hair was on fire. Her eyes, her clothes; everything in the entire world was on fire. That was what it felt like, every time she opened her mind and her body to the pain, every time she took as much as any human being could bear.

Power. Plain and simple.

After the life she'd had, the cards she'd been dealt, no feeling in the world was more intoxicating. How had she spent so long denying it? How could she not like pain when it made her feel this good? She felt like the sun. She felt like she could fistfight God. She felt—

Shnk

—She didn't even feel that, at first. That was how good she felt. How strong. It was a solid three seconds before her hand went to touch the piece of her mother's weapon jutting out through her midriff, a look of vague, disconnected surprise on her face as a patch of red started growing through her jacket. Then she shuddered, hiding the motion behind an uneven, feverish laugh.

That seemed appropriate.

Glancing over at where Masque lay, Neo pulled her hand back and moved to sock Yang as hard as she could to knock her over on the ground next to Masque, leaving Yang practically laying atop the deviant gremlin.

"Grrrrr..."

The noise she made was more primal, feral aggression than anything sentient as she was knocked forward, coming face-to-face with the one she wanted nowhere near hers. Yup. There was the pain. She really loved how it all just came flooding in at once like that. So awesome.

L̵e̷t̶ ̸i̸t̵ ̵i̸n̸.̸

That was all she did, every time it got to this point. Let it take her to the edge of her limitations, feel the adrenaline surge through her veins like currents of molten hot magma as she closed her eyes and teetered on the narrow precipice between 'more than anyone was supposed to take' and 'more than anyone could take'. She liked to imagine that precipice as a cliff face sometimes, jutting out over an infinite void, liked to picture herself balancing there precariously, not knowing or caring which way she fell.

L̶e̵t̷ ̵U̶S̵ ̶i̴n̷.̸

And why would she care? It wasn't like she'd ever been alive to begin with. Not really. She was a half-life more than anything. A thing, one-sided and easily processed. Loyal, bendable, fuckable Dragon; the toy everyone eventually outgrew. That was all Yang Xiao Long was. All she could ever be. If she made the decision to lay down and just stop breathing right now then no one would care.

No one did care.

Y̴e̴s̶s̴s̵s̷s̴s̴s̷s̸s̷.̴ ̴N̶o̷ ̴o̸n̷e̶.̵

Neo looked down at the downed dragon and gave a sharp kick to the side of the blade to further irritate the wound it'd made.

"Nrrrrrrrrrgh—!"

No one had ever cared. This exclamation was higher in pitch than the first, fingers on both hands digging grooves into the floor as she kept trying to get up.

N̶o̴ ̶o̸n̴e̷.̷ ̶O̶n̵l̷y̵ ̶w̴e̴.̵

Her mom didn't care. Her sister didn't care. Not even her own fucking self from some other universe cared. Seriously, did she even care? Times like these Dragon had a choice to make. What would be the downside if she chose to just stop breathing right now? Wouldn't it be nice if she did? Why didn't she?

Oh, right.

Because giving up was for pussies.

"—haaaaaaaaaahahahahaaaaa!~"

There was a genuine, deliriously giddy squeal to the laugh that shivered its way through her lips as her hand closed around Omen's detached blade. Neo scarcely had a moment to adjust to the sudden shift in tone before the Dragon was rising, already on her feet, and her smile never broke as she locked eyes with the petite enforcer and slowly, deliberately withdrew the instrument of her skewering, her miasma flaring up like the fires of hell.

Then she took a step towards her.

"Too."

She took another.

"Fucking."

The blade was raised up so she could run her tongue lasciviously along its edge, relishing both the sensation and her own life nectar's coppery taste.

"Sssssoooooofffftttt-"

Then she collapsed, a pained contortion finally overwhelming her features as she hissed out a quiet, though contented, whimper, letting her scruffy bangs fall to obscure her face.

"...Heh heh... y'know, actually... I think that feels juuust... right."

G̵o̵o̴d̵.̶

Yang's breathing was growing shallower, more sporadic and laboured as her eyes started to dull, growing unfocused. The flames were still there, but unquestionably waning, a more muted glaze darkening their color as the Dragon's vision started to darken in turn.

N̵o̷w̶ ̴s̴l̸e̸e̶p̶.̴

Her eyes drifted shut.






The noises that had been coming from Dragon before were rabid, the posturing snarls of a wounded animal. When she opened her lips next, the growl that tore its way loose wasn't animal; it wasn't posturing or wounded. It didn't even sound like it belonged on this world. It was malevolence, raw and untapped. And as her head slowly lolled back, the eyes that slowly cracked back open weren't the same shade of red heralding an angry Yang that Neo had grown somewhat familiar with.

No, these eyes were familiar in an entirely different way; the nightmare that woke you sweating in the middle of the night. The glint of crimson you learned to fear in the dark.



"S̷s̷s̷s̵o̴o̶o̷o̶o̷o̴f̵f̷f̷f̵f̶f̶f̶t̴t̶t̵t̷t̷t̵t̵.̶"

It rumbled, low and rattling as it sounded out every letter like it was trying on the fit of the jaw. The thing wearing Dragon made no further movements otherwise, save to blink its flaming eyes at the assassin who had finally dealt its host enough suffering to let it come forth.​

 

[MidwayLives]

"Nrrrrrrrrrgh—!"

No one had ever cared. This exclamation was higher than the first, fingers on both hands digging grooves into the floor as she kept trying to get up.

N̶o̴ ̶o̸n̴e̷.̷ ̶O̶n̵l̷y̵ ̶w̴e̴.̵

Her mom didn't care. Her sister didn't care. Not even her own fucking self from another universe cared. Seriously, did she even care? What would be the downside if she chose to just stop breathing right now?

Oh, right.

Because giving up was for pussies.

"—haaaaaaaaaahahahahaaaaa!~"

There was a genuine, deliriously giddy squeal to the laugh that shivered its way through her lips as her hand closed around Omen's detached blade. Neo scarcely had a moment to adjust to the sudden shift in tone before the Dragon was rising, already on her feet, and her smile never broke as she locked eyes with the petite enforcer and slowly, deliberately withdrew the instrument of her skewering, her miasma flaring up like the fires of hell.

What was WITH this bitch?

She just wouldn't stay down. When by all accounts her body should have been pleading for her to.

Neo felt a shiver run down her spine.

Damn it. Just stay DOWN!
​

There was a genuine, deliriously giddy squeal to the laugh that shivered its way through her lips as her hand closed around Omen's detached blade. Neo scarcely had a moment to adjust to the sudden shift in tone before the Dragon was rising, already on her feet, and her smile never broke as she locked eyes with the petite enforcer and slowly, deliberately withdrew the instrument of her skewering, her miasma flaring up like the fires of hell.

Then she took a step towards her.

"Too."

She took another.

"Fucking."

The blade was raised up so she could run her tongue lasciviously along its edge, relishing both the sensation and her own life nectar's coppery taste.

"Sssssoooooofffftttt-"

Neo braced herself for whatever may have come her way.

Her aura had taken a beating but she wasn't done yet. Not by a long shot.

If by all reasonable logic, blondie wanted to continue their fight? Neo would oblige her.

....But what would it take to put this woman down?
​

Then she collapsed, a pained contortion finally overwhelming her features as she hissed out a quiet, though contented, whimper, letting her scruffy bangs fall to obscure her face.

"...Heh heh... y'know, actually... I think that feels juuust... right."

G̵o̵o̴d̵.̶

As she finally fell, Neo let out a sigh of relief.

Good, now she could just get the hell out of here. The ginger had already left(not through her own means of course)and Neo wasn't keen on sticking around if she wasn't going to be killing this Yang in this little go-around. If this had bought those other idiots enough time? Well, good for them. Neo had done her bit and now it was time to turn back. As she started to pivot towards the portal, she froze before taking any steps towards it. Something just didn't feel right at all.
​

The noises that had been coming from Dragon before were rabid, the posturing snarls of a wounded animal. When she opened her lips next, the growl that tore its way loose wasn't animal; it wasn't posturing or wounded. It didn't even sound like it belonged on this world. It was malevolence, raw and untapped. And as her head slowly lolled back, the eyes that flickered open weren't the same shade of red heralding an angry Yang that Neo had grown somewhat familiar with.

No, these eyes were familiar in an entirely different way; the nightmare that woke you sweating in the middle of the night. The glint of crimson you learned to fear in the dark.

"S̷s̷s̷s̵o̴o̶o̷o̶o̷o̴f̵f̷f̷f̵f̶f̶f̶t̴t̶t̵t̷t̷t̵t̵.̶"

It rumbled, low and rattling as it sounded out every letter like it was trying on the fit of the jaw. The thing wearing Dragon made no further movements otherwise, save to blink its flaming eyes at the assassin who had finally dealt its host enough suffering to let it come forth.

What the....?

Had she called this...this thing a woman before? No. That wasn't right at all. This was a pure unadulterated monster. Neo had seen Grimm limbs before. Cinder had one and usually Neo didn't think twice about it. Just looked kinda ugly and gross. But this was on a whole different level. It didn't even feel like she was staring down something that at one point had been devoid of a Grimm infestation. This thing made her blood run cold. That surprise stab she'd been able to inflict may have taken down or greatly injured the Yang that Neo knew but it seemed all the torment and beating this one had gone through had given way to something worse lurking below the surface.

...But, she couldn't just run could she? Like a coward with her tail between her legs. She'd done it before when the Raven she knew of first appeared before her. Right as she'd been about to murder her daughter in cold blood. She shattered and fled like the wind. It wouldn't have even been a lie to say she was scared of this thing standing before her and yet...? It pissed her off to admit that to herself. How many times was she going to have to fight off the urge of fright during this little farce? From this world's Belladonna not holding back at attempting to skewer her while disguised as someone Neo had believed to be close to her to whatever the hell was happening here? It angered Neo in a way. Why did she have to be afraid of them? It certainly wasn't the case with their other world selves. They were just nuisances that Neo would deal with if they got in her way.

She took another glance over at the portal.

Her original intention had been to just...leave. She'd done what she could and the bird could find her way out. She didn't need Neo to hold her hand.

With the storm of feelings swelling within her, she bit down on her bottom lip. To run and avoid pain like what the ginger and...well shit, this thing's own sister went through? Seemed like the smarter course of action to take and she was smart. Smarter than any of those other losers. Or stand up to the fear ebbing within her like an oil slick waiting to be set ablaze.

She shattered.

Reappearing close by the thing wearing Dragon's body, Neo went to snatch up the severed piece of Omen she'd used to stab Yang. Provided she was able to grab it without being pounced on or attacked, Neo tried to cut away at the fear and plunge the blade forward. Straight into this thing's chest.

It was a statement if nothing else. An act of defiance.

'I'm not going to be scared of you, of all people, YOU!!!!!!'​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

Ozma felt a wave of sheer, undiluted indignation so powerful it actually carried Weiss all the way to the surface of their odd, juxtaposed cognizance, and for at least a fleeting second before he managed to beat her back into the recesses of her mind the eyes that glared back up at Yang wherever her body landed were crystal blue instead of blood red.

"YOU BROUGHT IT BACK?!!??!?!"

Yang was still stumbling back to her own feet when that shrill tone suddenly cut across the battleground, and she froze with her hands on her knees for a second as she looked up at saw those eye staring back at her.

"...YEA!" Yang answered with far too much joy in the face of that much indignant anger, breaking out into a bright, warm smile that was too excited to be relieved as it wanted to be, even as one of Omen's blades came flying out of Raven's sheathe to impale a griffon Yang was way too distracted to notice. "AND THAT'S WHY; BECAUSE I KNEW YOU'D STILL BE IN THERE-"

"Enough! Enough of this."

The tolerance of their presence had reached a limit. She had grand designs for this world and she had zero intention of letting these foolish otherworldly interlopers impede her progress for even a single second longer. The dust rapier was brought to bear, levelled solely for Yang as sharpened spikes of ice dust shot forth after the maiden bruiser had put the flames out to save what remained of her aura. The grimm master charged forth yet again at the girl and this time the few grimm hands she had left shot forth from an abyss that opened up beneath Yang's feet, aiming to yank her to the floor in synchronization with Ozwen's leap as she attempted to make good on her words from before and actually stab downwards into the maiden with the rapier.

Which was around when a loud cawing sounded to herald a scythe's tip sweeping out in a wide arc from where Qrow had suddenly transformed, maneuvered his way through the ever-swelling throng of Grimm to their position and transformed back, a boot lashing out to catch Ozwen in the solar plexus in an effort to clear some distance, Harbinger just barely skirting the floor as it severed two of the numerous hands suddenly pinning his niece so she could free herself from the rest. Because gross.

"Window's closing, Yang!"

The growl was a frustrated one, but he had to call it like he saw it. Three minutes. That was the timeframe he gave them; if, in three minutes, they couldn't manage to beat, disable or restrain Oz somehow, then that was when they called it quits and both sides of the assault pulled out. Any longer and the chance of someone not making it outta there started to rise exponentially.

By his count, they were up to two.

He spun in time with his weapon, ducking under a Lancer's stinger and wrenching the grip on the scythe upwards suddenly to bisect it cleanly down the middle.

"I gotta get to your sister! Do you two have this?"

His eyes darted over to wherever Raven was at this point, a flicker of uncertainty flashing in his eyes. He only dared do so momentarily, striving to keep an angle of vision on both Oz and the bulk force of her Grimm as he was, continuing to do what he did best and hacking away at the monsters left and right.​

There was a grunt of surprise as the pool noodles from hell came flying around her yet again to yank her down and Ozwen took to the air for her flying stab. She jerked herself forward, going down on her knees instead of her back, but the gangly things were way stronger than they looked.

Even so, there was a fierce snarl on Yang's face at her Uncle's harried question as she watched Ozwen's arc through the air. Her answer past her shortened breaths was too quiet for it to be for anyone's sake but her own, but she still gave it.

"Yea."

That was the proof she wanted; that this wasn't pointless. That Weiss was still in there somewhere, and that she was fighting against Oz just as hard as she was, maybe even harder.

Ozwen reached the apex of her leaping strike, and this time the maiden fire around Yang's eyes burned crimson as the growl shifted into a smirk.

"I got this."

Yang had practiced with Weiss Schnee a lot. If there was anyone on Remnant who wasn't a Schnee themselves who knew more than she did about that stupid family semblance and that ostentatious decoration she called a weapon, it was... well it was Ruby, actually, but still. They'd thrown down at Beacon, they'd gotten a few practice rounds in at Haven before the train ride from hell, and they'd made sure to keep the tradition up in the Atlas training facilities; to say nothing of all the practice and not so practice they'd done side by side since the moment they almost all died to that Nevermore from the word go. She knew how she lost those fights.

Weiss Schnee's skinny little arms getting in close for a stab? Against her?

Not on her worst day was that how she lost that fight.

The flames reignited around her at the instant, scorching through the grimm arms even as it made her golden aura flare up around her like fire itself, and she pushed herself up from her knees at the same instant Ozwen's impaling strike came flying in.

SKRRTCH

"...This doesn't-"

Myrtenaster's blade was locked in a vice grip and forced off course by Yang's prosthetic

"-BELONG TO YOU!"

Ozwen had just enough time to process that reversal before Yang's other arm came flying in for the followup in was already readied for and smashed straight into her gut with enough force that the air shockwaved out behind her before the rest of her momentum caught up to her and sent her flying backwards. A pair of gunshots signalled the followup, but instead of gunfire towards Oz, it was to send Yang herself flying in pursuit; She went flying up with Ozwen, and another gunshot sent her spinning for Ozwen with in a flying lariat to send her richoceting back down to the mushy whale earth.

"AND IF WEISS WANTS IT BACK-"

That was step two to tangoing with Weiss, especially one that was still getting a hang of her semblance; Don't give her time to think. Keep her off balance.

Give in to the aggression.

The duo came flying down to the earth at the same time, and Yang pivoted on her foot to send a flying punch downwards straight towards Ozwen's stupid, pretty face.

"-SHE CAN TAKE IT BACK HERSELF!"

 

[MyrtenRose]

"Window's closing, Yang!"

The growl was a frustrated one, but he had to call it like he saw it. Three minutes. That was the timeframe he gave them; if, in three minutes, they couldn't manage to beat, disable or restrain Oz somehow, then that was when they called it quits and both sides of the assault pulled out. Any longer and the chance of someone not making it outta there started to rise exponentially.

By his count, they were up to two.

He spun in time with his weapon, ducking under a Lancer's stinger and wrenching the grip on the scythe upwards suddenly to bisect it cleanly down the middle.

"I gotta get to your sister! Do you two have this?"

His eyes darted over to wherever Raven was at this point, a flicker of uncertainty flashing in his eyes. He only dared do so momentarily, striving to keep an angle of vision on both Oz and the bulk force of her Grimm as he was, continuing to do what he did best and hacking away at the monsters left and right.

A red blade plunged deep into a Teryx, and with an audible click the sword detached from its hilt. Raven was already spinning into a flourish, a now green blade lashing out in an absolute frenzy to cut griffon into ribbons. The Teryx swelled up behind her, the fire dust jammed within making it violently expand until the whole beast blew apart in a explosion that consumed a few other grimm unlucky enough to be in the vicinity. The flames stood as a backdrop to Raven's head as she turned, shooting a glance Qrow's way. "Yes, brother." She nodded swiftly in complete agreement with Yang. It was not like they would have to hold out indefinitely. Only a little while longer. "Now go!" She added tersely, attention already returned to the next grimm rushing at her. She charged right back at it, letting out a fierce roar of battle as she did so.​

The flames reignited around her at the instant, scorching through the grimm arms even as it made her golden aura flare up around her like fire itself, and she pushed herself up from her knees at the same instant Ozwen's impaling strike came flying in.

SKRRTCH

"...This doesn't-"

Myrtenaster's blade was locked in a vice grip and forced off course by Yang's prosthetic

"-BELONG TO YOU!"

Ozwen had just enough time to process that reversal before Yang's other arm came flying in for the followup in was already readied for and smashed straight into her gut with enough force that the air shockwaved out behind her before the rest of her momentum caught up to her and sent her flying backwards. A pair of gunshots signalled the followup, but instead of gunfire towards Oz, it was to send Yang herself flying in pursuit; She went flying up with Ozwen, and another gunshot sent her spinning for Ozwen with in a flying lariat to send her richoceting back down to the mushy whale earth.

"AND IF WEISS WANTS IT BACK-"

That was step two to tangoing with Weiss, especially one that was still getting a hang of her semblance; Don't give her time to think. Keep her off balance.

Give in to the aggression.

The duo came flying down to the earth at the same time, and Yang pivoted on her foot to send a flying punch downwards straight towards Ozwen's stupid, pretty face.

"-SHE CAN TAKE IT BACK HERSELF!"

Suffice it to say, Ozwen had not expected that level of defiant resistance. Arrogance, perhaps. Plain underestimation of the Xiao Long girl, even with knowing the Dragon as long as she had, and even with this one being a newly minted maiden. But such feelings were not befitting this current form, as vulnerable and weak as it was at the moment. Yang Xiao Long would not be overlooked from this moment on. She would be given all that she asked for and more. That was the state of mind Ozwen was in after the devastating combo. She laid prone on the ground, but her hand snapped up in a blink with a blast of magical energy shooting forth from her palm. A weak one, even lesser than what a maiden could deliver but that was about all that could be spent right now while still keeping some in reserve just in case. While the beam did not hurt very much, it served its purpose nevertheless in sending the blonde bruiser back and giving herself some breathing room.

Ozwen stood, aura flickering wildly from the damage just inflicted and uncertainty rising within about how much more could be taken. That, and the dust rapier was no longer a tool for him to use in this moment. But she shared none of that concern as she narrowed a glare Yang's way.

"Or, and bear with me here, I could take another option." Any amount of mocking or levity that had at all been in Ozwen's voice or expressed upon that face beforehand was utterly gone now. She spoke with only an intensely harsh tone, and the look upon that face was harsher still. "My forces kill you, and I pry the weapon from your cold, unfeeling hands."

Raven was doing an exemplary job at slaughtering grimm left and right, as was fitting of a huntress who had been one of Beacon's best, but more still rushed in from the exposed opening to the outside, drawn by the strong negative emotions that hung in the air. Yet there was more to it than just them. After Qrow presumably left once he had gotten the affirmatives from both Yang and Raven, another pair of eyes focused upon the drunken warrior from the shadows. He went unnoticed by the veteran huntsman rushing forth to go retrieve Ruby, but Qrow did not escape his attention. Raw anger sprang up inside him then, the likes of which he barely even managed to contain, even with his skill in managing his emotions. He wanted very much to act on his feelings, but...

He recognized that prioritizing his need for vengeance over what Oz desired or needed could prove quite painful, if not fatal in the long run. It took a few uncomfortable moments but he buried his rage underneath serenity.

The man remained in the shadows until Qrow was out of sight, and only then did he move, footsteps as quiet as anyone's could be. The Grimm were drawn by the emotions, but they were not the only one who sensed them. He had been on his way elsewhere, to where the big blasts he had heard as clearly as anyone else came from, but his semblance gave him reason to pause. Not long after those explosions rocked the inside of this grimm, strong feelings spiked elsewhere and he felt them as clear as day. That had given him reason to investigate. He entered the area Qrow had just vacated without so much a sound to announce his arrival. At least, not until his gunfire did so, after he had taken stock of the situation. Ren peppered Yang with numerous dust rounds from his twin pistols, acting as support for the grimm master.

As for Qrow, the hollowed insides of this grimm abomination might as well have been a maze, except for scatterings of rose petals spread out across several hallways and the sounds of fierce battle and snarls of grimm echoing, though an exact location was not easy to pinpoint quite yet.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

Test results came back. She still did have her aura in bird form, that slash raking across her wing doing minimal damage compared to what might have been if she did not possess it...but annoying all the same. This darkness was a complication that only made it harder. The Dragon burning like a volcanic signal fire and Nora sparking like a thunderstorm unto herself definitely illuminated the areas around themselves but...the rest made it too easy for the faunus to hide in. That needed a fix.

She shifted out of bird form then, landing on the ground in a casual stance, Omen popping forth from its scabbard with a red blade now, and Raven stabbed it straight into the ground. A large wave of fire cascaded outward in all directions to light the room ablaze to rob the Hand of her ability to hide. Raven straightened up afterward, head turning on a swivel to locate the murderous faunus and resume the fight.

The ring of fire raced outwards from Raven, scorching whale flesh and igniting it in some places, covering the walls in billowing light and shadows. Yet in one section the flames split apart, racing around the murky shade of darkness Blake had been moments ago to crash into the walls behind her.

Her arm was outstretched, the one bereft a hand that had Gambol's ribbon wrapped around it, as if it had forced the flames to part.

"...You want to face me in the light?"

Amber flames leaked from the eyeholes and sides of the Hand's mask, and where the other half of the maiden power Weiss had accrued had gone was no longer a mystery to the heroes.

The woman standing before her was one of Salem's elite. The woman who designed the Kingdoms, who had every chance to make the world a better place for the faunus and sat in silence with all her power and influence while they suffered. As far as Blake was concerned, Raven Branwen might as well been one of the very boots Salem wore to press their faces into the dirt; She was Salem's hand in world affairs just the same as Blake was to Sienna and Ozpin.

It was a stark reminder of why she was here.



This was not the time place to be losing faith, growing weak; She knew from the very start they had sided with monsters to defeat monsters, the very reason she'd stomached sitting at the same table as Weiss Schnee and Bourus Carnelian. Salem needed to fall if the faunus were ever going to be free. The one truth Sienna and Ozma both agreed on, and the one task she had zero doubts on. It was her purpose; the very reason Blake Belladonna had been forged into the weapon she was today. She was the blade that was finally going to take her immortal heart, for Eve, for Ilia, and for every faunus that had been brutalized under her millennia of rulership.

Where better for the Hand to start that to take Salem's own off at the wrist?

"So be it"

The amber flames grew as Blake gently dipped a finger into the violent storm of power that now raged inside her soul. She didn't trust her ability to do much of anything with the power yet; but she didn't need to. She just needed access, to touch the power of the elements to her soul as she reattached Gambol to its sheathe to return it to one full sized blade and flung it out to her side.

Raven didn't even hear the thunder until after Blake was already behind her; a stream of lightning tracing back from her old position and her blade slashing across the huntress' midsection en-route at ludicrous speeds and equal force.

 

[MyrtenRose]

Long story short? Nora woke up back in Vacuo to the sound of her aura shattering. More specifically, she woke up about three blocks and several Valkyrie-shaped holes in several walls from where Yang had belted her right back through the portal to wherever these fucking idiots were attacking her from, again. Only Vernal's eyes were barely able to track her this time.

Once the dust finally cleared and Nora was no longer anywhere to see on this side of things, Masque was thrown aside. Her only use having been extinguished from the looks of it. But there was still a smug looking smile on her face even as she'd been knocked out.

No, these eyes were familiar in an entirely different way; the nightmare that woke you sweating in the middle of the night. The glint of crimson you learned to fear in the dark.

"S̷s̷s̷s̵o̴o̶o̷o̶o̷o̴f̵f̷f̷f̵f̶f̶f̶t̴t̶t̵t̷t̷t̵t̵.̶"

It rumbled, low and rattling as it sounded out every letter like it was trying on the fit of the jaw. The thing wearing Dragon made no further movements otherwise, save to blink its flaming eyes at the assassin who had finally dealt its host enough suffering to let it come forth.

Reappearing close by the thing wearing Dragon's body, Neo went to snatch up the severed piece of Omen she'd used to stab Yang. Provided she was able to grab it without being pounced on or attacked, Neo tried to cut away at the fear and plunge the blade forward. Straight into this thing's chest.

It was a statement if nothing else. An act of defiance.

'I'm not going to be scared of you, of all people, YOU!!!!!!'

So as completely fucked situations went, this decidedly cracked the top 5 experiences of her life in that regard. No, top three. Nora was just plain gone. The Masque was unconscious. Yang was...well, could she even be called Yang right now...and Neo was in a full blown murder panic on account of whatever that was that was pretending or posing as Yang. Or maybe that was just Yang...whatever. Point being, this was bad. Real bad. Gee, who coulda guessed that? Oh right, she had. This was just as risky and reckless and stupid as she had said! But...she'd gone along with it. This was what she had signed up for, and a chance like this was...well, she could only hope the other side was getting their mission done while this side drew all the heat down onto themselves. Yet speaking of heat, none of those things were even the worst life saw fit to throw at them.​

The ring of fire raced outwards from Raven, scorching whale flesh and igniting it in some places, covering the walls in billowing light and shadows. Yet in one section the flames split apart, racing around the murky shade of darkness Blake had been moments ago to crash into the walls behind her.

Her arm was outstretched, the one bereft a hand that had Gambol's ribbon wrapped around it, as if it had forced the flames to part.

"...You want to face me in the light?"

Amber flames leaked from the eyeholes and sides of the Hand's mask, and where the other half of the maiden power Weiss had accrued had gone was no longer a mystery to the heroes.

The woman standing before her was one of Salem's elite. The woman who designed the Kingdoms, who had every chance to make the world a better place for the faunus and sat in silence with all her power and influence while they suffered. As far as Blake was concerned, Raven Branwen might as well been one of the very boots Salem wore to press their faces into the dirt; She was Salem's hand in world affairs just the same as Blake was to Sienna and Ozpin.

It was a stark reminder of why she was here.



This was not the time place to be losing faith, growing weak; She knew from the very start they had sided with monsters to defeat monsters, the very reason she'd stomached sitting at the same table as Weiss Schnee and Bourus Carnelian. Salem needed to fall if the faunus were ever going to be free. The one truth Sienna and Ozma both agreed on, and the one task she had zero doubts on. It was her purpose; the very reason Blake Belladonna had been forged into the weapon she was today. She was the blade that was finally going to take her immortal heart, for Eve, for Ilia, and for every faunus that had been brutalized under her millennia of rulership.

Where better for the Hand to start that to take Salem's own off at the wrist?

"So be it"

The amber flames grew as Blake gently dipped a finger into the violent storm of power that now raged inside her soul. She didn't trust her ability to do much of anything with the power yet; but she didn't need to. She just needed access, to touch the power of the elements to her soul as she reattached Gambol to its sheathe to return it to one full sized blade and flung it out to her side.

Raven didn't even hear the thunder until after Blake was already behind her; a stream of lightning tracing back from her old position and her blade slashing across the huntress' midsection en-route at ludicrous speeds and equal force.

Yeah, that revelation pouring from behind the Hand's mask definitely cemented today in the top 3. Blake was so swift that Raven barely managed to keep her in sight. Deflecting the slash was never a possibility there. The slash took a fair chunk of her aura down with a wince of pain, but she nevertheless spun around to face the faunus warrior, sword in hand. Maiden or not, several allies down or not, she would keep fighting for as long as it proved necessary. Blake hadn't possessed this power for very long anyway. She had power but next to no finesse with it. Raven had faith she could hold her own. That said...

"Hey! Neo!" She yelled out towards Neo but never taking her eyes off Blake. "I don't know if you can hear me past whatever psycho frenzy you're in but you need to get the hell out of here, like I saw you were planning!" She rushed towards Blake then, fully intent on getting this blade duel among the flames started in earnest. "So go!" She finished yelling mid-charge.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

"Wah, wah." Mercury commented flatly as Cinder threw her little pity party, coming back up from his squat with bag shouldered and displaying a professional level of disinterest, his gaze hardly lifting towards her enough to fully acknowledge how emotional she was getting. Instead he focused on Watts, his question drawing an indulgent 'pffff' as he shot him a droll look with brows flatter than ironing boards.

"Still haven't stopped looking for holes in stuff so everyone can marvel at this whole 'boy genius' gimmick, huh? That ever actually work? You do know you're not getting a bump in your GPA on the other side of all this. Or a gold sticker from Oobleck or whatever it is you keep getting up for in the morning." He sighed, but gave an expectant nod when the subject of their current vulnerability was brought up.

"Vacuo's not like the other kingdoms, city boy. How anyone can call this place a 'kingdom' at all beats me. It's one crumbling city surrounded by a platter of satellite towns and nomad settlements, none of which have anything the big evil guy's gonna bother hoofing it across the desert for. You don't wanna be found here, you pretty much can't be found. Well, unless you go around wearing Grimm attracting magic lamps on your hip." The sarcastic undertones weren't hard to miss for a seasoned practitioner like Watts, though neither was the more earnest grin he flashed as he jerked his head towards the depths of the alley beckoningly.

"Plus, turns out Em's connected here. Like, way better connected than I thought she was gonna be, and that's coming from the guy with an assassin for a dad. You remember how she basically told us nothing about her life the entire time we were at school? Yea, makes sense now. Man, I thought I was playing it coy." He shook his head, both shoulders shrugging listlessly. "But we're pretty well-protected on the conceptual level, and physically our hideout's not the easiest place to get to either. You and the past-me tribute act wanna come check it out or what?"

Not only that, she was hit with the one two combo of emotional gut punches by the revelation about Tyrian and him being an emotionally fractured lunatic. He'd always been a bit...unstable, and the knowledge that he was alive was by itself a good thing but...Cinder couldn't help but feel responsible for him being in a more broken state too. That guilt hung over her enough that she couldn't even bring herself to smile about the fact that he was here too. Her face fell again. "I...excuse me." She commented quietly. She left Arthur to answer about Hazel if he wished to, turning on her heel and she just walked to the end of the alleyway they were in and once there took a quick sidestep to put her around the corner and out of sight so none could see her moment of weakness.

Right there she slid down to an uncomfortable seated position, leaning her back against the building and folding her arms together across her chest as she felt her eye water and tears fell freely, though she did her best to keep from audibly sobbing. It was all her fault. She had put greater importance in power and the magic than her friends and now the resentment that was there, it was all her...she'd broken her team and done a real number on MTEN too and...

All that thinking about it that she'd done in her head, every possibility she had imagined and scenario she had pictured...none of it left her prepared for the actual moment.

"T-shirt?"

A familiar voice chirped down at her, and if Cinder glanced up from her sorrow it was to the sight of the vendor who'd bombarded them earlier, a veritable legion of the cheap and tacky articles draped all over his arms and shoulders. The projection shimmered and vanished, left in its place an Emerald whose hand was outstretched and smile was softly eager.



"C'mon. Merc doesn't forgive easy, but he doesn't... hate you. He didn't just come out here 'cause he was dying to pull off some revenge prank. And he was being honest; Neo's not gonna wanna see you." She wasn't as blunt about it as her former partner was, but neither did she sugarcoat it.

"We'd... like her to anyway. Girl's carrying a lot of unresolved baggage around with her and we think it'd be good for her to finally drop some off. You could prolly use it too, judging from all this drunk girl crying you're doing. So listen, if we coooooouuuuld skip over all the mushy parts that're definitely gonna make me wanna crawl out into the desert and die and get right to the part where you don't do this anymore and come with us that'd be super great."

It was obvious from her tone that she wanted to help, yet even more obvious from the content of her words that she was as furtive and reluctant when it came to emotionally tangling herself in stuff as ever.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

What the....?

Had she called this...this thing a woman before? No. That wasn't right at all. This was a pure unadulterated monster. Neo had seen Grimm limbs before. Cinder had one and usually Neo didn't think twice about it. Just looked kinda ugly and gross. But this was on a whole different level. It didn't even feel like she was staring down something that at one point had been devoid of a Grimm infestation. This thing made her blood run cold. That surprise stab she'd been able to inflict may have taken down or greatly injured the Yang that Neo knew but it seemed all the torment and beating this one had gone through had given way to something worse lurking below the surface.

...But, she couldn't just run could she? Like a coward with her tail between her legs. She'd done it before when the Raven she knew of first appeared before her. Right as she'd been about to murder her daughter in cold blood. She shattered and fled like the wind. It wouldn't have even been a lie to say she was scared of this thing standing before her and yet...? It pissed her off to admit that to herself. How many times was she going to have to fight off the urge of fright during this little farce? From this world's Belladonna not holding back at attempting to skewer her while disguised as someone Neo had believed to be close to her to whatever the hell was happening here? It angered Neo in a way. Why did she have to be afraid of them? It certainly wasn't the case with their other world selves. They were just nuisances that Neo would deal with if they got in her way.

She took another glance over at the portal.

Her original intention had been to just...leave. She'd done what she could and the bird could find her way out. She didn't need Neo to hold her hand.

With the storm of feelings swelling within her, she bit down on her bottom lip. To run and avoid pain like what the ginger and...well shit, this thing's own sister went through? Seemed like the smarter course of action to take and she was smart. Smarter than any of those other losers. Or stand up to the fear ebbing within her like an oil slick waiting to be set ablaze.

She shattered.

Reappearing close by the thing wearing Dragon's body, Neo went to snatch up the severed piece of Omen she'd used to stab Yang. Provided she was able to grab it without being pounced on or attacked, Neo tried to cut away at the fear and plunge the blade forward. Straight into this thing's chest.

It was a statement if nothing else. An act of defiance.

'I'm not going to be scared of you, of all people, YOU!!!!!!'

Splitch

Neo barely saw the entity's hand move.

It wasn't some feat of prestidigitation or dexterity; the creature staring up at her was just that fast, predator instincts from a monster as ancient and pure as any Ozma had created during his centuries now reborn in a form that still erupted with physical power, its brilliant shining aura now fading from effervescent gold to a deep, baleful red in the middle. Its eyes were on a similar gradient but in reverse, burning red sclera giving way to an unblinking yellow core that almost bore resemblance to the pupils among the whites, even if the boundaries were less defined.

But then, it occurred to Neo that perhaps comparing what knelt before her to anything human was a mistake. The way it reacted to catching Omen's detached portion and letting it skewer straight through the Dragon's human hand spoke volumes in that respect, a long, violent quiver of pleasure rolling all throughout its body from the point of contact as its vessel's blood dripped down the blade's length, beginning to splatter against the floor. This version of Yang had appeared quite enamored by her 'new friend' in the time since it had been grafted to her, but in that moment the truth lay stark before Neo.

The creature infesting Dragon did not care about her. It wasn't her companion or friend; a Grimm had no concept of 'friendship'. She was to be its oven, its meal, and—when the day came it had gorged itself on enough of the Dragon's pain, her rage, her sorrow and suffering and heartbreak—its vessel. The form it would inhabit to give life to a new, horrifying commander to take its rightful place at the master's side, the final stage in the life cycle of a creature Ozma had taken special care in breeding. The ultimate infiltrators in his war against life. All it needed was time; time to gestate, and grow.

And feed.

And when its sole food source was negativity, it truly could not have asked for better prey than the poor, tortured, broken soul its master had seen fit to gift it. In the depths of her despair, in her yearning for something, anything other than what she had been given, she allowed it to take her. Body and soul. She made itself hers. In return, it took her pain unto itself.

And even as she nourished it, made it all go away.

Now it was here, admittedly an earlier hatching than it would've liked, and before Neo could shatter and escape it had shoved Yang's hand far enough down the jagged metal to close around the illusionist's wrist, grip unwavering and strong enough that she could see the pressure being exerted against her aura around the fingers and thumbs. The entity smiled, a far more docile, soulless baring of the teeth than anything typical of the Dragon as it peeled her lips back over a mouth that was nevertheless still stained with her blood.

"I̸ ̴s̶e̵e̷e̶e̸e̶ ii̸i̵i̵i̶t̷t̵t̸t̴t̷t̸. I̷ ̷c̵a̸n̷ ̵s̵e̴e̸e̷e̶e̴e̸e̸ ̸t̸h̷e̶ ̵b̴o̶t̷t̵o̶m̵ ̴o̴f̴ ̴y̷o̷u̴r̸ ̷s̸s̶s̶o̶u̸l̵.̷"

Its speech still sounded wrong, disjointed and uncoordinated as if it hadn't quite gotten its head around the mouth it was using yet. Anything that once resembled Dragon's scratchy, quavering vocal patterns were distorted beyond all recognition, the voice that emerged now a gurgling, serpentine rumble.

"I ̴c̶a̵n̴ ̵s̵s̸s̷s̸e̸e̷e̸e̵n̷n̷s̷s̷s̸s̶s̵e̵ ̵y̸o̸u̷r̶ mi̵s̴e̸r̴y̷y̶y̷y̶y̵y̷y̶.̸ S̷o̸ ̵m̷u̷c̷h̵ ̵p̴a̷a̶a̵a̷i̷i̶i̸i̵n̷n̶n̶n̴n̵n̶.̸ W̴h̵a̸t̵ ̵a̴i̵l̷s̵ ̷y̶o̷u̴,̸ ̴w̷h̵a̸t̶ ̴a̷i̸l̴s̸s̵s̶ ̷y̴o̴u̶u̸u̶u̷u̶.̵"

Were it not for all the numerous and obvious horrifying features of the rasp bubbling up from Yang's throat, it almost might have sounded soothing. It still wouldn't let go of Neo, nowhere near the leverage she needed to squirm her wrist free to the point that her illusions could get her away from this monstrosity as it started to rise. She could feel its non-impaled Grimm hand slither up over her body with it, coming to rest on her cheek and begin caressing it with a gentle, almost mothering touch, not entirely distracting from how its nails scraped softly against her aura as though appraising it.

It was around then that Neo started feeling a strange, unsettling warmth begin to spread inside, like it was washing away her fears and worries. Or extracting them.

"T̴h̷e̶y̴ ̴k̸i̵l̸l̸e̶d̷ ̵h̴i̸m̵m̷m̴.̶ ̶T̴o̷o̶k̶ ̴h̶i̶m̷ ̸a̵w̷a̵y̴ ̸f̸r̴o̶m̵ ̸y̴o̷u̴u̵u̸u̵.̸ ̷He̸e̷e̶ ̴w̸a̴s̸s̷s̶s̶s̷ ̷y̷o̸u̴r̷ ̵p̴a̸r̴t̷n̵e̷r̵r̷r̷r̷.̵ ̶Y̴o̵u̷r̶ ̵f̸r̶i̴e̶n̵n̸n̶d̷.̶ ̵Y̶o̷u̸r̸ ̴e̶v̵e̶r̸y̸t̴h̸i̴n̷n̶n̵g̸g̴g̶g̷.̴ ̵H̴e̸ ̸w̷a̵s̵.̵.̶.̵ ̵h̵e̴ ̶w̸a̸s̷s̷s̵s̵s̸s̴.̵.̶.̴"̷

The soothing touch stopped, and it stopped in just about the most horrifying manner Neo could've envisioned when it gripped one half of her face abruptly and latched on like an eel, the Grimm mass constituting its palm shifting and writhing against her skin as she felt the emergence of what felt like teeth. This was all made all the more disturbing by the fact that the Dragon's occupant took that moment to lunge in for her face and screech, screech like a Griffon, the sensuous rattles beginning to run over it again as it drank whatever negativity its concluding word evoked in her. At the same time, a colder and more disorienting kind of numbness started spreading through Neo from the point of contact, the teeth swarming against her like locusts beginning to sap her aura.

"D̶E̵L̵I̵C̵I̷O̴U̶S̶S̴S̴S̶S̴S̸S̵S̷S̶!"​

 

[MidwayLives]

Splitch

Neo barely saw the entity's hand move.

It wasn't some feat of prestidigitation or sleight of hand; the creature staring up at her was just that fast, predator instincts from a monster as ancient and pure as any Ozma had created during his centuries now reborn in a form that still erupted with physical power, its brilliant shining aura now fading from effervescent gold to a deep, baleful red in the middle. Its eyes were on a similar gradient but in reverse, burning red sclera giving way to an unblinking yellow core that almost resembled the pupils among the sclera, even if the boundaries were less defined.

But then, it occurred to Neo that perhaps comparing what knelt before her to anything human was a mistake. The way it reacted to catching Omen's detached portion and letting it skewer straight through the Dragon's human hand spoke volumes in that respect, a long, violent quiver of pleasure rolling all throughout its body from the point of contact as its vessel's blood dropped down the blade's length, beginning to splatter against the floor. This version of Yang appeared quite enamored by her 'new friend' in the time since it had been grafted to her, but in that moment the truth lay stark before Neo.

The creature infesting Dragon did not care about her. It wasn't her companion or friend; a Grimm had no concept of 'friendship'. She was to be its oven, its meal, and—when the day came it had gorged itself on enough of the Dragon's pain, her rage, her sorrow and suffering and heartbreak—its vessel. The form it would inhabit to give life to a new, horrifying commander to take its rightful place at the master's side, the final stage in the life cycle of a creature Ozma had taken special clear in breeding. The ultimate infiltrators in his war against life. All it needed was time; time to gestate, and grow.

And feed.

And when its sole food source was negativity, it truly could not have asked for better prey than the poor, tortured, broken soul its master had seen fit to gift it. In the depths of her despair, in her yearning for something, anything other than what she had been given, she allowed it to take her. Body and soul. She made itself hers. In return, it took her pain unto itself.

And it made it all go away.

Neo was no stranger to mutilation.

By the time she was done with Malachite, the woman looked more like a pincushion than a human being.

But the sight of this left her looking on in a mixture of spiteful anger and fear. Why did it have to be her of all people? To invoke this kind of feeling in her? Though...If Neo was being honest with herself. The woman she'd grown to dislike and wished to kill? It seemed like she was just...gone. Her body left behind and used like a puppeteer would use one of their marionets. Neo tried to pull the blade free but it was no use. This thing only kept drawing closer.
​

And it made it all go away.

Now it was here, admittedly an earlier hatching than it would've liked, and before Neo could shatter and escape it had shoved Yang's hand far enough down the jagged metal to close around the illusionist's wrist, grip unwavering and strong enough that she could see the pressure being exerted against her aura around the fingers and thumbs. The entity smiled, a far more docile, soulless baring of the teeth than anything typical of the Dragon as it peeled her lips back over a mouth that was nevertheless still stained with her blood.

"I̸ ̴s̶e̵e̷e̶e̸e̶ ii̸i̵i̵i̶t̷t̵t̸t̴t̷t̸. I̷ ̷c̵a̸n̷ ̵s̵e̴e̸e̷e̶e̴e̸e̸ ̸t̸h̷e̶ ̵b̴o̶t̷t̵o̶m̵ ̴o̴f̴ ̴y̷o̷u̴r̸ ̷s̸s̶s̶o̶u̸l̵.̷"

Its speech still sounded wrong, disjointed and uncoordinated as if it hadn't quite gotten its head around the mouth it was using yet. Anything that once resembled Dragon's scratchy, quavering vocal patterns were distorted beyond all recognition, the voice that emerged now a gurgling, serpentine rumble.

"I ̴c̶a̵n̴ ̵s̵s̸s̷s̸e̸e̷e̸e̵n̷n̷s̷s̷s̸s̶s̵e̵ ̵y̸o̸u̷r̶ mi̵s̴e̸r̴y̷y̶y̷y̶y̵y̷y̶.̸ S̷o̸ ̵m̷u̷c̷h̵ ̵p̴a̷a̶a̵a̷i̷i̶i̸i̵n̷n̶n̶n̴n̵n̶.̸ W̴h̵a̸t̵ ̵a̴i̵l̷s̵ ̷y̶o̷u̴,̸ ̴w̷h̵a̸t̶ ̴a̷i̸l̴s̸s̵s̶ ̷y̴o̴u̶u̸u̶u̷u̶.̵"

Were it not for all the numerous and obvious horrifying features of the rasp bubbling up from Yang's throat, it almost might have sounded soothing. It still wouldn't let go of Neo, nowhere near the leverage she needed to squirm her wrist free to the point that her illusions could get her away from this monstrosity as it started to rise. She could feel its non-impaled Grimm hand slither up over her body with it, coming to rest on her cheek and begin caressing it with a gentle, almost mothering touch, not entirely distracting from how its nails scraped softly against her aura as though appraising it.

It was around then that Neo started feeling a strange, unsettling warmth begin to spread inside, like it was washing away her fears and worries. Or extracting them.

Neo let out a startled grunt as the pressure began to spread around her wrist.

This...this thing! It...The strength behind it! It was going to break her hand! It was as though she'd been caught in a press. She struggled and pulled as hard as her body would allow of her. This wasn't how her fights were supposed to go. They were never supposed to lay a finger on her. She'd work around them, cause them to trip up, get sloppy, and she'd go in for the kill. The thing using blondie like a meat puppet had not only closed the distance between them but the pain was once again messing with her concentration. She couldn't shatter if it felt like her hand was going to be crushed. She used her free hand to try and in vain to pull her hand free. The pressure was intense! This thing could absolutely break her if she didn't get away!

...But she wanted to see it dead!

Ugh! Why couldn't anything in this world ever make sense?! Why couldn't it ever just be easy!!?

As the extension of it's body that resembled the arm Cinder had back home drew closer, Neo upped the efforts to try and pull away. But the more she struggled with her hand caught up like it was, it was more likely her hand would be ripped clean off the arm before she got away through brute force. She pulled her head back and turned her face away. The last thing she wanted was that thing touching her.

This is what she got for sticking her neck out for others. For going along with this stupid plan. It was stupid-all of it. They should have just forgotten Schnee and done whatever was needed to get home.

She'd leaned back as far as she could. It still hadn't been enough. The limb scraped across her aura and just the same, her worries felt like they were melting away. As if they were simply easing their way down a hypothetical drain.
​

"T̴h̷e̶y̴ ̴k̸i̵l̸l̸e̶d̷ ̵h̴i̸m̵m̷m̴.̶ ̶T̴o̷o̶k̶ ̴h̶i̶m̷ ̸a̵w̷a̵y̴ ̸f̸r̴o̶m̵ ̸y̴o̷u̴u̵u̸u̵.̸ ̷He̸e̷e̶ ̴w̸a̴s̸s̷s̶s̶s̷ ̷y̷o̸u̴r̷ ̵p̴a̸r̴t̷n̵e̷r̵r̷r̷r̷.̵ ̶Y̴o̵u̷r̶ ̵f̸r̶i̴e̶n̵n̸n̶d̷.̶ ̵Y̶o̷u̸r̸ ̴e̶v̵e̶r̸y̸t̴h̸i̴n̷n̶n̵g̸g̴g̶g̷.̴ ̵H̴e̸ ̸w̷a̵s̵.̵.̶.̵ ̵h̵e̴ ̶w̸a̸s̷s̷s̵s̵s̸s̴.̵.̶.̴"̷

The soothing touch stopped, and it stopped in just about the most horrifying manner Neo could've envisioned as it gripped one half of her face abruptly and latched on like an eel, the Grimm mass constituting its palm shifting and writhing against her skin as she felt the emergence of what felt like teeth. This was all made all the more terrifying by the fact that the Dragon's occupant took that moment to lunge in for her face and screech, the sensuous rattles beginning to run over it again as it drank whatever negativity its concluding word evoked in her.

"D̶E̵L̵I̵C̵I̷O̴U̶S̶S̴S̴S̶S̴S̸S̵S̷S̶!"

"......!!!!"

Neo clutched at the part of the limb that'd stuck onto her face. Her weak groans and grunts got louder and louder. As far as Little Red and Blondie's friends had known of the little murderer, she'd never so much as made a noise in their presence. There were times in Neo's life where she wished she could have. After seeing another Roman cut down, she wanted nothing more than to throw her head back and scream into the night sky. But all that came out was a throaty raspy streak of noise. As the pain around her wrist and now upon her face grew worse, Neo fell to a knee as her eyes widened in petrified terror.

She tried to open her mouth.

To scream.

But amid the frightened coughs, the desperate sputtering...

Nothing came.​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"T-shirt?"

A familiar voice chirped down at her, and if Cinder glanced up from her sorrow it was to the sight of the vendor who'd bombarded them earlier, a veritable legion of the cheap and tacky articles draped all over his arms and shoulders. The projection shimmered and vanished, left in its place an Emerald whose hand was outstretched and smile was softly eager.

"C'mon. Merc doesn't forgive easy, but he doesn't... hate you. He didn't just come out here 'cause he was dying to pull off some revenge prank. And he was being honest; Neo's not gonna wanna see you." She wasn't as blunt about it as her former partner was, but neither did she sugarcoat it.

"We'd... like her to anyway. Girl's carrying a lot of unresolved baggage around with her and we think it'd be good for her to finally drop some off. You could prolly use it too, judging from all this drunk girl crying you're doing. So listen, if we coooooouuuuld skip over all the mushy parts that're definitely gonna make me wanna crawl out into the desert and die and get right to the part where you don't do this anymore and come with us that'd be super great."

It was obvious from her tone that she wanted to help, yet even more obvious from the content of her words that she was as furtive and reluctant when it came to emotionally tangling herself in stuff as ever.

The return of the forceful t-shirt guy from earlier got a chuckle out of her, albeit one that still managed to sound sad.

There was no answer beyond that, and even when Emerald herself appeared before her, it was only when she was halfway through her words that Cinder even looked up at her. She didn’t say anything until Emerald finished talking, with a few silent seconds passing between them before she opened her mouth. “But maybe he should. Should hate me, I mean.” Cinder lowered her gaze from Emerald’s face back down to the street in front of her. “I’d just learned that Roman had gotten...that he was gone. You guys, Neo. You were hurting. My team too. You were all my friends, some of the first friends I’ve ever really had, and I still just left you all. Abandoned you all and ran after some dirty thief because I put power above all of you. Told you guys and myself that it was so I could better protect you all, but...sometime between then and now I realized it was because I had been weak once and I never wanted to feel that way again. That anything that made me stronger was the greater priority.” Cinder shook her head in shame.

“I was selfish. I did exactly what...what she would have done. The other me that’s around here somewhere, on this Remnant.” Cinder clarified. “Maybe I shouldn’t be forgiven for that, but I really am sorry. I’ve never been more sorry for anything in my life. Only one or two other things even come close.” Cinder sighed, looking back towards Emerald directly again.

“Sorry. I know you asked to skip the mushy stuff, but...can’t help it. Growing up like that didn’t really leave me with emotional...stability, I guess. I don’t even know if that’s the right word for it. I just...when my emotions flare, they really flare. Happiness. Anger. Sadness. Thanks, shitty childhood.” The teenage maiden fell silent then, looking up at Emerald. She hadn’t had the greatest of childhoods either. Nor had Mercury, and what Neo had gone through back when...another tear escaped her eye at the mere thought of it. They all shared that but only one among them had abandoned the rest.

Some friend I am.

“Emerald, I...gotta be honest. I don’t know how much help I would even be. With Neo, I mean...with...” She trailed off, not even sure where she was going with that.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

​

She didn’t say anything until Emerald finished talking, with a few silent seconds passing between them before she opened her mouth. “But maybe he should. Should hate me, I mean.”

The way her eyes widened as her attempt at circumventing what was obviously about to happen was, itself, circumvented seemed genuinely panicked, Emerald starting to wave her hands in frantic, dissuading fashion as if to nip whatever was about to happen in the bud. "Cinder, look, I dunno if you ever noticed but I'm really not the best person to talk to about this kinda—"
​

“I was selfish. I did exactly what...what she would have done. The other me that’s around here somewhere, on this Remnant.” Cinder clarified. “Maybe I shouldn’t be forgiven for that, but I really am sorry. I’ve never been more sorry for anything in my life. Only one or two other things even come close.” Cinder sighed, looking back towards Emerald directly again.

"It's... it's not that I don't want to help, I just never wanted to be the friend who gets tangled up in all the... sentimental stuff..." She tried again meekly, words reduced to a noncommittal mumble by this point.

What was she doing right now? What did this kid want from her? An emotional reaction? One of those hug-out-our-problems therapy sessions where she passed a box of tissues and said the right words and all their issues were nice and tied off in a neat little bow by the end? Fuck that! Why did she have to be the one who ended up comforting Cinder in this scenario? Flaky, preachy, 'abandon you at your lowest and try to make you feel like the asshole' Cinder? And worse, why did she want to?

Why did she keep doing this to herself?

Feel lonely. Make friends. Accept that friends will betray you and loved ones will abandon you, so don't get attached. Get attached anyway. Oh wow, what a surprise—your friends have betrayed you and/or your loved ones have abandoned you, leaving you more disillusioned and burnt out on the whole idea of cohabitation than ever. Act like it doesn't hurt, pick yourself up, move on. Feel lonely. Rinse and repeat. Why was this the story of her life already? She hadn't even hit freaking 20 yet! Why was she built this way?

And why did she let it hurt so much every time?

No. Screw it. She wasn't doing it! Somebody else could take a turn. If Cinder wanted to sit here and cry, she could sit here and cry. She wasn't caving.
​

“Sorry. I know you asked to skip the mushy stuff, but...can’t help it. Growing up like that didn’t really leave me with emotional...stability, I guess. I don’t even know if that’s the right word for it. I just...when my emotions flare, they really flare. Happiness. Anger. Sadness. Thanks, shitty childhood.” The teenage maiden fell silent then, looking up at Emerald. She hadn’t had the greatest of childhoods either. Nor had Mercury, and what Neo had gone through back when...another tear escaped her eye at the mere thought of it. They all shared that but only one among them had abandoned the rest.

Some friend I am.

“Emerald, I...gotta be honest. I don’t know how much help I would even be. With Neo, I mean...with...” She trailed off, not even sure where she was going with that.​

"Shhhhhhh, it's okay." Came Emerald's soft, meager reassurance as she caved. Carefully sliding down the wall next to Cinder, she moved to gently touch her arm and steer her head over towards her shoulder, subconsciously accepting her undying lot in life as the proverbial to cry on before whoever it was decided they were done with her. At least the times between loneliness were worth being there for. Sometimes.

"Maybe you can, maybe you can't."

That still didn't mean she knew what to say. The most frustrating part was she wasn't even good at this stuff; at being the shoulder. It should've been so easy to get out of it, and yet here she was, doing her best blondie impression when her and that chick honestly couldn't have been any less alike. All she needed now were some gauntlets and a mortifyingly lame sense of humor.

"Sorry, I'm just a little... I dunno what to tell you, Cinder. I could start by saying I forgive you, I guess. Honestly, I never really held anything against you in the first place. What happened happened. None of us can take it back. I just felt... tired, more than anything; mostly I think I was mad at myself for expecting more."

She huffed, and it was evident in that moment that she sounded as tired as she felt.

"But even hearing myself say it... I know it's not as simple as 'I forgive you'. You know? I wish I could say it was even the first time something like this happened to me, but it wasn't. It happened right here in this city, before any of this. I... thought I had found my people, then they let me down. Before that it was my aunts; before that, my mom and dad. I dunno. It gets to a point where you kinda just accept this is how most people are."

Her frown was pensive, but only served to belie the sheer force she spoke her next words with, practically an outburst as she threw her hands up with an exasperated flap. It was almost like she was arguing with herself.

"But it doesn't HAVE to be! I mean, right? We don't have to just... just accept stuff then wallow in misery about it forever! I kinda just had a mini realization to myself while I was talking, but I'm pretty positive I don't wanna be that person. That's why I'm down here comforting you right now. It's why I'm not letting go of Neo, no matter how sick she's getting of me and Mercury hounding her. I'd rather be the idiot who keeps getting hurt than the one doing the hurting." She softly prodded Cinder in the cheek. "You're the same way. You think your childhood issues draw a line between you and some 'evil' version of you? Okay, sure. Maybe they do. The difference is she's off using those issues to justify being a trashy ho somewhere right now, and you're sitting down in an alley like some hobo crying over one mistake. 'Scuse me if I have a pretty clear impression of which one is the supervillain and which one's just some kid."

She moved to disentangle them, having evidently hit her stride in this particular bout of therapizing as she went to stand.



"So maybe you can bury the hatchet with Neo; or maybe the second she sees you she'll try using your face as one of those pencil-holder-cup-things. Who cares? That's only part of what it's about. The real point is being brave enough to try anyways, 'cause the 'evil' you never would. So you can sit here and feel bad if you want, but I think you should come with us. And if you're gonna torture yourself with guilt over something, how 'bout the fact I've had the phrase 'dirty thief' thrown my way enough times to take exception to it? Oh, on an unrelated note—"

Two fingers went up, clasping between them something Cinder might've recognized as the thing currently not in her pocket.

"—if you aren't coming with you also can't have your wallet back."​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"Shhhhhhh, it's okay." Came Emerald's soft, meager reassurance as she caved. Carefully sliding down the wall next to Cinder, she moved to gently touch her arm and steer her head over towards her shoulder, subconsciously accepting her undying lot in life as the proverbial to cry on before whoever it was decided they were done with her. At least the times between loneliness were worth being there for. Sometimes.

"Maybe you can, maybe you can't."

That still didn't mean she knew what to say. The most frustrating part was she wasn't even good at this stuff; at being the shoulder. It should've been so easy to get out of it, and yet here she was, doing her best blondie impression when her and that chick honestly couldn't have been any less alike. All she needed now were some gauntlets and a mortifyingly lame sense of humor.

"Sorry, I'm just a little... I dunno what to tell you, Cinder. I could start by saying I forgive you, I guess. Honestly, I never really held anything against you in the first place. What happened happened. None of us can take it back. I just felt... tired, more than anything; mostly I think I was mad at myself for expecting more."

She huffed, and it was evident in that moment that she sounded as tired as she felt.

"But even hearing myself say it... I know it's not as simple as 'I forgive you'. You know? I wish I could say it was even the first time something like this happened to me, but it wasn't. It happened right here in this city, before Beacon. I... thought I had found my people, then they let me down. Before that it was my aunts; before that, my mom and dad. I dunno. It gets to a point where you kinda just accept this is how most people are."

Her frown was pensive, but only served to belie the sheer force she spoke her next words with, practically an outburst as she threw her hands up with an exasperated flap. It was almost like she was arguing with herself.

"But it doesn't HAVE to be! I mean, right? We don't have to just... just accept stuff then wallow in guilt about it forever! I kind of just had a mini realization to myself while I was talking, but I'm pretty positive I don't wanna be that person. That's why I'm down here comforting you right now. It's why I'm not letting go of Neo, no matter how sick she's getting of me and Mercury hounding her. I'd rather be the idiot who keeps getting hurt than the one doing the hurting." She softly prodded Cinder in the cheek. "You're the same way. You think your childhood issues draw a line between you and some evil version of you? Okay, sure. Maybe they do. The difference is she's off using those issues to justify being a trashy ho somewhere right now, and you're sitting down in an alley like some hobo crying over one mistake. 'Scuse me if I have a pretty clear impression of which one is the supervillain and which one's just some kid."

She moved to disentangle them, having evidently hit her stride in this particular bout of therapizing as she went to stand.

"So maybe you can bury the hatchet with Neo; or maybe the second she sees you she'll try using your face as one of those pencil-holder-cup-things. Who cares? That's only part of what it's about. The real point is being brave enough to try anyways, 'cause the evil you never would. So you can sit here and feel bad if you want, but I think you should come with us. And if you're gonna torture yourself with guilt over something, how 'bout the fact I've had the phrase 'dirty thief' thrown my way enough times to take exception to it? Oh, on an unrelated note—"

Two fingers went up, clasping between them something Cinder might've recognized as the thing currently not in her pocket.

"—if you aren't coming with you also can't have your wallet back."

Cinder blinked in surprise, as not only was Emerald still here despite the quite frankly overwhelming awkwardness, but the other girl had actually slid down to sit beside her. She hadn't asked for it, in fact the whole point of her initially excusing herself had been so that she would be away from the group for a little while, let it out in solitude. But she had to admit, she really did appreciate that Emerald went so far. In fact, that appreciation in Cinder probably rivaled the awkwardness she was sure Emerald felt inside about this situation. It was probably greater, even! She hesitated for only a second or two before moving to rest her head on the offered shoulder. It was so...nice. So warm.

She was silent for the whole time Emerald was talking, even after the older girl had pulled away and stood back up. Cinder was simply grateful for even that brief time. Emerald didn't have to, and as she herself admitted, she really wasn't the type of person to do so...but she had anyway. The maiden only spoke up after that last, swiftly scrambling back to her feet with an affronted "hey!" at the fact that Emerald had taken her wallet. She did her best to swipe it back but whether that failed or not, the tears had dried up as she fell in step alongside the mint-haired thief. "So hey, you know...you may not consider yourself that type of person, but you're good at it! Really good! You could probably make a killing, charging hourly for stuff like that." Cinder joked, some of that more positive energy coming back out. "But seriously, thanks. Not just for the forgiveness or whatever, but like...painting that picture. About the differences between me, and...the other me. The older me. Evil me. The trashy ho." In spite of her mood just a little bit ago, Cinder broke into a raucous fit of giggles.

That was such a good way to describe her. "You know, that should be trademarked."

"Not gonna lie, this crying hobo's feeling pretty good right now." She remarked, thumbing at herself. Enough to poke fun even at herself, it seemed. "And brave too! Thanks again for reminding me of that. That I'm more than just some reflection of that other me, that unlike her I'm brave enough to try to own up to my mistakes. Whatever happens with Neo, no matter if it goes badly or not...thanks." Cinder couldn't say that word enough. "I mean it." She hesitated for a second before she leaned over, and as if adding an exclamation point to her last statement, gave Emerald a quick kiss on the cheek.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

So as completely fucked situations went, this decidedly cracked the top 5 experiences of her life in that regard. No, top three. Nora was just plain gone. The Masque was unconscious. Yang was...well, could she even be called Yang right now...and Neo was in a full blown murder panic on account of whatever that was that was pretending or posing as Yang. Or maybe that was just Yang...whatever. Point being, this was bad. Real bad. Gee, who coulda guessed that? Oh right, she had. This was just as risky and reckless and stupid as she had said! But...she'd gone along with it. This was what she had signed up for, and a chance like this was...well, she could only hope the other side was getting their mission done while this side drew all the heat down onto themselves. Yet speaking of heat, none of those things were even the worst life saw fit to throw at them.

Yeah, that revelation pouring from behind the Hand's mask definitely cemented today in the top 3. Blake was so swift that Raven barely managed to keep her in sight. Deflecting the slash was never a possibility there. The slash took a fair chunk of her aura down with a wince of pain, but she nevertheless spun around to face the faunus warrior, sword in hand. Maiden or not, several allies down or not, she would keep fighting for as long as it proved necessary. Blake hadn't possessed this power for very long anyway. She had power but next to no finesse with it. Raven had faith she could hold her own. That said...

"Hey! Neo!" She yelled out towards Neo but never taking her eyes off Blake. "I don't know if you can hear me past whatever psycho frenzy you're in but you need to get the hell out of here, like I saw you were planning!" She rushed towards Blake then, fully intent on getting this blade duel among the flames started in earnest. "So go!" She finished yelling mid-charge.

"She's not leaving."

Blake had stood slowly from her crouch after the strike, aftershocks of electricity still coursing down the blade, head just barely turned enough so that Raven could see one eye peering back at her past the mask.

"None of you are."

Raven's slash came in and her target suddenly split in two, stepping in opposite directions before they both pivoted back to slash at the huntress, the one on the left proving real. regardless of whether the hit connected or not, the Blake that really existed simply wasn't there after the strike, a fiery clone left in her wake that rocked the room with another explosion.

Then wherever Raven tried to dodge or was thrown to, another flaming clone was right beside her before it too went up in kinetic flames.

Blake knew as well as anyone that she didn't know how to use the power of the mantle of spring as anything more than a bludgeoning tool; that why she wasn't going to. She didn't need it. That wasn't why she'd taken it at all; Blake Belladonna may have been forged into a tool of war, may have spent every moment since sharpening herself to better herself for her purpose, but she didn't crave power; It was just a tool, a means to an end. Let the Cinders and Weiss squabble over the magic of the world why she did her best to burn it all to the ground so it could be built into something better.

Yang Xiao Long was tapping into the brunt of the power she had across Monstra, unleashing everything she could get her hand on in a potent but dangerous bid to overcome the odds that she might not have had a chance against otherwise.

Blake Belladonna was using the mantle as a glorified dust canister.

That was all she needed it for to turn this room into a hellscape of blades and fire that was never in the same place twice.

Neo was no stranger to mutilation.

By the time she was done with Malachite, the woman looked more like a pincushion than a human being.

But the sight of this left her looking on in a mixture of spiteful anger and fear. Why did it have to be her of all people? To invoke this kind of feeling in her? Though...If Neo was being honest with herself. The woman she'd grown to dislike and wished to kill? It seemed like she was just...gone. Her body left behind and used like a puppeteer would use one of their marionets. Neo tried to pull the blade free but it was no use. This thing only kept drawing closer.


Neo let out a startled grunt as the pressure began to spread around her wrist.

This...this thing! It...The strength behind it! It was going to break her hand! It was as though she'd been caught in a press. She struggled and pulled as hard as her body would allow of her. This wasn't how her fights were supposed to go. They were never supposed to lay a finger on her. She'd work around them, cause them to trip up, get sloppy, and she'd go in for the kill. The thing using blondie like a meat puppet had not only closed the distance between them but the pain was once again messing with her concentration. She couldn't shatter if it felt like her hand was going to be crushed. She used her free hand to try and in vain to pull her hand free. The pressure was intense! This thing could absolutely break her if she didn't get away!

...But she wanted to see it dead!

Ugh! Why couldn't anything in this world ever make sense?! Why couldn't it ever just be easy!!?

As the extension of it's body that resembled the arm Cinder had back home drew closer, Neo upped the efforts to try and pull away. But the more she struggled with her hand caught up like it was, it was more likely her hand would be ripped clean off the arm before she got away through brute force. She pulled her head back and turned her face away. The last thing she wanted was that thing touching her.

This is what she got for sticking her neck out for others. For going along with this stupid plan. It was stupid-all of it. They should have just forgotten Schnee and done whatever was needed to get home.

She'd leaned back as far as she could. It still hadn't been enough. The limb scraped across her aura and just the same, her worries felt like they were melting away. As if they were simply easing their way down a hypothetical drain.


"......!!!!"

Neo clutched at the part of the limb that'd stuck onto her face. Her weak groans and grunts got louder and louder. As far as Little Red and Blondie's friends had known of the little murderer, she'd never so much as made a noise in their presence. There were times in Neo's life where she wished she could have. After seeing another Roman cut down, she wanted nothing more than to throw her head back and scream into the night sky. But all that came out was a throaty raspy streak of noise. As the pain around her wrist and now upon her face grew worse, Neo fell to a knee as her eyes widened in petrified terror.

She tried to open her mouth.

To scream.

But amid the frightened coughs, the desperate sputtering...

Nothing came.​

Blake had been forged into a dangerous weapon, though one that did its best work in the shadows or confusion. A stiletto blade in the dark, a sword in the back.

The weapon that came rocketing through the portal was something far less subtle.

Penny hadn't gone directly with either strike team, and Vernal and Masque hadn't been the only ones waiting back at the tavern. There was no way of knowing for sure which group was truly going to be in more danger; the ones who were going to draw the bulk of Oz' most dangerous killers, or the ones who were going to face the master of the grimm herself. The only real certainty was that, eventually, someone was going to be in over their head.

That was where Penny would come in.

She'd been in a runner's crouch between both portals, her scanners fully focused on both sides. Nora had been ejected from the fight the same instant she'd been in danger, and Masque's sudden exit and prompt changing of sides was too erratic for Penny to even act on.

Neo's danger was far more clear cut.

The beast that lived within the dragon heard the sound of thrusters entering the room one moment, and just as Penny crested over Neo's frame in the monster's visions, six swords arced across the arm that had her ally trapped in a bid to absolutely filet the offending appendage before Penny landed between the two, shoved Neo back with one hand, and put her palm of the other directly towards the dragon's face that lanced out a brilliant green beam of kinetic energy to try and launch her back from her prey.

"Are you ok, Miss Politan?!"

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"Still haven't stopped looking for holes in stuff so everyone can marvel at this whole 'boy genius' gimmick, huh? That ever actually work? You do know you're not getting a bump in your GPA on the other side of all this. Or a gold sticker from Oobleck or whatever it is you keep getting up for in the morning." He sighed, but gave an expectant nod when the subject of their current vulnerability was brought up.

"Vacuo's not like the other kingdoms, city boy. How anyone can call this place a 'kingdom' at all beats me. It's one crumbling city surrounded by a platter of satellite towns and nomad settlements, none of which have anything the big evil guy's gonna bother hoofing it across the desert for. You don't wanna be found here, you pretty much can't be found. Well, unless you go around wearing Grimm attracting magic lamps on your hip." The sarcastic undertones weren't hard to miss for a seasoned practitioner like Watts, though neither was the more earnest grin he flashed as he jerked his head towards the depths of the alley beckoningly.

"Plus, turns out Em's connected here. Like, way better connected than I thought she was gonna be, and that's coming from the guy with an assassin for a dad. You remember how she basically told us nothing about her life the entire time we were at school? Yea, makes sense now. Man, I thought I was playing it coy." He shook his head, both shoulders shrugging listlessly. "But we're pretty well-protected on the conceptual level, and physically our hideout's not the easiest place to get to either. You and the past-me tribute act wanna come check it out or what?"

"If I somehow convince myself to go back to Beacon after all this is done, I implore you to put a bullet in the base of my neck" He answered. "Its not about that; I'd be delighted if I didn't feel like the smartest person in the room. But the first time I didn't take the time to dig the holes in the underyling logic of a situation, it got me expelled from Atlas. And the second...."

The second was Haven. Not taking the time to think about why they were the ones being sent along, and just how everything could go terribly, violently wrong.

At the offer, he gave him a leery frown, but it was hard to miss the way his eyes glimmered with a bit of intrigue. For all Watts' talk of playing it safe, and for all his preening and sarcastic bite, the eagerness to know anything about everything was something that was ingrained into his soul; it was why he'd gone to atlas academy in the first place, why he'd taken that loss and soldiered on into making his way into Beacon by any means necessary, and why he'd not taken the time he should've to think things through when presented with the opportunity to acquire an object that literally had the answers to everything.

A friend's secret past, while perhaps not as universally useful, nor something he'd dig into without permission, and how exactly these four (five? seriously who the hell was this middle aged man with the absolute worst mustache he'd ever seen) were hiding out here was something that had his interest.

Oh, and he supposed they should probably meet back up with Tyrian.

"I suppose there's no harm in it. We need a safe place to stow this anyways while the other idiots all kill themselves."

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"Or, and bear with me here, I could take another option." Any amount of mocking or levity that had at all been in Ozwen's voice or expressed upon that face beforehand was utterly gone now. She spoke with only an intensely harsh tone, and the look upon that face was harsher still. "My forces kill you, and I pry the weapon from your cold, unfeeling hands."

Raven was doing an exemplary job at slaughtering grimm left and right, as was fitting of a huntress who had been one of Beacon's best, but more still rushed in from the exposed opening to the outside, drawn by the strong negative emotions that hung in the air. Yet there was more to it than just them. After Qrow presumably left once he had gotten the affirmatives from both Yang and Raven, another pair of eyes focused upon the drunken warrior from the shadows. He went unnoticed by the veteran huntsman rushing forth to go retrieve Ruby, but Qrow did not escape his attention. Raw anger sprang up inside him then, the likes of which he barely even managed to contain, even with his skill in managing his emotions. He wanted very much to act on his feelings, but...

He recognized that prioritizing his need for vengeance over what Oz desired or needed could prove quite painful, if not fatal in the long run. It took a few uncomfortable moments but he buried his rage underneath serenity.

The man remained in the shadows until Qrow was out of sight, and only then did he move, footsteps as quiet as anyone's could be. The Grimm were drawn by the emotions, but they were not the only one who sensed them. He had been on his way elsewhere, to where the big blasts he had heard as clearly as anyone else came from, but his semblance gave him reason to pause. Not long after those explosions rocked the inside of this grimm, strong feelings spiked elsewhere and he felt them as clear as day. That had given him reason to investigate. He entered the area Qrow had just vacated without so much a sound to announce his arrival. At least, not until his gunfire did so, after he had taken stock of the situation. Ren peppered Yang with numerous dust rounds from his twin pistols, acting as support for the grimm master.

There was a grunt of pained frustration as Yang found herself blasted backwards, but she rotated her momentum in the air to land in a sliding crouch, and at Oz's words she snorted as she stood up and cracked her knuckles, the mirth not quite meeting her eyes.

"Or, and bear with me here, you try that and I just completely beat your ass so hard that you just leave Weiss entirely because you're so mortified that thousand years old you got whooped by a nineteen year old blonde with a- ow motherf-!"

The sudden spray of gunfire caught Yang entirely off guard, and her aura flared under the damage even as she raised her gauntlets to block of the hail before she dived to the side and came out of the roll with her fist already swinging as she pivoted to punch a shot straight for Oz's skull, a screaming flare round rocketing across the room for its target.

 

[Gus Gungus]

"......!!!!"

Neo clutched at the part of the limb that'd stuck onto her face. Her weak groans and grunts got louder and louder. As far as Little Red and Blondie's friends had known of the little murderer, she'd never so much as made a noise in their presence. There were times in Neo's life where she wished she could have. After seeing another Roman cut down, she wanted nothing more than to throw her head back and scream into the night sky. But all that came out was a throaty raspy streak of noise. As the pain around her wrist and now upon her face grew worse, Neo fell to a knee as her eyes widened in petrified terror.

She tried to open her mouth.

To scream.

But amid the frightened coughs, the desperate sputtering...

Nothing came.

The golden monster's face was scarcely a millimeter from Neo's by the time of her savior's intervention, euphorically deranged in the way it heaved in greedy, palpitated breaths through its nostrils almost in rhythm with the increasingly desperate noises tumbling from the illusionist's lips, as if the scent of her fear had some manner of marinading properties. She was delicious, this paltry little woman of blades and deceptions, her terror practically virginal in its untapped purity. So used to being the one sowing fear, not experiencing it—so sure of her ability to be predator, not prey.

It was... intoxicating. The deep veins of rage, misery, shame and loneliness running through the Dragon's core were raw, heady, infinitely intense; but she was a candle burning itself out, and it was readily apparent to the Grimm dwelling within that wretched, pathetic creature that it was far from the first to use her as its chew toy. As a cocoon for gestation, she was ideal: devoid of joy, love, hope or purpose, a consistent wellspring of daily sustenance for the evil feeding on her soul.

But she was stale.

That soul was a broken one, denounced, forgotten and unloved, who had slipped through so many cracks that the only place she found her haven was in this fleeting world's lowest pit, a source of twisted amusement and violence for its cruelest master in return for the vaguest modicum of affection. That suffering was her reality. Take the hits. Keep moving. Hit back. Day-in, day-out. She burned with the fury of a collapsing star, but her light was waning.

It had tired of her.

It wanted fresh torment.

It wanted to wring its misery from unwilling bones.

It—

The beast that lived within the dragon heard the sound of thrusters entering the room one moment, and just as Penny crested over Neo's frame in the monster's visions, six swords arced across the arm that had her ally trapped in a bid to absolutely filet the offending appendage before Penny landed between the two, shoved Neo back with one hand, and put her palm of the other directly towards the dragon's face that lanced out a brilliant green beam of kinetic energy to try and launch her back from her prey.

"Are you ok, Miss Politan?!"

—Had taken absolutely no notice of Penny in the depths of its debauched revelry, and as the appendage it grew from fell apart into diced pieces it screeched its disdain and took a step back in a frenzy of raging, flailing body parts, something entirely inhuman about the way Yang's form convulsed and contorted. Yet her soul still remained, her semblance still flared and shone to such a degree that Penny had to calibrate her visual receptors accordingly, and it made for a dazzling clash of colors when the beam cut through that celestial aura to engulf her shrieking head.

That was around when the protector of Mantle received a grim, enlightening dose of primary data on something that couldn't really be adequately measured through aura readings and biometric scans.

Yang Xiao Long was a powerhouse.

This wasn't Yang Xiao Long anymore, and the case could have been made that it hadn't been for a long, long time. But it wore the flesh of what had once been Yang Xiao Long, if you squinted, and the same semblance that the kinder bearer of that name had grown to rely on only as a necessity had been stoked and indulged by this one's self-destructive and masochistic tendencies at every turn. The way a sponge absorbed water or a plant absorbed sunlight, she absorbed pain. It was the closest thing she had to a friend. Such thinking had probably played a major part in her current state, her aura in tatters, the sheer volume of blood caking her hair and clothes enough to give her fire a reddish tint, all of it hers.

Something else Penny learned about Yang's semblance was that it, unlike most, didn't need an aura to function.

The false Dragon dug her heels in and staggered, stumbled, but didn't fly. And even as her human hand came up to deflect the majority of the beam from her face, Penny suddenly found the kinetic force she was exerting dwarfed by what the beast was pushing back against it with, a veritable juggernaut with no apparent regard for how Yang's body could possibly hope to keep up. The hand that had been shielding her abruptly cut forward, shoving straight through the last of the beam to cut it off, clamp down around Penny's hand and wrench, and the immediate protesting groan of her metal digits told her everything she needed to know about even her chances of stopping the monstrosity before her in a test of strength as its empty eyes probed her soul with a curious sniff that abruptly contorted into a disgusted snarl.

"H̷o̴l̷l̸o̵w̵ ̴i̷m̸i̴t̶a̵t̷i̸o̶n̶n̵n̷n̸n̴!̷ ̴A̷l̴l̵ ̵w̷i̶t̶h̵i̴n̴n̵n̴ ̸y̴o̵u̷ ̸i̶s̴s̶s̸ ̵EMPTY, ̶m̶i̷n̸e̶d̴A̷N̵D̵s̶h̴a̷p̸e̴d̶A̶N̷D̸m̵a̵a̸a̵a̵d̶e̶! Y̵o̴u̸r̸ ̶f̵a̶t̷e̸ ̶i̷s̷ ̸o̸b̸s̸o̶l̴e̶t̵i̵o̶n̵n̵n̵n̸,̵ ̵t̴o̴ ̶b̶e̶ ̵r̷i̴p̶p̷e̴d̷ ̶a̴s̴s̴s̴u̶n̴d̵e̸r̴ ̵a̴n̸d̸ ̷r̶e̸f̷o̷r̸g̶e̵d̸ ̵i̷n̶ ̷a̵ ̸s̷s̵s̸u̷p̶e̵r̵i̴o̵r̶ ̵m̶o̵l̸d̸d̵d̷d̴! ̶Y̶o̸u̴ ̴a̵r̷e̵ ̵N̷O̷T̵H̷I̸N̷G̶G̴G̷G̵G̴!̴"​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"She's not leaving."

Blake had stood slowly from her crouch after the strike, aftershocks of electricity still coursing down the blade, head just barely turned enough so that Raven could see one eye peering back at her past the mask.

"None of you are."

Raven's slash came in and her target suddenly split in two, stepping in opposite directions before they both pivoted back to slash at the huntress, the one on the left proving real. regardless of whether the hit connected or not, the Blake that really existed simply wasn't there after the strike, a fiery clone left in her wake that rocked the room with another explosion.

Then wherever Raven tried to dodge or was thrown to, another flaming clone was right beside her before it too went up in kinetic flames.

Blake knew as well as anyone that she didn't know how to use the power of the mantle of spring as anything more than a bludgeoning tool; that why she wasn't going to. She didn't need it. That wasn't why she'd taken it at all; Blake Belladonna may have been forged into a tool of war, may have spent every moment since sharpening herself to better herself for her purpose, but she didn't crave power; It was just a tool, a means to an end. Let the Cinders and Weiss squabble over the magic of the world why she did her best to burn it all to the ground so it could be built into something better.

Yang Xiao Long was tapping into the brunt of the power she had across Monstra, unleashing everything she could get her hand on in a potent but dangerous bid to overcome the odds that she might not have had a chance against otherwise.

Blake Belladonna was using the mantle as a glorified dust canister.

That was all she needed it for to turn this room into a hellscape of blades and fire that was never in the same place twice.

This battle was rough, fierce, ferocious. One of Ozpin's most devoted murderers and one of Salem's chief protectors, locked in combat. As proficient as Blake was in bladed combat, Raven's own skill in swordsmanship was greater still, parrying and deflecting and counter-striking in an absolute blur of speed...and yet, even without the bad luck of her brother bringing her down, she was giving ground to the Hand's assault. She was losing, slowly but surely. Though she held the advantage in pure skill, it was not by that much, and on top of that the faunus's semblance was far more combat oriented than hers. And on top of even that, the fact that Blake was a maiden let her pour even more power into that semblance. That slash had been blocked, but the fiery explosion that immediately followed hit her full force.

The experienced huntress got knocked back, propelled into one of the place's walls, her aura flickering. She didn't even get the time to recover before a second one burst apart right beside her. That one sent her skidding across the floor before her blade flew free, thrown out ahead of her...and Raven grabbed hold when she caught up to it, slowing her forward momentum as the sword tore a jagged scar into the floor of this creepy place until she came to a complete halt. She jumped up then, assessing the situation in a glance. None of us are leaving, huh? We'll see about that.

Omen got shoved back into its scabbard and withdrawn in an instant, a new color of blade adorned upon the hilt but only briefly seen before Raven jabbed it into the ground again. The blade burst apart this time, and the steam dust within nigh immediately spread out across the majority of the room in a foggy smokescreen intent on giving her an opening. Not to assault Blake, but rather to temporarily fall back from that fight.​

The false Dragon dug her heels in and staggered, stumbled, but didn't fly. And even as her human hand came up to deflect the majority of the beam from her face, Penny suddenly found the kinetic force she was exerting dwarfed by what the beast was pushing back against it with, a veritable juggernaut with no apparent regard for how Yang's body could possibly hope to keep up. The hand that had been shielding her abruptly cut forward, shoving straight through the last of the beam to cut it off, clamp down around Penny's hand and wrench, and the immediate protesting groan of her metal digits told her everything she needed to know about even her chances of stopping the monstrosity before her in a test of strength as its empty eyes probed her soul with a curious sniff that abruptly contorted into a disgusted snarl.

"H̷o̴l̷l̸o̵w̵ ̴i̷m̸i̴t̶a̵t̷i̸o̶n̶n̵n̷n̸n̴!̷ ̴A̷l̴l̵ ̵w̷i̶t̶h̵i̴n̴n̵n̴ ̸y̴o̵u̷ ̸i̶s̴s̶s̸ ̵EMPTY, ̶m̶i̷n̸e̶d̴A̷N̵D̵s̶h̴a̷p̸e̴d̶A̶N̷D̸m̵a̵a̸a̵a̵d̶e̶! Y̵o̴u̸r̸ ̶f̵a̶t̷e̸ ̶i̷s̷ ̸o̸b̸s̸o̶l̴e̶t̵i̵o̶n̵n̵n̵n̸,̵ ̵t̴o̴ ̶b̶e̶ ̵r̷i̴p̶p̷e̴d̷ ̶a̴s̴s̴s̴u̶n̴d̵e̸r̴ ̵a̴n̸d̸ ̷r̶e̸f̷o̷r̸g̶e̵d̸ ̵i̷n̶ ̷a̵ ̸s̷s̵s̸u̷p̶e̵r̵i̴o̵r̶ ̵m̶o̵l̸d̸d̵d̷d̴! ̶Y̶o̸u̴ ̴a̵r̷e̵ ̵N̷O̷T̵H̷I̸N̷G̶G̴G̷G̵G̴!̴"

And to focus on a new target. Raven rushed forward towards where the sound of that inhuman voice was coming from, the stomps of her footsteps joined by a metallic screech as something slid along the floor beside her. Raven came to a stop when the Dragon came into sight, and though the beast could feel something else nudge her boot, the swordswoman didn't give a chance to look. A slash from Omen came down, intending to force the thing that was not her daughter to relinquish that grip or risk losing the hand from that heavy swing. Raven didn't even give herself time to see how that went, though.

Her slash continued downwards, shifting into a stab for the thing by Yang's boots. If the creature looked, the thing was plainly recognized as Omen's scabbard. The stab penetrated right into the center of it, and Raven spun away in the split-seconds before all of them right there were engulfed in a multi-colored massive explosion that consumed the room as lightning, fire, gravity, ice, wind, rock and more types of dust all erupted in a single moment. A pure desperation move. From an outside perspective, the blast that eclipsed their silhouettes was strikingly beautiful.

The sheer force from that sent them all back, though whether they all flew as she intended, Raven couldn't say. She'd turned her back on the Dragon and as a consequence of using her own body to cover Penny and Neo, she took the major brunt of the damage. The blast had cleared away her smokescreen, what remained of her aura was gone in an instant, and she could feel the burns and damage spread out across herself but still she forced herself to stand. The veteran huntress winced but bit down on it, shoving Penny closer towards where her crimson portal was. "Go!" Raven barked, her tone of voice clearly revealing that she would not tolerate a refusal or any argument. "Take her-" Raven jerked her head towards Neo. "-and go!"

She spun back around then, eyes searching for any sign of the Dragon or the Hand, readying herself to do what she must to hold them back if the situation required it...as well as resigning herself to immediately close the portal behind the two if or when Penny acquiesced to Raven's demand.​

 

[MyrtenRose]

There was a grunt of pained frustration as Yang found herself blasted backwards, but she rotated her momentum in the air to land in a sliding crouch, and at Oz's words she snorted as she stood up and cracked her knuckles, the mirth not quite meeting her eyes.

"Or, and bear with me here, you try that and I just completely beat your ass so hard that you just leave Weiss entirely because you're so mortified that thousand years old you got whooped by a nineteen year old blonde with a- ow motherf-!"

The sudden spray of gunfire caught Yang entirely off guard, and her aura flared under the damage even as she raised her gauntlets to block of the hail before she dived to the side and came out of the roll with her fist already swinging as she pivoted to punch a shot straight for Oz's skull, a screaming flare round rocketing across the room for its target.

The hail of fire ceased after that roll, Ren taking the moment for himself to reload both his weapons as Yang's shot soared across the room...to strike a small griffon, the grimm practically diving into the way. The shot obliterated it, the monster fading away in a black smoky haze, but just beyond that, Ozwen was smirking in a smug way. "Oh, I'd say the odds of that happening are pretty slim, wouldn't you agree?" She questioned in that oh so familiar voice. "How did he put it? Your window's closing." Ren's gunfire resumed then, as if it were a period on the end of Ozwen's statement. Her head turned, eyes flickering over to Raven still moving and fighting with ferocity against the rest of the grimm, even as more came. The insufferable smile widened, and her gaze returned to Yang.

"How long will your stubbornness not allow you to see the obvious? I'm curious to find out."

----

Deeper in the whale, a few sniper shots came from the hallway just around one bend in this monstrous maze, yet before Qrow could even turn the corner, Ruby did it first. A hurried run had her practically slam into her uncle and her eyes widened in that split-second of contact, worried that she had crashed into a grimm or one of Ozpin's killers. Recognition blossomed in her eyes a second later though and she relaxed. To a degree. This was still bad guy HQ, after all. "Uncle Qrow, what's..." She fell silent as a few growls echoed and stomps neared. She swung one arm around his waist and resumed running with him in tow, speeding off to the other end of this hallway. As those grimm turned the corner, they ate rounds from a folded up Crescent fired with one hand that immediately destroyed them. No others appeared yet.

"What's going on??" She asked him in that moment of respite, letting herself take some breaths at last.​

 

[Gus Gungus]

The hail of fire ceased after that roll, Ren taking the moment for himself to reload both his weapons as Yang's shot soared across the room...to strike a small griffon, the grimm practically diving into the way. The shot obliterated it, the monster fading away in a black smoky haze, but just beyond that, Ozwen was smirking in a smug way. "Oh, I'd say the odds of that happening are pretty slim, wouldn't you agree?" She questioned in that oh so familiar voice. "How did he put it? Your window's closing." Ren's gunfire resumed then, as if it were a period on the end of Ozwen's statement. Her head turned, eyes flickering over to Raven still moving and fighting with ferocity against the rest of the grimm, even as more came. The insufferable smile widened, and her gaze returned to Yang.

"How long will your stubbornness not allow you to see the obvious? I'm curious to find-"

"This pretty much goes on forever, actually." Ozwen somewhat weirdly chose to butt in over herself, her vainglorious smile souring quicker than a dairy product left out in the sun as it drifted into a cerebral, matter-of-fact scowl. It was, again, fleeting, but even from across the room the way the composite being's eyes abruptly leapt to an entirely different spoke in the color wheel and then back again was obvious.

"Yang read one too many young adult novels as a child and now believes she's the protagonist of one. It's stupidly cute."

...



"OBNOXIOUS! Obnoxiously cute!!! NO!!! STUPIDLY OBNOXIOUS-"

Unfortunately (or mercifully, depending on one's perspective), whatever incorrigible know-it-all streak was strong enough for Weiss to keep inserting her two lien unsolicited and unfiltered had been reined in again by the time the next sentence finished leaving her mouth. Any traces of her at this stage were still impulsive, surface level reactions forcing their way up in response to whatever the eyes and ears formerly belonging to her were perceiving, and it just so happened that her overwhelming impulse to crawl under a rock and stay there had chosen that moment to spontaneously overpower all else.

Deeper in the whale, a few sniper shots came from the hallway just around one bend in this monstrous maze, yet before Qrow could even turn the corner, Ruby did it first. A hurried run had her practically slam into her uncle and her eyes widened in that split-second of contact, worried that she had crashed into a grimm or one of Ozpin's killers. Recognition blossomed in her eyes a second later though and she relaxed. To a degree. This was still bad guy HQ, after all. "Uncle Qrow, what's..." She fell silent as a few growls echoed and stomps neared. She swung one arm around his waist and resumed running with him in tow, speeding off to the other end of this hallway. As those grimm turned the corner, they ate rounds from a folded up Crescent fired with one hand that immediately destroyed them. No others appeared yet.

"What's going on??" She asked him in that moment of respite, letting herself take some breaths at last.

"WHOA-"

A birdish squawk rang out somewhere in the midst of him getting disassembled into molecules, shunted all the way to the other end of the hall and reassembled in the shape of a man, glad he didn't follow his instinct to shift forms in the middle of that in case he came back together as some kinda horrifying half-crow half-guy. Like that one movie, only not a bug.

But on the whole he was better prepared to weather the disorienting effects of his niece's semblance than most, and he touched down with Harbinger already in rifle mode so the Grimm chasing her down were obliterated with twice the efficiency.

"Yang's fine, but we could use a little more silver sauce back on our end! What's the deal??"​