Semblance of Brutality

Ashes to Ashes, Part 2

Doomguy's perspective

Cinder lunges at me, flame-sword in hand. Before she can thrust the blade into my abdomen, I teleport beside her. As she realizes what happened, my fist is already connecting with the left side of her face. A loud shattering sound resonates as a porcelain mask covering the left half of her face is broken, revealing a large burn scar behind it. She scowls at me with tangible hatred.

"You're going to regret that!!" she screams.

"I think I already do," I crack, only adding to her agitation.

She rushes towards me, and at the worst possible time; my Dust wears off just when I need it the most. I quickly find another crystal and smash it in my hand, not even bothering to check its color. I feel the familiar tingle of electricity as the Dust's power takes effect. I dodge Cinder's downward cleave with her sword and make myself invisible. She looks around, desperately searching for me, her eyes filled with some combination of fear and pure, psychotic rage.

I hear something crackle, and it isn't the electricity around me. In fact, there isn't anything around me anymore; no electricity, no glow, nothing. Then, as I fall to one knee, the realization hits me: I kept my semblance up for too long. A familiar pair of heels appear in my vision, and I look up to see Cinder pointing her blade of flame directly at my head.

"Aw... I was beginning to have fun! Too bad you don't have a chance without that little semblance of yours," she tells me.

She can't see it, but a smirk grows on my face. I can't restrain myself, and begin to chuckle at the situation. Just because I'd knelt down, Cinder believes she's beaten me. I grab her weapon with one hand and hold it away as I stand up, towering over Cinder. I've stopped chuckling; it was time to be serious.

"See, that's where you're wrong, Cinder," I begin to tell her as I snap her sword in half. "I think you're the one who doesn't have a chance of winning, here."

She socks my helmet and knocks me off balance for a moment, just long enough for her to get a safe distance away and form a new weapon. I regain my fighting stance as Cinder and I lock eyes. We begin circling each other, preparing for the other to make the first move.

"You're just an angry little boy," she tells me. "But I am so much more powerful than you. What's the matter? Afraid you'll need to call blondie for help?"

Damn it; somehow she knew just how to get to me. I shake off the chills I'd gotten from her comment and continue to focus only on how I was going to take her down. Her eyes dart to Yang for a split second, and I can only begin to imagine what she plans to do. Cinder turns away from me, confident I won't charge her, and conjures a bow to take her sword's place. She begins to take aim at Yang and I feel something inside me snap.

When I wake up, I'm surrounded by the faces of Qrow, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang staring back at me. What happened? I reach to remove my helmet, only to find it's already been removed. I blink a couple times before trying to ask about what had happened. When I do, though, my question comes out as a hoarse whisper.

"What- what happened?"

"Well, I don't know how much you remember, but you and Cinder were in a stalemate. She tried to break that stalemate by attacking Yang, but, just before she could fire her bow, you tackled her," Qrow tells me.

"Yeah," Ruby agrees. "You broke her bow almost immediately after tackling her. Then, you kinda..." she trails off.

"You made sure she couldn't attack anyone," Weiss says bluntly yet cryptically.

"She did have it coming, though," Blake adds.

"Yeah, we had to pull you off before you killed her. Once you didn't have anything to punch, you just kinda... passed out," Yang tells me, finishing the story.

"Is Cinder...?" I start to ask.

"Alive? Yeah, she's alive. We called the police and they arrested Cinder and her posse. Before they take her to jail, they're gonna need to make sure she doesn't have any permanent damage," Qrow tells me.

"Sorry," I say apologetically. "I don't know what took ahold of me."

"Well, you definitely blacked out, and you were definitely using your semblance," Qrow continues. "It's possible Cinder did something to trigger a subconscious response that manifested in some type of overcharged semblance."

"Well, the last thing I remember is seeing Cinder taking aim at Yang."

"How noble of the big, green lovebird," Weiss teases.

"Wait, what? How did you-?" I stammer.

"We kinda spied on you and Yang. We wanted to watch you guys fight, but what happened was waaaay better!" Ruby exclaims.

"Their idea!" Qrow adds in the background.

All I can do is shake my head with a smile on my face. All five of these people are so different and yet, somehow, they're able to get along so well. Yeah, they've got their flaws and they fight sometimes, but they work together to overcome their challenges. I've already learned so much from my few days here, and I feel like I can only learn more. I'm not going back, I decide, and I'm staying right here with these wonderful, quirky people.

Individual conversations branch off and people change who they're talking to. Meanwhile, I'm still sitting on the floor, thinking. Yang sits down beside me and rests her head on my shoulder.

"Sup?" she asks casually.

"Nothing really," I answer. "Just thinking. I think... I think I'm gonna stay here."

"Wait, really? Don't you have stuff to do back in your world?"

"Not really. All I did was kill demons. Believe it or not, it does get kinda boring after a while. Here, though? Not so much. Plus, I really wanna know the story behind the Grimm, Cinder, and everything else."

"Qrow can fill you in the best. He's been dealing with this stuff since he was a Huntsman-in-training. That must've been a hundred years ago at least," she laughs.

"Not old!" Qrow calls from the distance.

We both erupt into laughter. This is the other reason I want to stay: Yang. Well, all of them really, but especially Yang. She means a lot to me, more than I can express in my own thoughts, let alone words. Now or never, I tell myself before kissing her. I didn't expect her to resist or anything, but it's always a nice surprise when you don't get punched for that and get kissed back instead.

"AWWW!" Ruby practically shouts in the background.

"Called it!" Weiss gloats.

"Y'know what?" Qrow says. "I think we can officially chalk this one up as a happy ending. Can we go home now?"

With that, we all start heading back to Qrow's place. All the way there, we kept bragging about each other and how important we are to the team. And, if my eyes didn't lie to me, I think I saw Qrow smile - actually smile - for the first time in a while. A happy ending, indeed.