Chapter 9: Rejected

Silence reigned supreme in the atrium for a few seconds, broken only by the metallic clang of war. Sparks flew as metal clashed against metal. Cane impacted upon scythe, rapier slid against blade, cleaver sliced bullet, and gauntlet collided with parasol. Blake received a blunt strike to her torso, forcing her to take a step back. Glancing at her foe, she saw that the White Fang agent was preparing to slash at her face. Igniting her semblance, she darted behind the man and stabbed him with her katana. Forcing herself not to cry as she cut down her former comrades, she turned and watched her team mates battle their respective foes.

Weiss was struggling by herself, using her glyphs to maneuver and dodge the enemy; she was overexerting herself. Yang's expression was that of ecstasy. The blonde brawler may not have even been aware of it, but she was enjoying her bout against Neo. The stoic girl herself seemed to enjoy the fight as well.

But then Blake saw Ruby and Roman, and she felt her heart tear in two. Someone who didn't know Ruby would think that she was fully committed to the fight with her stoic expression, as though she were concentrating on nothing but the battle before her. But Blake knew Ruby. That expression wasn't one devoid of emotion. It held nothing but emotion to the trained eye. With every swing of her scythe, and every parry against Roman's cane, Ruby was dying on the inside. A piece of her heart was being ripped off for every second that she and Roman fought, and Blake was the only member of team RWBY to have noticed.

She's prepared to die! Blake realized. She shifted her gaze to Roman and was shocked to see the exact same expression of sorrow and regret. He is too! Neither one wants to hurt each other, but they're both prepared to die for the other! Another White Fang agent broke her away from her thoughts, and she was forced to join the fray once again.

The battle seemed to drag on for hours, but only minutes passed. The White Fang agents were all dispatched by Weiss and Blake, and the two joined their team mates fighting against Neo and Roman. Weiss paired off with Ruby and used a glyph to throw Roman back several feet. "I've got you covered, Ruby!" she said, holding Myrtenaster at the ready in her left hand.

Ruby was hunched over, Crescent Rose dragging the floor as she panted heavily; she was exhausted. "No," she said. "This is my duty. I have to be the one to stop him."

Roman was similarly fatigued. Leaning against his cane, he pulled off his hat and threw to the side. "I'm...I'm ready when you are, Red." The sound of Neo's battle made him pause. "That's enough, Neo!"

Upon hearing her father's command, she broke away from Blake and Yang and joined Roman. "It's four against two, Roman!" Yang yelled.

"You won't win!" Blake added as the two of them joined Ruby and Weiss.

Roman smiled. "That's what I'm counting on," he answered, surprising three out of the four members of team RWBY. "I want the four of you promise me something."

"Why would we..." Weiss began.

Ruby raised a hand to stop her. "What is it, Roman."

He caught his breath for a moment, resting before he continued. Glancing at Neo, he smiled and returned his gaze to the four girls. "No matter the outcome of our battle, I want the four of you to promise to protect Neo."

"What!" Weiss, Blake, and Yang all exclaimed at one.

"She'll lose this fight; she's used to much of her power. She'll break before too long. I've worked too hard to keep her safe for that. I, however...will die today. Either by your hands, or by Cinder's. I...I can't go on like this."

"We promise," Ruby said without hesitation.

"Ruby!" Yang exclaimed. "That woman is psycho! She knocked me out on the train, and tried to kill us all!"

"No, she didn't try to kill us." Ruby flashed a smile in Neo's direction. "She likes us."

Neo nodded and gave a bow. Ruby understand what she said; You were never in any real danger with me. She then gave her father a worried stare.

"Roman, it's not too late to join us. Help us fight Cinder."

Yang stared in awe at her sister. "You...you really are friends with him. Aren't you?"

"I...I'd like to help. But I don't think I can. Not now," Roman answered.

"You're right," came the bone chilling voice of Cinder. Everyone turned to see her and two others enter the room. "It's far too late for that, Roman. You've been fraternizing with the enemy. You know I can't let you or your precious daughter live, right?"

Roman spat. "Well...fuck."

Cinder smiled. "I must thank you girls for tiring him out. He'd have been a challenge to Mercury and Emerald if he was at full strength."

The silver haired boy, Mercury, scoffed. "I could have taken him."

Cinder frowned. "You arrogance will be the death of you, Mercury. He was much stronger than you until now." Smiling once more, she stared into Roman's eyes. "Now, you can take care of him. Kill him. Make it quick. I'd like to finish our business here and be on our way. Killing children loses its luster after a while."

Mercury smiled with a light chuckled. Slowly, with his hands in his pockets, he strolled over to Roman. Roman, out of desperation, grabbed Neo and threw her at team RWBY, where Yang reflexively caught the girl; the look on Neo's face was that of terror. "Protect her!" he cried.

Father! No! she seemed to be silently screaming.

Mercury stood over Roman, who was now on one knee; he'd used too much of his Aura today. "You know, that was a poor choice of final words. Wanna give it another go?"

"Another go?" Roman asked. A smirk crossed his lips. "How about you go fuck yourself, you little shit."

Mercury smiled. "See...that's more like it." In an instant, the silver haired kick boxer raised his right leg and kicked Roman straight in the chest, the shotgun in his boot igniting and firing a shell directly into Roman's heart. Blood sprayed behind the thief and onto the floor. Roman's smirk never faded. His heart was destroyed, yet he still had enough life in him for another moment. He turned his head to Ruby and began to fall backwards. His final words echoed in Ruby's mind as he spoke them; "I will take my place...in the great below."

Tears were streaming down Ruby's and Neo's faces. "No, Roman. You won't. Hell isn't meant for you," Ruby said.

"Oh, how sweet. You're crying for him. That's fine. I'll make you cry some more!"

Ruby turned to Neo. "Just imagine, Neo...all we could have done...all that could have been."

Neo stared into Ruby's eyes. Her mouth opened slightly. "F...father...is...gone..." she said aloud, struggling with each word. She had never spoken aloud since she'd been built.

Yang felt her heart break; She really isn't bad. No one deserves this. "Neo," she said, gaining the girl's attention. "I'll...I'll avenge him for you."

Neo's eyes widened with shock. "B-but...you...hated..."

"We made a promise to take care of you," Yang interrupted. "I don't intend to break that promise." She armed Ember Celica and leapt at Mercury. "Let's go you son of a bitch!"

"Yang, wait!" Ruby yelled.

Mercury dodged the blonde's strikes. "Oh, you want to play too, do you? Well, I can do that!" He kicked at her, forcing her to block.

"Is that the best you've got?" she asked, he eye's turning red.

A gunshot echoed throughout the atrium, and Yang's eyes went wide with pain. Glancing down, she saw the entry wound of a bullet in her abdomen; her Aura had failed. Following the direction of the sound, she saw the green haired girl, Emerald, standing with smoke coming out of one of her revolvers. "I can't have you hurting my Mercury, now can I?"

Without missing a beat, Mercury took advantage of the blonde's confusion and shock. Swinging with another kick, his boot impacted on Yang's neck.

The sickening crack that came from her neck made Ruby want to throw up. "Sis~!" Ruby yelled.

Yang hit the floor hard, unable to move; she was paralyzed from the neck down, but still alive. Mercury smiled. "So, tell me something, little Red...I have two options; I can kill her and put her out of her misery, or I can let her live the rest of her life in a bed, forcing people to feed her and change her diaper. You're choice."

Ruby wouldn't remember what happened next.

Emerald smiled; she was enjoying herself. There was no way that they could lose at this point. Roman was dead, and this group of huntresses in training would be spiritually broken in a matter of minutes now that their friend lay paralyzed on the ground. Everything is going according to plan, she thought.

But then the ground felt as though it was shaking. The girl in the red cloak, Ruby she believed was her name, was standing silently and was seemingly unconcerned with the tremor, while everyone else looked around for the source. Then came the color change Ruby's eyes that caused Emerald's heart to sink. She didn't know the significance of it, but the fact that they had changed from silver to red struck fear into her soul. What is going on? Rose petals erupting from nothingness and swirled violently around the girl. "You'll pay for that!" she yelled.

"What are you gonna do about it? I've got your friend right here...what the fuck!" Mercury yelled. Emerald turned to look at him and saw that the blonde girl was gone. "Where did she...?" Returning their gaze to Ruby, they both looked in awe as they saw that the blonde girl was laying on the ground next the Ruby. A trail of Rose petals filled the gap of space between Ruby and Mercury. "How?!"

Emerald stepped forward. "Be careful! She's really fast!"

"I can see that!"

"Then see this," Ruby said coldly. In the blink of an eye she was gone.

"Where is she!?" Mercury asked.

Emerald looked around the room for her, but only found her when she heard a sound from behind.

Click. A firearm had just been cocked. She was standing right behind Emerald, and the green haired girl just now noticed that one of the blonde brawler's gauntlets was missing. "You took Roman's heart," Ruby said menacingly. "So, I'll take hers."

Without any time to react, Emerald had fearful tears running down her cheeks, knowing full well that she wasn't fast enough to save herself. "Help." she squeaked meekly.

The shotgun blast was the last sound Emerald heard before she fell to her knees. Looking down, she saw a massive hole in her chest, and chunks of her own heart were protruding from it. Without another word, she collapsed lifelessly into a pool of her own blood.

Ruby glared at Mercury. "You broke my sister's neck," she said as she dropped Ember Celica on the ground, Cinder watching with interest from a few feet away. She deployed Crescent Rose and smiled horrifically. "I'll just have to take your whole god damn head as compensation. An eye for an eye!"

Penny dispatched every White Fang agent that she came across. Those that surrendered she tied up for the others to find and detain, and she made her way through Beacon academy looking to help anyone that needed her. Then came the shaking. The whole plateau seemed to shake for a few moments before it subsided. "What was that?" she asked herself. Moving on, she paused only once more.

And that was when she heard the voice of a man cry out in despair. "Emerald~!"

Song: Rejected-Tarby

Author's Notes

Ah, the darkness returns. I haven't killed off this many characters at once since The Longest Night. And remember boys and girls...this time, its PERMA DEATH. No more time travel shenanigans.

And yes...that is a psycho Ruby. I kinda hinted in The Longest Night that she has a similar power to Yang's in terms of anger. In this sense, she is black out angry, and it's making her pretty fucking violent. We'll fix it, though. Don't worry about it too much...or do. I dunno.

Also, sorry for the long wait. I have had alot of really, REALLY shitty schedules for work. Hell, I have to go to work tonight, but I found some time to write this out for you guys. Just thought you'd want to know that I'm not dead, and that even though my free time is hella limited, I'm still writing.

Leave a review or a PM if you will, and spread this around if you want. (Hello, /r/RWBY! Long time no see!)

Dear Guest reviewer going by the name Rhapsody: I apologize for not updating sooner. Would have replied to your review telling you that this chapter was coming out, but seeing as how you're a guest, I can't. Please, make an account. I reply to almost every review I get, and rather enjoy being able to talk to you, the readers. :D

Fun Fact: For those of you who are knowledgeable of Magic the Gathering, I've been playing for 3-4 years, and I decided when I started to collect all the planeswalkers. All of them. As of this week, I am missing seven. Both Tezzerets, Elspeth Knight Errant, Elspeth Tirell, Ajani Goldmane, Ugin, and Sarkhan Unbroken. I HAVE ALL THE EXPENSIVE ONES! WOOT!

Fun Fact 2.0: For the record, Rejected is a song on the Balloon Party album that was put together by fans of My Little Pony. I highly recommend listening to it.

Only four more chapters left, by the way. :D

Till next time! :D