Chương 93: Chapter 86: The Thief and The Rose

The transition into the abyss was instantaneous. One second, Ruby, Yang, and Jaune were standing in the dim, red-lit cabin of the Argus Limited. The next, they were plummeting onto cold, slick metal grating. A torrential downpour of freezing rain pelted their faces, mixing sickeningly with a thick shower of fiery, burning ash. Ruby gasped, pushing herself up from the slanted iron floor. The heat radiating around them was overwhelming, suffocating.

The sky above was a bruised, apocalyptic crimson, choked with black smoke and the deafening, monstrous roars of a thousand Grimm. In the distance, the unmistakable, tragic silhouette of Beacon Academy's tower was engulfed in raging flames. They were standing on the tilted, exterior hull of an Atlesian combat airship, suspended high above the nightmare of the Fall of Beacon.

"Guys..." Jaune breathed, his eyes wide with horror as he raised his shield against the biting wind, struggling to keep his footing on the slanted deck.

"This is..."

"Her memory," Yang finished grimly, her fists clenching as the golden metal of Ember Celica clicked into place.

"It's the night it all fell apart." Near the edge of the tilted airship deck, completely oblivious to their arrival, stood Roman Torchwick. The infamous thief looked perfectly pristine, his white coat unblemished by the ash and rain. He leaned casually on his cane, a smug, arrogant smirk plastered across his face. A few feet away from him, Neopolitan was on her knees. The master of illusions was entirely stripped of her swagger. Her normally immaculate hair was plastered to her face by the freezing rain.

Her heterochromic eyes were wide with a raw, unadulterated terror that made Ruby's heart physically ache. Neo was reaching out frantically, her mouth open in a voiceless, agonizing scream, trying desperately to crawl up the slanted grating toward him.

"Oh, cheer up, Neo," the dream-version of Roman said smoothly, brushing a speck of ash from his lapel.

"It's just a minor setback. I'm a professional, remember? I always survi--" The clouds above them violently parted. A massive, terrifying Griffon, a dark, twisted manifestation born entirely of Nightmare roots and shifting shadows, plunged from the fiery sky at blinding speed. Its massive jaws clamped down, snatching Roman Torchwick entirely off the deck in a fraction of a second. Neo slammed her hands against the cold metal grating.

Her face contorted into a silent, heart-shattering wail of absolute devastation as the Griffon vanished back into the crimson clouds, taking the only person she cared about with it. Then, the world flickered. A sickening, dizzying warp of reality rippled across the airship. Roman Torchwick was suddenly back on the deck, brushing off his lapel.

"Oh, cheer up, Neo. It's just a minor setback," Roman repeated, his voice an eerie, automated echo. The Griffon shrieked from the clouds. Neo scrambled forward again, her voiceless scream tearing at her throat all over again. She's trapped in a loop. Ruby realized with a jolt of sheer horror. That monster is feeding on the exact moment her heart broke, making her watch him die over and over again.

"Neo..." Ruby witnessed her suffering in a profound sadness. As the Griffon tucked its wings to dive for the second time, Ruby's silver eyes flared with determination. She didn't think. She just moved. A blinding streak of crimson light and swirling rose petals erupted across the rainy deck. Moving at speeds far beyond what she was capable of during the actual Fall of Beacon, Ruby intercepted the beast's trajectory.

She materialized directly in front of the dream-Roman, planting her boots firmly on the slanted iron. With a massive, explosive swing of Crescent Rose, Ruby drove the flat of her heavy scythe blade directly into the diving Griffon's armored snout. The tremendous kinetic impact echoed over the storm. The Nightmare Griffon shrieked in pain, its trajectory violently derailed.

It tumbled across the airship hull, its shadowy feathers and thorny creepers scraping against the metal before it managed to take flight again, circling angrily above them. The loop was broken. Roman stumbled backward, startled. Neo froze on her knees. She looked up through her rain-soaked hair, her wide, tear-filled eyes locking onto the red-hooded girl who had just shattered the horrific cycle. But Neo's grief did not instantly turn to relief.

As she stared at Ruby Rose, the Huntress she blamed entirely for Roman's demise, the sorrow in her eyes crystallized into a blinding, unadulterated fury. Seeing the girl she hated most standing exactly where Roman had just been standing felt like a sick, twisted mockery of her pain. Neo's face twisted into a snarl of pure hatred. The air around her shattered like a broken mirror. Dozens of glass clones materialized across the deck, all lunging toward Ruby with lethal, synchronized strikes.

"Ruby, watch out!" Jaune yelled. Ruby barely had time to raise Crescent Rose as the clones descended. Neo wasn't just fighting. She was executing a desperate, feral slaughter. Her strikes were wildly fast, fueled by a bottomless well of rage. Ruby parried one blade, then ducked beneath another, but the sheer ferocity of Neo's assault was overwhelming. The real Neo materialized from the shadows, her eyes completely bloodshot with tears and fury, driving the hidden blade of her parasol toward Ruby's chest.

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"I got her!" Yang shouted, blurring past her sister. Yang stepped directly into the path of the lethal strike. The burning airship deck, the freezing rain, the desperate thief. It was a perfect mirror of their brutal fight on the White Fang train underground more than a year ago. Yang remembered how easily Neo had dismantled her that day. She remembered the blinding rage that had clouded her own vision, making her sloppy, predictable, and weak. But Yang Xiao Long was not that girl anymore.

Saitama's agonizing, ego-shattering training regimens had burned the blind fury out of her system. Yang took a deep, centering breath. Her eyes did not turn red. Her hair did not burst into flames. Neo thrust her blade with blinding speed. Yang didn't overextend. She merely shifted her weight, letting the blade glide harmlessly past her shoulder before shattering the glass illusion with a crisp, measured backhand. The real Neo lunged from the blind spot, the blade of Hush aimed directly at Yang's ribs.

Yang moved with a sub-atomic twitch of her muscles. She didn't try to dodge the impossibly fast strike. Instead, she let her heavily condensed Aura flare exactly at the point of impact. The blade sparked against Yang's side, failing to pierce the dense, Saitama-trained energy. In the exact same fraction of a second, Yang's Ember Celica snapped forward like a vice, clamping down onto the shaft of the parasol. Neo gasped, her eyes widening in shock as her frantic momentum was brought to a dead, unmoving halt.

She snarled silently, ripping at the weapon, but Yang's grip was like a mountain.

"We aren't your enemies today," Yang told the furious thief. Her voice wasn't angry. it was laced with a calm, unshakeable strength that anchored the chaotic, shifting dreamscape. Yang slowly released the parasol, stepping back to give the terrified, angry girl space. Above them, the Nightmare Griffon roared.

Realizing its primary emotional food source was being shielded, it summoned a massive swarm of thorny red roots that erupted from the airship's ventilation grates, lashing out toward the group like a nest of vipers.

"You guys talk! I'll hold the line!" Jaune roared. The blonde knight stepped to the front of the deck, slamming his heavy shield into the iron grating. He channeled his Semblance, his Aura Amplification pouring out of him like a tidal wave. A massive, glowing golden dome expanded outward, completely covering Ruby, Yang, Neo, and Roman.

The thorny roots crashed against the golden barrier, hissing and burning against the dense, protective light, while Yang stepped to the perimeter, her gauntlets firing explosive rounds to shatter any creepers that managed to snake too close. Inside the golden dome, the roaring storm felt a million miles away. Ruby slowly lowered Crescent Rose. She let the heavy weapon clatter onto the metal grating, completely disarming herself. Neo backed away, clutching her parasol tightly.

She was trembling violently, her chest heaving as she pointed the razor-sharp tip of her blade directly at Ruby's throat. Her eyes were alight with a frantic, desperate hatred. She wanted Ruby to hurt. She wanted Ruby to suffer the way she had. Ruby took a slow step forward. Neo's blade pressed against the skin of Ruby's neck, drawing a microscopic bead of blood. Ruby didn't flinch. She didn't summon her Aura to push the blade away. She stood perfectly still, offering herself entirely to the thief's mercy.

Slowly, deliberately, Ruby dropped to one knee, putting herself on the same level as the girl. Ruby extended her right hand forward, her palm open in a universal gesture of peace.

"I know you hate me," Ruby said softly, her voice carrying cleanly through the barrier.

"I know you blame me for what happened to him. We were on opposite sides, and we fought... and it cost you everything." Neo squeezed her eyes shut, a fresh wave of silent tears tracking down her cheeks. Her grip on the parasol shook, but she kept the blade leveled at Ruby.

"The Battle of Beacon broke all of us, Neo," Ruby continued, her voice thick with her own suppressed sorrow. Her silver eyes shone with absolute, unadulterated sincerity.

"I lost friends that night, too. I know what it feels like to have your heart ripped out, and to feel like you're drowning in the past." Ruby leaned forward slightly, completely ignoring the blade at her throat.

"I can't change what happened. But surviving means we have to keep moving forward. We can't let the monsters win." Ruby extended her hand unwavering.

"I am not here to fight you, Neo. I am here to save you... To stand beside you." Neo opened her eyes. She looked at the young Huntress's extended hand. She looked into Ruby's silver eyes and searched for the deception, the mockery, the trap. She found nothing but profound, boundless empathy. Neo's lower lip trembled. The overwhelming, exhausting anger that had fueled her for months finally cracked, giving way to the sheer exhaustion of her grief. Slowly, agonizingly, she lowered her blade.

She looked back at the dream-version of Roman Torchwick. The master thief was no longer repeating his automated, horrific loop. He stood tall, resting both hands on his cane. He looked at Neo, his eyes softening with a warmth he rarely showed the waking world. Roman offered her a proud, familiar smirk, tipping his bowler hat toward her. Give 'em hell, Neo. His expression seemed to say. With a soft, chiming sound, the dream-version of Roman Torchwick dissolved. He didn't die in terror or pain.

He simply shattered into a flurry of beautiful, glittering pink and brown glass shards that swirled warmly around Neo before fading into the wind. The anchor of her despair was gone. Neo took a shuddering breath. The crippling terror and blinding rage in her eyes vanished, replaced by a sharp, focused clarity. Her trembling, gloved hand reached out. She placed it firmly into Ruby's palm. Ruby smiled warmly, gripping Neo's hand and pulling the thief to her feet.

The moment Neo stood up, her trademark confidence returned in a blinding flash. The chaotic, burning environment of the dreamscape stabilized. Neo twirled her parasol gracefully over her shoulder, resting it against her neck. She looked at Ruby, then at Yang, and gave them a sharp, perfectly arrogant nod. The Mute Queen was back.

"Jaune! Drop the shield!" Ruby commanded, kicking Crescent Rose up from the deck and catching it seamlessly. Jaune dropped the golden barrier, immediately shifting his weight forward. As the Nightmare Griffon dove toward them, Jaune met its charge with a devastating, Aura-infused shield bash that cracked the beast's beak and stunned it mid-air.

"Yang! Now!" Ruby yelled. Yang launched herself off Jaune's shoulders. She soared into the air, Ember Celica detonating with furious, rhythmic explosions. She delivered a brutal, spiraling uppercut directly into the Griffon's underside, launching the massive monster higher into the crimson sky. Ruby and Neo didn't need to speak to coordinate. The rhythm of survival connected them perfectly. Ruby used Petal Burst, rocketing upward in a slipstream of rose petals.

Neo simultaneously summoned a platform of hardened glass beneath her boots, shattering it to launch herself into the air parallel to the Huntress. They converged on the stunned Nightmare Griffon from opposite sides. Ruby swung Crescent Rose in a massive, horizontal arc, trailing a brilliant ribbon of crimson steel. Neo drew the hidden blade of her parasol, channeling her Aura into a blinding, razor-sharp crescent of pink and brown energy. The two strikes intersected perfectly.

The synchronized cross-slash cleaved entirely through the Nightmare Griffon. The beast froze for a microsecond before its shadowy body separated into perfect quadrants, exploding into a massive, harmless cloud of gray ash that washed over the airship. Ruby and Neo landed gracefully on the metal grating side-by-side.

"We got it!" Jaune cheered, lowering his shield with a massive sigh of relief. Ruby turned to Neo, offering her a bright, genuine smile. Neo actually returned it. A small, subtle upturn of her lips that carried no mockery, only quiet gratitude. CRACK. The triumphant moment shattered. The crimson sky above them violently splintered like a broken mirror. The fiery clouds froze, then began to rapidly dissolve into absolute blackness.

Without the Nightmare Grimm to anchor the horrors, and without Shion Zaiden present in this specific mindscape to act as the extraction guide, the failsafe of the subconscious was instantly triggered. The dream was collapsing.

"What's happening?!" Yang yelled, stumbling as the metal grating beneath their boots began to disintegrate into the dark abyss.

"The dream is falling apart! We don't have a way out!" Jaune panicked, looking around frantically for an exit door that didn't exist. The burning hull of the Atlesian airship was swallowed entirely by the void. The suffocating, inescapable blackness rushed inward from all sides, a crushing wave of nothingness designed to bury the foreign intruders deep within the mind forever. Ruby, Yang, Jaune, and Neo huddled tightly together in the rapidly shrinking pocket of reality.

They raised their weapons, projecting their Auras outward in a desperate, final attempt to shield themselves from the collapsing abyss, bracing for an end they could not punch their way out of.