It was the dead of night and a blizzard was battering the city of Argus. Normally the people would have been safely cooped up in their homes, riding out the storm as best they could. But this was far from a normal night, on this night the fate of the city hung in the balance. For Argus now stood alone as the last settlement on the continent of Anima, the Grimm Hordes having laid waste to the entire continent.
With the seemingly endless swarm rapidly closing in, there was no choice but to evacuate the population to the safety of the three surviving kingdom's. Unfortunately the adverse weather conditions hampered the evacuation attempts, so every available fighter was forced into a rearguard action in hopes of delaying the Grimm advance long enough to save the civilians.
Most of the military units in Anima had already been wiped out, so the defending army was comprised of the survivors from various different kingdoms and faction. The force was lead by General Leonardo Lionheart and the last remnants of the Mistrali Army, although they were in the minority. The rest of the force consisted of the Atlesian Expeditionary Force under General Jacques Schnee, the Valese Expeditionary Force under General Peter Port, the White Fang under Chief Ghira Belladonna, and the Branwen Tribe under Chief Raven Branwen.
The walls of the city were manned by the elite bowmen of Atlas, while the rest of the forces stood in formation just outside. They were waiting, waiting for the waves of doom to crash down upon them. It would have been a terrifying enough job in the middle of a clear day, but it was so much worse with the Grimm hidden from view by the darkness and the near whiteout conditions. To find out how close their hidden enemies were, a vanguard was sent out to locate them.
After a worryingly long time, a single member of the vanguard came riding out of the storm at full gallop. Her red cloak flapped wildly behind her, as she pushed her terrified horse as fast as it could go. Over the deafening wind she the her shouts could only just be heard "They're right behind me, brace yourselves!"
The lone rider had barely reached the front line of defenders when the creatures appeared out of the darkness, within seconds the whole area was crawling with Grimm from Boarbatusks to Death Stalkers. The skies weren't much better, they were suddenly filled with Griffons, Lancers, Manticores, Nevermores and Sphinxes.
As the ranged units launched their first volleys at the Grimm, the rider came to a stop and dismounted next to Generald Port. "I'm sorry sir, they killed everyone else. Captain Oobleck ordered me to retreat right before a Nevermore carried him off." she told the General, as she dropped to her knees before him.
The General sighed "Their sacrifice will be remembered, and we will fight on in their names. So get back on your feet Summer, we cannot allow our losses to break our resolve. I had hoped it would not come to this, but we must hold out at all costs." he told her. He was not the sort to throw away the lives of his own people, but that was all he could do now.
With her resolve strengthened by the General's words, she returned to her feet drawing the scythe that hung at her hip. "Yes sir, my Ruby is still waiting to leave and I will not let these monsters harm her, even if it costs me my life." she said, before turning and heading back to the front line, where a blond man was bludgeoning a boarbatusk with a giant mace.
He was too busy fighting to notice Summer's arrival, until the Beowolf in front of him lost its head to her scythe. "You gave me a hell of a scare there Sum, I thought I'd lost you." he said to her, before crushing the skull of a Creep that tried to bite him.
Summer decapitated another Beowolf before responding. "I told you Tai, neither of us can fall until Ruby is safe. Until the last ship leaves and I know she's on her way out of here, we have to keep fighting no matter what." she told him, trying to motivate him to fight to the bitter end. Even though she already knew that he would.
"Oh don't worry, I'm not letting anything get past this point until I know my little girl is safe. There may be no future for us, but I'll make sure we live long enough to give her a future." Tai told her, before smashing a jumping Creep out of mid air. As long as he had blood to lose, he would fight to protect his daughter.
"Listen Tai. Whatever happens to us, I just want you to remember that I love you with all my heart. The year's I've spent with you have been the best of my life, and I couldn't pick a better person to die with." she said, as she slashed the arms off an Ursa.
"Same to you Sum, same to you." Tai responded, as he helped her take down the Ursa. Neither of them expected to survive the battle, but they would fight together until they had nothing left to give.
Further along the front line, were the Branwens. They were a nomadic tribe but Anima was their homeland, and they would not let the Grimm take it without a fight. As such, every single member of the tribe was in the fight, they wouldn't retreat unless their Chief gave the order. But their Chief wasn't going to do that, she was more concerned with slaughtering everything that came her way.
With her trusty sword in hand, Raven carved her way through dozens of Grimm. "If I'm going to hell, I'm taking all of you with me!" she shouted at the seemingly endless wave of creatures, it was not the Branwen way to show weakness in the face of an enemy. It didn't matter that it was an unwinnable battle, she would not waver.
"Yeah, what she said." added the black haired man beside her, as he sliced the head off an Ursa with his great sword. He was cutting down just as many Grimm as she was, and he wasn't showing any sign of wavering either.
"I must admit Qrow, I was wrong about you. I thought you were going to run off again like you always used to." Raven commented to him, before she drove her sword clean through the chest of a Beringle which had joined the battle.
"I told you Rae, I'd start sticking around more when you stopped attacking the innocent." Qrow responded, as butchered several Grimm with a single swing of his blade. In the past the tribe had raided villages and killed innocent people, but their ways changed when the Grimm became a threat.
Their conversation was interrupted by a Nevermore swooping down to attack them, they both braced themselves to kill it the moment it got close enough. But they never got the chance to kill it, as a woman with cropped hair took it out of the sky with a crossbow bolt through its eye. It crashed to the ground at their feet, before vanishing.
"Thank you Vernal, your aim has certainly improved." Raven commended her, before dodging an attack from a Beowolf and impaling it through the head when it growled at her. "Now go and help Yang, there's a Death Stalker heading straight for her part of the line." she then ordered, showing she could fight one on one while also commanding her people.
"I'm on it." Vernal responded, before sprinting further along the line to where a blond girl was smashing Creeps with a warhammer. She wasn't too far away, but the onslaught made it quite a challenge to move down the line.
Yang and the tribe members around her were readying themselves to take on the enormous scorpion, when Vernal reached them. "Yang, I'll try try to shoot it in the eyes, but I'll need you to distract him for me." she told the blond, as she reloaded her crossbow.
"No problem, I've got this." Yang responded, before moving to draw the Death Stalker's attention away from Vernal. It repeatedly tried to catch her with it's pincers and impale her with its tail, but she dodged every attack and launched her own attacks when she could.
Though Yang was preventing it from attacking her, the creatures movements made it hard for Vernal to hit her target. She fire multiple bolts at it, only for it to move at the last possible moment. "Damn it. Yang I need you to keep it still for a little longer!" she shouted, it was the only way she could hit it.
"I'll see what I can do!" Yang shouted back, before coming to a complete stop right in front of the beast. It went for her with her stinger, but she jumped back at the last second and hammered the stinger into the ground. It screeched, but quickly fell silent when Vernal found her mark.
"Now that's what I call teamwork!" Vernal shouted in a brief celebration of the minor victory. But she was soon brought back to reality by a Nevermore feather shooting past her, and becoming embedded in the ground just behind her.
Meanwhile on the other flank, the White Fang were fighting for their lives. They had already been driven from their island home of Menagerie by the Grimm so they were especially adamant to hold the Grimm back. They had made their new home in Mistral, but that was about to be lost as well.
Leading them from the front was Ghira Belladonna, along with lieutenants Sienna Khan, Adam Taurus, and Saber Rodentia. Together the four of them managed to fell a Death Stalker, while their troops handled the smaller Grimm that came at them. "These creatures took our home from us, for that they must be destroyed." Ghira reminded them as they fought.
"With pleasure." Adam responded, before cutting several Grimm to ribbons with a series of slashes from his sword. He attacked the Grimm with such ferocity that the others had to stay away, to avoid accidentally being caught by his sword.
"They will pay for every drop of faunus blood they spilled." Sienna swore, before slicing her way through a number of creeps and a small Nevermore which flew too close to the ground. She fought with almost as much ferocity as Adam.
"I will do all I can to ensure our people make it out of here." Saber told Ghira, as they stuck together fighting a couple of Griffon's which had landed. Saber wasn't as ferocious a warrior as the other two, but he would still fight on against whatever Grimm monstrosities emerged from the darkness.
"You will be remembered by our people for generations to come Saber, even if we die out here. Our people will survive and they will know that we died so that they could live, you should be very proud of that." Ghira responded, he was as ready to die as the majority of Argus' defenders.
"With all due respect Chief, you should leave get out of here. Our people need a leader, they need you." Saber said. Ghira had held the White Fang together throughout all their hardships, and they would struggle if they were to lose him.
"Sorry Saber, but I won't be going anywhere. As Chief, it is my duty to ensure the safety of my people. So I will stand here and fight until the last ship has sailed. I understand your concerns but I can assure you, Kali and Blake will lead our people once I am gone and I'm sure they'll do a much better job than I ever did." Ghira replied. If he were to retreat, he would be failing in his duty as Chief.
On the walls of the city stood the Atlesian troops, who were busy providing cover for the troops on the while also repelling the flying Grimm. General Schnee was on the walls with them, overseeing the battle and issuing the occasional command. But for most of the battle, he just stood there silently watching the chaos unfold outside the walls.
By his side stood his two daughters, Winter and Weiss. While Winter had a weapon of her own and was doing her best to help with the battle, Weiss was just there to watch on her Father's orders. Weiss was horrified by what was unfolding before her eyes "This isn't a battle, it's a massacre." she said to her Father, hoping that would motivate him to do something.
"It's a necessary sacrifice, and you shouldn't be worrying about them. Just be grateful that our people are safe here, and we get to leave." Jacques told her, showing complete disregard for the lives of the people outside the walls.
"How can you say that? They deserve to live just as much as we do." she demanded to know, disturbed by how callous he was being. There had to be something wrong with him if he could be that way, while watching what was happening outside.
"That's just the thing Weiss, they don't deserve to live as much as we do. They are all animals and criminals, whereas we are Atlesians. This is a win, win situation for us. We can use them to hold the Grimm back, and we can leave them to be slaughtered when we no longer need them." Jacques explained, he smiled to himself once he finished. He was using the Grimm to wipe out the people he didn't like, and they had no idea. They still thought he was on their side.
"You're a monster, as much as the things out there are." Weiss told him, disgusted by his arrogance and bigotry. The people outside we were sacrificing themselves to save the innocent, and he was content to take advantage of that.
"You say that now Weiss, but one day you will thank me for this. One day you will realize that I'm doing us all a favour." he said, making it clear that she had no power over him. He didn't care what she called him, in his mind he was doing the right thing.
"I assure you Father, I will never thank you for this. This is pure evil, no matter what you say." Weiss snapped at him. With that said, she stormed off. She was furious with him, and couldn't stand another minute of being in his presence.
While everything else was going on the wall and beyond it, Kali Belladonna was overseeing the evacuation. The people feared for their live and panic was starting to set in, so she was doing her best to get everyone out of the city as quickly and safely as possible. "Everyone please remain calm, panicking will only make things worse." she told them as they moved past her, on their way to the ships.
"Things can't get any worse, we're all doomed. Evacuating is just delaying the inevitable, sooner or later the Grimm will kill us all. There's no point denying it." an old man said to her. Like many of Argus's residents, he had given up hope. The problem was as more people gave up, the Grimm were attracted in ever increasing number.
"It may seem like that now, but one day we will defeat them. One day we will drive them back to hell, and reclaim our homeland. But first we need to get out of here, escape is our first step toward victory." she responded. She had to keep the people moving forward, even if she didn't believe her own words. If anything she agreed with the man, but it was not yet time for giving up. As long as some of them got out of there, there was still hope.
"Don't try to give me false hope, it won't work. The Grimm can't be stopped, there are always more no matter how many you kill. All we can do is run and hide, until eventually there's nowhere left to go." he said, nothing Kali could say would give him hope. Which was understandable, the Grimm hadn't been stopped by anything that was thrown at them.
"You don't need hope, what you need to do is get on the boat. Unless you'd rather stay here and let them eat you." someone else responded, before Kali could saying anything else to the man. That was all the motivation he needed to hurry off in the direction of the ships.
Kali sighed "Thank you Blake, but please don't do that again. Making them more scared is going to attract more Grimm, and that's the last thing we need." she said. She was grateful that her daughter managed to get the man moving, but the way she did it was far from ideal given the situation.
"I'd rather scare them into leaving, than leave them here to die. If they don't get out of here then Dad's sacrifice will be in vain, and I won't let that happen." Blake countered. As she knew her father wouldn't be coming back from the battle, the least she could do was make his sacrifice worth it.
Back on the wall, a girl had snuck up to watch the battle outside. As she peered out into the darkness, she could see her parents fighting side by side against the endless horde of Grimm. She loved seeing them in action, but at the same time she was extremely worried. Before they had gone out they had told her not to worry about them, but she wasn't naive enough to fall for that. She knew they were in an incredibly dangerous position, with a high likelihood of death.
Watching her parents taking out everything that went for them was somewhat reassuring, but a sense of dread still filled her. She wanted to look away in case something bad happened to them, but at the same time she couldn't. She just kept on watching, whispering words of encouragement to them "You can do this, I believe in you." she said, hoping by some miracle they would hear her and be inspired to fight harder.
As she continued to watch, she started imagining herself fighting by their side. She imagined herself cutting down Grimm with a scythe of her own, helping her parents to carve through wave after wave of the creatures. In her mind they would work together to defeat all the Grimm, and save the city. She stayed that way for hours, imagining overcoming the horde while watching her parents fight on.
As far as she could tell, the battle wasn't as hopeless as it initially seamed. The line was still holding, and the Grimm were being rapidly dispatched. Unfortunately, a ear piercing shriek and the sound of demonic hooves made it clear that the situation was about to change. The girl, Ruby. Knew exactly what the sounds meant, a fact which was confirmed by a shout from one of the city's defenders "Nuckelavee!" All the hope left her as the creature emerged from the darkness, ready to slaughter the unfortunate souls outside.
The moment the Nuckelavee arrived, the line started to break. The creature easily fended off any attack that came its way, while also tearing everyone in its path to shreds. To make matters worse, the other Grimm started to have more luck as the rest of the defenders started to focus on the main threat.
Knowing she wasn't safe and that her parents probably weren't going to survive, Ruby retreated from the wall. As fast as her legs would carry her, she sprinted in the direction of the docks. As she ran she had to dodge repeated attacks from the flying Grimm, which had now managed to get past the walls.
All hope was lost at this point, and she considered just giving up and letting the Grimm end her. But one thing spurred her on "They fought to keep me safe, I have to survive for them." she reminded herself. Her parents sacrificed themselves so that she could be safely evacuated from the city, so giving up was not an option. She had to reach one of the ships.
The Atlesian archers had turned their attention away from the flying Grimm, in favor of pouring everything they had into felling the demonic horseman. This was their undoing, as the winged Grimm took the opportunity to strike. Before they could even try to defend themselves, they were engulfed in flames and torn apart by projectiles.
Not even General Schnee himself was spared from the onslaught, a Lancer's stinger impaling him through the chest. He looked down at his chest, before looking at Winter who was taking cover near him. "Do what must be done, let the animals die." he said to her. He then stumbled backwards, falling over the side and plummeting to the ground below.
Winter had a choice to make. She could either keep the gates closed leaving those outside to perish as her father had ordered, or she could open the gates allowing them in and granting them a chance of survival. Opening the gates would allow the Grimm in too, but the last of the ships were almost ready to leave so the risk to civilians would be minute.
Just like Weiss, she didn't agree with her father. She was nothing like him, and she would not carry on as he did. So after only a few seconds of consideration, she gave the order. "Open the gates!". The surviving Atlesians were of the same mind as her, and the opened the gates without question.
The White Fang was almost wiped out when the Nuckelavee attacked, but the Chief and his lieutenants were still fighting. They killed everything that came at them, but they all knew the battle was almost lost. So when the gates opened behind them, Ghira made a call. "All of you retreat inside, I'll buy you some time." he said.
The few surviving troops followed his orders eagerly, glad to be escaping the onslaught no matter how briefly. But the lieutenants stood firm "We're not going anywhere Chief, we will not abandon you." Saber said, speaking on his own behalf and on behalf of the other two.
"You're courage is admirable but I have made my decision, now you will retreat. In there you can still hold them back, out here you're sitting ducks." Ghira ordered. He wasn't asking them to retreat, he was telling them as his final act as Chief. With that said, he roared at the Grimm before charging straight.
Adam and Sienna followed the order without question, falling back to the city as quickly as they could. But Saber was too stubbornly loyal to Ghira, rather than retreating he charged in after the Chief. Unfortunately he didn't get very far, as a Griffon swooped down and swallowed him whole.
"No!" Ghira shouted, having seen what happened out of the corner of his eye. Sadly, the momentary distraction cost him dearly. An Ursa slashed him across the chest, bringing him to his knees. Of course he wasn't done just yet, he drove drove his sword through the Ursa, killing it before the wave of Grimm brought his own end.
For the Branwens, things were going terribly. A King Taijitu had attacked just after the Nuckelavee, decimating their numbers. Qrow managed to kill the snake by plunging his sword through its head, but the damage was already done. Even with their superior combat ability, Raven and Qrow were really struggling without the tribe to back them up. They had Vernal and Yang, but that meant little in the face of such adversity.
As they were gradually driven backwards towards the wall, it became clear that it was the end of the road for the tribe. The Grimm would soon become to much for even them, and their culture and history would die with them. Still, they would not go down quietly, they would fight to the bitter end ensuring that the tribe died as it had lived.
But then the gates were opened, and gave them a last chance. A last chance to keep the tribe alive, to keep the fight going for at least a little while long. Unfortunately they couldn't all retreat, the Grimm would kill them all before they reached the gate if they all went. "Yang, Vernal. I'm so proud of both of you, you've proven yourselves worthy of the Branwen name." Raven said, knowing what had to be done to keep the tribe alive.
The girl's were about to respond, but Raven cut them of. "I know you would both fight with us to the very end, and for that I am truly grateful. But we need you to survive, we need you to rebuild the tribe. So go, get out of here." she told them, making in absolutely clear that she didn't want them to die with her and Qrow.
"Branwen's don't retreat, we stand and fight to the very end. We won't leave your side." Yang responded, as she and Vernal stood their ground. Retreating in this situation went against everything they had been taught in the tribe, they couldn't bring themselves to do it.
"Don't defy me. You are the last hope for the tribe, and I'm not letting you throw it away. Now go, and maybe one day you can avenge us." Raven ordered. The tribe had to survive, the girls had to survive. She and Qrow could die happy knowing that they did, but for that to happen the girls had to leave immediately.
Taking Raven's words to heart, Vernal and Yang obeyed her. "It's been an honor, and we will avenge you." Vernal said, as her parting words to the two older Branwens. "I love you both, and I'll see you in the next life." Yang added. With those parting words, the two of them retreated. Neither of them wanted to go, but they knew it was what they had to do.
With the two girls gone, the siblings looked at each other. "You ready for this Rae?" Qrow asked, already knowing what her answer would be. He just needed a little more time to prepare himself was what to come, accepting that he would inevitably be ripped apart by Grimm wasn't exactly easy.
Raven nodded "Ready as I'll ever be. See you on the other side, brother." she responded. She was ready to die, as long as she could take a few Grimm down with her. With that in mind, she charged straight at the Nuckelavee with Qrow right beside her. If they were going to die, so was it,
With a flurry of slashes the Branwen siblings did what everyone else failed to do, they took down the Nuckelavee. Sadly there was no time to celebrate the victory, as the surrounding Grimm swarmed them the moment their assault came to an end. But even as they were ripped to pieces by the beasts, they showed no fear or weakness. That was how a true Branwen went out.
While everyone else either retreated or perished, Taiyang and Summer still fought on. They were completely exhausted from hours of intense combat, but they kept going. They were the only ones left to keep the majority of the Grimm out of the city, they couldn't stop the flying ones but they could hold back everything else.
"Just a little longer Sum, just a little longer and the last ship will sail." Tai commented, as he continued to beat the Grimm back with his mace. Soon they could stop fighting, safe in the knowledge that Ruby was out of the city.
"I wish it didn't have to end like this, but I'm glad I got to share my last moments with you." Summer responded. She was as happy as she could be, given the situation. Her death wouldn't be gentle, but at least she had Tai by her side.
Tai didn't get a chance to respond, out of nowhere a Nevermore feather hit him right between the eyes. It went straight through his skull and straight into his brain, killing him where he stood. He rocked on his feet for a moment, before dropping to the floor.
Summer was horrified, she dropped her scythe and fell to her knees in defeat. The Grimm around her all moved in for the kill, but they were stopped in their tracks. Summer screamed, as a blinding flash of white light burst from her eyes. In an instant, every Grimm within miles of her turned to stone.
That one act did enough damage to the Grimm to allow for the safe evacuation of every civilian and soldier in Argus, but it came at a cost. The strain it put on her body proved to much for Summer. She died there, kneeling next to her deceased lover.
So I went ahead and started yet another fanfic on top of all my others. Please let me know what you think, depending on general opinion I may or may not continue this one.