Hair - Chapter One
Wednesday August 9, 2023
640am
She reluctantly steps out of the hot shower she has been taking for the last half hour. The bathroom is so steamy she has to feel around for her towel.
Several minutes later, she has slipped into a dark-green, skin-tight, V-neck dress. The dress ends in a skirt that goes down to her knee caps. The sleeves both go to just past her elbows. And a white zigzag pattern encircles the dress at the neck, sleeve cuffs, midriff, and skirt.
Looking into the mirror she sighs and reads the Post-it note stuck to the frame.
< walmart after work > is all she wrote on the tiny pink paper.
She opens up the door to her bedroom. As she is halfway through the door, a sliver of light catches her luminous green eyes. Her Huntress headpiece is resting on her nightstand.
"Oh." She picks the headpiece up and situates it on her head, making sure that her red ponytail rests above the golden metal.
She stops for a moment to gaze out the window. She hears birds singing, cars driving by, and a plane flying overhead.
"Another day, I guess," she says to herself warily. She has been having a horrible time sleeping lately. The lack of sleep is taking its toll on her. Her eyes ache. Sighing again, she departs.
720am
The weather was correctly predicted to be rainy, with the chance of a stray thunderstorm.
Pyrrha does not particularly like thunderstorms. Not because they are scary, but because they mess with her Semblance. As it turns out, lightning and a polarity Semblance do not mix.
Her car is parked just outside the house. In five seconds, Pyrrha is soaked in the rain.
"Great," she buffs as she climbs in the car. Starting it and then proceeding to drive alerts her to something peculiar. The car is not driving smoothly, which is strange because her road has just been rebuilt.
She exits the vehicle to inspect the tires. Immediately she sees that the forward tire on the driver's side has a slash in it about 6 inches long.
She gasps in disbelief.
"Who would do this?"
Suddenly a man's voice yells from behind her, "ME!"
Pyrrha cries out as a sharp pain ignites in the back of her head, and her face crashes down to the asphalt. Whoever hit her is now rolling her over onto her back. The rain hits her face as she sees two shadows lurking above her. Then her consciousness fades.
----
Rain - Chapter Two
Wednesday August 9, 2023
1016 am
Pyrrha awakens in an upright position, sitting on a cold concrete floor. Her vision is hazy, and her head pounds with pain.
She tries to stand up but she is held fast by two ropes, one tied to each wrist.
The room is illuminated by the light from a single tiny barred window. She can hear the rain falling hard just outside. Some of the rain is splashing into the dark room.
Her heart is racing, her breaths are shaky.
She hears footsteps at the door suddenly, then the sound of a person fumbling with some keys. A few seconds later, the door swings slowly open.
A tall man appears in the doorway. He turns on the light and then takes a few steps into the room.
He begins staring at her. Pyrrha suddenly feels embarrassed and ashamed of the way he looks at her.
With want.
With lust.
The way his gaze lingers on her medium-sized breasts, her wide hips and narrow waist, and her long, slender legs.
Pyrrha takes a deep breath, trying not to show him emotion.
"If you came in here wanting to talk to me, my eyes are up here."
"Okay. My name is Onyx."
He walks toward Pyrrha.
Panic arises within her, and she starts to kick her legs in an effort to keep him away. "No. Don't touch me. Don't come near me!"
When he approaches her, her right foot catches him in the junk, extracting a yelp of pain from him as he doubles over.
Onyx stays down for several seconds. Pyrrha starts to relax.
The man then reaches up and backhands Pyrrha's face. A white shockwave blasts out from the impact, which knocks her head to one side, causing saliva to fly from her mouth. She yelps in pain, her chest heaving with heavy breaths.
Onyx backs off a little. "I wouldn't recommend hitting me in the nuts again. That wasn't a very good decision. You'll be punished accordingly."
Pyrrha works up her bravery. "So you can speak. What do you want? Why are you doing this to me?"
Onyx - "Don't know yet. What do you have that you think I want?"
As soon as Pyrrha opens up her mouth to respond, the sky explodes with thunder. She had not seen any lightning so the thunder catches her completely off guard. Pyrrha's body absorbs the shock from the lightning she missed and the sound of the thunder. Both put a tremendous amount of energy on her, causing searing pain all over her body. She screams in agony for four seconds straight.
Onyx chuckles. "The Flame has a voice."
Breathing heavily, Pyrrha snaps, "My name is Pyrrha. Nice try though."
Onyx sighs. "Okay, I'll tell you what I want. You know someone who owes my guys some money. We've been short by a couple-thousand Lien for some time now, and my guys kind-of need those Lien."
Pyrrha runs through the names of everyone she knows in her head. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Nora, Ren -
"Jaune," Pyrrha says as a chill runs through her body.
Onyx nods twice in confirmation. "That's the one. Where's he at?"
Pyrrha's eyes narrow in defiance. "I am not telling you."
Onyx hits her again, this time with an open palm, and again with a shockwave.
Onyx - "Spill it."
Pyrrha spits in his face. She can feel her own face flush red with anger and embarrassment.
Onyx removes a pocket knife from his jeans and presses the sharp edge against Pyrrha's throat.
"Spill it," he says more forcefully.
Through panicked breaths, Pyrrha shakes her head swiftly.
"Spill it!" Onyx roars.
"Never!" Pyrrha gasps.
Onyx - "Okay, time for your punishment!"
Onyx slices through all four of the ropes with his knife and yanks Pyrrha off the floor by her hair. She screams and kicks Onyx again. He roads in pain and the grows her back down, and she hits her head, grunting in pain. She struggles to stay awake.
Onyx punches her face hard, whipping her head to one side. Pyrrha's Aura shatters in a flash of red glowing light that surrounds her entire body, she yelps.
Onyx - "SHUT IT!"
Pyrrha's body is curled up in a ball as Onyx and his assistant kick her and punch her. The beating continues for several minutes. Pyrrha screams with each blow.
When they finally stop hurting Pyrrha, they back off. Onyx says calmly:
"Get up, get your crap, and get the fuck out."
Pyrrha, still gasping and sputtering, says weakly, "You destroyed my car."
"Ain't my problem get the fuck out."
Pyrrha's body is shaking as she struggles to rise.
The helper shows her to the door. Once there, he shoves her outside into the thunderstorm. Pyrrha yelps as she flops to the ground. Again, she is soaked in seconds. She flips her head back to the door, where Onyx is now standing.
"Make no mistake, Jaune has until next Wednesday to get us the couple-thousand Lien. If he does not get us the couple-thousand Lien, we will hunt him down."
Onyx closes the door. As a rumble of thunder envelopes her, Pyrrha begins to cry silently.
A young blonde man is driving to his job at Wendy's on the 10-lanes-wide, supercrowded, but fast-flowing, Interstate 92. His scroll vibrates in the cupholder.
Driver - "Answer."
The scroll opens the call at his command, while flashing a picture of a woman's face on the dashboard. The woman has a pale complexion, yellow eyes, and two cat ears on her head.
Other caller - "Hi Jaune!"
Jaune - "Hi Blake. I'm driving. Scary traffic on the freeway. How's it going?"
Blake - "About that . . ."
Jaune - "Uh-oh."
"Have you heard from Pyrrha this morning?"
Jaune (slowly) - "Yeeeeess, I live in her house, remember?"
Blake - "Her boss called me because she doesn't have your number, and she told me Pyrrha never showed up for work."
----
Stay
Thursday August 10, 2023
214 pm
Pyrrha is weeping silently on the city bus, sitting in the seat in her soaked green form-fitting dress. She and the bus driver are the only two women in the bus.
Thunder booms outside, and she gasps and groans in pain as the her body absorbs the powerful sound. Luckily, Pyrrha is sitting in the very back of the bus next to its engine, so the driver would be unable to hear her.
Pyrrha fumbles with her scroll, her hands shaking so much she risks dropping it. She calls Jaune. She gets his automated "leave a message" reply.
"Oooohhhh," Pyrrha groans.
She calls Blake, who promptly answers.
Blake gasps. <Pyrrha! Where are you? Are you okay?>
Pyrrha whimpers.
Blake - <Pyrrha,
are you okay?>
Pyrrha sniffles. "No. No I'm not. I was attacked."
Silence on the other end for at least ten seconds.
Blake - <I'll call Jaune. And the rest of us are coming.>
Pyrrha - "I just tried Jaune, but I forgot he's at work. Call his job instead if you can please. Tell him I need him."
Blake - <I will. Do you still want us all to come?>
Pyrrha sniffles as tears stream down her face. "Yes please."
Jaune struggles to keep his mind focused on his job but in his heart he knows something is not right with Pyrrha. People with perfect attendance do not just suddenly fail to show up for work.
He is furiously trying to take orders and handle the bags of food.
"Yes ma'am, I can get you some sweet-n-sour sauce, I'll be right back."
Jaune steps deeper into the building and asks a woman, "Hey Jade, do you know where the sweet-n-sour sauce is at?"
"I don't know hold on."
The woman, Jade, walks to the back of the kitchen, crashing into about four guys. "HEY KYLE!"
In a few seconds Kyle, the manager, answers, "Yeah?"
Jade - "JAUNE WANTS TO KNOW WHERE THE SWEET-N-SOUR SAUCE IS AT!"
Kyle - "It should be in like the . . . check the cupboard underneath the window!"
Jade - "OH, GUESS THAT WORKS!"
Jade returns to Jaune in the front, and says, "Kyle says we should have some down here -"
She bends down and reaches into a cupboard and pulls four small tubs of the sauce out.
"Yeah."
"Oh," says Jaune, embarrassed. "I knew that. I knew that."
Jaune gives them to the woman in the car outside the window. "Sorry for the holdup, ma'am."
"Oh, no worries, the driver smiles. "Thank you so much."
"You have a good day ma'am."
Jaune then prepares to take the next car's order when Kyle taps his shoulder.
"Hey Jaune."
"Yes sir."
"Something happened to Pyrrha. Let me take over. I'm putting you on paid leave for one week."
522 pm
At Pyrrha's house, Jaune is snuggled up next to Pyrrha, surrounded by Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Nora, and Ren.
Pyrrha recounts the story to her friends.
"They slashed my tire . . . *sniff* and then they knocked me out and took me to a place in the Harbor-Wright Dis - *sob* - District. I didn't know you owed them money Jaune. I would have *sob* given them the money. They kept slapping me. They beat me as I lay on the ground -"
Pyrrha's words trail off, and she takes a deep, shaky breath to try to control her sobs.
"My body hurts all over. I could barely walk to the bus stop on my way here I'm so sore . . ."
They all sit in uncomfortable silence.
Ruby works up the courage to speak. Her once-sweet, innocent, child-like voice has blossomed into a mature, authoritative, yet still-soft-spoken voice of a woman, but it is still the highest-pitched voice out of all eight of them.
"Can we trust the police to help us?"
Yang - "I don't think so? They have their own problems. And we are Huntresses and Hunters."
Ren - "But why would they attack Pyrrha, if Jaune's the one they actually want?"
Blake sighs. "Revenge, or to bait us at the very least. Adam Taurus took Yang's arm to get back at me. Pyrrha's attackers appear to know Jaune personally, but they saw her first, so they used her."
Jaune hangs his head. "Pyrrha - "
He slowly takes one of his beloved girlfriend's hands. "Pyrrha, I'm so sorry. I should have been there for you and I wasn't." He sighs. "This is my fault."
Pyrrha gasps. "No, Jaune, it isnt."
Everyone in the room starts objecting to Jaune's statement.
"This wasn't your doing."
"We will end this."
"Do not dare talk about yourself like that!"
Jaune's head is overflowing with voices after only five seconds, and he stops the chatter by yelling, "AAAAGH okay, yeah! I get it I get it!"
Jaune sighs. "Continuously telling me it isn't my fault ain't gonna change what happened. I just - I just feel like it's my job to protect you. And today I wasn't there when you needed me."
Nora stands. "We need to tell the police. Then while they help some of us find the attackers, some of us will keep an eye on Pyrrha and Jaune."
Yang just about yells, "I just TOLD YOU calling the cops isn't gonna work!"
Nora snaps, "YANG! We are on the same team! Do not yell at me."
Yang sighs, then looks intently at each person as she speaks. "The assholes who hurt Pyrrha are looking for Jaune. We need to have at least two guys here, to protect them if the shit hits the fan. I'll even volunteer."
Nora, her glare fading - "Me too."
Ruby stands as well. "I'll stand guard and watch for creepers. Jaune. You stay here with us. Everybody else: in your cars, outside watching. Does anyone have any questions?"
Silence.
Ruby - "Oh-kay."
Ren - "I'll prepare dinner."
Jaune - "I'll help."
He starts to stand, but Pyrrha gasps and pulls his arm. "No!"
Jaune - "What is it?"
Jaune sits back down. Pyrrha rests her head in his lap. Her eyes close, and tears start flowing, but a smile, albiet a sad one, plays on her face.
Pyrrha - "Stay with me. Please. Just stay here."
Jaune holds one of Pyrrha's hands. Okay."
He runs his free hand gently over her head. "I love you. I love you and I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you when you needed me."
Pyrrha does not respond.
"Pyrrha?"
She is breathing lightly. She has fallen asleep.
"I'm sorry." Jaune kisses her hand lightly with loving tenderness.
----
Lien - Chapter Four
Hello, I am Lisa Lavender. We have breaking news this morning about an attack on the Walmart in southeastern Kairo. Not much is known about this attack. We do know that at least 20 people have been killed and dozens more injured. We will keep you updated as more information is revealed.
Sunday August 13, 2023
925am
Pyrrha and Jaune are walking toward the doors of the Walmart, holding hands. Pyrrha is a bit shorter than Jaune, short enough so she can lean her head on his shoulder. They are being trailed by Ruby, Nora, and Yang.
Pyrrha is wearing one of Jaune's hoodies and dark blue jeans. The other four are wearing jeans as well and various tops.
Pyrrha - "Oooohh, I love you so much."
Jaune - "I love you so much." He looks at the overcast skies and sighs. "Ugh, more rain today, that's awesome."
Pyrrha makes a small sound of defeat. "I hope it's not an other thunderstorm, those hurt."
Behind them, Ruby and Yang are in a playful debate with Nora about something.
Pyrrha gasps softly. "Jaune, did you remember to bring the list?"
Both of them stop walking. Jaune says dumbly, "I thought you had the list."
Pyrrha - "Seriously?"
Jaune - "Oh dang."
Pyrrha - "You forgot the list?"
Jaune in a tiny voice - "I'm sorry."
Pyrrha laughs. "It's okay. Do you remember what was on the list?"
They begin walking again.
Jaune - "Honestly, the only thing that I can remember are burritoes."
A black car drives past them in the parking aisle moving against the flow of traffic. The driver honks and gives them all the bird.
Yang - "HEY YOU'RE GOING THE WRONG WAY ASSHOLE!"
Pyrrha - "Burritoes aren't going to be sufficient for the week. Is that really all you can remember?"
Jaune - "Unfortunately."
The group enters the store, which is packed full of shoppers. Unusual for a Sunday.
Jaune - "You wait here with the ladies, I have to go to the bathroom. I love you."
Pyrrha - "Love you too."
They smooch and then Jaune departs.
In the bathroom, Jaune has finished his business and is washing his hands. As he dries them and exits the bathroom to rejoin the group, he crashes headlong into a tall man with multiple scary-looking tattoos.
Jaune - "Whoops, sorry."
Jaune attempts to move past him, but he deliberately blocks his way.
Scary Tattoo Bro - "Hey Jauney-Boy. Where's the money at?"
Jaune trembles and then chuckles softly in terror. "Oh, okay, you're one of them. Uh, I don't have the money right now, but I will! I'm working on it I swear!"
Scary Tattoo Bro - "You said that last Sunday. We want our Lien now."
Jaune's senses are screaming at him, Run away! But he is terrified. Instinctively, he reaches behind him to grab for his sword. His heart skips a beat when he cannot feel it.
Jaune - "That I did, but I can get it to you next week whoa!"
The Bro picks up Jaune by his hoodie and slams him against the wall.
Scary Tattoo Bro - "I believe I said we want it now."
Jaune brings his knees up to the Bro's nuts. The Bro roars in pain and releases Jaune. In a flash, Jaune turns back toward his friends and bolts.
"Pyrrha!"
Pyrrha looks.
A split second later, two deafening cracking sounds echo through the store, causing people to scream and run in every direction.
Jaune drops to the ground on his face, with blood oozing from two holes in the back of his skull.
Yang, Ruby, and Nora all look in the direction the shots came from. Pyrrha watches as the crumpled form of her boyfriend collapses lifelessly to the floor. Pyrrha's eyes widen in horror.
"JAAAAUUUUNNE!"
Yang restrains Pyrrha as she tries to run to his side.
"NOOOO! JAAAAUUUUNNE!"
Yang yells to Ruby and Nora, "Evacuate!"
Ruby, who is stunned by the chaos, snaps out of it and says, "Huh?"
Yang - "Evacuate the store! Evacuate the store now!"
----
Bro - Chapter Five
Sunday August 13, 2023
932am
Nora springs into action.
"EVERYBODY OUT! NOOOOWW!"
As Ruby and Nora begin the evacuation, Yang and Pyrrha are prepared to fight Scary Tattoo Bro to the death.
With an enraged battle cry and tears streaming down her face, Pyrrha rushes at the Bro full speed and then leaps high into the air. While Pyrrha is in the air, Yang rushes the Bro from the side, but he catches her by the throat and flings her away. Yang flies backwards and her body slams through the front wall of the Walmart, tearing open a huge hole. People inside and outside the store scream as huge chucks of the wall are launched toward them.
Pyrrha plummets from the air with her feet first, poised to land squarely on Scary Tattoo Bro's head. At the last second, the Bro raises up his arms and blocks her from his face. When Pyrrha lands on his arms, a shockwave flies in all directions, and then the Bro launches Pyrrha away. She back-flips in the air once and lands, causing the ground to quake. As she lands, the lights in the store flicker and merchandise on the shelves falls off onto the floor.
Outside, Ruby and Nora hear the loud crash of rubble, and they both look to see Yang's body fly along the ground. Yang hits a car which promptly explodes, sending a fireball into the sky.
Yang slowly rises from the ground. She feels weak and shaky. Her breathing is heavy. Yet she somehow finds the energy she needs.
Yang takes a deep breath and bellows at the top of her lungs. At the same time, her eyes turn bright red, her hair ignites, and she throws herself back toward the battle.
Nora - "These people are gonna die. We have to go help -"
Ruby - "No! Nora, you leads these people away! I'll go help them."
Nora - "But you might get hurt! I've already lost one of my friends today!"
Ruby turns to Nora, and for a moment Nora is frightened by the rage-filled expression on Ruby's face.
Ruby - "DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME! JUST GET THEM OUT!"
After being able to land several hits on Scary Tattoo Bro, Yang and Pyrrha are running out of energy. Their Aura levels are diminishing.
The Bro gets up slowly after being pounded down by Yang. He has a wild grin on his face.
Scary Tattoo Bro stumbles around grinning wildly - "Yeah! I could do this all day!"
Pyrrha roars and charges him again. Scary Tattoo Bro grabs Pyrrha by the throat and launches her straight up. He then makes a tremendous leap up to where she is, then deals a crushing blow to her body, making her plummet straight down. Pyrrha's body puts a huge crater in the floor, making the ground shake and the light flicker again. Some of the lights do not come back on.
Pyrrha grunts as she crashes to the floor. Her Aura is totally depleted now. She struggles to get back up, but she collapses to her hands and knees.
Yang jumps to Pyrrha's side just in time for the Bro to land next to them both.
Yang engages the Bro briefly in hand-to-hand combat before the Bro is able to land a powerful left-handed punch to her face. Again, Yang flies backwards and plows through multiple shelves full of merchandise and four of the store's roof-supporting metal poles. The destruction of all four of the poles causes that part of the Walmart to collapse onto Yang, crushing her under tens of tons of concrete.
Pyrrha gasps in horror.
Ruby sees the destruction and becomes paralyzed with helplessness and grief. She begins to hyperventilate, then her eyes glow white.
Something like wings of light emerge from Ruby's eyes, growing at a remarkable speed, as Ruby screams at the top of her lungs in blind agony.
The rest of the Walmart collapses.
As Nora is helping an elderly woman escape from the chaos, she hears the deep rumbling sounds. The sounds grow louder, and people scream and run away.
She turns and looks.
"Oh my gosh!"
Nora watches in helplessness as the whole Walmart crumbles to the ground in less than ten seconds. The cloud of dust envelopes the parking lot full of stampeding people. Nora grabs the woman, drags her to the side of a car, and braces them both up against it.
----
Desk - Chapter Six
Sunday August 13, 2023
1135am
Lie Ren has been slaving away in the kitchen, making chef salad, waiting for the others to come back home.
As he nears completion, he says to himself, "Agh, I hope Nora doesn't try to eat it all again."
Suddenly, his scroll vibrates and rings, flashing Weiss's face. Ren walks over to the scroll and picks it up, putting it to his ear.
Ren - "Hi!"
Weiss, tearfully - <. . .>
Ren - "What happened."
Weiss - <It's Jaune. He's been murdered.>
Hellachopper reporter - "Well, Lisa, we now know from what a witness said earlier that a ferocious battle between several people took place."
Lisa Lavender - "Is the situation under control now? Where are they at with the rescue?"
Reporter - "A ground crew member just relayed to us that they have been able to pull about 40 people out of the rubble, most of them were miraculously only minorly injured, but sadly we've found about seven deceased. The paramedics are working very hard to treat the victims and set up the morgue."
Lisa Lavender - "Do we know any further details about this incident?"
reporter - "Yes ma'am, this tragedy is in fact not a terrorist attack as of yet, the police are looking into that right now. But rather it was a confrontation that escalated from, a confrontation, to the destruction of the Walmart, very quickly. Witnesses say they heard two gunshots and then they heard a woman yell, 'Evacuate the store'."
116pm
The Beacon Memorial Medical Center is overwhelmed with people who were injured in the Walmart battle.
It is the closest hospital to said Walmart, which suffered complete destruction with more than 300 people inside.
Doctors are scrambling to help all the injured, but they are overwhelmed and understaffed, yet more ambulances keep arriving with new patients.
Blake and Ren stumble into the packed hospital. The scene is chaotic.
Ren runs past a large family with Blake hot on his heels until they reach the admitting desk.
Receptionist - "Who are you here to see?"
Blake - "Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao-Long!"
receptionist - "Ruby Rose is in Room 18, Yang Xiao-Long is is Room 19, they're both next to each other!"
As they approach the rooms, they are spotted by Nora and Weiss, who are sitting on the floor outside the rooms. Nora has white dust all over her. They both pop up and run toward the newcomers.
Nora and Ren jump into each other's arms. A bunch of the dust on Nora puffs into the air around them.
Blake and Weiss embrace each other in their own hug.
Blake - "How are they?"
Weiss - "Yang broke both her legs when the ceiling collapsed, and Ruby has second-degree burns on her face."
Ren - "Where's Pyrrha?"
Weiss shakes her head slowly as if to say "I don't know".
Nora - "I haven't seen her, I don't know where she is. I can only hope she made it out alive."
Blake - "I'll check with the receptionist at the front.
Nora nods.
Blake makes her return to the receptionist desk with caution, dodging multiple gurneys and wheelchairs.
Receptionist - "Hello again, ma'am."
Blake - "Yes, I need to know if we have a Pyrrha Nikos in here. First name: P Y R R H A, last name: N I K O S."
The receptionist checks her computer - "No ma'am. Not at Beacon Memorial."
Blake - "What about East Kairo?"
The receptionist shakes her head sadly.
Blake - "Well check the other hospitals! Please! She's my friend and she's probably hurt."
The receptionist looks intently at her screen and then her eyes light up with hope. - "Forever Fall Medical Center just admitted a Pyrrha Nikos."
Blake gasps. "Oh, thank you so much."
----
Here - Chapter Seven
Monday August 14, 2023
Ruby turns around to face the Scary Tattoo Bro again. Instinctively she reaches for the weapon on her back, but she is dismayed to discover that Crescent Rose is not there.
Scary Tattoo Bro - "Shoulda thought about that. How you gonna take me down?"
The Bro then swiftly draws both his fists up above his head, ready to slam them down on Ruby.
Ruby blocks the move with both her arms. The Bro jabs Ruby's ribs hard, sending her sliding backwards, with her shoes tearing up the floor. When she stops, the Bro is on top of her again, swinging once more. This time Ruby is able to dodge the fist, and she connects her own fist with the Bro's chest, sending him flying. Shockwaves radiate outward with each impact. His body hits the wall, causing spider-web-like cracks in it.
Ruby leaps over to the Bro and lands a powerful punch on his face, knocking him to the floor. As she gets ready to punch him again, a chunk of the ceiling falls on her, temporarily crushing her underneath. The Bro stands up and gives Ruby a painful and powerful kick to the side while she is still under the slab. The kick atomizes the slab and Ruby tumbles through the air and hits a shelf next to a checkout stand, destroying the shelf and sending dozens of candy bars flying.
When Ruby stands up weakly, she can see Scary Tattoo Bro hovering menacingly above Pyrrha, who is laying on her back, unmoving, but conscious.
The Bro prepares to slam Pyrrha into the floor. Pyrrha is defenceless.
Ruby's eyes suddenly glow white and she screams.
414 am
Blake, who had been sleeping in a chair next to Ruby's bed at the Beacon Memorial Medical Center, is jolted awake by a loud ear-splitting scream, and she nearly falls out of the chair.
Blake does her best to cover all four of her ears, her two human ears and her two Faunus ears, as the screaming is very painful for her.
Blake sees that Ruby herself is not awake, but she must have been having a nightmare.
Terrified Ruby - "PYYRR-RRHAAAAAAAA!"
Ruby's hospital monitoring systems are now flashing and beeping off the chain. Blake desperately tries to wake Ruby up.
"Ruby! It's okay it's okay!"
Ruby only lets loose with another deafening scream, causing Blake to collapse on the ground and scream in pain while covering her human ears.
Four doctors burst into the tiny room.
Lie Ren, who is sleeping next door in Yang's room, is also yanked out of his slumber. Immediately he rushes to Ruby's room and sees the doctors crowding around Ruby, and Blake sprawled out on the floor covering her ears in pain.
Ren helps Blake up off the floor and out of the room while the doctors sedate Ruby to calm her down.
In Yang's room, Blake and Ren take seats beside the bed. Yang shifts lightly in her bed. She is awake, but very sleepy.
Yang - "Ren?"
Ren - "I'm here Yang."
Blake - "Me too."
Yang, yawning - "What's happening?"
Blake - "Ruby woke up. I guess she had a nightmare. She was screaming."
Yang - "What day is it? What t-time is it?"
Ren - "Four-fifteen in the morning, Monday August Fourteenth, Twenty-Twenty-Three."
Yang yawns again and lands backwards onto her pillow again. "I'm so tired. My . . . My legs. . . . they hurt so much."
Blake lightly holds one of Yang's hands. "Yang . . . your legs are both broken. Falling debris hit you and shattered both your legs."
Yang's eyes glisten with tears. "You mean I . . . I can't walk?"
Ren shakes his head sadly and slowly. Blake only looks down toward the floor and closes her eyes.
Yang takes a deep, shaky breath to calm herself down. She closes her eyes tightly, and a tear slips out of each eye and slides down her cheeks, which are flushed red.
Yang does her best to talk normally despite the pain and heartbreak she is enduring. "Okay. Okay, um, Pyrrha. Pyrrha, yeah, how she, how she doin'?"
Ren sighs. "We don't know exactly what happened to her when the store collapsed. We do know she's at the Beacon Memorial - not the Beacon Memorial, the Forever Fall Medical Center."
Blake - "Nora's with her. So she isn't alone."
It is Ren's turn to look down sadly. "We just haven't heard from them since last night."
Yang makes a tiny moan of sadness and defeat.
Blake - "It's okay though, because as long as Nora's with her, then we know she's okay."
Yang looks up at Blake and manages a small hopeful smile.
----
Nope - Chapter Eight
Monday August 14, 2023
645 am
Kairo is a city in southwestern Anima, having a population of approximately eighteen-million people. It is a city that prides itself on safety and cleanliness.
Near the city's downtown is Forever Fall Medical Center, the city's second-largest hospital.
Nora is sleeping in a chair in Pyrrha's second floor hospital room. Nora's head is resting on Pyrrha's abdomen, which is rising and falling which every breath. Nora's mouth is slightly open, with drool spilling out and creeping down her face, leaving a dark spot on the blankets covering Pyrrha.
Pyrrha suddenly sits up straight in bed, wide awake. Her momentum almost knocks Nora off the chair. Nora snaps awake as well and yells.
"Aaaaaahh pancakes!"
When Nora finally gathers her surroundings, she calms down. Attempting to grab on to a nonexistent object to steady herself, Nora topples to the floor with a thump.
"Owie."
Pyrrha - "Nora! What are you doing?!"
Nora - "Collapsing."
Pyrrha - "Why are you making so much noise?"
Nora - "Hey you almost made me fall out of my chair. And I keep falling asleep on your belly button. And every time I wake up, you're either asleep, or you've disappeared to somewhere without me noticing, probably the bathroom."
Pyrrha - "You're the one who does all the disappearing around here!"
Nora - "Yeeaah, whatever."
Pyrrha - I'm serious -"
"I'm serious," Nora interrupts.
Pyrrha sighs. "Okay. That's, that's enough. What happened to me? Why are we in a hospital? Which hospital?"
Nora can tell things are about to go south, but she closes her eyes to prepare her words, and then she reopens them and takes a deep breath.
Nora - "We're at the Forever Fall Medical Center."
Pyrrha is taken aback.
Nora - "Yesterday, at Walmart, you were fighting with someone. The man you were fighting likely knows the people who attacked you. Ruby did her uncontrollable eye shockwave thing during the battle, and . . . the store collapsed on top of her, Yang, you, and hundreds of other people."
Pyrrha's eyebrows are twisted upwards in deep sadness. "Did I kill anyone?"
Nora struggles to find words.
Pyrrha asks her more forcefully, "Did I kill anyone?"
Nora - "You, did not kill anyone. But when Ruby did the eye-shockwave thing, it destroyed the store, killing 45 people."
Pyrrha's eyes widen in horror, and tears begin to flood her vision. "Where, where's Jaune? I need to see him. Where is he?"
Nora's heart skips a beat. "Pyrrha . . ." she says as soothingly as she can. "Jaune was killed by the man you were fighting, presumably because of the debt he owed them. He shot Jaune, twice. Point blank range. Do you not remember?"
Pyrrha's eyes are streaming tears uncontrollably now. She begins to hyperventilate. "No. He can't be dead. I just, I just saw him."
Nora puts a hand on Pyrrha's shoulder. "You were dreaming, Pyrrha. Jaune . . . is dead."
Pyrrha's hospital monitoring systems are now off the charts. Her heart rate has spiked. "No. Nora, don't. Why are you saying this to me, Why are you telling me this?"
Nora - "Because it's true."
Pyrrha shakes her head vigorously. "No it isn't you're lying. Just tell me he's fine. That's all you have to do. Just tell me he's fine."
Nora shakes her head slowly. "No. Jaune is dead."
Pyrrha - "TELL ME HE'S FINE!"
Nora jumps up and backs away slowly toward the door. For the first time in several years, she is afraid. Not of the enemy, not of death itself, but afraid of Pyrrha.
Nora says in a shaky voice, "Pyrrha, please. You, you're scaring me."
At this point Pyrrha has risen off the bed and disconnected all the lines. She is wearing only sweat pants and her bra. She slowly advances on Nora.
The look in Pyrrha's eyes is unlike any look Nora has ever seen. A wild, rage-filled expression, one that completely defies the look of the sweet, loving Pyrrha she once knew.
In the hallway outside the room, with Pyrrha still advancing on Nora, a doctor sees them and rushes over to try to get Pyrrha back to her bed. Pyrrha gives the doctor a swift, shockwave-inducing backhand to the chest, sending him flying down the hall. The impact makes the entire hospital vibrate.
Nora - "Oh my goodness gracious Pyrrha, you're going crazy!"
Nora looks behind her and sees the door to the outside bathroom. On the edge of panic, Nora begins to recite one word in an ever-rising pitch.
"Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. NOPE. UH NOPE. PYRRHA GET OUTTA HERE GET OUT!"
Nora opens the door and locks herself in, just as Pyrrha crashes both her fists into the door. The hospital shakes violently for several seconds. Nora stumbles backwards and her head hits toilet, and she groans in pain.
The hospital shakes again as Pyrrha tries to break down the door.
Nora frantically fishes her scroll out of the pocket of her dusty skin-tight jeans. She fumbles with it as Pyrrha punches both her hands through the door, trying to get to the lock.
Nora calls Ren. "Ren!"
The line rings three time before Ren answers it. Meanwhile, Pyrrha's arms are being torn up by the jagged hole in the door, and her left hand is almost touching the lock. Pyrrha does not seem to be herself anymore. She roars in pain and frustration and rage, feeling around for the lock.
Ren, on the other end of the phone - <Nora, what is it?>
Before Nora can answer, Pyrrha screams again, and her hands go back through the hole in the door. Nora can hear scuffling feet and bodies just outside, most-likely hospital personnel trying to restrain Pyrrha.
Nora - "Ren, please help me. Pyrrha, she's gone insane, I told her about Jaune, and she went through the roof and attacked me!"
Ren gasps. <Oh no.>
Just then, Pyrrha successfully destroys the bathroom door. The lights flicker as the destruction of the door causes the whole hospital the quake. Dust falls from newly-formed cracks in the ceiling and walls.
Pyrrha, or what is left of her, stomps into the bathroom and picks Nora up by the throat with one arm. Suddenly Nora is unable to breathe.
Pyrrha hisses menacingly, "Where? Is? Jaune?"
Nora helplessly kicks her feet and grabs Pyrrha's arm with both hands, trying to make Pyrrha release her. Nora opens her mouth to speak, but she cannot. Pyrrha loosens her grip on Nora's throat ever so slightly.
Nora gasps, "Don't know! Can't - can't breathe!"
In a cry of rage, Pyrrha slams Nora to the floor on her back and then kicks her hard in the ribs. Nora flies across the hallway and back into Pyrrha's hospital room, hitting an oxygen tank.
The resulting explosion propels Nora out the window and gives her a forty-foot drop to the ground.
The fire alarm is triggered. The water systems come online, extinguishing the flames immediately. Pyrrha walks slowly back to her room and looks out the shattered window. She sees Nora on the ground, an impact crater around her body. Nora is still moving, assessing herself to see if anything is broken.
Pyrrha snarls and leaps down toward Nora's crumpled body.
Nora hears a whooshing sound and looks up and sees Pyrrha falling to the ground next to her. The impact puts a crater in the concrete. Nora gulps.
"Oh Ren," she says shakily, "I love you."
----
Kairo - Chapter Nine
Monday August 14, 2023
705 am
The thunderstorms have returned today.
As the rain falls in sheets on the city of Kairo, a policewoman sits in her cruiser on the side of the road, next to a massive parking garage at the Greater Mall of Kairo.
The policewoman is typing on the computer mounted to the dashboard when she gets a radio call.
Dispatch - <All units, we have a civil disturbance in progress near the GMK. Is anyone available?>
Police officer - "Yes, this is 418, I am on site, ready to go, stand by.
Dispatch - <Thank you.>
The policewoman starts up the car and drives around the corner of the garage. Her car is almost hit by a tumbling city bus. She screams and slams on the brakes.
The city bus crashes into a second parking garage and the structure starts collapsing.
The policewoman picks up the radio.
Unit 418 - "Uh dispatch, what kind of civil disturbance is this?"
Dispatch - <We got a 199 call about a woman in the area, she is in distress and appears to be battling a couple other people. She was at the Forever Fall Medical Center just a half hour or so ago. We believe she triggered the explosion there.>
Unit 418 - "What's the woman's physical appearance?"
Dispatch - <She has a slightly muscular build. Multiple callers say she has long, bright red hair and is wearing sweat pants and a halter top, with medical tape on both her arms. Can't be more than like 25.>
The policewoman gets a sinking feeling in her chest. "I know this girl. Her name is Pyrrha Nikos. She used to be called the Invincible Girl. Her Semblance is polarity. Dispatch, do not send any more units to this location."
Dispatch - <Why not?>
Unit 418 - "Because Pyrrha just destroyed the southern GMK parking garage with her Semblance."
Dispatch - <Do you know anything else about her?>
A car that was sitting just outside the policewoman's window suddenly gets blasted backwards. The car explodes as it hits a tree.
Unit 418 - "No sir I do not."
The dispatcher considers this for a few seconds.
Dispatch - <Okay. We are sending out more units.>
Unit 418 - "But sir, I just said -"
Dispatch - <LIS-STEEN! The extra units are on their way to you. They are coming to your aid. Together you will focus on evacuating the GKM and the surrounding areas.>
Unit 418 - "Understood."
715 am
Blake Belladonna and Lie Ren are locked in a destructive battle with their beloved friend Pyrrha Nikos. All three of them are soaked, in pain, and full of adrenaline.
Pyrrha kicks a car toward Ren with her bare foot. "TELL ME WHERE HE IS!"
Blake jumps in front of Ren and slices the car in half with her two swords.
Ren - "We don't know! He's probably still at the makeshift morgue at Walmart! But he's dead! I swear to you, he's dead!"
Pyrrha screams as a crack of lightning strikes just yards away from her. She is temporarily disoriented, so Blake uses the opportunity to try to subdue her. Blake leaps the 50 feet between her position and Pyrrha's, and takes her down with her hands holding Pyrrha's wrists at each side of her head.
Pyrrha suddenly experiences a horrible vision, one which she has been enduring for days, one which she was hoping to forget.
Onyx, pinning her arms above her head, getting ready to deflower her virgin body against her will.
In real life, Pyrrha screams at the top of her lungs and punches Blake straight up, making her yelp with pain and surprise.
While Blake is in the sky, Ren attempts a similar leap attack, but Pyrrha jumps to her feet and backhands him with a shockwave. Ren flies backwards and hits a the cab of a fuel truck, which in turn is propelled toward a twenty-story office block. The truck hits the building and explodes, causing the building to collapse onto its side in a huge cloud of dust.
Pyrrha uses her Semblance to drag Blake down from the sky. Blake crashes to the ground at nearly one-hundred miles per hour, rupturing and igniting an underground gas line.
Blake jumps out of the explosion and activates her shadow Semblance. One copy of Blake disappears as another copy appears right in front of Pyrrha. Blake's body is curled into a ball with her knees up as the momentum from the jump propels her straight at Pyrrha at 70 miles per hour. Blake's knees make contact with Pyrrha's chest, causing a shockwave. Pyrrha is able to remain standing despite the powerful blow, even though she stumbles a bit. Pyrrha and Blake both throw their left fists toward each other at the same time. The fists connect, and the resulting shockwave blasts both women away from each other, tumbling along the ground.
Blake rises first and quickly converts her two swords into long black ribbons, then snaps each ribbon toward Pyrrha as she stands. The ribbons wrap themselves tightly around Pyrrha's wrist. Pyrrha screams and yanks both hands backward, drawing Blake closer to her. Blake slides along the ground toward Pyrrha but manages to let go of both her weapons. Pyrrha stomps the concrete underneath her, causing a spider fracture, the edge of which launches Blake into the sky. Pyrrha then grabs one of the ribbons and whips it toward Blake's body. The end of the ribbon wraps itself around her. Pyrrha then swings Blake around once and slams her through several of a nearby freeway's support columns and the side of an apartment tower. The freeway collapses and the apartment tower falls onto an undamaged section of the freeway, causing it to also collapse.
Pyrrha takes a deep, shaky breath. The thunder and lightning booms and Pyrrha screams in pain again and collapses to her hands and knees. Then she hears a voice behind her.
Looking behind her, she can see Ren, running toward her at about 30 miles per hour.
"PYYRR-RRHAAAA!"
----
Stop - Chapter Ten
Monday August 14, 2023
722am
Pyrrha begins to crawl towards the partially collapsed freeway. Ren slows his speed down gradually as he nears her, so that by the time he is about 20 feet away, he is walking.
Ren - "Pyrrha. I know you're hurt, I know you're scared, but you can't keep doing this. You are in distress and denial, and it is affecting you. You're hurting people. You're breaking things. This has to stop!"
Pyrrha begins to sob. "I want Jaune." She wraps her arms around herself. "I want Jaune."
Ren - "I know you want Jaune. We want him too. He wasn't just a friend to you. He was like a brother to us. We all loved him and we all miss him so much. But he is dead. He was killed at Walmart yesterday. You just can't remember."
Pyrrha's sobs grow louder as she finds a dry spot under the freeway, protected from the torrential rain. She curls up into a ball against a support column. A car that has fallen off the freeway explodes.
Ren - "Pyrrha please, for us, you need to stop this."
Pyrrha - "I want Jaune!"
Ren - "Jaune is dead. We cannot bring him back. He is gone. Just calm down, and I can help."
Pyrrha - "Nobody asked me if I wanted help! Nobody asked me what I wanted!"
Ren - "Pyrrha, please, I'm asking you right now! What do you need?"
Ren approaches Pyrrha very cautiously. But for Pyrrha, the movements are much different.
Onyx walks slowly toward her as she sits on the floor of the cell, her hands tied to either side of her.
Pyrrha whimpers, closes her eyes tightly, and punches Ren in the gut. The shockwave throws him backwards toward a Starbucks, which is decimated by the impact. On the other side of the shockwave, Pyrrha is knocked through more of the freeway's support pillars, causing all ten lanes of traffic above her to collapse.
Pyrrha crashes through a row of cars and inadvertently gets trapped in one of the cars as it falls into the harbor.
The car fills quickly with water. Pyrrha has no time to take a breath before being submerged. She is disoriented, and cannot see the door. As she feels around for it, something sharp slashes across her abdomen. She screams and releases a torrent of air bubbles. When she can feel the door handle, she repositions herself so that her feet are toward the door, and she kicks it with enough force to tear it off the hinge. Pyrrha pushes herself feet-first out of the car and begins to swim. She cannot tell if she is swimming up or down, but she needs air. To her dismay, she can feel the bottom of the harbor. She exhales the last of her air supply and pushes herself up from the floor.
Pyrrha breaks the surface of the water and takes a long, loud, ragged gasp of air. The thunderstorm is still raging around her. She looks around frantically for land, and then she spots the smoke from the fires on shore. She swims toward it, occasionally being dragged underwater by the current.
She collapses on the seawall next to the destroyed freeway. She begins to sob loudly, helplessly and hopelessly.
740 am
Ren groans and struggles to pick himself up out of the rubble. His Aura levels have protected his body from serious injury, but the levels are dwindling and he is in pain.
He climbs out of the mountain of rubble that used to be the largest Starbucks in Kairo. He searches for signs of life. But all he finds is death. So many people, slumped over in their chairs, wooden splinters embedded into their bodies.
Ren's heart sinks with sorrow. "I . . . I'm so sorry."
As a rumble of thunder envelopes him, Ren catches movement to the right. He gasps.
A person is alive.
Ren trips over the debris to get to her. She groans weakly.
Ren feels for a pulse in her wrist, but her can barely detect one. "Ma'am, are you okay?"
The woman shakes her head slowly and grabs his hand with both of hers.
She is lying on her back with a thick piece of steel through her chest. She is struggling to breathe.
Ren - "Ma'am, stay with me. I'm gonna call the ambulance. You're gonna be okay."
Ren knows he is lying to her and to himself. He just does not know what else to say.
The young woman's hands fall limp, and she stops breathing. Her eyes are open.
Ren's eyes flood with tears. "No. Not again." For several minutes he stays at her side, weeping silently.
Ren slowly swipes one hand down the woman's face to close her eyes, then he vacates the destroyed restaurant.
750am
Blake can feel her scroll vibrating in her pocket.
She has spent the last half hour trying to dig herself out of the apartment tower. As the thunder crashes, she stretches once she is free of the rubble and then answers her scroll.
Blake - "Ren, do you have her?"
Ren - <No. I couldn't calm her down. I'm sorry.>
Blake sighs with defeat.
Ren - <We need to tell authorities. There's no way we can stop her. At this rate, if we don't act, we will lose thousands of people.>
Blake - "What do you suggest we do?! She single-handedly took us down. The police aren't gonna help, they can't."
Ren - <We have to give them a chance! Pyrrha is not taking Jaune's death lightly. She's devastated! We can't get her to calm down.>
Blake - "Yeah, well, Pyrrha's also devastatING."
Ren suddenly has an idea. - <Do you know where they might have taken Jaune's body?>
Blake - "He's being autopsied at Beacon Memorial. Why?"
Ren - <She keeps saying she wants to see Jaune. I was just thinking, if we could get her to see his body one last time . . .>
Blake thinks about this. "You're probably right. We need to try it. It may be our only shot. If it works, she'll calm down. If not . . ."
Ren - <They'll kill her.>
Fire - Chapter Eleven
Monday August 14, 2023
817 am
Ruby has awoken.
She aches all over, and she is so drowsy. She has just finished eating breakfast, which was not much to begin with - a small breakfast burrito and a hashbrown.
Weiss is sitting beside her in a chair, watching the news on the wall-mounted hologram.
The city is in chaos. Pyrrha seems to have lost control of herself, due to the loss of Jaune, and the police have engaged her in Downtown Kairo.
Weiss and Ruby watch the hologram from a helachopper's point of view as another building is leveled. More explosions erupt inside the building as it collapses into its own footprint, leaving behind a massive cloud of dust. Lightning illuminates the scene.
The reporter is frantically trying to find words to describe what is unfolding on screen, as millions of people watch in horror as their beloved city is destroyed.
The scene switches to shaky footage of an earlier battle between two people - Nora Valkyrie and Pyrrha Nikos - locked in a fierce battle with each other.
Weiss - "Oh Pyrrha."
Ruby starts to try to get out of bed. "We have to help them. We have to get Pyrrha to calm down!"
Weiss gets up and pushes Ruby down onto her back. "No, you are staying here to rest. At this point there is nothing we can do."
Ruby struggles to rise again. Weiss holds her down.
Ruby - "They're gonna kill Pyrrha."
Weiss's eyes fill with tears. "I know. But we can't stop it."
Ruby is becoming frustrated. "Move."
Weiss - "NO!"
Ruby - "I can't just sit here and watch thousands of people die like this!"
Weiss looks Ruby in the eyes. "If you go there, you will die too! I almost lost you once, I can't lose you again!"
At this moment, Weiss's scroll rings. On the other end is Blake. Weiss answers.
Blake - <Weiss, I think Ren and I know how to stop Pyrrha.>
Ruby can hear everything Blake is saying through the scroll.
Blake - <She keeps saying she wants to see Jaune. I think if we could get her to actually see him one last time, she'll calm down.>
Weiss - "We need to calm her down enough so that she she can see him. She can't see him if she's destroying the city!"
Blake - <We don't have a choice! If we can't calm her down, the police are going to kill her. We need to get Jaune's body to Pyrrha.>
Suddenly, an explosion of rose petals fills the room. Weiss shields her eyes as she is blasted by wind. After a few seconds, Weiss looks around the room. Papers are all over the place, and she cannot see Ruby. Her hospital bed is covered in rose petals.
Weiss's eyes are wide with disbelief. "Oh no."
Pyrrha can hear approaching sirens and tires. The tires screech to a halt on the opposite side of the freeway viaduct. She sniffles and peaks her head out from the freeway support column she is hiding behind.
All she can see is a wall of blue and red flashing lights.
As the thunder booms overhead, a policeman opens the door to his cruiser with a megaphone.
Over the torrential rain, the police commander says in the megaphone, "PYRRHA NIKOS! I CALL UPON YOU TO GIVE YOURSELF UP!"
The rest of the officers open their own doors and draw their weapons, all focusing on Pyrrha's support column.
Lightning flashes above the city, sending thunder down to envelope the buildings. The thunder's energy shocks Pyrrha. She collapses to the ground in immense pain. The officers cannot see Pyrrha, but they can hear her scream of pain and they prepare to fire.
Commander - "Hold your fire! Hold your fire."
Another slap of thunder rips through Pyrrha's body. Her pain is unbearable. She screams until she has no air left in her lungs.
Commander - "We don't want to hurt you. We just want to talk. I just need you to come out so I can see you."
When a third thunderclap hits Pyrrha, it is more than she can take. Screaming her heart out, she covers her ears with her hands, inadvertently activating her polarity Semblance.
A sheet of black energy surrounds every car parked underneath the freeway. These cars are flung upward faster than the eye can see. All the cars slam into the underside of the freeway, making it seem to explode. This section of the freeway disintegrates with all the pieces flying upward, along with any car that was left abandoned on the freeway. Several fireballs erupt within the shower of concrete and dust, the explosions of cars that are being destroyed.
Some of the smashed cars and slabs of concrete begin to rain down on the sea of Kairo Police vehicles. All the officers either start running away or diving for cover. A slab crashes down on a police cruiser, which blows up. A deformed car lands on a fleeing officer, killing him instantly.
One policewoman has had enough. She rises and bellows, "OPEN FIRE!"
Weiss frantically dials Blake's number on her scroll as she sprints toward the bus stop next to the hospital.
Weiss - "Blake! Are you still in Downtown?"
Blake - <Yeah. I need to calm Pyrrha down.>
Weiss - "No. I want you to get to safety. Pyrrha's out of control."
Blake - <I can't just stand by and watch them kill her!>
Weiss - "If you engage Pyrrha, she will kill you! She is destroying Kairo. Ruby's on her way down now, and she's not in her right mind. If you see Ruby you have to stop her!"
Blake - <I'm sorry. I can't. You know I can't.>
Blake hangs up the phone. All Weiss hears now is a busy tone.
"Blake?"
No answer on the other end.
"Blake?! Dammit!"
Ruby stealthily seeks into the autopsy room. Making sure no one has followed her in, she shuts the door.
She hurriedly scans all the tags on the deceased bodies. She is at it for about a minute before she hears footsteps just outside the room. Ruby freezes in place, preparing to make a run for it.
The footsteps continue onward past the room. Ruby relaxes and continues her search for Jaune.
She finds his body after another minute, and she gasps in shock and sadness.
She then looks around for a bodybag. She finds an empty one near the door. After she spends a couple minutes struggling to shove Jaune's body in the bag, she turns and peaks her head out the door.
All clear.
Ruby tugs Jaune out the door and lifts him onto a gurney. Then she taps into her speed Semblance.
A city bus tumbles along the ground toward Blake. Blake shadow-jumps into the sky and lands on Pyrrha's head, then back-flips away. Pyrrha crashes to the ground with a yelp of pain. She leaps to her feet and runs straight at Blake full speed. Front-flipping over a pile of rubble, Pyrrha grabs a piece of rebar and continues her charge. The end of the rebar clanks along the ground trailing sparks.
Blake converts her two swords into small machine guns and begins to fire. Pyrrha skids to a halt, her bare feet digging up concrete, and twirls the bar between her fingers. The bullets change directions just short of the bar and fly in a different direction. Blake quickly changes her weapons into swords again and shadow-copies herself directly in front of Pyrrha. Both women swing their respective bar and swords together, trading blows for about ten seconds, with Pyrrha doing back-flips and front-flips around Blake, and Blake using her shadow Semblance to avoid Pyrrha's blows.
Pyrrha swiftly swings one end of her weaponized bar in a horizontal arch, trying to hit Blake. Blake dodges the move and crosses her two swords to form a sort of shield, just as Pyrrha jabs her bar at Blake. The impact of the bar with Blake's swords knocks Blake backwards. Pyrrha leaps high into the air and lands on Blake's chest, creating an outline of her body in the concrete. A gas line underneath the impact explodes for nearly three city blocks, causing four apartment towers to collapse to the ground. Blake shadow-copies herself out of the explosion and into the sky, as the explosion throws Pyrrha into the sky.
Blake converts one sword into a ribbon and snaps it towards Pyrrha. The end of the ribbon slams into Pyrrha's chest, knocking her backwards in midair. Pyrrha's body crashes through an apartment tower which crumbles to the ground. Blake leaps through the collapsing tower using the hole Pyrrha's body has made. Then Blake launches her ribbon at Pyrrha again, this time slapping Pyrrha toward the ground. Pyrrha lands on her back next to a fire hydrant. Blake lands hard on her feet next to Pyrrha, putting cracks in the concrete.
Ruby is running out of energy for her Semblance to keep going. She slows down and collapses to the ground next to the gurney. She gasps for breath and looks around. She spots a large green road sign above her head. Getting on her hands and knees, Ruby cranes her neck to read it.
Candle Freeway - Right Lane
Goodwitch Center - Left Lane
Downtown Kairo - Use Center 4 Lanes
Ruby climbs to her feet and takes off once again.
----
The final battle is partially similar to the one seen at the end of the 2012 film "Chronicle". This is why the fic has a Chronicle tag. If you cry at the end, which I hope you do, it will mean it's good. If you don't feel at least a little bit sad, it will mean I suck ass at writing.
Ruby - Chapter Twelve
Monday August 14, 2023
822 am
The Kairo Police are waiting there for them with their weapons drawn. They are all shouting for the two women to not move, to remain still. When Pyrrha starts to get up, the shouting gets more intense.
Blake looks at the injures Pyrrha has sustained in the last few seconds. The medical tape has fallen partially off of Pyrrha's forearm. Her arm is bleeding over every inch of skin. The left side of her face is bleeding profusely.
Pyrrha is gasping for air stumbling around now, trying to shield her face from the pounding rain. Through her blood-covered eyes, Pyrrha can see the annoying blue and red flashing lights.
Blake - "No! Don't shoot! Please! She's hurt! She needs help!"
One trigger-happy officer does not listen. He fires, hitting Blake's hand. Blake screeches in pain as blood spews out of the hole in her hand.
Pyrrha sucks in a breath.
"LEAVE ME ALOOOOOOONNE!"
Pyrrha throws up her hands, accidentally triggering the polarity Semblance. All the police cars fly upwards and away. Some of them crash into storefronts and explode. People run in every direction in terror, trying to avoid being caught in the middle.
Pyrrha draws her hand back and then swings it at Blake. A long metal beam follows Pyrrha's hand and then crashes into the storefront. Blake leaps upwards onto a balcony. Pyrrha leaps after her, crashing through the balcony and causing Blake to fly across the large plaza. Pyrrha leaps again and punches Blake through an office tower. The two women come out the other side of the tower entangled with each other. They both slam against a second office tower and then fall to the ground near a statue of a woman holding a spear in triumph.
The police converge on them again, threatening to use deadly force.
Blake rises and drops her weapons. "Okay! I'm surrendering! Don't shoot!"
Pyrrha stumbles to her feet. Just as soon as she does, she is slammed by thunder again. She shrieks in pain. Then she swoops her hands toward the line of police cars. The cars all fly backwards into storefronts and fleeing civilians.
Blake - "Pyrrhaaaa! Pyrrha, stoooopp! Don't hurt them! Please!"
Pyrrha stands straight up and raises both her hands slowly, bellowing at the top of her lungs. Her polarity Semblance activates, causing buildings all around the plaza to crumble.
"AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGHHHH!"
Blake stands up and stumbles a few steps in Pyrrha's direction. "Pyrrhaaaa! Stop this! Please! You're hurting people!"
Pyrrha takes another deep breath and shrieks again. The shriek of all Pyrrha's weaknesses, anguish, confusion, heartbreak, and rage.
Cars are sliding all over the place. Another gas line explodes, toppling another office building.
Blake - "Pyrrhaaaa! Don't make me do this!"
Pyrrha refills her lungs with air again, screaming with her whole body. Thunder crashes around her. Her arms shaking with power and rage.
All Blake can see is collapsing buildings, terrified running people, and explosions of fire. All she can hear are the screams of civilians and the broken shriek of Pyrrha. All she can feel is the cold relentless rain in her face.
Blake whips her ribbon toward the statue. The ribbon wraps around the arm that is holding the spear. Blake then gives a cry of effort and yanks the ribbon.
Pyrrha's roaring suddenly stops.
Blake stands there panting with her eyes closed for several seconds, not wanting to look at what she has done. Eventually she brings herself to look.
The statue's spear has pierced all the way through Pyrrha's body, just above her breasts. The tip of the spear is buried in the concrete with Pyrrha hanging limp from it.
Pyrrha is dead.
Blake gasps and puts a hand to her mouth, stifling back a sob. As tears flood her eyes, she looks at the officers, who all have their weapons trained on her. Blake backs away from Pyrrha slowly, then turns around and sprints away.
