Fracture

Contrary to anything Nora said, Ren's semblance was not infallible. True, it had been ages since he had been injured in a fight, but that was primarily because he hadn't gone up against anyone or anything strong enough to do so. Flow did not make him invulnerable. An attack from a hidden opponent outside of his range of detection would present some serious difficulties.

Which is why when, as they reached the outskirts of the shipyard, he sensed the three sudden alerts within his Aura's field he cursed internally. His mind kicked into overdrive. Three bullets were streaking toward he and his comrades at an incredible rate. Sniper rounds, most likely. He hated snipers. One was coming from the right, one from the left, and the other from the front, and were on a direct course to hit Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ren himself. He was the only one who seemed to have noticed, which left it up to him to protect them all.

A short blast to the back of Jaune's knees dropped him beneath the bullet's path. Pyrrha's was aimed too low for that, so he'd just have to adjust it's path with his Aura. He wouldn't be able to redirect it back at their enemies, sniper rounds were two large and fast for that, but he could at least get Pyrrha out of harm's way. After that he'd have to deal with the bullet intended for him and the one that had originally been for Jaune. He was behind the blonde, and was now directly in it's path. Ren didn't have much time, but it was possible. He focused, sending a pulse of his Aura at the length of lead speeding towards Pyrrha's midsection.

And immediately noticed something was wrong. His Aura wasn't affecting the bullet at all. It continued straight on its path for his teammate, actively resisting his influence. No, it wasn't resisting, it was destroying his influence. There was a tunnel through the sphere of his Aura along all of the bullets' flight paths, like they were negating it. Dread nestled in Ren's stomach and he knew that he absolutely could not let his teammates get hit. He had a terrible feeling about those bullets.

Ren was already in motion, pure instinct and reflex driving him. He released his Aura through his entire body, and energy hummed through his veins and beneath his skin as the world seemed to slow. He blurred forward, crashing into Pyrrha and sending her sprawling just as the bullet reached her, and felt it instead burrow into his left abdomen. Agony exploded through his system as the other two rounds slammed harmlessly into the spot he had just vacated, but he shunted it aside. Stormflower sprung into his hands.

As modified machine pistols, there was no way his weapons would reach the snipers. Ren had long ago realized he was at a disadvantage against ranged opponents, should his ever semblance ever fail to give him the necessary support, and he had long ago solved this issue. He flipped a switch on each pistol with his thumbs, and there was a faint click in each weapon. Stormflower was no longer using the dust clips he generally fed them to attack. It would now accept his Aura directly.

He aimed the guns at the bullet origins to either side and pulled the triggers. A small, concentrated blast of magenta Aura shot from the barrels. Ren had no confirmation that he had neutralized the snipers, but it was the best he could do. The crack of the first round of fire reached JNPR's ears as Ren's counterattack slammed into their targets, causing two small explosions. Another ping through his Aura alerted Ren that another strike was coming from the front. His right pistol swung up in an arc, aiming to cut the bullet in two.

The sound of shattering metal tore through the air, followed almost immediately by indescribable pain blossoming from the right side of his chest. He grit his teeth as he felt the lead explode out of his back. He immediately noticed something was wrong. The bullets had passed clean through his body, but they had left something behind. He didn't know what, but it was festering in the two wounds. It felt...evil, dark. Like how Blake had described the cloaked stranger's Aura. Ren knew he didn't have long, he could feel whatever it was building up to something.

He aimed Stormflower through the blood and the green shards of his pistol's blade spinning in front of him and let fire one more blast of Aura. The rest of his team had recovered their bearings by this point, and they rushed around him, panic written on their faces.

"Ren!" Nora cried as she stepped forward, reaching out a hand to him.

"Don't!" He panted, and she froze, eyes confused and worried. He didn't know what was about to happen, but he didn't want her anywhere near it. Ren looked her in the eye. "I'm sorry, Nora."

Whatever had been building in his body released.

Ren couldn't remember the last time he had raised his voice. He had always been a quiet person, only getting loud when he felt it was necessary. His emotions were generally always under control. He could only recall yelling out of anger once, and he had lost control of much more than just his voice then. That was the only time in recent memory though.

But now he raised his voice.

Now he screamed.

Agony unlike any he had ever experienced burned through every nerve in his body, setting his very existence ablaze. Black lightning arced over him in a web. Ren couldn't think, couldn't breathe, couldn't do anything besides scream. The pain was all he knew.

His team watched in horror as Ren crumpled to the ground, black electricity skittering over his convulsing body as he screeched in a way that made them shiver to their very cores. And then, all at once, it was done. Ren was still. Nora was at his side in an instant, Magnhild discarded beside her without a second thought.

She cupped his face with her hands. "Ren?!" she cried. "Ren?!" There was no response, and tears began to fall from Nora's eyes. He wasn't breathing, and she couldn't feel a pulse through her fingertips. "Ren, please, open your eyes! Don't leave me! Please!"

Jaune watched in slack-jawed shock. "What...what was that?"

Pyrrha was in a battle stance beside him. "Snipers," she said quietly, and her tone made it clear Pyrrha was angry. No, he thought as he saw her eyes, narrowed and looking for more enemies, she's so far beyond that right now. Pyrrha was livid. "I don't know what kind of bullets those were, but Ren saved us."

Jaune's face hardened. "Time to repay the favor. He shifted beside Ren. "I'll do an Aura trans-"

A crash coming from one of the shipyard's warehouses interrupted him, and he turned to see a mech, one of the older Atlesian Paladin models, bursting through the metal doors. Another soon followed it, and two more came skating around the side of the building. Men poured out of the newly formed hole. A few opened fire, and one of the mechs launched a missile at them. Jaune swung both sword and shield all over, deflecting bullets. Miló flew forward as a javelin and met missile head on, detonating it in air, before returning back to Pyrrha's outstretched hand.

"Okay," Jaune growled as he parried another round. "So Aura transfer is out the question." He glanced over his shoulder. Nora was still holding Ren's head and calling his name. Their still had a slight chance. But they would have to move fast while still dealing with the approaching enemies. "Pyrrha-"

"I know." Her voice was deadly, and Jaune had to suppress a shiver. These people had no idea what they had done. Pyrrha's wrath was comparable to Aura Rage. "I take care of them, you provide Nora protection, right?"

Her fiancé nodded. "You think you can handle all of them?" She narrowed her eyes and then shot forward in a crimson flash. She was at the base of the first mech before it could even react, laying a hand on its leg. As Jaune watched, Pyrrha raised her arm, and the Paladin lifted into the air. He knew what was coming next, and he was already turning around to his other teammate when Pyrrha closed her hand into a fist, and the mech crumpled and compacted into a ball of scrap.

"Nora." She didn't respond. "Nora!" Bleary turquoise eyes looked up at him. "Nora, listen, we might still have a chance to save Ren. Use the healing Dust Weiss gave us. Pyrrha and I will keep you safe, so I want you to focus everything you have on it, okay?"

She stared at him for a moment before the idea sunk in, and he watched as determination returned to her eyes, and she nodded. Her hands darted to her pouch and Jaune straightened back up. Time for me to do my part too. He drew in a deep breath before summoning his Aura and pushing it down his left arm, into his shield.

It wasn't a very well known fact that Jaune's shield was anything but a simple shield-sheath. But it was a part of Crocea Mors as much as his blade, and Jaune had learned that meant it had its own tricks. The shield glowed brightly for a second before a faint, mist-like dome sprung up around him and Nora.

A protective Aura barrier. Similar to the one that had protected Beacon during the Siege, but on a much smaller, weaker scale. With this he and Nora would be safe from all but the strongest attacks, leaving her free to heal Ren. He had to keep his guard up though. The defense was not absolute and had its drawbacks and weaknesses. He couldn't move while maintaining the shield, otherwise it would dissipate and he'd have to reform it. Also, a strong enough strike could overpower its defenses and burst the bubble, though knowing what his semblance could endure, Jaune didn't really expect that to happen. Much more likely was that the shield itself would break under the strain.

It was rare to find a material that could channel Aura quite as well as the one that Crocea Mors was made of. Even rarer to find one that did it with such large quantities. But it was impossible to find one that could channel the massive Auras of the Arc family for more than a brief span of time. They all quickly began to deteriorate from the sheer power. He could only hold the barrier for so long before his shield would shatter.

He felt Nora's Aura flair up behind him as a dozen bullets struck the dome and bounced harmlessly off. His shield shuddered in his hands, and Jaune bit his lip. Hurry, Nora.

"Oh, Blakey Blakey Blake. You didn't honestly believe there wouldn't be consequences if you went after me, did you?"

Blake's faunus ears flattened against her skull in rage at Roman's words. Anger scorched through her veins, and a voice in the back of her head was screaming for blood. The knot in her stomach had become a molten ball. She had messed up. Again. She had once more underestimated Roman, and this time it hadn't just been civilians that had suffered for it. It had been her friends. She doubted she would ever forgive herself for this.

Up on the screen, Roman put his hands up. "That's not a very nice expression you've got there, kitty cat. Careful, your face might just freeze that way. Of course," he continued as Blake opened her mouth to hiss a reply at him, "it wouldn't stay that way for much longer. I'd say about..." he glanced downward for a moment, "twenty seconds."

For what felt like the hundredth time that day, Blake felt her heart plummet into her gut. It didn't take her more than a second to piece together exactly what Roman was talking about. He knew they were going to be here and had had plenty of time to set a trap. He also had a new type of bomb that could level a huge area. It seemed he was intent on finishing them off this time.

"Anyway, I really do have to run. These useless fools can't do anything without me. But you must know exactly how that feels, right?" His visible eye seemed to focus on Yang for a second before snapping back to Blake. "Goodbye, Blake. I'll pass along my condolences to Ozpin." And then the screen went dark.

Blake's brain immediately switched into overdrive. They had precious little time. There was no way they'd be able to find a bomb that small in a warehouse this big by the time it went off, so there was no disabling it. Running was out of the question too; the blast radius was far too vast. They'd have to figure out a way to weather the explosion.

Fifteen seconds.

The faunus spun around. "Weiss," she started. "We're gonna need another ice sh-" her words abruptly died in her throat as her eyes landed on her teammate.

Weiss stood separate from the other three, her head bowed. She was trembling, and her grip on her swords was white-knuckled. The white-haired woman shifted slightly, and Blake took an reflexive step backward as all of her instincts, already on fire due to Roman's threat, screamed at her to turn and run. To get as far away from Weiss as she possibly could.

"Weiss," Blake breathed, her breath fogging in front of her as the temperature dropped dramatically. "Weiss, no." But there was nothing she could do to stop it anymore. She wasn't exactly sure what had triggered it. It could have been the fact that Roman got away again, or that they had walked into a trap, or that Ren was injured, potentially dead. Whatever the reason might be, it was clear that Weiss' anger had once more been pushed past that dangerous threshold.

Weiss had slipped into Aura Rage. And this time Blake didn't have the time to break her out of it.

Her teammate's head suddenly snapped up, and the faunus shivered as she saw the pupilless whites of Weiss' eyes. A blueish-white glow engulfed the heiress, and she let loose a horrible, ear-shattering screech. It sounded more like the battle cry of an enraged beast than a human anymore. The Schnee Company vice-president bent her knees, and then exploded forward toward the monitor Roman had appeared on. She left a solid sheet of ice crystals on the ground behind her. She slammed into the screen, shattering it and sending a waterfall of sparks and fragments of glass to the concrete beneath her.

"Weiss!" Sun cried, panicked at the sight of his love in such a state. He started running after her.

Ten seconds.

He managed three steps before Gambol Shroud wrapped around his legs and brought him crashing to the ground. The monkey faunus looked at her, confused and desperate and his hands fumbled with the ribbon. "Blake, what are you doing?! I have to help her!"

"No time. There's a bomb-"

"Then you have to let me go!" Blake shook her head. "I have to help her!" She didn't reply; she was too busy thinking. She had to come up with a new plan for survival, since Weiss' Dust was no longer an option. "LET ME GO!" Sun screamed, and she felt his Aura explode with anger. She could not deal with this right now. If Sun went into Rage too, then they might as well sign their death warrants here and now. But if she let him go, he'd most certainly die, if not to the explosion, then to Weiss.

Fortunately, she quickly found out she didn't have to make a decision. Before Sun's Aura could flair any further out of control, Yang slammed her fist into the side of his head with a harsh crack. The faunus slumped to the floor, unconscious. Violet eyes looked up at her, and Blake was almost taken aback at the level of calm that they showed. Yang trusted her. Trusted that she had some way to get them out of this.

Five seconds.

An idea occurred to her, born of pure desperation. It was a long shot, but it was the only chance they had. It carried a large risk for her personally, but she didn't care. If she could ensure their survival, it didn't matter one bit what happened to her.

She ran to Yang and Sun, summoning her Aura. Her form began to blur as she looked over to where Weiss was still stabbing the broken monitor.

I'm sorry, Weiss.

A stray rocket slammed into the dome, and Jaune's shield shuddered violently as the fire rolled harmlessly over top of them. There a sharp, brief keening sound, and he knew the metal was beginning to crack. He could only hold this defense for another minute, if he wanted to keep his shield in tact at all.

"Nora!" he called, trying to look back over his shoulder. "Where are we at?" There was no reply, but he could feel her Aura continue pulsing, so he figured she was still working on it. He hoped Ren would be okay, and thanked whatever passed for a god Nora hadn't fallen to Aura Rage. It had been his first worry when Ren had been taken down. She seemed more shocked and distressed than angry, though. He supposed that would come later.

A cry of pain brought his attention back in front of him. He watched as Pyrrha yanked her sword from within a man's chest. Blood spattered her left shoulder and side of her face but she seemed not to notice. Her emerald eyes were ablaze as she turned and ducked under a sword swipe. Her return strike didn't miss, and the faunus was sent tumbling to the ground, his legs now decidedly detached to his body. Jaune winced slightly. Normally Pyrrha fought to incapacitate. To take the enemy out of commission without taking their lives. But these people had hurt one of her dearest friends, perhaps even killed him.

Right now, she was fighting to repay that favor. Right now, she was fighting to kill.

Her sword blurred through an enemy's stomach before she hurled it in javelin form firmly into another's face. Another mech appeared around a building, and the blonde swordsmen cursed. The amount of enemies seemed endless. No matter how many Pyrrha put down, more and more were rising to take their place. Not that that seemed to perturb her at all.

The newest mech launched a missile at her, but rather than dodging it or running away, Pyrrha flung herself toward it. She twisted in the air and placed her palm on the weapon's surface as she passed over it. When she landed she somersaulted forward and ended up on one knee. Her arm swung around and pointed at the mech. Jaune tried to imagine the panic its pilot must be feeling as they watched the projectile they had fired curve smoothly around and fly right back to them. The resulting explosion tore the mechanized suit to pieces.

Jaune took no notice, though, as at that moment a deafening noise rang out, so loud it felt like his skull would split. A massive fiery column scorched its way into the sky in the distant, and he had a moment to register that that was the direction of his other friends before the shockwave hit. The force rattled his bones and knocked him off of his feet. The Aura dome dissipated as a wall of dust and debris overtook them.

He couldn't see Nora or Ren, let alone Pyrrha. Jaune ducked his head and covered his eyes, one thought occupying his mind.

Exactly what had they walked into?

A/N: Hello one and all! Look, I'm alive! The story's alive! Woohoo!

Not gonna lie, this chapter felt a little rough, mainly because I feel super rusty after coming off of a huge span of not writing. I hope it lived up to all of your expectations though, and that you guys are as happy to see its return as I am! :)

As for the massive gap in between last chapter this one, I cannot apologize enough. There are many, many reasons for such delay, the biggest being that I hit a massive motivation/writing block that's taken me a long while to get over. Next to that, my job slowly taking more and more of my time was also not helping in the slightest (near the end I wasn't getting home until after 9PM, which left me 0 time to do anything I wanted)

But, my motivation's coming back (obviously) and I've quit that shitty old job and have a new one that I start in the near future. So I'm looking forward to that. I can't promise frequent updates again for a while, unfortunately. Not until I feel I'm back 100% in terms of motivation and time. But hopefully I won't ever make you guys wait so long again.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again. I love all of you guys. Seriously, so many of you have messaged my just to ask after my personal wellbeing, not even about the story, and that means the world to me. You guys are the greatest, and I promise that I will never abandon this story. I'll see the trilogy through to its proper conclusion no matter how long it takes me. I hope you guys stick around for the ride.

Anyway, until next time my friends. Stay awesome! :)