The sky above Atlas was a maelstrom of fire and ash, the once-proud city crumbling into a frozen grave. The flying city groaned, its hull splintered and tilting, a dying beast plummeting toward the icy tundra below as Grimm reigned supreme above and below it.
Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos stood on a warped bridge near the city center, the Staff of Creation pulsing faintly in Jaune's grip, its light a flicker of hope amidst the chaos. Thousands were dead, Atlas's gleaming spires reduced to rubble, and Team RWBY and JNR had fought to their limits to stop Pyrrha—once their friend, a champion, now a cyborg enforcer forged by Jacques Schnee's cruelty and reprogrammed by Arthur Watts to serve Salem's will.
Yet they'd gotten most of the population away through portals generated by the Staff. The Staff Jaune now kept from Pyrrha. Kept from Salem.
Pyrrha's emerald eyes, once warm and kind, glowed with an unnatural crimson, her cybernetic limbs gleaming under the flickering lights of the city's failing systems. Her movements were precise, mechanical, yet carried the deadly grace of the warrior she'd been. Jaune faced her, Crocea Mors trembling in his hands, his aura flickering like a candle in a storm. He was battered, bloodied, his armor dented from her relentless assault, but his blue eyes burned with unyielding resolve. The fight had been brutal, a dance of desperation and memory, each blow a plea to reach the Pyrrha buried beneath the programming.
All to let the people of the city escape. To be safe.
She lunged, her spear Milo a blur of crimson and steel, its Dust-infused tip crackling with electricity. Jaune parried, the impact jarring his arms, his shield absorbing the brunt of her enhanced strength. Sparks flew as their weapons clashed, the deck buckling beneath them. Pyrrha's cybernetic arm whirred, pistons hissing as she drove a fist toward his chest. Jaune twisted, his aura flaring to deflect the blow, but the force sent him skidding across the deck, his boots scraping against warped metal.
"Pyrrha, please!" Jaune shouted, his voice raw, cracking with emotion. "This isn't you! You know who you are!"
Her head twitched, a glitch in her movements, as if his words pierced the fog of her programming. But Watts's code surged, her crimson eyes flaring brighter.
"Target: Jaune Arc. Objective: Retrieve the Staff. Eliminate resistance," she intoned, her voice a chilling blend of her own and the machine's monotone. She hurled Akoúo—now a disc of deadly precision—at Jaune, its edges spinning with lethal force.
Jaune dove, the disc grazing his shoulder, tearing through his armor and drawing blood. He rolled to his feet, gripping the Staff tighter, its warmth a reminder of what was at stake.
"I know you're in there, Pyr!" he yelled, ducking as Milo's spear form stabbed toward his heart. He countered, his blade slashing across her cybernetic arm, sparks erupting where steel met steel. "You're my partner! My friend! You're Pyrrha Nikos! You... You love me! And I love you!"
Her movements faltered, a flicker of green in her eyes, but the programming snapped back, relentless. She shifted Milo to rifle mode, firing a barrage of Dust rounds. Jaune raised his shield, his aura straining under the onslaught, each impact driving him back toward the ship's gaping edge. The deck tilted further, gravity pulling at them as the city's descent accelerated, the roar of wind and creaking metal drowning out all else.
Jaune saw an opening and charged, his Semblance surging, amplifying his aura to bolster his strength. He tackled Pyrrha, pinning her against a bulkhead, their faces inches apart. "You saved me once," he whispered, his voice trembling, blood dripping from a cut on his brow.
"Let me save you now. Please."
She knocked him back with an elbow, and he stumbled. He stood on the bridge, the flying city shuddering as it fell.
"You must be eliminated," Pyrrha stated coldly, mechanically.
His shoulder drooped, exhaustion hitting him. Emotional, physical. He took a deep breath. He'd done... He'd done all he could.
He shook his head.
"... I won't fight you anymore," Jaune whispered. He dropped his weapons, only holding onto the Staff.
Pyrrha's eyes again glowed red as she charged. She slammed him into the bridge, pushing his head off the edge. She seized his throat to choke him, but her grip hesitated, her eyes flickering between crimson and green.
"Jaune…" she murmured, her true voice breaking through, fragile and pained. The city shuddered, a massive groan signaling its final collapse as the bridge began to crack and splinter around them. Jaune's grip on the Staff slipped, and Pyrrha's programming surged, her spear arm rearing back.
But Jaune didn't flinch. His cupped her face.
"I'm with you, Pyr," he said, his voice steady despite the blood and pain. "Til the end of the line. I won't... I won't leave you again. Never again..."
His Aura flickered and broke, as he fell unconscious.
The words shattered something inside her. Pyrrha's eyes widened, green overtaking crimson, her cybernetic arm trembling as Watts's code battled her will... And lost.
"Oh no, no, no, wha—what have I done?" she gasped, her voice breaking. She stroked Jaune's bloodied face, pulling him close, her metal fingers gentle despite their strength. Her mind felt like it was splitting apart, memories of Beacon, of laughter, of love, clashing with the cold directives implanted in her brain.
A deafening groan tore through the air as the part of the bridge Jaune was lying on gave way, metal twisting and snapping. Jaune slipped from her grasp, his body tumbling toward the icy plain far below, the Staff falling with him.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha screamed, her voice raw, human. She leapt after him, her cybernetic limbs propelling her through the air. In free fall, she caught his limp form, pulling him close, her arms wrapping around him as the wind roared.
"I'm with you, Jaune!" she cried, tears streaming from her eyes, mingling with the frost. "I'll always be with you!"
Together, they plunged into abyss, the impact a shock of cold and darkness, their fates entwined as the wreckage of Atlas burned above, the Staff's faint glow sinking into the depths with them.
