SAPR

by Scipio Smith

Death or Glory (New)

Death or Glory

Blake’s voice crackled into Rainbow’s ear. “Cinder’s here.”

Rainbow’s eyes widened. She covered her ear with one hand. “Blake, are you sure?”

“Quite sure,” Blake said, her voice dispassionate, calm. Almost eerily calm, in the circumstances. “I’m moving to engage now.”

“W—” Rainbow bit back her instinct to tell Blake to hold off, wait for … backup, or something. But there wasn’t any backup coming, that wasn’t part of the plan they had made; the plan they had made called for Blake to fight alone, for now at least, while the others got Amber away.

Just as the plan called for Rainbow to stay up here and exercise command, in the face of all her instincts screaming at her to get down there and help Blake.

She had to have faith. She had to believe that Blake could manage this.

She did have faith. Blake could manage this.

Hopefully.

“Don’t get yourself killed out there,” Rainbow muttered.

“'Killed'?” Rarity repeated from where she stood at Rainbow’s side. “Darling, what—?”

Rainbow held up one hand to quiet her. She needed to concentrate for this. “All units: abort, abort, abort. Yang, roll in. Twilight, head to the rendezvous point. Midnight, are you okay on the gun?”

“Locked and loaded, Rainbow Dash,” came the reply from Midnight.

“Inbound now,” said Twilight.

“Rolling in,” announced Yang. “Sunset, Pyrrha, get her ready for me.”

“Got it,” Sunset said. “We’re moving now. Amber, come on, we have to go!” There was a pause. “Because—”

“Sunset, clear the comm!” snapped Rainbow Dash.

There was no response, but Rainbow couldn’t hear any more of Sunset explaining to Amber what was up either, so she took that as a sign that Sunset had put herself on mute.

“Rainbow Dash, what is—?” began Rarity.

“Not now!” Rainbow said sharply.

“Give her a minute, sugarcube,” murmured Applejack. “I think she’s kinda busy.”

Rainbow ignored them both — for now — as she scanned the street below her, sweeping down it until she found Blake — and Cinder.

Cinder had emerged — or so it seemed — from out of one of the side alleys, her glass swords in her hands, and now, she began to rush up the wide thoroughfare in Amber’s direction, shoving people aside as she went, but only shoving them. Rainbow had to admit she was surprised by that; she would have expected Cinder to just cut them down if they got in her way, and she had her blades out already after all, but she seemed to be using her shoulders rather than her swords.

And anyway, a lot of people were getting out of her way, scrambling to either side of the road or just running in the opposite direction to her; the sound of the carnival floating up to the top of the Liver Building was becoming twisted with the discordant fearful shouting of those who could see Cinder and — whether they recognised her face or not — understood that she was someone they should have nothing to do with.

The flames that were burning out of the sides of one eye — what the hell? Seriously, what the hell? — was a pretty good indicator of that. A few people — a few idiots – were filming her on their scrolls, but most people had more sense and were putting as much distance between her and them as possible.

Of course, there was one faunus whose sense could be debated who was heading straight for her.

Blake rushed towards Cinder, Gambol Shroud in sword form held on one hand, her cleaver scabbard in the other, both arms pumping up and down as she cut through the parting crowd like a gallant ship through the waves.

"Ciel, Ruby," Rainbow said, "do either of you have a shot?"

"Not yet," replied Ruby.

"Affirmative," came the response from Ciel.

The sharp, snapping sound of Ciel’s rifle echoed off the tall buildings as though she were a multitude of snipers; but the first thing that Cinder probably knew about Ciel firing on her was when the first shot slammed into her back.

Ciel was using ice dust rounds. They had agreed that beforehand as a crowd safety thing. Rainbow and Pyrrha had both seen Cinder block bullets, after all, and nobody wanted a round deflected — if she did deflect them; none of them were entirely sure what Cinder was doing to block shots — into the crowd to kill somebody. Ice dust was non-lethal, but it could still make it very hard to move around if it got you.

And so, Ciel's first shot pitched Cinder off her feet, hurling her forwards, with a patch of ice blossoming on her back, spikes of pale ice like the bone spurs on a grimm growing as though they were erupting out of her.

The next two shots hit her in the feet before she could get up, encasing Cinder's feet and ankles in rugged lumps of ice.

"Great shooting, Ciel," Rainbow cried. "Now get her, Blake!"

---

Cinder was there. She was right there.

Blake wasn’t sure exactly when she’d emerged into view — her eyes were sharp, and she knew what she was looking for, but there were so many people around at this carnival that she couldn’t see everything all of the time — but one moment, the coast had appeared to be clear of danger, and the next…

The next moment, Cinder was standing there, in the middle of the revelling crowd, as if she had shimmered into view, teleported like Sunset into the middle of the street.

It was extraordinary. So extraordinary that Blake didn’t believe, couldn’t comprehend it for a second; she just stood there, dumbly, staring at Cinder.

Nobody else seemed to have noticed Cinder either. Although she stood there with her glass scimitars in her hands, held down beside her, the points directed towards the ground, in spite of that, nobody seemed to realise or care or recognise that this was Cinder Fall, wanted criminal.

The carnival continued on around her, with drums beating and horns and trumpets being played somewhere in the procession and everybody dancing with gay abandon, arms waving, feet tapping.

The street was a riot of colour, whirling skirts and feathers and sequins galore, and in the midst of it all, obscured for a moment by a girl in a canary yellow dress who twirled in front of her, but standing right there when the dancer had passed, stood Cinder Fall.

Barring the swords, in her red dress with the fine gold threadwork, she actually fit in rather well; probably, that was why the blades themselves — and Cinder’s wanted status — had gone unnoticed.

She looked right at Blake and smiled.

Yellow flames erupted from the corner of one eye.

Magic. That’s what Pyrrha saw when Cinder used the stolen maiden powers.

Cinder let out a great roar, like a lion that has trespassed into the territory of a settled pride issuing challenge to the old male who rules that particular rock, to let them know that a younger, stronger, hungrier rival has come to claim the land and all its bounty for himself. Just so did Cinder roar out her anger, drawing the attention of everyone around her.

Now, people took notice, and they began to move away, scrambling back from this woman with the mysterious flames coming out of her eyes.

They didn’t move fast enough for Cinder, who began to push them away, shoving into them with her shoulders while yelling, “Move! Move! Out of my way!”

Blake drew Gambol Shroud — in sword mode — over her shoulder. She pressed her free hand to her ear. “Cinder’s here!”

“Blake, are you sure?” Rainbow responded; the earpiece made her voice a little crackly, but Blake could hear the concern there clearly enough regardless.

“Quite sure,” Blake said, and she was almost surprised by how calm she sounded — how calm she felt. Now that the initial shock of Cinder’s appearance had worn off, dispelled by Cinder’s own movements, it was … well, it was what they had prepared for, wasn’t it?

She did not feel afraid. She did not feel alarmed. This was a possibility, this was the reason she was here. This was … in the bluntest terms, this was the job, wasn’t it?

“I’m moving to engage now,” Blake added, taking her hand off her ear and pulling her scabbard-cleaver over her free shoulder.

“Don’t get yourself killed out there,” Rainbow muttered in response, and Blake appreciated Rainbow restricting herself to saying that, and only that. It must have been very hard for her.

I’ll try not to, Blake thought, but had no time to say that because she was moving now, moving towards Cinder, trying to find a way towards her through the crowds that were panicked, moving in this direction and that, milling around in front of her, filling the space between her and Cinder.

Cinder was moving in her direction, yes, but not straight towards her; her target was not Blake but Amber, after all, and if she could reach Amber while avoiding Blake she would no doubt do it.

And so Blake had to get through the crowd to intercept her just as Cinder needed to get through the crowd to reach Amber.

And Blake had to do it without quite so much violent shoving — she was supposed to be the good guy, after all.

Although Cinder could be doing a lot worse than shoving.

A part of her wondered why Cinder hadn’t started hacking through the crowd with her swords, as she no doubt could have; but it was not so great a concern that it occupied much of her attention. It didn’t change what she had to do.

What she had to do was get to Cinder.

Her semblance was a help in that regard, she left clones behind her while she slipped through gaps in the crowd as though she was teleporting, but the need to preserve her aura for the actual fight meant that she used her semblance only when she had no choice, for the rest she slipped physically through what gaps she could find, she leapt over people here and there, and as the crowd began to thin out in response to Cinder’s presence then Blake just ran, running as the ocean of carnival-goers became more of a Shallow Sea.

Blake's legs pounded on the roadway like a heart far less calm than her own, her arms pumping up and down.

Cinder pitched forward. Blake hadn't heard a shot fired, but Ciel had warned that they might not hear the shot until after they saw the round strike, with this new rifle she’d be using, and it was clear that Cinder had been shot, what with the spikes of ice that were rising up on her back, that looked a little as though they were coming out of her back.

Cinder was hit again as she lay on the ground, lumps of ice enclosing her feet and ankles before she could get up.

They would only hold her for a moment.

A moment was all Blake required to get the first strike.

Blake leapt upwards, her long, wild hair flying out behind her as she closed the distance between her and Cinder, descending upon her with sword and cleaver alike drawn back for a slashing stroke.

---

Cinder didn’t hear the shot that hit her in the back.

If she had heard it then it might not have mattered — she probably would have been too late to turn and block it — but she would never find out because she did not hear the shot that hit her.

At least, not until after she’d been shoved onto the ground with her face in the tarmac. Then she heard the shot.

But by that point one might say that it was a little late.

Cinder pushed herself up onto her knees and found herself shivering. Shivering and feeling a heavy weight upon her back, a chill weight.

Ice dust, of course.

Ruby - or that Atlesian girl, what’s her name… I can’t remember, but the one with the large rifle - wouldn’t want to blow the head off some innocent bystander, would she? No, that would never do.

So they’re using ice dust, just to make sure nobody gets hurt.

Very noble, but if they think that will stop me—

Two more shots hit her on her glass slippers, less notable for the damage they did to her aura than to the way that they caused mounds of ice to erupt outwards from the point of impact, spreading out to engulf her feet and ankles, sticking them to the road.

Cinder pursed her lips together.

I’m coming very close to feeling insulted.

She consoled herself with the thought that they didn’t expect for it to hold her indefinitely, just long enough for the rapidly approaching Blake Belladonna to get a few hits in before Cinder could respond.

Possibly it had been a mistake to loudly roar out her presence as she had, and so alert the enemy to her presence. But, well, she had wanted to alert her enemies to her presence.

What was the point of going out to find a desperate battle against your destined opponents in the middle of a crowded public place with power and fortune’s favour on the line if you weren’t allowed to make a dramatic entrance?

And besides, Cinder was less impressed with Blake than the Atlesians seemed to be.

Blake descended on her like a thunderbolt — but Cinder was the one with power over the lightning.

She had the Maiden’s magic ready at her command; she had prepared it for the way it looked upon her eyes, for the way the fire would intimidate the crowds and drive them from her path — and in case she needed to use the magic to remove any brave obstacles from out of her way.

As Blake fell on her, Cinder clasped her hands together above her heart, looking almost as though she were in prayer, hiding the flames in the palms of her hands. Then, just before Blake struck home, Cinder swept both her arms out in front of her, unleashing a wave of magical flame that caught Blake in mid-air.

Blake used a clone to escape, but no matter, for wherever she was, she did not strike Cinder.

Cinder used her own semblance to melt the ice on her back, even as she shattered the ice that sought to bind her to the road as she rose to her feet with a growl.

The crowd had thinned enough for her to make out Amber, surrounded by Sunset and Pyrrha. They looked small to her — from a distance, not from her failing eyesight; that seemed to mainly affect reading and screens — like her…

Like her glass menagerie that Phoebe had destroyed.

Cinder shook her head, ridding herself of the thought, the memory. She had killed Phoebe, would that she had killed those memories along with her and put them in the grave — or on the pyre.

Amber was there. Amber was before her, and Sunset and Pyrrha too. Sunset and Pyrrha and the others, who seemed to be trying to hustle Amber off the stage. Did they have some escape planned for her?

Cinder began to run. The moonlight glinted off her obsidian blades as she ran for Amber.

This was the hour of fate. This was the death or glory moment, as in the old tales when the rebels sighted the Emperor’s banner across the field and knew that now was the moment to risk everything on a single charge for death or glory.

For death or glory!

I am resolved this night to conquer all or perish.

She would reach them. She would reach them. She would reach Amber and her protectors, and she would not let Blake or Ruby or Tempest Shadow stand in her way.

She was hit again, again without hearing the shot until it was too late, and again, the ice encased her foot and stuck her to the road.

Cinder bit back a curse as she freed herself, using a combination of semblance and sheer brute force to break and melt the ice in equal measure.

No sooner had she done so than her other foot was frozen.

A third shot hit her on the thigh; whatever kind of gun they were using was sufficiently small that it didn’t do much to her aura, but as more ice spread out across her upper leg, making Cinder shiver from the cold, it was both intensely irritating and a delay that she could hardly afford.

Especially with Blake once more closing the distance with her. Even after what Cinder had done the last time, still Blake threw herself on Cinder with reckless abandon.

Cinder let her come on, making for the moment no effort to free herself from the ice that bound her to the road — she would simply have been shot and stuck again — waiting until she was close enough to reach out with a thrust of the sword in her right hand.

Another clone popped like a balloon, dissipating into shadow and smoke even as the real Blake appeared behind Cinder.

Cinder shattered the ice that trapped her as she turned as swift as the mood of a wicked stepsister, rounding on Blake to parry her first stroke, and her second, then countering with a slash that dissolved another clone of Blake.

Blake was at her side, hair flying out behind her as she charged with a furious flurry of blows.

Cinder withstood them all, standing like a mountain before the howling wind, parrying sword and cleaver both, the metal ringing off the glass as black swords clashed, but every parry, every stroke, every time that she struck Blake only for it to turn into a clone as the real Blake attacked from another direction, every moment was a moment that she could ill afford.

Cinder turned Blake's stroke aside with one sword, then slashed at her in turn with another, dispelling yet another clone — did she never feel ashamed of the way she overused these wretched things? — and giving Cinder time and breathing room to call upon her magic.

She conjured up a wind, a great cyclone blowing all around, circling her while she stood safe in the eye of the storm. The wind was wall and moat to her, Blake could not break through it, and the rounds of the sniper, whoever they might be, would be whipped away — so it was a good thing they were only using ice dust.

While she was within the winds that lashed at her face, grabbed at her hair and disturbed its careful arrangement, she was safe.

She was also immobilised and half blind, and while she stood in the wind, Amber was being ushered stage left, exeunt Amber, Sunset, Pyrrha, and the rest.

But then, she didn't intend to stay here forever.

Cinder's glass scimitars dissolved in her hands, reforming into a single long, thin spear, too long and unwieldy to use against Blake, but hopefully long enough for her purposes.

Cinder reversed the blade and drove it downwards into the road beneath her feet, piercing the tarmac as she pierced the breast of Phoebe—

Cinder grunted with irritation at the intrusion onto her thoughts. She drove the spear down into the road, burying more and more of the glass beneath the tarmac.

This would either work, or she would hit a power line and cause a blackout.

She felt, just about, the tip of her spear touch something, something hard, possibly metallic.

Cinder smiled as she stabbed down deeper, piercing the metal with the tip of her obsidian spear.

She let the winds die down around her as the tarmac in front of her was torn apart by the onrushing water from out of the damaged pipe, water that rushed upwards like a geyser in the Amity Colosseum, cracking the road surface round about and leaping up into the air between Cinder and the sniper, completely concealing her from whichever sniper with the quiet gun had been making a nuisance of herself hitherto.

Cinder noticed that small patches of water were temporarily freezing and guessed that the sniper was trying to freeze the waterspout solid as a preface to shattering it, but the gush of water was too great, it was always renewing itself, whatever they managed to freeze was swept away again in no time at all.

And so, as the drops of water fell from the gushing geyser to pitter patter down upon Cinder’s face — would that she had been able to feel the damp upon her skin — Cinder turned and ran for Amber.

She was not too late.

She would not be too late.

---

“I have lost her,” Ciel said, her voice clipped with disappointment.

Rainbow cursed under her breath. “The water spout?”

“Affirmative,” Ciel replied. “I no longer have a visual on the target.”

Rainbow reflected that one of the disadvantages of sticking one of their snipers on top of one of the tallest buildings in Vale was that it was very difficult for her to redeploy if, well, if something like that happened.

She thought about flying over there to carry Ciel back here — the Wings of Harmony were rated to take that much weight, just about — but she needed to be ready to escort Yang and Amber to the rendezvous with Twilight.

“Ruby, Ciel just lost sight of Cinder; please tell me that you have a shot.”

“I can see her,” Ruby said. “But ice dust didn’t seem to do much to her when Ciel was shooting.”

“Copy that,” Rainbow replied. Unfortunately, she was right about that, but on the other hand, when Cinder had created that tornado all around her — so that was Maiden magic, huh? — she had kind of proven them right in deciding to use the ice dust rounds in the first place. As of right now, some poor guy who had just come out to have a fun night at the carnival had half his body encased in ice like he was a cartoon character. If Ciel had been firing standard rounds, then he’d be dead right now.

“But remember,” Rainbow said, “we don’t need to take Cinder out; we just need to delay her long enough for Amber to get away, and the ice dust did slow her down.”

“But even once Amber does get away, we still need to deal with Cinder afterwards,” Ruby pointed out.

“Once Amber’s gone, she’ll retreat,” Sunset interjected over the line. “What’s the point in her staying to fight it out?”

“I don’t know,” Ruby admitted, “but what if she doesn’t retreat?”

“Then this will end tonight,” Rainbow declared, “but until then, keep going with the ice dust rounds; anything else risks civilian casualties.” She paused. “If you really think that it’s having no effect, then you can descend to street level and rejoin the rest of Team Sapphire.”

She thought that she heard Sunset suck a breath inwards when she heard that, but the other team leader didn’t challenge her authority on the matter.

You need to take the leash off, Sunset, or she’s going to chew through it the same as Penny.

I mean, I get it, don’t get me wrong, but what you need to get is that she hates it. Not everyone can stand to be treated the way I treat my friends.

“Yes!” Ruby said. “Copy that.”

“That’s only if you think that sniper fire is having no effect,” Rainbow warned. “Blake could use some cover out there.”

“Right,” Ruby said. “Roger. Affir—”

“Yeah, I get it, don’t worry,” Rainbow told her. “Yang, where are you?”

“I’m on my way,” Yang said. “Not much longer.”

“Good,” Rainbow said. “Sunset, how’s it looking down there?”

“It looks like Cinder’s coming right at us, but as long as Yang gets here soon, then Amber will be fine,” Sunset said, although her voice trembled a little. “But I don’t know about you, but I think that Cinder has found the weakness in Blake’s semblance.”

Rainbow frowned. “Blake’s semblance doesn’t have a weakness.”

“That’s what I thought too,” Sunset said. “I think we were wrong.”

---

In every epic, in every great poem of heroes and battle, there was the aristeia, the moment of the hero's greatest process and glory when they transcended all other warriors upon the battlefield.

Cinder would not have said that this was her moment of transcendental prowess — although hopefully, that would come very, very soon, considering how close at hand were her real enemies — but she was put in mind of it as she made her charge down the boulevard because the aristeia most frequently took the form of a laundry list of enemies cut down, one after the other, in an unstoppable harvest home of death.

Aura made it nigh impossible to match the conventions of epic poetry amongst skilled opponents, but as Cinder cut down yet another of Blake's clones as she surged onward, ever onward towards Amber, it occurred to her that this was the closest to the traditional aristeia that she was likely to get in her life.

And then blazing Cinder, full of furor, smote a clone of Blake Belladonna on the breast. Yet another clone swung her black sword towards her, but swift-footed Cinder cut her down all the same. Then it was the turn of Blake's clone again, because this woman has no other ideas.

No. No, it wasn't really working, was it?

Blake's semblance was a blessing on her. It was no wonder, much as Cinder might sneer internally, why she made such use of it.

It had a weakness, though; not a weakness to Blake herself, true, but a weakness nonetheless: it could only protect Blake.

If Cinder had been trying to strike Blake down and send her soul fleeing in anger to the shades, then Blake's semblance would have been unparalleled; even with her magic, Cinder could hardly have hit her without some great good fortune or Blake's aura running out.

But Cinder didn't want to kill Blake Belladonna; Cinder, at this point, could not care less: let her go to Atlas, let her freeze off her feline ears, let her waste her life trying to fix the proud northmen as she had tried and failed to fix Adam Taurus. Cinder cared not and cared nothing for her, one way or the other.

Her business was with Amber, with Sunset, and with Pyrrha, and she would allow nothing to stand in her way.

And standing in the way was not something that Blake's semblance was very good at.

Every time Blake burned a clone to spare herself, every time she left a substitute in her place to take the blow that was meant for her, every time she vanished and left shadow and smoke behind, she only allowed Cinder to move forward.

Clones could not hinder her, no more than could the air itself.

Which was not to say that Blake didn't try; she left earth clones behind, stone statues of herself planted athwart Cinder's path, but Cinder hacked them into shards and fragments with a single swing of her obsidian blades. She left fire clones that exploded, engulfing Cinder in the flames — but Cinder was fire in ways that Blake and her tricks with dust could never dream of, and she passed through the flames taking no hurt from them, nor even damage to her aura.

And Blake used ice, just as their other sniper was doing now, to try and trap her, or slow her at least.

But Cinder would not be stopped. She would not be stayed. At this time, in this moment, this once, she would keep moving forward, physically at least, and none would withstand her progress. Ice dissolved within the heat of her flames or shattered before her strength.

At one point, they must have thought they had her, when Cinder threw herself recklessly forward against what turned out to be an ice clone. Cinder had thought to physically bull the false Blake aside, but the clone dissolved into ice, which erupted in all directions, enclosing her entire body.

Their second sniper started shooting, each round adding more ice to that which encrusted her like barnacles.

Blake did likewise, her sword transforming into its pistol form as she, too, piled ice upon ice as it seemed to imprison Cinder within an iceberg large enough to sink ships.

But tonight, there was no iceberg large enough in all of Remnant to sink her ambitions, not while the magic of half a Maiden remained to her. The ice began to glow as Cinder conjured the firestorm from her hands, magic and her semblance working together as her icy prison began to glow from within like a dirty lantern. Blake and the sniper piled ice on ice, but it was not enough to stop the heat that roared from Cinder.

The flames that would set her free, just as they always had.

Fire had been her servant then, at the beginning of her journey, and so it was again, devouring the ice, melting so much within that the outer shell shattered before the wind that Cinder conjured, the wind that picked up Blake and tossed her aside even as she was showered with icy fragments.

Cinder paid her no more mind as she ran on, flew on; flames leapt from the palms of her hands and beneath the soles of her glass slippers and sent her flying forward as if on rockets, gliding along the surface of the road.

Tempest tried to stop her, literally placing herself athwart Cinder’s path, but as much as Cinder might have relished the chance to kill Tempest in different circumstances, that would come later, if it came at all. Right now, she had no time for her.

And so she simply did not stop, flying right into Tempest, enduring the blow of Tempest’s staff, enduring the damage to her aura as a small price to pay as she bore Tempest backwards before her inexorable assault, grappling with Salem’s servant — Cinder, it seemed, had been stripped of that title — and throwing her away with a burst of fire to the gut for good measure.

It may be that we will meet again, but for now, you interest me as little as a gnat.

Blake, also — she was still going? Perhaps Cinder could see why the Atlesians so admired her and why Adam had been so drawn to her — made another attempt to hinder Cinder, casting her hook on its silk ribbon like a fisherman casting his line, trying to catch Cinder like a fat river trout.

But Cinder was moving too quickly; she had left Blake behind: her hook fell short and fruitlessly struck the tarmac of the road.

Amber was growing larger and larger in Cinder’s eyes, as Sunset and Pyrrha and the rest made ready to defend her.

She was almost there.

It was almost over.

---

Amber was terrified — and not a little incensed.

The terror was obvious, and it was the main part of her mind and heart as she watched Cinder fly towards her with Amber’s own magic that she had stolen from her, intent on taking the rest — and Amber’s life.

Honestly, when the word had first come from Blake that she had spotted Cinder, when Rainbow Dash had given the abort signal, Amber had not been that concerned. In fact, she thought that it had probably baffled Sunset and Pyrrha and the others how little concern she had shown for the fact, even as they — and Jaune and Penny — had begun to hustle her away to meet with Yang.

She thought that Dove, whose hands had been shaking and who had clearly been missing the absence of his sword, had been more worried than she was.

She had played it off as being because of them, flattering Sunset — Sunset was a dear, but she was also a proud dear, who liked to be admired and respected by others — by suggesting that she felt safe in her presence.

It wasn’t even a lie, not really; she did feel safe with Sunset and Pyrrha, and Jaune and Penny too, and with Ruby and Ciel watching over her.

But it wasn’t the only — perhaps not even the greatest — reason why she had felt little fear, even hearing that Cinder had come for her.

She had felt unconcerned because she had made an agreement with Bon Bon, with Tempest Shadow, with Salem herself. She had promised them the Crown of Choice, and in return, she would be safe, she would be protected, Cinder would not be permitted to come near her.

It was obvious that Cinder did not feel bound by this in any way, shape, or form.

It was also obvious, and far more shocking to Amber, that there seemed to be no way of restraining her.

And so now, with Yang not yet in sight, if she was coming at all, Amber watching Cinder fly through the air towards her, passing between crowds of people who were either trying to get as far away as they could or else treating this whole thing as though it were as entertaining as the great tournament, holding up their scrolls to film or cheering and shouting as though this wasn’t life or death being played out before their eyes.

Amber watched Cinder fly towards her, the woman who had stolen her magic, the one who had almost killed her, the one who had plunged some grimm monstrosity into her body, scarred her beautiful face, Amber watched her come to finish what she had started.

She had bested Amber when Amber was a Maiden and Cinder was nothing; now, Cinder was half a Maiden, the same as Amber was, so what chance did Amber have in the rematch that Cinder was so eagerly pursuing?

She had gotten past Blake, she had gotten past Ciel; Ruby had descended from her lofty perch, shooting on her way down to slow her descent before racing to the side of her teammates in a burst of rose petals, and now, she stood with Sunset, Pyrrha, Jaune, and Penny as Cinder flew towards them.

Now … now Amber was starting to worry.

Amber was starting to do more than worry.

Cinder looked even more terrifying than she seemed in Amber’s nightmares. When Amber dreamt of her face, when it loomed in her imagination, when it appeared reflected in the mirror, it didn’t have the flames burning out of her eyes, the flames of the stolen magic, the flames of the power that made her unstoppable.

She had been terrible already, and now … now, she seemed irresistible.

What a fool she had been, to think that this situation might work to her advantage, to think that she might be able to somehow bring about Cinder’s death and the lifting of her greatest fear.

She had been a foolish little girl who played with fire, and now, she would burn for it.

Such were the fears that thudded through Amber’s heart as she took a stumbling step backwards, into Dove’s arms.

Her heart was thudding too, thumping hard in her chest as though she had run without aura up many flights of stairs, all the way to the top of Ozpin’s enormous tower.

“It will be alright, Amber,” Dove promised, although he would have sounded a lot more reassuring if his voice hadn’t stopped shaking. “I swear, I’ll protect you. I won’t let her hurt you again.”

No, Dove, you can’t protect me. Not from her.

And as much to the point, he shouldn’t have had to, shouldn’t have had to try, shouldn’t have had to even consider it. This wasn’t supposed to happen. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way!

They were supposed to take care of her! For once, Amber’s anger was not directed at Ozpin but at his enemies. They had promised! They had told her that so long as she did what they wanted, gave them what they wanted, then they would guarantee her safety! Well, her safety didn’t feel very guaranteed at the moment!

Tempest had made a half-hearted effort to get in Cinder’s way and been swatted aside for it; it was pathetic! Was Cinder the only one who was actually worth fearing?

No, no, that wasn’t true; Salem was worth fearing, if only for the fact that she would never die and would keep sending more and more killers after Amber until she got her crown, but even so, she didn’t seem nearly as frightening as Cinder did at this particular moment.

This was not at all what Amber had been led to believe would happen.

It was enough to make her wonder if she had made a mistake.

Sunset had one hand out, firing green bolts of her own magic from her fingertips. They all flew straight and true — at least, they did for most of the way, but as they approached Cinder, she held out her hands in front of her, and Sunset’s magic veered away, shooting off to hit the buildings on either side of the street.

Sunset bared her teeth and growled wordlessly.

“I do hope nobody got hurt by that,” Pyrrha murmured.

“Don’t worry; I’m controlling my power level for that reason,” Sunset replied.

“But how’s she deflecting your shots?” asked Ruby.

“I think she’s using convection currents; the hot air is bending the light trajectory,” Sunset explained. “She’ll do the same to Penny’s lasers.”

“Then it will come to swords then,” Pyrrha declared as she stepped in front of Amber. “Whether Yang arrives in time or not, it seems a battle is inevitable.”

“You … you’re going to fight her?” Amber demanded. “No!”

The word leapt from her mouth because this hadn’t been what she had wanted or intended, not at all. She hadn’t just made her deal with Salem for her own sake, no, but for them too, so that they wouldn’t have to fight a battle like this! Now that the battle had come upon them … this had been what she wanted to avoid; this had been everything that she wanted to avoid.

“I swore to protect you,” Pyrrha said. “Do you not recall?”

Yes, Amber recalled; she recalled only too well, that was the problem. “But I didn’t … I don’t…”

She could not let this happen. She could not let them fight this battle, fight this monster, she could not … she didn’t want to see them die, so brave and kind and … they didn’t deserve this; it wasn’t right!

I only wanted to save them.

But I can’t even save myself.

Perhaps … perhaps realising that she couldn’t save herself … perhaps it was the only way to save them.

She didn’t want to die. She wanted to live with Dove. But she didn’t want to watch Pyrrha die either, or Sunset, or any of them. Sunset had saved her life, and had been so solicitous of her well-being and desires, and Pyrrha was in love with Jaune, and they had both brought Dove back to her. They had defended her from Ozpin. They had all, all been so very good to her, and now…

Amber clasped her hands together over heart.

She ought to take a step forward. She ought to step in front of Pyrrha.

She ought to…

She ought to…

But her leg felt so heavy.

Let me be brave.

Please, let me be brave.

Amber took one step forward. Could she take another? Would her legs permit? Could she step forward so that it was she who stood in front of Pyrrha and not the other way around?

“I’ve got an idea,” said Sunset.

---

It was not a very good idea. It wasn’t an idea that Sunset would have considered in many other circumstances, but, well … they were going to have to fight Cinder anyway; at least this way, they could go all out without having to worry about accidentally killing anyone with a stray shot.

“Please,” Pyrrha murmured. “Don’t leave us in suspense.”

Sunset licked her lips, because this wasn’t the best plan she’d ever come up with, and it would ask a lot of Pyrrha in particular.

“Penny,” she said. “Stay with Amber and Dove until Yang gets here. I … am going to throw up an inverted shield that will trap Cinder inside of it with the four of us.”

“Why not just trap Cinder in the shield?” asked Ruby.

“Because she might get out,” Sunset said. “She’ll probably get out, with the power we’ve seen from her, but with—”

“With us fighting her, she won’t be able to, and Amber can get away!” Ruby cried, catching on. “That’s—”

“Not ideal,” Sunset said. “But the shield won’t just stop Cinder from leaving; it will mean that we can shoot as much as we like and use as much dust as we want and basically blow up the road underneath our feet if we want to, and we won’t hurt anyone who hasn’t gotten away yet. Run, all of you!” she yelled at the idiots who still hadn’t gotten away yet. “This isn’t a movie set! This is real; it’s dangerous! Put your scrolls away!”

Nobody took a blind bit of notice. They just turned their scrolls on her in order to film her outburst.

Sunset rolled her eyes. Of course, Cinder would be free to use all of her power as well once inside the shield, but then, there was nothing stopping her at the moment — except for the fact that she had been somewhat careful so far; as far as Sunset could tell, the worst she’d done to any noncombatants was push them out of her way.

Why are you being so nice all of a sudden?

Sunset dismissed the irrelevant question and turned her gaze on Pyrrha. “But, once the shield is up, it’s going to be most of what I can do to keep it up, especially if it has bullets and fireballs slamming into it. I won’t be able to help much, which means that you’ll have to do a lot of the heavy lifting against Cinder herself. Are you…? Just tell me if it’s not possible, and we’ll—”

“It is possible,” Pyrrha declared, softly enough but in a declaratory tone regardless.

Sunset’s eyebrows rose. “Are you sure?”

“I know not the final outcome,” Pyrrha said, “but if I could not, with Jaune and Ruby’s help and whatever small assistance you are yet able to render, delay her long enough for Yang to reach us and be off again, I would be shamed indeed before you all … and before the eyes of Vale which are turned upon us no less than in the colosseum.”

“I don’t…” Amber murmured. “I don’t want you to—”

“That is kind of you, Amber, but in this, I fear that your desires are of little consequence,” Pyrrha murmured. “We promised to protect you.”

“And anyway, this is kind of what huntresses do regardless,” Ruby added.

“I want to help you too!” Penny cried. “Why can’t Dove stay with Amber?”

“Because Dove can’t fight as well as you can,” Sunset said, ignoring the way that Dove kind of glared at her, squinting his eyes. “He isn’t even armed.”

“But that won’t matter since Cinder will be in there with you,” Penny pointed out.

Sunset considered that for a fraction of a second. “Welcome aboard, Penny,” she said. “Glad to have you with us. Amber, Dove, back off.”

“But—” Amber began.

“Trust us, Amber,” Ruby said. “We’ve got this.”

Amber opened her mouth, but no more words came out. She bit her lip and allowed Dove to lead her backwards, away from them.

The five of them stood in a rough line: Team SAPR and Penny.

Sunset was glad that Penny was with them; with Sunset half out of it, they could use the help.

“Is everyone ready?” she asked.

“Ready,” Pyrrha declared, holding Akoúo̱ before her, Miló in spear form drawn back ready to strike.

“Ready,” Ruby said, slamming a magazine of lighting dust rounds into Crescent Rose.

Jaune took a deep breath. “Ready,” he said. “After all, it’s five … four and a … three and two bits against one.”

Penny began. “Who is the—?”

“Don’t sell yourself short, Jaune,” Pyrrha and Sunset said almost together, with Pyrrha a little ahead.

“Anyway, are you ready, Penny?”

The blades of Floating Array emerged out of Penny’s back to form a metal halo around her head. “I’m combat ready,” she declared.

“Okay then,” Sunset said. She cricked her neck for a second. “Let’s do this.”

She didn’t do anything at first, not yet; she waited just a little longer, for Cinder to get closer, closer, for her to get close enough that Sunset wouldn’t need an absurdly large shield to enclose her and the five of them within it.

Cinder flew towards them, flitting a little this way and a little that, seeming to try and angle herself so that she would pass between them and be on Amber before they could respond.

Unfortunately, Cinder…

As Cinder drew close, Sunset raised her left hand skywards, as if she meant to grasp the moon and lift it out of its sphere, leaving only the shattered fragments to hang suspended in the night sky.

Her elevated hand glowed with magic as she conjured up a shield, a dome of energy that encompassed Team SAPR, Penny, and Cinder Fall, enclosing them off from the rest of the world beyond.

---

Cinder flew into Sunset’s barrier; she was moving too swiftly to stop before she struck it.

She could not say that it was like running into any sort of wall, because unlike most walls, this magical barrier didn’t shatter upon impact with her.

It did, on the other hand, ache a little bit. She had thrown up her hands and forearms at the last moment, but they still ached. She could feel the throbbing pulsing through her aura.

Cinder’s slippers chinked gently upon the ground as she stepped backwards.

Amber stood before her, on the wrong side of the shield. Out of her reach.

For now.

Cinder drew back her hand, flames leaping to her palm.

Crescent Rose roared. Cinder turned, spinning on the toe of one glass slipper, holding up her hand to deflect the shot.

“I take it that wasn’t an ice dust round,” Cinder drawled.

“No,” Ruby said, in a voice as hard as the barrier that Cinder had just slammed into. “It wasn’t.”

Cinder smirked, one corner of her lip turning upwards. “So, you trapped me in here with you not only to protect Amber from me, but to protect the people out there from your own strength?”

“Well, since we are all here, battle does seem the logical next step,” Pyrrha said softly. “Unless you would care to surrender?”

Cinder laughed. “Careful, Pyrrha,” she said. “That is almost an insult.”

She turned her gaze and her attention upon Sunset, standing with her hand still raised, her hand still wreathed in her own unique magic. How much more than that could she do? Was she now rendered immobile, useless by the need to keep the shield up?

Cinder took a step towards her. Pyrrha moved swiftly to bar her way.

So, she is defenceless, or at least, they fear she is.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Sunset,” Cinder said. “I really, truly don’t.”

“Then don’t,” Sunset replied. “We don’t have to fight, if you don’t want to.”

“I don’t want to,” Cinder said.

“You know what I meant,” Sunset said.

“Yes,” Cinder acknowledged. “I know what you meant.”

She glanced at Amber, hiding outside of the shield, cowering, letting Sunset and the others do the fighting for her.

Perhaps I should be glad that I put so much fear in her.

Although the means by which I did it were hardly worthy of me.

I could tell them what you’ve done, Amber. I could tell them right now that you’ve betrayed them, that Tempest Shadow put herself in my path because she is an agent of Salem and you have sold them out to Salem to save your own life.

But I won’t. I won’t because they wouldn’t believe me anyway, and because…

Because I want this. I want this battle. I want them to fight me, though it costs me you and your power, though it costs me my life, though it costs me everything, I want this.

If this is the final battle, then I am content with that.

People were watching her. She had wondered how to achieve that, how to get the audience that she desired, and now, she had it. Here she was, facing Pyrrha and all her foes, with a great crowd watching, with them filming her.

It was not quite as she had imagined, it was not a single combat that would allow her to kill Pyrrha — or try to — before an enraged Sunset took her life in turn, it was not everything that she had planned for, and quite frankly, she would have rather that the rambunctious Atlas girl not been here for this, but, with that said, it was not at all displeasing to her humour.

Even if Amber were to escape, as it seemed likely that she would — no doubt, someone was coming to sweep her off at this very moment — then, well … Cinder had come to the point where she had little use of becoming the Fall Maiden.

The battle had come upon her, and she had power enough to see it through, or fall yielding glory to her foes.

I would wish that Sunset were in a position to fight and take her share of the glory, but never mind. I’m sure her part will be recognised nonetheless.

Cinder took a deep breath, taking a step backwards as she called upon her magic, letting the flames spout from her eyes.

“I hope you don’t expect me to hold back this time, Pyrrha,” she said, looking towards Mistral’s Evenstar. “After all, what was honourable restraint in a single combat would become mere folly now that you’ve got me outnumbered…” She smiled. “Three and a bit to one.”

“Four to one, at least,” Pyrrha declared. “And, as you know, I found your prior restraint … somewhat insulting. Use whatever power you may, as shall we.”

Cinder bowed her head in acknowledgement. She looked around, at the enemies who surrounded her, all poised to strike. It was really very good of them to wait upon her thus, very noble, very heroic.

Very decent.

She cast one last glance at Amber, the Fall Maiden beyond her reach. Cinder favoured her with a smile.

Let that be your last memory of me, the gleeful smile. Let them whisk you off to safety before you see me cut down.

Cinder opened her eyes, holding her obsidian blades which did the night resemble out on either side of her.

Now, gods, stand up for knaves.

“I think I’m ready for my close up now,” she said.

And yet, for a moment longer, no one moved. All was frozen into stillness, as though Sunset’s barrier was not just enclosing them but holding them as if in … as in amber.

They were frozen in a tableaux, perpetually on the verge of battle but not yet engaged.

They stared at one another, all their eyes narrowing as each waited for another — someone, anyone — to make the first move.

Cinder was the first to move, charging towards Pyrrha like a tiger, keeping her body low, her black blades held out on either side of her, swept back until she drove them both forwards in a thrust at her opponent.

Pyrrha took the blow upon her shield, bending her knees and getting lower to the ground. The black blades struck the gilded shield, and as they did so, both of Midnight’s blades shattered into shards of glass as though they had no aura of Cinder’s to strengthen them at all.

Cinder grinned savagely as she used her semblance to hurl the shards of glass at Pyrrha; they moved like fish, like a pod of savage orcas that roamed the sea, ducking and weaving beneath and around Pyrrha’s shield to nip and bite and tear at her aura as they flew around her feet and ankles.

Pyrrha winced, recoiling away from the sudden assault.

Cinder leapt up, the smile fixed upon her face as she descended upon Pyrrha. Fire leapt in her right hand as she drew it back to slam it into Pyrrha’s—

Pyrrha’s face was fixed into a grimace as she rose up and slammed her shield into Cinder’s gut. Cinder let out an ‘oof,’ breath leaving her, a stream of flame leapt from her hand, but Pyrrha had thrown her off, and it only caught her ponytail and her back at the edge instead of consuming her face and body as Cinder had intended.

Cinder, meanwhile, found herself lifted upwards as Pyrrha used her shield to throw Cinder over her back and dump her on her own — Cinder’s — back upon the tarmac.

The blade of Crescent Rose descended through the air towards her, point down.

Cinder caught the blade between the palms of her hands, then let the upwards force as Ruby tried to pull her weapon back yank Cinder up and onto her feet.

Pyrrha spun around, slashing at Cinder with her spear; Cinder turned the stroke aside with the flat of her hand — it hurt a little bit more than it would have using a blade — which of course meant that Ruby was free to pull her weapon back, spinning it in front of her so that it looked like nothing so much as a spinning red disc.

Cinder sprang at her, flames leaping from the soles of her slippers to hurl her through the air faster than Pyrrha could catch up with her, and as she flew, she conjured up a flaming scimitar by magic into her right hand.

Ruby darted away from her, flying around the edge of the shield, a cloud of rose petals surrounding her, and as she flew back, her scythe collapsed into a stubby carbine that she used to fire at Cinder.

The barrel of her gun flared again and again, the loud bangs echoing off the shield.

Cinder held up her free hand, compressing the air in front of her to form a barrier against the rounds, but she wasn’t able to control fire and air at the same time with her magic, and so, she had to stop flying after Ruby and settle on the ground. The flaming sword stuttered and died in her hand.

Pyrrha threw her shield at Cinder’s head. Cinder grabbed it with one hand, feeling the impact on her aura — less than if it had hit her in the head, obviously — but didn’t let on.

You couldn’t mind that it hurt, especially not with people watching.

Ruby kept shooting at her as Pyrrha charged, spear whirling in her hands, and as Ruby kept shooting so, Cinder had to keep some of her energies — and her magic — focussed on blocking the shots.

Cinder threw Pyrrha’s shield back at her. Pyrrha caught it on her arm, twirling on her toe, her sash wrapping around her waist as she slung her shield across her back and resumed her rush at Cinder, and all with such perfect grace that it was frankly infuriating.

Pyrrha’s spear whirled in her hands as she lashed out at Cinder’s face. Cinder caught the spear just as she had caught the shield, but Pyrrha surprised Cinder by letting go of her weapon and punching Cinder square on the nose. Cinder’s head snapped back, and she recoiled a step, feeling rather than seeing Pyrrha’s follow up as she drove her fist straight into Cinder’s gut.

Fire leapt from Cinder’s hands. Yes, it meant that she had to expose herself to Ruby’s shots, and that was less than ideal, but Cinder forced herself to try and not mind that it hurt as Ruby’s bullets slammed into her side, into her thigh, into her leg. She was using lightning rounds, not ice, and the shocks of the electricity travelled up and down her body, lasting longer than the impacts of the bullets into her aura.

Here comes a monster to gobble you up.

I can withstand this. I have endured worse than this.

Down in the lower slopes, I have seen drunkards do worse than this in sport.

More importantly was the fact that the flames struck Pyrrha in the chest, bearing her backwards with a wince of pain, knocking her down onto her side as she tried to use her shield to keep the flames at bay.

Jaune rushed to her, his own shield blazing with a white-gold light — his semblance at work — as he planted himself in between Pyrrha and the flames, letting them lick at his shield and lap around it to bite at him.

Cinder let him do the romantic thing as, with her other hand, she unleashed another jet of fire in Ruby’s direction, forcing the girl in the red hood to leap away, leaving a cloud of rose petals in her wake.

The flames caught them and consumed them, turning them to cinders.

The Atlesian girl attacked, flinging a trio of her swords out to cut Cinder’s legs out from under her. Cinder leapt up, the blades passing underneath her, and changed the target of her flames from Ruby to the Atlesian.

There was a cloud of rose petals as Ruby slammed into the Atlas — Penny! Her name was Penny. Rose petals, rosepetal, RSPT, P for Penny, her name was Penny. Penny … something — into Penny’s side and pushed her out of the way with such force that Ruby was carried out of the way too, the flames only passing over her flying cloak for a second.

Cinder flew towards them both; if she could catch them both before they could recover—

Soteria flew through the air towards her. Sunset might not be able to contribute much, but she could do that, it seemed; her free hand was glowing as she used telekinesis to direct the sword. Cinder dodged, diving and turning in the air to let the sword pass over her, but the time she spent doing that meant that Pyrrha and Ruby had both recovered themselves enough to start shooting at her.

Cinder landed, summoning the glass shards of Midnight back into her hands, forming them into a spear which she twirled in her hands, deflecting the shots from both Pyrrha and Ruby, deflecting Soteria as Sunset tried to hit her in the back, parrying all of Penny’s swords as she swung them all towards Cinder in a wave meant to sweep her away.

The floating swords pressed against Cinder’s spear, Penny exerting surprising strength considering that she was only puppeteering her blades with those wires.

“Golden Rose Cannonball with cover!” Sunset snapped. “Penny, keep her busy!”

How are you supposed to keep track of what those ridiculous names mean? Cinder thought. She knew that it presaged some sort of pre-planned attack, but it wasn’t one of the ones that she had heard before, and she couldn’t work out what it might mean.

Nor was Penny giving her much of a chance to see or work it out, as she pulled back her swords for a second only to hurl them at Cinder, the wires stretching out as her swords surrounded Cinder, only to descend on her with thrusts and slashes that kept Cinder turning this way and that to fend her off, and Sunset wasn’t helping with the way that she added Soteria to the mix, either.

And then the blades retreated.

And then Cinder found out what the Golden Rose Cannonball was as Pyrrha, who had been standing protectively in front of Jaune and Ruby, got out of the way to reveal Ruby balanced on Jaune’s shield, the light of his semblance travelling up her legs.

Ruby flew towards Cinder like the very cannonball itself, speeding through the air, moving so fast that Cinder had no time to react, no time to dodge, no time to do anything except get the wind knocked out of her as Ruby, not bothering with her weapon, bodily slammed into Cinder and bore her backwards, slamming her into Sunset’s barrier.

Cinder roared in anger as flames erupted from both her hands, engulfing Ruby, surrounding her in fire as she was blasted backwards. Jaune caught her, but the force hurling her away was so strong that he could only cushion her from the impact a little as he was knocked onto his backside.

Pyrrha charged in, closing the distance between them while Cinder was focussed on Ruby, her weapon now in its sword form, her shield in her hand. She slammed her shield into Cinder’s gut and then followed up with a slashing stroke down upon Cinder’s head. Cinder dodged, swaying nimble aside, but not so swiftly that the stroke didn’t strike her in the shoulder. Cinder lashed out at Pyrrha’s flank with her glass spear, but Pyrrha parried the blow with her sword, countering with an upwards slash that Cinder just about managed to dodge.

Cinder used Sunset’s shield as a wall, blasting off of it and repaying Ruby’s complement to Pyrrha, slamming into her and carrying her back all the way across the battlefield to bear her into the shield on the far side.

Pyrrha didn’t strike the wall so roughly as Cinder had; rather, she took the impact on her feet, her legs bending until she was almost crouching upon the shield, and as she crouched, she grabbed Cinder by the arm, kicked off the shield, rolled in the air, and bodily threw Cinder around and over her and slammed her into the ground.

Not this again! Cinder thought as Pyrrha held onto her, one arm wrapped around her neck, the other trying to pin her hands.

And lest Cinder thought that she could repeat the trick from their duel, Pyrrha was hauling her upright.

Cinder squirmed and writhed in Pyrrha’s grip, but Pyrrha held firm.

She held onto Cinder as Jaune jabbed at her with his sword and unleashed the lightning dust stored within the blade, the yellow lightning rippled down the sword and across Cinder and Pyrrha both alike. Cinder could feel Pyrrha being shocked by the electricity, her limbs jerking, trembling, Pyrrha’s teeth chattering in Cinder’s ear, but she held onto Cinder nonetheless.

She held onto Cinder as Cinder kicked Jaune away, using Pyrrha’s hold on her to kick off the ground and plant her feet into Jaune’s chest hard enough to send him flying.

Pyrrha held onto Cinder even as Cinder let fire erupt out of her in all directions, leaping out of her hands like the dragons of old Mistrali legend, long necks craning this way and that, the fire engulfing them, engulfing Pyrrha, burning her aura away.

Yet she hung on regardless.

“Penny!” she cried.

Penny’s eyes were wide with anxiety, or fear, or just with concern, but nevertheless, she gathered all her swords in front of her, forming a ring of swords. No, not of swords, because the swords condensed down, halving in length.

A ring of green lasers, their beams combining into a single awesome beam as thick as the trunk of the mightiest tree.

The beam, which cut through Cinder’s flames and slammed into her, carrying her and Pyrrha both into the shield once again.

The beam which shattered Cinder’s aura.

Red light rippled up and down Cinder’s body as Pyrrha released her from her grip.

Cinder flopped forward, breathing heavily, gasping for breath as her heart pounded. She felt the impact with the tarmac beneath her. She felt the pain in her hands, her arms, her elbows, her breasts, her face, everything which struck the ground.

Everything which had not, too. It all hurt. Every nerve and cell in her body was protesting.

My body must protest, since my spirit cannot.

She had lost. Again. And the consolation that this time she had been mobbed and defeated by a multitude meant very little because she had lost again. She had been defeated, for the last time.

This was how her story would end: death, not glory. The last forlorn charge had, indeed, proved to be a forlorn and hopeless thing. She couldn’t even see Amber anymore. When had she gone? Cinder hadn’t even noticed, so caught up had she been in the battle.

The battle which she had lost. The emperor had survived, the rebellion had been snuffed out, and she…

Dust and food for worms.

Sunset, she could see, was down on one knee, panting a little. Maintaining the shield must have been difficult with all of the abuse they were inflicting on it.

Cinder began to reach for her, sliding her tired, heavy, aching arm across the tarmac surface of the road.

Will you remember me, Sunset? Will I linger in your memory?

She clenched her hand into a fist, and pulled her arm back.

Or will it be as Emerald said, that we are fated to be forgotten ere our bodies are grown cold?

Sunset looked at her. There was something in her eyes, something … Cinder wasn’t sure how to describe it, she didn’t know what it meant, but there was something … something there, she was sure of it.

She just didn’t know what it was.

Remember me, Sunset. Please.

She smiled, because she would not beg. She would not beg for her life, nor for anything else. She was not Phoebe. She would not die like Phoebe. She would be resolute, in her last moments.

Pyrrha walked in front of her. Her steps were tottering, uncertain. She looked as though she might fall. It occurred to Cinder that her aura, too, might be broken. Or perhaps not; she did not look quite heavy-footed enough for that.

She had her spear in her hands.

Cinder looked at her, silent but expectant.

“What would you have of us?” Pyrrha asked. “What mercy?”

“No mercy,” Cinder said. “Let that which is customary be done.”

“That which is customary,” Pyrrha murmured.

“Pyrrha,” Sunset whispered.

Now, it was Pyrrha’s turn to close her eyes for a moment. “You saved my life,” she said. “You saved all our lives.”

“And yet, I am your enemy,” Cinder reminded her.

“Yes,” Pyrrha agreed. “Yes, you are all our enemy.”

The sound of sirens began to echo in the distance, still some way off now but growing closer by the moment.

“Let that which is customary be done, you say,” Pyrrha repeated. “Yet you forget that we are not in Mistral, Cinder. It is the custom of this country that those who have broken the law will be tried according to the laws of Vale, sentenced, and then Valish justice shall be done upon them. When the police arrive, as I think they soon will, we will hand you over to them.

“That is the custom in this kingdom. And that is what we shall do.”

Comments

[Kiue Jin]

Now here is the real trick: Stopping Ruby from killing Cinder. *Bang* "Whoops. Weapon discharged by accident. Clumsy me."

The issue with Cinder is that Vale doesn't really have the ability to properly contain her. Maiden powers are a bitch after all. There is also likely going to be some argument over who actually has authority over her in order to charge and prosecute her. After all, she is technically a Mistral and Altas citizen, plus the nature of her crimes could be argued to be 'Crimes against Humanity' as a whole, rather then just against Vale.

[Adser]

11717926
All of that requires Vale being aware of the Maiden powers or Salem in the first place. Ironwood is probably going to use all his authority to try and take Cinder into his custody (which is going to do wonders for the political climate) because Vale would just treat her as just another aura-using criminal.

[Mastermind4892]

What a truly magnificent battle. And now the curtain closes, the orchestra finished. The whole world has seen Cinder Fall defeated at the hands of Team SAPR and Penny. Salem’s mightiest servant defeated. A victory most earned, as well as all the glory and gratitude attended from Ozpin, Ironwood, and even the First Councilor.

As for Amber, she has finally seen a crucial truth. Even if only for a moment, she understood Ozpin was not to blame, and finally directed her anger at Salem where it belongs. Salem and her agents did not keep their word and she could’ve died, thus planting a potent seed of uncertainty in Salem’s promises. Instead, Ozpin’s people proved right before Amber’s eyes that even the woman of her nightmares can be resisted. (One of Ruby’s speeches would be welcome for Amber right now). That can have a powerful effect on anyone. And she even almost brought herself to taking a step

Ultimately, let us hope Amber will take this lesson to her core and become a braver and more upstanding person… before it is too late. Second chances are priceless, Amber. For your sake and that of countless lives, don’t throw it away so eagerly.

[Stet709]

Cinder has fallen, and seems to be about to be taken captive. Interesting change from the original where she fled when she realized her attempt failed.

I can see Rainbow's point about Sunset treating Ruby like she treated Penny.

[Sovks]

Well I wonder if Ruby is thinking of just shooting Cinder now that she has the chance. Also, what is Amber gonna do now? I doubt she would still be thinking of betraying her friends but I'm not sure.
Good chapter btw

[AngelicTitan]

This chapter is a perfect ending for Cinder as a villain, even though I’m a little disappointed we didn’t see a more hands-on approach of Sunset in the fight, the ending with her looking at Sunset and the way in which it ended with her being taken into custody will make for a unique approach for the rest of the Volume.