- - -
Of course Cinder Fall had seen Taiyang Xiao-long's Semblance. She'd been in the classroom when he began doing substitute teaching. She had looked up his public records, and any private files she could on the man who had once tried to kill Salem with his team.
His Semblance at Level 1 was certain intimidating. Level 2, he appeared like a god of thunder from the ancient mythologies of northern Solitas. Now at level three, his hair burned and waved like white flames, as his eyes burned blue. There was none of the rage in his previous transformations-There was anger, but it was tightly controlled and focused right on her as power crackled around him like a storm held in human form.
His combat prowess had been formidable back in the day. He certainly looked formidable now. But he had retreated to a backwater little island to teach brats. In her mind, he was nothing: Especially not when she had the power of the Fall Maiden.
She realized she might need to reconsider that exactly one second after his fist connected with her jaw, and she felt teeth get knocked out of her mouth as she herself was slammed into the nearest wall hard enough to knock the wind out of her.
"Wha-!"
She summoned up all her new magical power to form a barrier and unleashed a fire blast. Her jaw pulled itself back together, the Grimm, her Aura, and her Maiden Magic all working in tandem to heal her. She'd just gotten her jaw back into place and her teeth were regenerating just as her fire blast wiped out everything in front of her...
And he reappeared right above her, slamming a kick she barely blocked with her arm and a summoned sword. The force still slammed her back, and she flew away from the wall to get some open air. She turned and unleashed a dozen conjured arrows! He punched and kicked them all to pieces, before he vanished again. She swung around to fill the air behind her with flames, blasting holes in the walls!
Another super strong punch hit her in the kidneys, then another, another, another-!
A kick to the small of her back made her bones creak as she was slammed through the wall to the outside of the dome. With a roar of rage, she rose into the air. She held her hands up, and summoned the storm.
The cloud churned and spun over her, and lightning crackled overhead. She threw her hands down, and nature's fury rained on the Beacon Tower's top. Lightning lashed like whips of the gods, tearing apart the dome and causing explosions and fires!
A burning white blur emerged from the dome, flipping back and dodging the lighting blasts!
Impossible...! Cinder thought, just as that blur resolved itself into Xiao-Long. He vanished, then reappeared right in front of her. She summoned her swords and stabbed into his chest!
He just flared his Aura hotter, and they snapped against his flesh. He grabbed her shoulders, and, using a blast of Aura from his feet that vaporized his sandals and sent them spinning, threw her back through the dome!
"GAH!"
She went through the wall and the floor and the next floor... Ending up a battered, bloody heap in a scrappile that had once been a collection of machines. She looked up as her bones knit and her flesh healed... Only for Xiao-Long to plant both his feet right in her gut, wrenching a scream and a spray of blood from her mouth!
Summon... Summon...!
This was more complicated... The Grimm were resisting her orders. She could guess why-The Grimm inside her were filled with the closest equivalent to fear they could feel. She mustered up her magic and Aura and projected both as hard as she could, blasting Xiao-Long back through several large machines. She managed to get back up, drawing breath frantically into her lungs as her ribs painfully got back into their proper places.
Xiao-Long shook his head, standing up with a shudder. His power was intense-Intense enough it was tiring him out. She had only one chance to win this, then.
"DIE!" She roared, summoning dozens of glass arrows and unleashing them. She let loose a second wave of fire blasts, and lightning she called down from above. She was tearing the top of the tower to pieces, causing explosions and fires. She had to protect herself from that, too, but the bigger threat was Xiao-Long. He kicked and punched his way through the hail of arrows, then blasted through the flames. The lightning... It was hurting him, she could tell, but his flames rose higher as he fought through every blast.
His eyes were fixed upon her. Filled with no remorse, no mercy, only a grim determination and a cold fury.
It was easily the most terrifying thing she had ever seen, as he kept advancing no matter what she threw at him!
"DIE! JUST DIE!" She shrieked, gathering up her power and exploding it through her Aura in all directions!
The massive blast tore through the metal walls and supports of the upper levels. The metal groaned, then began to shriek as the ceiling began to collapse. Cinder summoned her power and flew upwards through the many holes their fight had produced, trying to escape as hundreds of tons of metal began to collapse. She looked back over her shoulder and gaped.
Xiao-Long was right behind her, those eyes still burning...!
She reached out to the Grimm, with as much raw fear, rage, and power she could...!
One answered.
KABOOOOOOOOM!
One of the mountains nearest Beacon exploded. A huge black form spread its terrible, reptilian wings. It took flight, causing a hurricane-level gale as it ascended. A horrific roar issued from its mouth, filling every living creature across Vale with horror and dread.
Cinder flew for all she was worth, and landed on the back of the great Grimm Dragon. She sucked in a breath, tried to calm herself.
Kill the glowing one! She ordered the Grimm. It roared, and dove on the smoldering Beacon Tower. She looked back at last, her smirk re-emerging.
The idiot had fallen back, landing on the tower. There was no way he could reach her-!
He vanished. He reappeared up above the Tower, fifty meters... Then disappeared to reappear, and again, and again-!
Wha... Cinder stared, He's propelling himself with his Aura to FLY?!
He reappeared right above her, and dove like a falcon. Cinder barely dodged out of the way as his fist landed. The Aura blast unleashed from the impact exploded outward, making the Grimm Dragon roar in pain!
"You...!"
Xiao-Long reared back, ready for a much more powerful blow targeted at her head. She slammed her hands down onto the back of the Grimm Dragon.
CONSUME! She screamed in her mind.
Hundreds of Grimm limbs erupted from the dragon's back, clawed and grasping. They dragged Xiao-Long down, and he sank down. He fought furiously, but unable to build up momentum for his blows, he was weakened. She could see his power was doing a lot of her work for her, too-Parts of his skin were blackened, burning up from the inside.
Cinder managed to stand on shaky legs, and her arrogance returned.
"Haa... Haaa... Pathetic effort... Hasbeen...!" She sneered, as Xiao-Long was consumed by the Dragon Grimm.
He grit his teeth, his eyes burned, before he vanished. Pity. She would have liked to have seen the look of despair on his face as he broke...!
Now, she had to focus on healing, and destroying Vale. She slowly made her way towards the head of the Dragon-The best place to watch her plan come to fruition.
- - -
The Grimm held him tightly. His Aura was fading... He'd used too much energy... He was familiar with this, the feeling of burning away.
He'd felt it before... When they failed to stop Salem. He'd pushed himself to his limits. He was well beyond his limits from back then... But it felt the same way.
Like he was fading away to nothing, burning like paper, leaving nothing but ashes behind that would blow away into the wind...
He could still see Summer as she fell. Still hear himself scream as he was dragged away by Raven and Qrow.
Strange... He could see her face now, even in this all-encompassing darkness and pain.
He could almost feel her hand on his cheek, so familiar...
Tai... You can't give up... Not yet...
"I've... Got... Nothing left," Taiyang gasped into the snarling, all consuming darkness.
She still felt warm against him.
You can't give up... Not yet...
"... I can't," he agreed. Summer smiled at him, full of love and hope.
Just like she was when she fell.
You can do it, sweetie, she said, Now...
She rested a hand on his heart. His burning heart.
Get up... And finish this...
Tai breathed in. He focused on the warmth. The burn began to ebb, the pain faded... But the light exploded around him.
I'll see you soon, Summer...
- - -
Cinder had mustered up the breath to laugh again. She could see the helpless people below her, fleeing like ants. She had just told the Dragon to pick out one of the larger skyscrapers first, to topple it like a tree onto the city streets...
The Dragon bellowed in pain, and she heard and felt a rumble throughout its body.
She turned around back towards the back of the beast.
No... No...!
White light burned from between the jagged spines and ribs of the might Grimm Dragon. Another rumble, and the entire monster shook. It bellowed again, and another blast of Aura erupted from its insides.
No no no...!
Another blast erupted, this time from below. She could feel the Grimm's pain, and clutched at her chest in sympathetic connection. The entire Grimm Dragon began to falter, shudder...
Because something had just destroyed its heart.
Another blast, another, another! Each time, it got closer, traveling up the Grimm Dragon's neck. Cinder screamed and unleashed everything at the bit connecting the Grimm Dragon's head to its neck-Every arrow, every blast of fire, every jagged sword, every blast of lightning!
The neck burst, and the beast's screams were cut off as its head came clean off its body.
And through the hail of death she had unleashed, He came.
"NO! NOOOO-!" Cinder shrieked. She threw up every barrier she could-Her fire, her Aura, her swords, her godsdamn arrows-!
And none of it mattered as Xiao-Long's burning fist broke through all of it. The impact stuck so hard she felt every bone along her right side shatter. Her skin burned and crackled, and she fell. All she could hear was the sound of her screams, all she could see were those eyes...!
She hit the ground like a fallen angel, the pavement exploding around her. Agony like nothing she had ever felt burned through her, so intense she couldn't even scream anymore. She couldn't see out of her right eye, she could feel nothing but agony inside and out... Her Aura burned, frantically trying to keep her alive even as the Grimm inside her did the same.
The pain fed the Grimm... She knew this... But she found herself begging for death to end it...!
She vaguely made out a familiar mop of green hair, and one of silver, over her. She felt herself be moved, carefully. She could just make out the sounds of a Bullhead, and felt medical instruments being applied to her. It was only then she mercifully blacked out.
Yet those eyes still remained in her nightmares.
- - -
Tai managed to use a little bit of Aura to slow his descent. Just enough to land without breaking anything, though he wasn't in great shape.
He looked up from the crater he'd formed. He took as deep of breaths as he could manage. They just got shallower and shallower, as his body seemed to... Fade around him.
He looked up. He could see green grass, flowers and trees. Just at the edge of the crater, he made out two red flowers, and two yellow flowers, waving in the slight breeze but otherwise unharmed. Despite everything, they still lived. Still grew. Still endured.
He let out a soft laugh, as he collapsed onto the dirt. He felt warm arms embracing him.
I knew you could do it, Summer whispered. Now... Let's go home.
Right behind you, he thought. Yang... Ruby... Qrow... Raven... I love you. You'll be okay...
Taiyang Xiao-Long closed his eyes for the last time, and smiled.
- - -
