It was cold Winter's day in Atlas. It was always cold in Atlas, but today it felt even colder. It was late in the morning, but she couldn't tell. The wind was coming down from the mountains carrying with it snow and making it that much harder to see. She had broken all the rules of C.O.L.D. In normal circumstances she would be dead from the elements in just a few minutes. Even her aura would be hard pressed to help her with the cold. But the cold could wait. She was in the middle of a fight for her life. She stood in her normal guarded stance. A basic stance for when you didn't know where your enemy was going to come from. She knew she was surrounded, but the whiteout conditions combined with the morning shadows kept her from seeing when the attack was coming from. Time seemed to slow and the world became just her and the enemies hidden within the winter squall. She focused on her other senses, sending out her aura to feel for the enemies. There, a feeling, a sound. She lunged for it. Better to attack there and deal with whatever was in that direction and then turn on the other enemies than to have them attack at the same time from all directions.
She missed with her initial thrust. She recovered and slashed, but her enemy was faster, easily dodging her attack. Its shadow blended back into the swirling snow. She swore that she heard a guttural laugh that disappeared on the wind. She was getting mad. At least she was further from some of the other enemies. She hoped that it would give her enough time to cast. As she tried to cast a glyph, she felt the air shift and she dodged. A claw swiped the air where she had just been. As she recovered from the dodge, another attack came. This time it was a sword. A claw and a sword! Two different kinds of enemies? She quickly adjusted her thought process to handle the new enemy. 'Don't fight force with force when you're the weaker force' came the mental note from her trainer as she felt the herself being pushed down and back. She angled her own sword slightly allowing the bigger sword to slide away and embed itself into the ground beside her with a large crash. With the weapon dealt with, she lunged again. This time her attack hit home and she heard and felt the enemy collapse from her strike.
She didn't revel in having defeated the foe. She didn't have time. She tried to prepare herself for another attack. The attack came from behind her. She had guess wrong. She reacted as fast as she could, but still the claw struck. Her back was slashed and she felt the blood coming from the wounds. They didn't feel deep, but they had made her fight that much harder. She cursed herself for allowing an enemy to hit her. Her mind started to wander from the fight to the outside world. She became distracted by the cold and the wind. The pain that raced across her back. The aching muscles being pushed beyond her limits. She forced herself to focus back on the task at hand. This time barely deflecting the blow, but knocking her back and on her knees. It cut open her forehead just a bit, but she knew that cuts to the head would bleed more than normal. Her fight was now getting out of her control. She readied herself as best as she could for the next attack.
"ENOUGH," was shouted over the squall and shots rang out. She could make out that all the shots had come from a single gun. General Ironwood's. Walls came up from the ground and then a ceiling formed blocking off the elements. Lights turned on and the snow fell once the wind was gone. There were several combat androids strewn across the floor. Technicians appeared and walked quickly towards them to assess the damage before carting them off. Ironwood holstered his gun as he strode towards her. He stood over her with proffered hand which she took and he helped her up. She stood at attention as best she could, wincing slightly as the slashes on her back pulled open further. She saluted and began to say, "Sir. I-"
Ironwood cut her off. "Winter. You lost. You may have taken out one enemy, but at the cost of position and your body. There were four more. The trade was unacceptable. You would have died had it not been for intervention. You lost focus. Let your emotions get the better of you. You chose to stand your ground. And while that is admirable, given the circumstances you should have made a rolling retreat to better ground or even a straight up retreat. There is nothing wrong with a retreat if there is nothing to be gained from your death by staying. If you are going to throw your life away, at least make it worth something. Maybe if you were further along with your training, you could have stayed, fought, and defeated them all. But you weren't. I expected more from you. As a Schnee, you should expect more."
Ironwood's words hurt more than the gashes on her back and forehead. He was right. She wasn't strong enough. Not quick enough. Not smart enough. Not 'enough'. She looked away in shame.
Ironwood saw her break eye contact. He sternly said, "You will look at me when I'm talking to you." When she returned his gaze, he continued softer, "You failed this time. We all fail from time to time. Luckily this time the wounds are superficial." Winter wasn't so sure.
Ironwood continued, "It's when you can't fail that it matters. When you can't retreat. When someone else is depending on you. That's when you can't fail. That's why we as huntsmen and huntresses train as hard as we do. So that when that time comes. We. Don't. Fail."
He turned and started to walk away. He said over his shoulder, "Two questions. One, are you going to learn from this failure so that you won't fail the next time? And two, is there someone or something that matters most to you? Someone or something that you will not fail for?" He left her there to contemplate those questions as the medics came up to her to start treating her wounds and usher her to the medical bay. She brushed them off and headed that way on her own with them in tow.
Late that evening after the rest of Atlas Academy had gone to bed, Winter snuck back to the training facility. She setup up the same scenario she had failed earlier, but this time she added more enemies and upped the difficulty to the max. This time she would survive or die and no one would come to help. She had to prove to herself that she was more than 'enough'. She walked to the center of the room as a countdown rang off the walls. She readied herself as the countdown hit zero. The walls and ceiling came down. The moon was high in the clear sky. The temperature was even colder than this morning. The wind whipped up the snow drifts. Her wounds stung as the wind and cold cut through her clothing and bandages. She drove that feeling down deep. She forced all her emotions down. She focused on this moment. The only thought that floated up was that of her younger sister Weiss. She would become strong enough to protect her.
The androids started circling her, trying to divide her attention. She noticed the weapons were different this time. Seemingly more menacing as they glinted off the moonlight. She readied herself as best she could, starting her semblance faster this time. Glyphs appeared below and around her. The androids attacked all at once.
She launched herself into the air as the area affect spell caused large ice spikes to erupt. They impaled two of the androids. Destroying one and taking the arm off another. The others dodged in time and followed her, jumping as high as they could. They raised their arms with guns attached and fired at her. She cast another glyph and deftly propelled herself through the gauntlet of fire towards the other glyphs. She started to bounce from one glyph to another like a pinball, striking as she went. She did her best to hit vital areas, but the androids were too fast and blocked almost all of them. Even the one with a missing arm failed to be taken down the rest of the way. With her final glyph spent from her initial set, she landed off to the side of the center. The androids spread out and once more began moving, quicker than before, while firing.
She put up a defensive glyph to buy some time to come up with a plan. Her plan came together just as the defensive glyph fell to the volume of fire. She cast a new set of glyphs and launched herself towards the android with the missing arm. With every glyph, she went faster and faster until she was a blur. The other androids weren't able to track her. She struck the wounded android with such force that is effectively exploded. She landed and slid to a stop, parts flying around her. The other androids finished their turns and opened fire once more. Another defensive glyph came up as she recovered. That attack had taken more than she thought. She again cast more glyphs, but this time she started moving them around her in a circle. She focused on the nearest android. As her selected android came closer she sent the glyphs around the android. As the android fired, a spike rose from one of the glyphs blocking its attack. She ran towards the spike and as that one shattered from the fire from the android, another glyph and spike took its place. She moved closer to the target. Glyphs surrounded the target and just as the second spike shattered, the other glyphs summoned their spikes. They formed a makeshift wall just leaving her and the targeted android alone. She knew she didn't have much time, but it would be enough. More glyphs appeared and she blocked the android's attack while she launched her own counter attack. The android was able to block many of her thrusts and cuts, but not all of them. Soon the landed blows added up and the android fell after one more thrust, but not before it launched a final attack of its own and cut her main sword arm. She didn't have time to register the pain or how heavy her arm suddenly felt. The makeshift wall disintegrated finally from the combined fire of the remaining androids. Again, she cast a defensive glyph.
There were now five left, but her main arm was nearly useless. She transferred her weapon to her other hand. It wouldn't be as strong, but it would have to do. She realized that she couldn't keep handling them one on one. It was taking too much out of her. She had to do something drastic. With her remaining aura, she cast a large glyph and several small ones. The remaining androids spread out, past the edge of the glyph and she started to dodge their fire. They attacked seemingly all at once. She was driven from where her glyphs and plan were. She didn't have the energy to call the glyphs to her. She had just enough to defend herself with. She tried casting a few glyphs for either speed or defense, but they were ineffectual. The androids closed in. She hadn't fully trained in true close combat where her sword would be almost useless, but she was hopeful she knew enough. If she could just make it back to her glyphs she would win. She went after the closest android. She wasn't concerned with damaging it, only getting past it to her goal. Parrying its clawed attack and used its momentum to propel her closer to her goal. Another android attacked, this time she barely deflected the blow, but she was closer. One more stood between her and her plan. It waited for her. Like it knew it was between her and where she wanted to be. She rushed it as best as she could. Her body was starting to feel so heavy from the blood loss and the expenditure of aura and energy. She allowed it to attack first. She dodged and parried the attacks as they came, not expending any more energy than she had to. But with each attack and each dodge, she edged closer to her glyphs. She was so close that she risked an attack, hopeful that the android would be oblivious to her plan. "Well no guts no glory" she thought as she feigned an attack which the android easily dodged and in turn it struck her in the stomach. She felt her breath leave her and her feet leave the ground. She landed hard several feet away and felt bones crack. It was her ribs. One. Two. It didn't matter. She was finished if this fight continued. She coughed up blood and saw that she was where she wanted to be. She turned towards the gathering androids and shown a bloody smile. The androids closed in for the kill. As the last one came into range, she plunged her sword into the center of the glyph causing the spell to activate. The smaller glyphs flew towards her and created a barrier as the large glyph summoned a massive ice boulder above her position. With another shove, the ice boulder flew down and crashed into the ground crushing the androids. Her own protective glyphs shuddered and cracked from the force, but held. With the spell spent, the boulder and the protective glyphs dissipated, combining with the blowing snow.
Suddenly the walls and the ceiling came back up. The training arena lit up brighter than she remembered. She saw Ironwood, practically run to her. She rose to stand on unsteady feet. The wounds on her back had reopened, probably even wider. The cut on her arm was deep and a puddle of blood was forming as it dripped from the dangling appendage. Every breath felt like knives being shoved into her sides. She was trying not to breath hard, but at the same time catch her breath. As Ironwood reached her she stood at attention, saluted, and said, "Training mission complete sir." With the last of her energy spent, she collapsed. Ironwood caught her and carried her to the medical bay. Before fully passing out, she heard him say, "Good job Winter. You've done well. Now get some rest."