3rd Person POV:
In the land of darkness, Grimm continue to spawn from pools of a black tar like substance as Emerald and Mercury watch in fear and disgust from Salem's castle.
Along with Cinder, the two attend a tense meeting with three of Salem's other allies Watts, Tyrian, and Hazel. Cinder sits quietly, while Mercury and Emerald move to her side. Emerald nudges Mercury out of her way so that she can be directly next to Cinder.
Watts: Yes, yes, please keep your posse in check.
Mercury grunts and makes a move toward Watts, but Emerald holds him back.
Watts: You hear that? Silence.
Hazel gives Watts an unimpressed sideways glance.
Watts: I've half a mind to thank the little girl that bested you.
Tyrian: If I were you, I'd hunt her down. (snicker) Find her and, well, she took your eye, didn't she?
Cinder only stares at Tyrian while he cackles at her. Cinder tries to speak but only manages to make quiet exhaling noises. Emerald leans in to hear her.
Watts: Pathetic. Why did you even--
There is a sound of a heavy metal door being unlatched. The doors open and everyone stands just before Salem enters.
She glides alongside the table with soft footsteps before reaching the head of it, jewels jangling from her hair. Salem stops, facing away from them and towards a candle and crystal display.
Salem: Watts.
Watts straightens, looking toward her.
Salem: (turning) Do you find such malignance necessary?
She then gestures for everyone to sit down.
Watts: I apologize, ma'am. I'm not particularly fond of failure..
Watts and Salem sit simultaneously.
Salem: Then I see no reason for your cruelty towards young Cinder. She's become our Fall Maiden, destroyed Beacon Tower, and most importantly, killed dear Ozpin. So I'm curious, to what failures are you referring?
Watts: Well, the girl with the Silver Eyes.
Hazel: Yes. We've dealt with their kind before. How is it a novice was able to best one of us?
Watts: My thoughts exactly. Even without her new power, it should have been effortless.
Salem: It is because of the Maiden's power. Make no mistake, Cinder, you hold the key to our victory.
Salem: But your newfound strength brings with it a crippling weakness. Which is why you will remain by my side as we continue your treatment.
Cinder lowers her head in shame, as Emerald looks at her in sympathy.
Salem: Dr. Watts, you are to take Cinder's place and meet with our informant in Mistral.
Watts: Very well.
Salem: Tyrian, I want you to continue your hunt for the Spring Maiden.
Tyrian: (laughing) Gladly.
Salem: And Hazel, I'm sending you to the leader of the White Fang. Adam Taurus has arranged the meeting.
Salem: The boy continues to prove loyal. Ensure that Sienna Khan feels the same.
Hazel: Understood.
Cinder raises a finger to try and speak as Emerald looks back and realizes she's trying to talk.
Emerald: Oh!
She leans in to hear her as only the weakened gasps of Cinder could be heard before Emerald straightens up.
Salem: Speak, child.
Emerald: She wants to know...(hesitates) What about the girl?
Watts: (scoffs) What about her? Seems to me that this is Cinder's problem, not ours.
Cinder: (slams her fist on the table and speaks despite the pain in her voice) She's a problem that has to be handled now!
Salem: That's enough. Tyrian?
Tyrian: Yes, my lady?
Salem: Spring can wait. Find the girl that did this to Cinder.
Tyrian giggles elatedly and claps.
Salem: And bring her to me.
Tyrian freezes, groans disappointedly, pouts for a second, then looks back up at Salem with an acquiescent shrug.
Salem: Because of your efforts, Beacon has fallen. And Haven will be next.
Everyone rises as Tyrian snickers at Cinder and points to his left eye.
Tyrian: (laughing wickedly) Eye for an eye.
He then goes into an uncontrollable fit of manic laughter, while Cinder grits her teeth.
The scene changes to a green forest as Nora and Ren can be seen in new attire walking together.
Nora: I'm just sayin'...
Nora: ...with Pyrrha still recovering and Ruby joining our team we got to change our team name and junior seems to work better.
Ren: But "junior" isn't even a color.
Nora: (groaning) How can I be more clear?
Nora: JNRR (pointing at the second R) there's more than one.
Ren: But we're helping Ruby with her objective.
They make it back to Jaune, who's crouched and watching something.
Ren: RNJR (pointing to the first R) Wouldn't that make her the leader?
Jaune: Guys!
Ren and Nora turn their heads toward him.
Jaune: We need to focus.
A silence passes until Jaune speaks up.
Jaune: Also, JNRR is way cooler.
Nora: Exactly!
Ren goes to speak, but instead just groans. Suddenly there's a loud rumble.
Jaune: It's here.
Ruby then comes flying backwards from trees, firing Crescent Rose in the direction she came from.
A collection of floating boulders with a Grimm mask moves the trees aside, clearly chasing her.
Ruby falls, crashing against tree limbs along the way.
Ruby: Bad... landing... strategy!
She then lands on her feet on a big tree branch strong enough to hold her weight. She uses her Semblance to fly past the Grimm.
Jaune, Ren, and Nora look up.
Jaune: Let's get that thing off her.
He runs toward them as Ren jumps up into the trees.
Nora: Don't forget me!
She pulls out Magnhild and shoots it at the ground, propelling herself into the air with excited whooping. She lands right besides Ren in his branch.
Ren: We need to draw its attention away from Ruby!
As a stream of rose petals, Ruby flies past them.
Ruby: Could use some help!
Nora shoots the Grimm in the back. Ren hops around on branches. The Grimm tries to hit Ren. Ren runs up its rock arm, flies into the air, and comes down upon the Grimm, striking at it with StormFlower only for the attack having no effect.
Jaune: Gotta get in closer!
Ren: My blades don't hurt him!
The Grimm turns, standing upright.
Nora: Crap!
Ruby: How about this?!
She loads a magazine with an image of a lightning bolt on its side into Crescent Rose and fires. Electric bolts encase one of the Grimm's arms.
The red lines on the arm glow brighter, and the Grimm slams it into the ground. All of them sent flying backwards, but Ren, Nora, and Ruby manage to land on their feet.
Meanwhile, Jaune tumbles along the ground painfully until he hits a boulder between his legs and falls forward.
Nora: That's it!
She runs forward, tossing Magnhild into the air and transforming it into hammer mode. She jumps into the air and hits it, breaking its arm apart.
A large piece flies straight toward Nora, but Ruby gets between them and knocks it away. The Grimm uses its other arm to strike at the two girls.
Jaune straightens and stretches before seeing a barrage of rocks heading right towards him.
Jaune: (dodging the rocks) Wha? Whoa! Wha? Ho!
He lands on his feet after jumping over the last projectile.
Jaune: Hey! Be careful!
A rock the size of his head hits him in the face and sends him into a tree. Jaune lands in a crouch and shakes his head to clear the pain.
The Grimm continually tries and fails to hit Nora, who dodges its many attacks.
Jaune stands up and looks up at the Grimm.
Jaune: Ah...
The Grimm's armless shoulder gains a glowing red circle with a symbol of an eye in the middle. The circle spins, and then a black, elongated arm with clawed fingers emerges from it. The arm rears back.
Jaune: Uh-oh.
The Grimm shoves its new arm into the tree Jaune was leaning against and lifts it from the ground.
Jaune: (running) His arm is a tree! His arm is a tree!
Ruby: Big mistake!
Ruby spins Crescent Rose and loads another magazine into it - this one with imagery of fire on its side. She fires, and the flaming projectile swings around to the tree arm.
Jaune pumps his fist in celebration until he sees the Grimm's new firey appendage being swing towards him.
Jaune: (putting his hands into his hair and running) Big mistake!
The Grimm chases Jaune, swinging the flaming arm at him. It misses twice, but then Jaune falls.
Before the Grimm could attack him two blades can be seen flying towards him one appearing to be Ren's while the other is a black blade that is unseen by the team.
The black blade cuts part of the Grimm's arm off while Ren's cuts across the Grimm's mask.
Ren lands beside Jaune and catches his gun. Ruby and Nora come up behind their teammates.
Jaune: Okay, how do we do this?
Ren: His body is too thick to break through.
Jaune: It doesn't care about its body.
Nora: Plus it can keep grabbing new limbs!
Jaune: But it keeps protecting its face.
Ruby: We can't break it!
Jaune: But it keeps protecting its face.
Jaune's eyes light up with an idea and he turns to face his team. Behind him, the Grimm gets up.
Jaune: Guys, I got it! We hit it harder!
Ren: (confused) Is that it?
Jaune: No, seriously. It's trying to keep us from its face. If we kill the limbs, we'll have a shot to kill the whole thing!
Ruby: Alright! Come on, team, let's do this.
Nora: Yeah!
Ren: Right!
Jaune: Ren, left. Ruby, right.
Jaune: Nora, ready to try out the new upgrade?
Nora nods and runs into position.
Jaune: Right. And I will--
He suddenly gets hit in the back by the Grimm.
Ruby attacks the right side. Ren attacks the left.
Nora activates a mechanism that generates a current of electricity across the hammerhead of Magnhild. Jaune runs around to make himself a target, waving at the Grimm.
Jaune: I'll take over here!
The Grimm goes after Jaune but switches targets as Ruby and Ren attack it.
Nora charges Magnhild even more and braces her feet.
Nora: Ready!
Ruby lands next to Jaune after another attack.
Jaune: Use everything you've got!
Ruby uses her Semblance to fly at the Grimm, taking Nora with her, and the red and pink swirls go right for the tree arm. Ruby slices the tree in half, opening the way for Nora to hit the mask with Magnhild.
The rock body shatters on impact and the Geist Grimm rises out of it and flies off.
Ruby aims a shot at it, and it turns its face right into the flaming projectile, leaving a large hole on it's head where you can see Ruby and Nora high-fiving in celebration.
Jaune: (breathing heavily before posing with his hands on hips) Another victory for Team JNRR!
A silence passes as Jaune contemplates the team name.
Jaune: (deflating) Yeah, okay. Ren, I think you're onto something. I-it's just not sounding great anymore.
They all then leave as Ruby turns back and sees the black blade from earlier stabbed into a tree before rubbing her eyes to see if she's hallucinationating only to look again and it's gone.
Ruby: (Maybe I just need more sleep)
She rejoins the group as they all head out the forest.
As they leave Y/N and Qrow emerge from the forest after taking down some Grimm.
Y/N: It's really amazing seeing how much they've all improved since the Fall.
Qrow: Like you're one to talk.
Y/N: (rubbing the back of her head) Hehehe...
Chapter End