For the first few minutes, everything was quiet. Then the shooting began. The echoing of the gunfire could be heard all the way from the tent, and the live feed offered sounds of people screaming. There was an explosion, the screens turning to static, then everything was quiet. The chief of police, white in the face, eventually gave in to (F/N) and allowed him and the others to enter the school.

Pyrrha and Jaune entered the building first, shields raised as they slowly made their way through the halls. The first few hallways were empty, then, rounding a corner, they saw the beginning of the havoc. There were bullet holes in the walls and lockers, the windows shattered and broken glass littering the floors. There were a few bodies, some White Fang, most Purifiers. Ruby buried her face in her sister's chest, tears falling from her eyes. As they continued, they saw more signs of fighting, more scattered bodies. Following the destruction, they stepped through a pair of heavy double doors that lead to a large courtyard in the middle of the school. It became immediately evident that this is where the explosion had sounded from. The area reminded (F/N) of the battlefields from the Great War, bodies piled high, the smell of gunpowder and ash filling his nostrils. There was evidence of an explosion, the ground shattered beneath where the bomb must have been.

They weren't really sure where to go next. There were three doors, not counting the one behind them, one on each of the walls. They decided to split up. Team RWBY took the door on the right, JNPR the one on the left. (F/N) went alone, pushing through the set of doors that lie straight ahead. He knew he had chosen the correct path before he had even stepped inside. His semblance had told him everything he needed to know, and so he had convinced the others to split up and leave him to take this path alone. He was the only one who could finish this.

Despite the many branching corridors, (F/N) navigated his way to the gymnasium with ease. Peering through the thick glass in the large, heavy doors, (F/N) saw the collected student body and faculty sitting tentatively on the bleachers. On the floor were about a dozen White Fang troops, just as many Purifiers standing across from them. Both sides had their guns drawn and were aiming at the others, fingers ready on the triggers of their weapons. Though he can't hear the conversation, it's obvious that the situation is only getting worse, as one of the White Fang members grabs a student from the audience and puts her gun to his head. Quickly, (F/N) opens the heavy doors and steps into the gym.

"Hi. Hi, hello." He says, trying to draw everyone's attention to him. "Oh, hello." He says as the White Fang point their guns at him. The young student manages to break free from his captor's grip and run back to the huddled mass on the bleachers. "Stop this." He says, moving to stand next to the two groups. "Stop this, please."

Suddenly, the doors burst open again and Pyrrha runs inside, guns now pointing at her. As they close, (F/N) can hear the sound of distant gunfire. If he had to guess, Teams RWBY and JNPR ran into some trouble in the halls, whether Purifiers or White Fang, he didn't know. It might have even been both. It seemed however, that Pyrrha had run ahead to catch up with him

"Pyrrha?" (F/N) whisper shouts, walking towards her. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Stopping you from getting yourself killed." She hisses back as she approaches.

"Who the hell are you two?" One of the White Fang members asks agitatedly.

"Us?" (F/N) asks, turning away from Pyrrha and walking back towards the two groups. "We're nobody. Nobody important. It's you you should be more concerned about." He says, indicating the White Fang and Purifiers. "Because what you do here today will affect the entire world for years to come."

"Good." One of the Purifiers snarls.

"No, no." (F/N) says. "Not good, very not good. Have you even stopped to consider the consequences of what happens here?"

"Of course we have!" A White Fang member shouts. "That's why we did it, to spread our message."

"Yeah, too bad you ain't gonna live to tell it." A Purifier snarls, taking a half step forwards and looking down the sights of his rifle.

The White Fang members refocus their attentions from the two Beacon students back on their enemies. The tension in the room is palpable, The White Fang and Purifiers waiting for the others to do something, but neither side willing to take the first shot.

"This is the moment everyone's been waiting for." (F/N) says. "Time to make up your minds! Do we have any volunteers? Anyone willing to be remembered for being the person to fire the first shot and plunge the world into chaos?"

"Shut up, shut up!" One Purifier shouts.

"This is wrong." A White Fang member says shakily.

"No." (F/N) says. "No, what's wrong is taking a school full of innocent children hostage."

"Innocent?" Another of the Faunus extremist snorts. "They're humans. And just like all humans, they treat our kind like garbage."

"Well you're not giving them much of a reason not to." (F/N) says. "I mean, look at yourselves. You've taken a bunch of children to be your hostages and you expect people to not think of you as terrorists?"

"We have to do something."

"Then do something, but not this. This isn't right. These children aren't at fault."

"Aren't they?" The Faunus scoffs. "What do you think they'll grow up to be once they leave this place?"

"That's not their fault." (F/N) says. "They don't know any better. If you want to blame someone, do what everyone else does and blame society."

"We've been treated like animals."

"So what?" (F/N) shrugs.

"We've been shut out by society."

"Who hasn't?"

The White Fang member lowers their gun and stares at (F/N) in disbelief.

"It isn't fair." They say.

"Oh, it's not fair, is it?" (F/N) laughs. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize that."

"They've slaughtered our brothers and sisters! Killed our families!"

"What, you think you're the only people who've lost something?" (F/N) asks. "Look at me, I've lost my arm." He says, waving his right arm around.

"That's not the sa..."

"And I've lost my family." (F/N) finishes. "But you don't see me running around shooting up the Kingdom. Honestly," He laughs, "you preach all this bullshit about you being the superior race, yet you run around in masks and act like a bunch of common thugs. You're not superior to people who are cruel to you. You're just a new group of cruel people, being cruel to more people, who will go an be cruel to more people. The cycle repeats. The only way anyone can live in peace... is if they are prepared to forgive. So why don't you do us all a favor and break the cycle."

The White Fang members look at each other, a little unsure. (F/N) decides to continue with his momentum.

"Tell me, tell me, what is it that you actually want?"

The group of Faunus are quiet for a moment, then one finally answers. "Freedom."

"Freedom from what, exactly?"

"Freedom from them." They say, pointing at the Purifiers with their gun. "From their tyranny and oppression."

"And do you really think this is the best way to get that?" (F/N) asks.

"It's the only way!"

"Wrong." (F/N) says. "Wrong. There are so many better ways to go about fighting for your equality. Ways that don't involve violence or killing."

"Those ways don't work anymore!" Another White Fang member shouts. "This is the only option we have left!"

"What? Going to war?"

"If that's what it takes." They growl.

"And what if you lose?"

They're silent, shocked, almost as if they hadn't considered it a possibility.

"We won't lose."

"Yes, yes you will. Because it doesn't end here." (F/N) says. "Let's consider for a moment that you do win. After that, what do you do with the people like you? The people who aren't happy with the way you're running things. The people who rise up and fight back. What happens then, hmm?"

"We'll win."

"Maybe." (F/N) nods. "Maybe you will win. But then along comes someone else. And then another. It just keeps repeating, because no matter who wins, everybody ends up losing sooner or later."

"Why are you still talking?" One of the White Fang asks frustratedly, pointing his gun at (F/N).

"Because I want to get you to see it. And I'm almost there."

"You know what I see?" The man snarls. "I see the perfect chance to free Remnant from this filth!"

"Us too pal!" Reinman growls.

The two sides are back to aiming at each other. (F/N) puts his hands up and steps out from between them.

"And we're off!" He shouts like a carnival announcer. "Fingers on triggers! Are you feeling lucky? Who's gonna be fastest? Who's gonna be luckiest?"

"This isn't a game kid!" Reinman shouts.

"No." (F/N) says back. "It's not a game. You know what this is? It's a temper tantrum!"

"What?" The beefy Purifier leader snarls.

"You heard me. You're all just a bunch of screaming children. You're mad because mommy and daddy love Johnny more." (F/N) says, pointing at the White Fang. Then he turns to the Purifiers. "And you're mad because Davie started screaming his head off, and now all the attention is on him. So what do you do? You start screaming too. You're all the same, you screaming children. And now it's not just mommy and daddy angry at you, now the neighbors are getting annoyed too. So if you could all just take a minute and shut up! You'll realize the only people you'll end up hurting are yourselves."

"You know what kid?" Reinman says. "I've had just about enough of your shit. You don't understand the scope of this. This is a war!"

"I don't understand?" (F/N) chuckles, placing his hand on his chest. "Me? Me? You think this is a war?" He asks, pointing between the two groups. "You call this, a war? This silly little thing? I've fought in a war. I've fought in a war bigger than any of you could ever imagine! I've done worse things than anyone could ever forgive! And when I try to sleep at night! I see more bodies than anyone could ever name. And I hear more screams than anyone could ever count."

(F/N) turns around and buries his face in his hands. Pyrrha takes a small half step, about to reach out and take his hand, but she stops herself. (F/N) runs his hands through his hair and turns back around.

"When you fire that first shot, no matter how righteous you may feel, you have no idea who's going to die! Whose children will burn and scream! How many lives will be lost! The blood that you spill will stain your hands, and you can never wash it off! And do you know what you do with that pain? With that guilt? You gather it up and build a wall around it. And when the nightmares come and the screams fill your head, you bury them. You keep it to yourself because no one could ever understand." (F/N) glances briefly at Pyrrha out of the corner of his eyes. "No one could ever forgive what you've done."

Pyrrha looks away, shame rising in her chest. (F/N)'s words seem to have finally gotten through to the White Fang and Purifiers as well. They're looking amongst each other, unsure, guns lowering towards the ground.

"Oh, come one!" Reinman laughs, looking around at his men. "Don't tell me you're buying into this crap."

"I don't know Klar." One of the Purifiers says. "I think the kid's got a point. This isn't the right way to do this."

"It's the only way!" Reinman spits. "Remember, we formed the Purifiers to protect our kind from these animals!"

"Yeah but... if we start a war, innocent people will get caught up in the crossfire. And I don't want my sister living in a war zone."

There comes a murmur of agreement from both sides, but Reinman still isn't having it.

"You think those animals will just forget about this?" He asks, spit flying from his mouth. "You think they'll just let this go? As soon as we drop our guard, that's when they strike!"

Reinman continues his ranting, desperately trying to convince his people to take up arms. His eyes are wide and bug-eyed and spit flies from his mouth. He looks quite deranged. He turns and shouts in one of the Purifiers' faces but the man backs away, shaking his head.

"You're crazy man."

Reinman looks around frantically to see the other Purifiers giving him similar looks of disgust. Breathing heavily, he stands up straight.

"Okay." He says resignedly. "Fine. I didn't want it to come to this, but you're not giving me a choice." On Reinman's shoulder is a small black box the size of a deck of cards. Pinching the sides, a tiny red light begins flashing rhythmically. "Now listen up!" He says loudly to the entire room. "There are bombs all throughout the school loaded with enough incendiary dust to light up a building twice this size. In ten minutes this place goes up in smoke, unless," he sneers, looking at his men, "you put those animals down!"

"What if we put you down instead?" One of the White Fang asks, raising his weapon.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Reinman grins. "The detonator is also linked to my heartbeat. If I go down, so do you."

"Are you crazy?" One of the Purifiers shouts.

"Not crazy, just prepared. I knew there was a chance of me not making it out of this, so I made sure that if I got taken down that I'd take these animals with me."

"Reinman, this was supposed to be a rescue mission!"

"Change of plans." He smirks. "Now Purifiers, I suggest you pick up your weapons and take those animals down. Because if you don't, I swear to God I'll drag everyone in this building to hell."

"For God's sake Reinman!" Pyrrha shouts. "Are you trying to start a war?"

"That's exactly what I'm fixing to do sweetheart." The brawny man grins. "Either my men take this trash out and we deliver a crushing first blow to their pathetic organization, or we all go down, and the Kingdom sees the Purifiers as heroes who tragically lost their lives trying to save a school full of children. The media will take care of the rest, and others will take our place. One way or another, this war is happening. Eight minutes seventeen seconds."

The Purifiers look at each other warily. Between Reinman's two options, at least one gets them out alive. Coming to some unspoken agreement, they shakily aim their weapons at the White Fang. The Faunus quickly react, drawing their own guns. 

"Do it! Now!" Reinman shouts.

"No!" (F/N) jumps in between the two groups, holding his arms up. "No one else is dying today!"

A gunshot echoes through the gymnasium and (F/N) barely manages to raise his arm and deflect the bullet in time.

"I've waited too long for this!" Reinman snarls. "I'm not gonna let you ruin this for me!"

Reinman fires his gun again, but Pyrrha dashes next to (F/N), shield raised.

"Pyrrha, you need to get everyone out of here. I'll take care of Reinman."

"What?" Pyrrha asks, looking at (F/N). "No. No, I won't leave you."

"We don't have time to argue. Now go!"

The two look into one another's eyes, exchanging a meaningful look. Nodding, Pyrrha leaves (F/N)'s side.

"Okay, you heard him." She says. "We need to get everyone out of here now!"

Both the White Fang and Purifiers nod, the students and staff shifting in the bleachers as they start to make towards the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" Reinman shouts angrily. "Get back here!"

Raising his weapon, he takes aim at the fleeing students, finger on this trigger. Just as he fires, (F/N) rushes him from the side, jumping in front of his face and grabbing the barrel of the gun, pulling it from his grip. Landing between Reinman and the students, (F/N) draws himself up to his full height, throwing the gun to the side as he stares down the burly man standing in from of him.

"You have more important things to worry about."

________________________________________________________________________________

"Hurry!" Pyrrha shouts as she ushers the hostages along, directing them towards the police. "We need to get as far away from here as possible!"

"Pyrrha? What's going on?"

Looking over her shoulder, Pyrrha sees her teammates and Team RWBY jogging towards her, each of them looking worn, but otherwise unharmed.

"Reinman's planted bombs throughout the school." Pyrrha explains, still pointing the hostages in the right direction. "We've only got a few minutes before they go off so we need to get these people as far away from the building as we can."

"What can we do to help?" Nora asks.

"Disperse through the crowd and direct them to the police." Pyrrha says. "Make sure no one gets trampled over or left behind."

The others nod and all eight of them split up amongst the crowd. Pyrrha helps a young girl who has tripped back on her feet while Ruby speeds away some of the injured to safety. Soon, the entire school has been safely escorted behind the police line, reuniting with teary eyed family members and receiving medical attention.

"Okay, you all stay here." Pyrrha says to her friends. "I'll be right back, I just need to get (F/N)."

"Where's (F/N)?" Jaune asks.

Pyrrha anxiously glances over her shoulder at the school.

Jaune follows her gaze, eyes widening in horrific realization. "No. Pyrrha, you can't!"

"I have to." She says, starting towards the building. "He might need me."

"Jaune's right." Yang says, grabbing Pyrrha by the arm. "It's too late for that."

"Let go of me, Yang!" Pyrrha says, tugging her arm.

Yang's grip remains firm, holding her back. Pyrrha is about to force her to release her when her other arm is restrained by Ren.

"Let me go!" Pyrrha yells, struggling against the two who are still holding her by the arms. "I have to help him."

"Pyrrha, stop." Ren says in his calm voice as he fights against his friend's constant thrashing. "Listen to me, you'll never reach him in time."

"You don't know that!" She argues, still pulling against his grip. "Just let me go and I can get to him! I have to get to him! Please, I have to make things right!"

Tears are falling from her eyes now as Nora assists Ren and Yang in holding her back.

"Pyrrha, you have to relax." Ruby says reassuringly, placing her hands on her friend's shoulders. "(F/N) will be fine. You have to trust that (F/N) will..."

BOOM!

The sound of a loud explosion and hundreds of screams interrupt Ruby as everyone turns their eyes from the bright light. By the time they look back, the building has been engulfed in flames, huge black clouds of smoke extending towards the sky, clouding the light of the sun. The heat can be felt even from the police line several hundred meters away as the building blazes. Firefighters scramble to gather their equipment and face the fire before it has the chance to spread. Meanwhile, Pyrrha pulls harder than ever against her friends' grips, screaming for (F/N).  

Eventually, Pyrrha's body becomes limp and she collapses to her knees, tears falling from her eyes and rolling down her face. Pyrrha doesn't feel her friends' hands on her back as they attempt to console her. She doesn't hear their words of comfort. All she can focus on is the fire. Her world had ended, so why hadn't everyone else stopped. It didn't matter the building was on fire, all the hostages had made it out, and there was no way (F/N) had survived that blast. So why were the firetrucks still rushing towards the scene? Why were the police still talking over their radios? And why hadn't the freed hostages collapsed to their knees and started crying? Mourning the man who had saved their lives.

And still Pyrrha watched the fire, the intense heat drying the tears that continued to fall from her eyes. The red-hot flames seemed to mock her as they danced and flickered and her vision began to blur as the heat created ripples in the air. Pyrrha blinked the tears from her eyes. For a second, she could have sworn saw... but no, it couldn't be. It was just an illusion from the heat mirage. Narrowing her eyes, Pyrrha looked again, this time more closely. Her heart jumped from her chest and lodged in her throat. A small figure approached from the burning building, growing larger every second. Time seemed to slow down as (F/N) ran towards her, seemingly in slow motion. Behind him, the fire continued to burn in the distance, framing his impressive figure. Draped over his shoulders was a large unconscious figure. Reinman.

As (F/N) got closer time seemed to start at its normal pace. He ran past her, dropping the beaten, ash covered leader of the Purifiers on a gurney at one of the ambulances stationed on the outskirts of the assembled crowd. Without thinking, Pyrrha ran towards him. His back was to her, dismissing a paramedic with a wave of his hand as he insisted, he was fine. Hearing her quickly approaching footsteps, (F/N) turned around only to have Pyrrha throwing herself into his arms. Her lips were quickly pressed upon his, causing his eyes to widen in surprise before fluttering closed. His arms wrapped around her waist, her hands on either side of his soot covered face as they deepened the already passionate kiss.