Work Text:
"We're going to lose." That was the one mind numbing thought that overpowered anything else in Yang's mind as she looked across the battlefield. The swarm of Grimm was too large; there were thousands maybe even tens of thousands of Grimm prepared to devour their dead bodies.
Many might not have noticed, but she could see that slowly but surely they were being pushed back to the ship where they would inevitably be overwhelmed by the hordes of oncoming Grimm.
"We need a diversion," she thought "something to keep the Grimm at bay while Bullhead takes off." But what could they do? She had to come up with something people's lives were on the line.
Yang couldn't think of anything as she held off her section of the swarm of Grimm. In the end, it looked like their journey would end here. "NO!" this wasn't about her if she failed here then not only would her friends die but Ruby would, and Yang would do anything to make sure Ruby could live her life.
And then suddenly an idea hit her, an idea that she knew would work. With a wave of determination, Yang knew what she had to do. She told the group that if they could start the Bullhead, then she could throw her arm off the ship and activate its self-destruct feature which would hold off the Grimm for enough time for them to escape.
Yang had never mentioned this feature to anyone before but, with no one else coming up with a suitable replacement plan they ignored their suspicions and agreed to follow through with her plan.
Then without everyone else noticing she gave Blake and Jaune a set of instructions that only they could complete neither were particularly thrilled with their roles, but they both replied with a glassy smile and salute which Yang returned.
Then as everyone got onto the ship and Nora and Ren provided cover fire, Ruby noticed that Yang wasn't making any move to get on, so she walked to the loading platform and asked:
"Yang, what are you doing?"
Yang looked at her with a sad smile and said: "Ruby, I need you to listen to me, I need you to know that you can't blame yourself for any of the horrors this war has shown you or will show you; I need you to know that sometimes bad things just happen."
"Ok, Yang I get that but we can talk about this on the ship lets go," she said as she grabbed Yang's robotic arm.
"I love you" was all Yang said as she pushed Ruby back onto the ship and her hand slowly slipped from the redhead's grasp.
She proceeded to nod at Blake and Jaune who quickly began to fulfill their roles in her plan. Blake quickly turned on the Bullhead and started to lift the landing platform, and Jaune took hold of Ruby before she could try to grab Yang.
Then Yang gave the ship one final salute and then ran toward the approaching swarm. And as she activated her semblance and ran into the fray she smiled when she could hear the sounds of the Bullhead slowly dimming.
Then Yang fought till she had no energy left in her body and the corpses of Grimm littered the battlefield. And even then she made one final move. She imagined everything that happened.
Weiss's assassination during the defense of Atlas, Sun's sacrifice at Menagerie, Qrow's death at the siege of Mistral, Her dad's death at the hands of the White Fang, The anger kept building up and with it her semblance, but it wasn't enough she needed more, Pyrrah and Penny's death during the Vytal Festival, Raven abandoning her, Summer never coming home and last of all she imagined a dying Ruby at the hands of the Grimm.
So much Aura shot out of her body that all across the world people could see the giant pillar of Flames that pierced the very sky above them, the entire world stood in awe as they witnessed Yang's last stand.
With her body being completely drained Yang collapsed, and as her consciousness began to leave her, and the few remaining Grimm approached her she just said "I'm sorry Ruby, but it looks like sometimes ... sometimes bad things just happen."
Epilogue:
Years later a middle-aged woman with red hair and silver eyes walked across a windy luscious field. She suddenly stopped when she stumbled upon a single unwavering tree in the high wind located in middle of the vast meadow. She walked towards it and at its base found an old bloodied atlas mechanical arm, and as she picked up this old tool she could only think of one thing, some of the last few words the woman had ever heard this equipment's owner say. The woman choked back a sob and spoke in the steadiest voice she could "Sometimes Bad Things Just Happen."
AN: If anyone is wondering this is a one-shot there will be no other stories that tie into this in any way. Also, I have to give credit to Coeur Al'Aran for the Aura idea that scene was paying tribute to the amazing story One Good Turn Deserves Another. The reason I included the idea was that Coeur Al'Aran is my favorite fanfiction writer and the one who inspired me to write fanfiction. I also believed that a scene such as this would be very fitting in a last stand moment as it was wonderful in his story as well. There is a poll on my fanfiction.net profile page to vote on which story I write after the End of An Age based on the summaries listed in my bio.
One Good Turn Deserves Another: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10817938/1/One-Good-Turn-Deserves-Another
Profile: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/8336135/Summer-Rose-RWBY
-Sincerely Summer-Rose