The Long Road Back
Team RWBY plans to take back Beacon Academy, but it is not going to be easy.
[Author's note #1: This story follows the story Flower Duet, and is the seventh episode of a fanfic version of volume 6.]
[Author's note #2: For those readers who have asked about the structure of this story collection, note that it is meant to reflect the episodic and multi-line structure of series actual. Hence, episodes are being posted individually rather than in a consolidated or chapter form.]
"Oh ... dear," groaned Ruby, holding her head. "Oh ... my."
"Shut up and drink your coffee," said Yang. She was not in a particularly good mood.
They were sitting at their old outdoor cafe in Vale. Weiss and Blake appeared and sat down.
"Yang, how many drinks did she have before she conked out?" said Weiss, looking at Ruby. "Six, seven?"
"Two-and-a-half," said Yang.
"Really?" said Ruby. "I could have sworn it was more."
"How much do you remember about the nightclub last night?" said Blake.
"Uh ... " said Ruby.
"Do you remember asking Coco and Fox if Yatsuhashi Daichi was seeing anyone?" said Weiss.
"Oh ... dear," said Ruby again. "I did that?"
"Several times, as I recall. I think you kept forgetting the answer," said Weiss. She laughed.
"You guys are enjoying this hangover way too much," said Ruby.
"Why, yes," said Blake. "Yes, we are."
"By the way," said Ruby, "what was the answer?"
"He's not," said Weiss. "But he's, like, twice your size. You would have to stand on a chair to look him in the face."
A waiter brought a bag filled with ice cubes. Gingerly, Ruby placed it on top of her head.
"Do you remember me carrying you home?" said Yang. "And you woke up just long enough to plead with me to stay with you. Which I did." She frowned. "Not really where I wanted to be," she muttered. She glanced at Blake.
Blake shrugged and smiled. "I'm not going anywhere," she said.
Coco appeared – with Glynda. "Thanks for the invite, Yang," said Coco.
"It's good to have scroll communication again, even if it's just local," said Yang. "You're looking very well, Professor Goodwitch."
Indeed, Glynda was looking fine. Her long hair was hanging in a loose braid instead of being severely tied back, and the clothes she was wearing did not have the restricting tightness of what she had had before.
"It is good to be back in the field, even under these circumstances," she said. "And it is good to see you all again. You might as well call me Glynda, academic titles don't matter much at the moment."
"Coco said that you erected a barricade to stop more Grimm getting in," said Weiss.
"Yes, a bit of an obstruction," said Glynda.
Coco laughed. "It's a goddamn cliff, popping up in the middle of nowhere!" she said.
"Maybe a small cliff," said Glynda. "But in any case everything we have done so far, keeping more Grimm from coming and keeping those here out of Vale, amounts to little more than a holding action. And of course Salem is watching."
"Salem might have other things on her mind," said Ruby. "It means we have an opportunity to take back Beacon. So we're going after the dragon."
Glynda started. "Do you have a plan?" she said.
"The beginnings of one," said Ruby.
"How much?" said Yang.
"Er, uh, a third, perhaps. No, maybe just a quarter. I did some dot-points on a napkin but I, um, lost it."
"We will all, no doubt, die horribly," said Blake.
"That's not impossible, I admit," said Ruby.
"Uh, Ruby," said Glynda. "Why do you have an ice-bag on your head?"
"Hangover," put in Yang. "So we should speak softly."
"Ha!" said Weiss, loudly.
"Please don't do that," said Ruby, rubbing her temples.
Coco's scroll beeped. She took it out and looked at it. "It's Yatsu," she said. "There's an attack forming up in what used to be Midway Plaza, a big one," she said. "If you guys want to join us, we could use the help."
Yang, Blake and Weiss stood up. "Let's go," said Yang, cocking her gauntlets. "I feel like killing things."
They looked at Ruby, who had not moved. "Must I?" she said.
Yang and Blake lifted her out of her chair. "Come along now, fearless leader," said Blake.
By the time they reached Midway Plaza, there was a crowd of Grimm creatures massed on the other side.
"Tell me something," said Ruby. "Is it just the ground ones that attack like this, or do the flying ones do it too?"
"Some Gryphons, usually, but not the Giant Nevermores," said Velvet. "They tend to stay near the tower, around the dragon. The only time they left it was when we tried to mount a counter-attack in the Garden Quadrant."
"Hey, Velvet," said Weiss. "If you want to take a photo of my sword, feel free." The other members of Team RWBY nodded.
"Oh, that would be great!" said Velvet. She took out her camera pack and snapped pictures.
"Here they come!" said Fox.
A huge herd of Grimm was charging across the plaza.
"There's ... a lot of them," said Yang.
"Then let's thin 'em out a bit," said Coco. She morphed her bag into her big gun, and Velvet created a copy of it. Together, they fired. Yang added her shots to the fusillade. The heavy bullets hacked into the crowd but the Grimm kept coming. There was a half-dozen Gryphons as well, screeching, coming in low.
"Hmm," said Ruby.
"Not really a good time for 'hmm'," said Blake, as she readied Gambol Shroud.
The first wave was almost on them. Ruby extended Crescent Rose and swept it through a trio of Beowolfs. At the same time, next to her, Yatsuhashi plunged his sword into first one and then another Beringel.
Ruby looked up at him. "Unhh," she said.
"Do you want me to get you that chair?" said Weiss to Ruby, as she fired bolts of fire at the wave of Grimm.
They were all fighting now, with Glynda shooting explosive energy into the throng. Velvet's copy of Coco's gun had faded but she had generated a copy of Yang's gauntlets and was using them to great effect.
A Gryphon, a large one, came swooping in.
"Weiss, take that one down!" said Ruby.
Weiss fired a volley of ice bolts at the creature. With its wings frozen, it ploughed into the ground. But it managed to get up, and began to snap at them.
Yang aimed her gauntlets at it. But then Ruby knocked her aside, and her shot missed.
"Hey, what – !?" said Yang.
"Weiss, finish it!" shouted Ruby.
"I get it," said Blake. "Weiss, grab on!" She threw Gambol Shroud out, and Weiss caught hold of it. With an effort, Blake pivoted and swung, and Weiss went sailing onto the back of the Gryphon. She switched her sword to fire mode, and then, with a shout, plunged it into the creature's neck.
Fire and ice.
The Gryphon exploded into ashes. Weiss dropped to the ground. She dusted herself off.
The Grimm attack was beginning to waver. Ruby and Yatsuhashi charged into the middle on the crowd, slashing left and right. Coco and Glynda were hacking more Gryphons out of the sky. Fox and Velvet, now wielding a copy of Weiss' sword, were turning back an attack on one flank, and Weiss and Blake were covering the other.
Almost suddenly, the remaining Grimm began to retreat. In a few moments, they had returned to Beacon.
"Well," said Yang. "That was ... that was ... well, damn."
"Quite so," said Yatsuhashi.
"Unfortunately, they are getting smarter and more organised in their attacks," said Glynda. "At some point they will break through, and get into Vale."
"Then we had better make our move soon," said Ruby.
Suddenly, Blake gave a groan. She fell, holding her abdomen.
She was bleeding from a deep wound. "It was that last Beringel," she said. "It gave me a whack just before I took it down. But I've had worse than this."
Glynda, kneeling beside Blake, examined the injury. "Your Aura will heal you but it will take a day or two," she said, as Fox produced an emergency pressure bandage from his pack and applied it. "Until then, stay as still as possible. No strenuous exercise."
"Huh," said Yang. "Hey, does that include – "
"No strenuous exercise," repeated Glynda.
"Damn, I can never catch a break," muttered Yang.
"We have won the day, but I have a question," said Yatsuhashi. They all looked at him. "What was that thing about the chair?" he said.
"What is the last thing you remember?" said Jaune.
Cinder – the woman who had once been Cinder – was tearing into a plate of food that Oscar, apprentice cook, had brought from the kitchen.
She stopped eating. "Darkness," she rasped. "Cold. I remember seeing a patch of light, like the end of a tunnel. Before that, I remember ... a woman. A woman with black hair. I ... I ... I ... remember falling ... falling for a long time ... "
"Do you remember your name?" said Oscar/Ozpin.
The woman stared at them. Her one eye began to fill with tears. "I ... I don't!" she said, her voice little more than a hoarse whisper. "Do ... do you know? Can you help me?"
"We'll try," said Jaune. "For the moment, eat up. There's more if you want it."
Ozpin led Jaune away, into another part of the room. "If she's faking, she's certainly doing a good job of it," said Jaune.
"But we cannot simply let her walk around," said Ozpin. "Her memory could return at any moment. And she is a very powerful creature."
"Well, we're not going to simply kill her, if that's what you're thinking," said Jaune.
"But – "
"No," said Jaune. "Just ... no." He returned to Cinder. "I'll see if I can find you some clean clothes and a proper pair of shoes," he said to her. "I'll find you a room so you can clean up and rest, there are some spare ones."
"Thank you," said Cinder. "But ... why are you helping me?"
Jaune considered. "Because," he said eventually, "you need help."
END (to be continued)