The Wilted Rose

Chapter 77: Bid Farewell

Beacon

8:30 PM

The Fall is Here

The Lazarus energy washed over me, not so much healing as it was fanning out aggressively. I had almost no control over it. Wave after wave blasted through the area, attacking everything in the area. Cinder and Ozpin were the only two that was able to stand it. Pyrrha was having to fight to keep her footing and Jaune was down for the count. The last time I fought Cinder was the when Roman and I sprung that trap on her. Ever since then, I had been wanting to have another go at her. I should have done this earlier, whether she was hiding here at Beacon or not. 

Another wave burst forward and I went with it, petal bursting into Cinder, knocking her down. I was going to kill her as quickly as possible. I had bigger fish to fry. I landed on top of Cinder and yanked my crowbar up to jam the pointed end into her chest. Just before I could bring it down, Cinder let out a burst of fire into my chest. The intensity of the flames was extreme, almost completely burning through everything. 

I landed hard on my back and scrambled back to my feet before Pyrrha rushed past me. Ozpin stepped in between all of us holding Pyrrha back. I tried to petal burst past him but only caught his cane to my gut. I was already having a hard time controlling the Lazarus energy, and him knocking the shit out of me isn't helping. 

Ozpin: You two take Jaune and get out of here! Find Qrow, Ironwood, Glynda, bring them here right away! The tower cannot fall. 

Red Hood: Fuck off, old man. The bitch is mine!

Pyrrha: I can help. 

Ozpin: No! You two will only get in the way!

I was about to willingly hit him with the Lazarus energy when the ground started to rumble again. It was enough for me to start thinking. Ozpin can deal with her, I can go after Taurus. Taurus was the one I really wanted at the moment. The Lazarus energy subsided and I ran back for Jaune, picking him up in a firemens carry. 

Pyrrha stayed between me and Cinder, in case she attacked us. Cinder made no moves against us as we passed by her. I carried Jaune about halfway to the elevator before he started coming to. Once we made it to the elevetor, Pyrrha hit the button and I set Jaune down. I had to hold him up for a second before he was able to stand on his own. I put the crowbar away and turned to the doors. The rumbling only getting more and more intense, only now, it was originating from below us. 

Jaune: ....What happened?

I didn't speak, neither did Pyrrha, though our reasonings were different. I was getting ready to drag them to the evacuation zone that was set up. At least I assume it was a evacuation zone in the vision. Pyrrha looked completely defeated, honestly, I felt that way too but my fight wasn't over yet. When the elevator doors opened I grabbed hold of Pyrrha and Jaune and used my semblance to forcefully drag them to safety. I was starting to go lightheaded but pushed through it. 

Once we finally came up on the evacuation zone, that was when I finally gave out. I came out of the semblance, dropping Pyrrha and Jaune as I started to tumble and roll before finally coming to a stop. I tried to pick myself up but I just couldn't. I was exhausted and extremely hurt. I tried to lift myself up again and found that I had help this time. I looked up to see Weiss helping to pull me to my feet. 

I tried to stand on my own but nearly dropped back to the ground. Weiss held me up and helped me further into the evacuation zone. At least I was right about that. Everyone was here, Port and Oobleck, both the Vale and Beacon teams, though everyone was significantly wounded now with a few exceptions. Once we got further in, I saw Yang and Blake. I don't know how they got here but I knew what I was going to do.