I'm lucky that I met you

Chapter 27: Fire and Ice

A few moments before the burst of magic. With Weiss.

Weiss fell to her knees, drained of energy and wounded. Of all people she could possibly engage in battle near the place where the wounded were being healed was her. The woman that made Raven run for her money and put Ruby in bed with serious burn marks. She, who called herself Cinder Fall.

The wight hired took a shaky breath and looked around for a second, might as well use her surroundings at her advantage. 'Damn! There's nothing but rubble here!' she cursed in her mind. True. The aftermath of the fight between fire and ice was a lot of destroyed buildings. In a flash Myrtenaster appeared beside her, helping her up.

"My, my. And here I thought you'll put up more of a fight then the 'invincible girl'. After all, my queen warned me about you, Schnee." purred Cinder staling towards Weiss from the nearest destroyed building. With her flawing black heir, glowing orange eyes, and almost inhumanly graceful gait she truly looked like a predator getting closer to her prey. "I guess you'll meet a similar end."

The mention of her friend caught Weiss's attention. She rose her eyes, to look at Cinder. Well 'look' is a bit gentle term, it was more like trying to freeze her by her gaze alone. Myrtenaster was apparently doing the same. "What have you done to Pyrrha" growled Weiss, tightening her grip on Myrtenaster's arm.

Cinder's smirk grew wicked at the question. "Wouldn't you like to know."

"Stop messing around" hissed the demon boy.

"It's simple really" shrugged nonchalantly Cinder. "She and her team were on my way."

Weiss's eyes widened in horror. The wounds on team JNPR were from Cinder. They tried to fight her off. And if Pyrrha was missing...then. "Oh no" she whispered, putting the two together. Her terror bringing yet another bloodthirsty smile on Cinder's face. "Don't...Don't tell me....No...Y-You killed her?" her voice cracked at the end. That couldn't be it, right? Not Pyrrha. Not one of her friends!

"At least she put up a fight. Even managed to wound me few times" said Cinder. "That's why I decided to keep her as a trophy."

The brunet took out a bag from her pocket dimension and threw it at Weiss's feet. The bag opened, letting its contents roll out into the open. At the sight of that, the blood in the white haired's veins froze. Lifeless and dull green eyes looked back at her from the severed head of the red-haired fighter Weiss grew to like as a friend that will always have her back. Silent scream frozen on her lips. If it wasn't for Myrtenaster holding her Weiss was sure to fall back on her knees. "No" was the only thing she could utter at the moment.

"I was planning to finish that silver-eyed girl too before you three ran away" continued to push Cinder, finding the sight strangely entertaining. "Maybe I will. After you of course."

"NO!" 

"Weiss, calm down" whispered soothingly Myrtenaster, despite being a bit shaken as well. 

"Oooooh. Scared little bug?" said Cinder with mock concerned.

Her eyes were shadowed by her white hair. "Not scared," Weiss said softly, the leash on her anger slowly crumbling. She forced Myrtenaster into his rapier form, something she and even Emily was never able to do. The white-haired tilted her chin up slightly, enough for her and Cinder to lock eyes again. Her eyes were slightly paler, more like ice and pupils sharp slits, just like Myrtenaster's. "I'm FURIOUS!!"

The temperature of the air doped dramatically. A swirl of Icy wind that shot from Weiss was seen from any point in the city. Cinder gritted her teeth at the raw power surrounding Weiss and her. 'What the hell?! Did she have this kind of power all along?! How is this even possible? I'm sure she was on her limit!' she thought, surrounding herself with the hottest flames she could master in hopes of protection.

As the two stood in the tornado of Weiss's magic Cinder couldn't help but shiver. What was the monster standing before her? It was truly a sight to behold. The wind all around forced Weiss's hair to fly around her, while her eyes seemed to glow, the sharp irises fixed on Cinder. Without warning or hesitation, the white-haired launched herself at her opponent. Cinder conjured a flaming sword blocking Weiss's thrust attack. 

As the two clashed multiple ice spikes formed all around Cinder, shooting at her while she was busy with Weiss. She threw Weiss's rapier up and rolled left, only barely avoiding the spikes. With gritted teeth, she looked up. 'What's happening here? Just how much power does she still have?!!' 

Weiss, again, only looked at the raven-haired silently. Cinder was about to bolt at her, ready to behead, when she released with dread that she couldn't move. Looking down at her body the only thing she could see was that it was frozen till her waist to the ground. "Tch! You think that this will stop me?!" she growled trying to melt the ice. Nothing happened. The ice didn't budge. 

Weiss started her slow approach, just like Cinder did only minutes ago. She stalked to the fire mage with an unnaturally calm expression. "You did one thing, that I can never forgive" she spoke. Her voice as cool as ice, and just as deadly. "You. Killed her. Now" her lips twitched into a small, cold smile. "Now you'll pay." 

A shiver passed through Cinder's body yet again. But not because of the cold. After all, the cold never bothers any fire mage. No. It wasn't that at all. 'Am I...actually afraid of this girl?' she thought bitterly. By then Weiss was standing only a few fit away from her as if waiting for something.

Cinder gritted her teeth yet again, irritated. "No, damn it!!" she cried, enraged. "Do you think you can stop me!!" Her furry seem to feed her flames as they started melting the ice ever so slowly. "I'll burn you to ashes like everyone else!! When She destroys this pitiful world, I'll be beside her! I'll be on the winning team!!!"

Weiss cocked her head slightly, eyes still glued to Cinder. "And do you think I'll let you live that long?"

Before Cinder could fully register the white haired's words, she felt a sharp pain in her chest. There, covered in fresh blood, was an ice spike that came from the ground and impaled her from behind. For a moment everything fell into silence. Even the whirlwind of ice and wind froze in its place. "Goodby" whispered Weiss, turning around and dispelling her magic completely.

Through fading vision Cinder saw how through the already fading tornado a blur of red caught Weiss before the girl hit the ground. 'Damn it'  was the only thing she could think as her eyelids closed.   

A/N Short, but I like it. Had to rewrite this particular fight a few times but the result, in my humble opinion was worth the trouble.