"Focus up Ruby, this is it."

Y/n said this to try and reassure Ruby who was shaking, clearly shocked by Yatsuhashi's sacrifice.

Y/n took her hands in his and looked her in her tear-streaked eyes.

"Hey, look at me, if we do this then Yatsuhashi will be fine. Yang, Blake and Weiss will be fine, but for that to happen we need to focus and finish the mission. Can you do that?"

Ruby nodded meekly.

"Good, besides, if we lose how are we going to go on that date?"

Ruby squared her shoulders and nodded at Y/n as the elevator dinged, marking their arrival at the top of Beacon.

Ruby and Y/n quicky left the elevator and fanned out, scanning for threats.

All they saw was a woman in a red dress standing in the middle of the tower, presumably waiting for them.

"How good to see you again."

"The feeling isn't mutual."

"No? oh well, it will be when you're under my thrall."

"I doubt it."

"I suppose we'll just have to wait and se-"

Cinder sprinted at the pair and formed two glass swords which she engaged Y/n and Ruby with, Y/n drew his sword and started parrying off Cinders precise strikes while Ruby tried to maneuver her scythe in the limited space. Cinder easily fended off Ruby with one hand while concentrating on Y/n with the other.

Cinder was put on the defence as Y/n started to aim stabs at her chest and shoulders, causing Cinder to go into a low stance and wait for her chance to pounce at either target.

Her chance came when Ruby tried to maneuver her large scythe but ended up jamming it one of the pillars, Cinder used the momentary distraction to lunge at Ruby and hit her hand with her sword, cutting it and causing the reaper to lose hold off her scythe. Cinder dropped one of her swords and punched Ruby, sending Ruby flying back.

"NOOOO!" Y/n yelled as he desperately swung at Cinder and tried to prevent her attacking Ruby, it was too late.

Cinder stepped away from Y/n and made one longsword out of glass.

"Now it's just the two of us."

"I'll kill you for that."

"Is that a threat?"

"It's a promise."

Y/n drew his Paladin pistol and started firing at Cinder who easily dodged the shots, she ran at Y/n and re-engaged him in melee combat. She moved with the grace of a ballerina but with the ferocity of a bear, Y/n had to use all his training under Roman to just stand on equal footing with the ferocious woman. Y/n was living up to his team name, looking for optimal strikes and taking advantages of any lapse of concentration like a wolf looking for vulnerable prey.

"You're good." Cinder said as she drew away from the panting Y/n.

"But not that good." She leapt at him once more, only grasping her longsword with one hand. Y/n parried and deflected her first few strikes before she smiled and made a dagger of glass which she stabbed into Y/n's chest. Y/n looked in shock and backed away a few steps, holstering his pistol and dropping his sword. He looked down at his chest and tried to grasp the protruding object but was too weak to do anything but fall to his knee's.

Cinder walked over and knelt down next to him, caressing his chin with her now blood-covered hands.

"Oh you poor boy, you really thought you stood a chance. I'm the chosen champion of the dark goddess, I was just using this fight as practice."

Y/n could barely hear her as he heard his blood pumping through his ears.

He looked over at Ruby, lying on the ground and violently spasming, he needed to do this, he needed to defeat Cinder. Y/n thought of all his friends and what would happen to them if he failed, he thought of team RWBY and team CVFY and all the teachers and military personnel. Y/n looked over at Ruby again and smiled, and an idea came to mind, a very dumb idea that Goodwitch would've scoffed at, but it was the only idea he had. Talk to Cinder then try and surprise attack her.

"You know, you killed yourself."

"And why would that be?"

"Because." Y/n grunted out, pulling the dagger out of his chest, the pain was only temporary and paled in comparison to the harm the Grimm tentacles had inflicted on him.

He locked into Cinders shocked eyes and gave her a stare that would make Volcanoes melt in fear and force Everest back into the ground.

"You fucked with me."

Y/n teleported behind Cinder and quickly drew his pistol, shooting Cinder in the back of the head and shattering her Aura.

The roles were reversed now with Cinder on her knees looking up at Y/n with fearful eyes while Y/n pressed his gun against her head.

"Please, have don't shoot me, have mercy" Cinder looked like she was about to break down crying with tearful eyes that begged for forgiveness.

"Where was your mercy when you infected my friends? where was your mercy when I was tortured within an inch of my life?"

"I...I... I'm sorry."

"You know, there's one thing you should know about me, a thing you should've thought about when you heard my tortured screams wear on for days, a thing you should've known when you hurt my friends."

"An... and what is it?"

"I keep my promises." Y/n sliced Cinders neck with the glass dagger, her own weapon. He holstered his pistol and looked at Cinders limp body, falling to the ground.

He shook his head and raced over to Ruby who was still on the ground convulsing, her skin looked very pale but Y/n couldn't see any visible bleeding. Ruby suddenly stood up and stared straight at Cinders body.

"You... you killed her." Her voice wasn't displaying any emotion, the comment wasn't an accusation, more like a fact.

"Ruby I'm sorry, I was just so angry that she hurt you and the others an-"

"YOU KILLED MY MASTER!" Ruby grabbed her scythe and launched herself at the wounded Y/n, hacking and slashing with wild abandon while Y/n desperately tried to show her reason.

"What are you doing Ruby? Please, I'm your friend, look at me."

The words didn't phase Ruby who kept swinging with the fury of a woman possessed.

"Please stop!" Y/n yelled at his teammate, he didn't want to hurt her and had no idea why she wa-

It hit Y/n like a freight train, the pale skin, the frenzied attacks. His love was infected.

He decided to try and defeat Ruby without hurting her too badly, he grabbed a strand of climbing rope still attached to his belt from the cure expedition. Y/n teleported around Ruby faster than she could react.

He had slowly wrapped her legs in the rope and when he gave it a good tug she fell to the ground.

Ruby knew she had been defeated by tried one last hail mary at victory.

She looked at Y/n and gave him big pleading puppy dog eyes. She was playing the mental game.

"Y/n, please don't release the cure. If you heal everyone then I'll go back to normal knowing you killed someone, do you really think my more innocent side will still love you after that?"

Y/n was at the edge of the tower, his hand hovering over the button on the gas device.

"Just think, you and me together, no one else, not Yang, not Raven and not Tai. No more worrying about school or anything else. Just you and me together. Forever."

Tears were spilling from Y/n's eyes as Ruby finished her pleading. The offer was the most tempting thing the huntsman had ever heard. A life with just him and Ruby, together at last, impossible if he released the cure and she figured out what he'd done.

He had to make a choice. Sacrifice his dream with Ruby to save the rest of Remnant or live with Ruby in ignorant bliss. There was only one answer.

"Ruby... I'm sorry."

"NOOOO!" Ruby shrieked as Y/n slams the button and the gas immediately starts spreading from the container, slowly expanding and making its way across the school ground at an ever-increasing rate. Y/n looked out over Beacon and sighed, he had been a hero, but at what cost to himself.

"Finally." Y/n spun around as he heard a familiar deep voice echo across the tower.

"Do you know how difficult it is to fight off an army of infected?"

The large man emerged from the gas and revealed himself as Yatsuhashi.

Y/n had to hold off his momentary excitement at seeing the mammoth of a man as he had to ask a very important question.

"What happened to the infected and Neo?"

"When the gas came all the infected passed out and I ran up here, I assume there slowly healing, as for Neo, she got infected and was about to take my head off when the gas came. Anyway, what happened up here?"

Y/n spend 20 minutes going through every excruciating detail of his encounter with Cinder, Yatsuhashi didn't even flinch when Y/n mentioned his murder. Y/n asked Yatsuhashi what he should do next.

"As I see it, everyone at Beacon and possibly all of Remnant is in your debt, considering this I think I can help you out."

"What do you mean?"

"My semblance erases memory, I can erase everyone's memory that this ever happened and things can go back to the way they were. Deal?"

Yatsuhashi extended his hand to Y/n who hesitated. He looked over at Ruby and thought about what would happen, either she forgot everything including there kiss and planned date or she remembered and hated Y/n for the rest of his life. Y/n shook Yatsuhashi's hand.

"You made the right choice, I also snuck a gift in there for you."

Yatsuhashi stood still and closed his eyes with a look of intense concentration on his face. After a few seconds, his eyes reopened.

"It is done, you might want to talk to Ruby."

Y/n walked over to Ruby with dread in his heart, all those loving moments between them would be forgotten and Y/n would go back to crushing on her from a distance. Such is life, he thought as he was a few metres away from Ruby.

"I should've stayed with Roma- "

Y/n's muttering was muted as Ruby kissed him with the ferocity of a woman possessed. She disengaged herself from the passionate exchange and leapt with joy.

"We did Y/n, we won!"

Y/n gave Yatsuhashi a confused glance to which he just smiled and winked.

At that moment Y/n realised what had happened, Yatsuhashi had wiped everyone's memory except Ruby. His mind immediately joined Ruby in joyful leaping until he realised the consequences of Yatsuhashi's actions.

He put his hands on Ruby's shoulders and looked her dead in the eyes.

"Ruby... I killed someone, how can you kiss a murderer?"

Ruby's smile turned into a sombre grimace as her eyes grew serious.

"I don't like it... but this is war, it was her or the whole of Remnant and you chose her. Technically that makes you a hero."

"And does that make you the princess?" Y/n scooped Ruby off her feet and gave her a kiss, they both smiled and kept kissing

Y/n looked over and saw Yatsuhashi making out with Velvet in the corner of the tower. Looks like he added his own advantages to the memory wipe.

Y/n focused back on Ruby and felt the bubbly feeling of love well up inside his heart. For the first time since he could remember Y/n could confidently say that he was content, he was satisfied.

He was happy.

https://discord.gg/qDRXTb8