The Beginning
Ruby sucked air into her lungs, gasping and wheezing on the smoke filled air. She checked to see if everything still worked, wiggling her toes and fingers. When she was satisfied they worked she opened her eyes.
The hallway between her team's room and JNPR's was above her, the ceiling ablaze. The floor she had been standing on had collapsed down onto the floor beneath, leaving her in a pile of beams and bricks. Glowing embers from fire floated down coating the floor in a layer of ash.
Ruby groaned, starting to feel her body again and instantly feeling the weight of a large wooden beam on her right arm. She grunted, rolling to face it. It refused to move as she frantically pushed it. With the pain intensifying, she put all her strength into lifting, pushing it up just enough to get her arm out.
Agony raced up and down her arm as blood poured from gashes left from the rough underside. Sitting up, cradling her wounded arm, she realized how lucky she was to not get crushed by the pile of rubble around her. Looking up again she caught sight of the scorched doorframe that had once led to her team's dorm.
"Yang…" She whispered, remembering.
After struggling to her feet a thought raced through her mind, causing her to spin around in panic. Her fears were put to rest, seeing her scythe lying in the rubble. Holding it under her left arm, she limped away from the pile of rubble determined to find her sister.
As she limped through the devastated halls of the once majestic academy she saw the dismembered bodies of Grimm scattered everywhere.
"At least someone put up a fight." She thought, commenting on the corpses.
Pyrrha's golden shield was discarded next to a pile of eviscerated Beowolves, the puddle of blood seeping between the cracks in the floor. Ruby blocked the pain out of her mind, desperately hoping to find her sister unharmed. The walls were pocked with craters, the pungent smell of sulfur drifting through the air. Light from fires gleamed off blood on the walls.
Tears ran down Ruby's face as she desperately searched for her sister among the rubble.
"Yang! YANG!" She called out, getting more and more panicked.
"I need you Yang. Where are you?!" She desperately tried to hold herself together, failing miserably as tears streamed down her face.
She spotted something, the limp form of a battered Nora propped up against a wall, blood smeared behind her where she had been blasted into it. Her hammer was stuck in the guts of a Beowolf, blood splattered against everything. Her face was smeared with blood, her cloths stained red. Ruby ran over, dropping to her knees next to her friend, weapon clattering to the ground. Gently cradling Nora's head, she felt for a pulse. Slow, but steady.
Gasping a sigh of relief, she gently shook the redhead. "Nora wake up, it's Ruby."
Nora's turquoise eyes fluttered open, locking onto Ruby's face. Her eyes widened with surprise and relief when she saw that Ruby was still alive.
Straining to get the words out, Nora choked out her relief,
"It's good to see you, Ruby."
She looked around, none of her usual enthusiasm present. Her eyes hovered on her hammer, lodged in her last victim. Suddenly gasping with pain, she clutched her sides.
"I hurt, Ruby." She croaked out over the immense pain in her abdomen.
"You're going to be alright Nora, I'm here now." Ruby murmured in a reassuring tone, stroking her face gently.
"You don't look so good yourself." She replied, gesturing at Ruby's wounded arm.
"Its not as bad as it looks." She suspected otherwise but didn't want to worry her friend. Knowing that she had to keep looking for her sister she asked, "Can you walk?"
"I hope so." Nora said trying to push herself up, taking Ruby's hand and leaning on her shoulder.
They stumbled forward, making little progress before Nora caught sight of another body farther down the hallway. Surprising Ruby, she let go of her shoulder and sprinted to the facedown figure. Ruby limped over to Nora, who was kneeling next to Ren and shaking him desperately.
"Ren! Ren! REN!" Tears dropped down onto his back. Nora frantically tried to turn him over but doubled over as she started to cough uncontrollably. Shock and fear rampaged through her as she coughed up blood. Red splattered the floor, seeping into cracks between bricks. Unable to breathe, she collapsed next to Ren. Ruby rushed to her side, weapon once again clattering to the floor. She felt Nora's neck for a pulse. Weak and fading. Ruby quickly rolled Nora onto her side, relieved that the redhead was breathing. She glanced over at Ren and was shocked to see his back rising and falling.
Rolling him over, he seemed to be in decent condition. The only serious wound being deep claw marks from a Beowolf across his chest, ending just before his neck. His face was in far worse shape. There was a large amount of blood coating his face that still oozed from his badly shattered nose. His face twitched as he slowly regained consciousness. His magenta eyes were blurry as he looked around wildly, expecting there to be Grimm. Sitting up quickly, he grabbed the front of Ruby's shirt, ready to fight.
"Ren! It's me, Ruby!"
His eyes focused on her, causing him to sigh with relief that she was still alive. Letting his arms drop, his fingers grazed the puddle of blood Nora had coughed up. Raising his arm up to see what he touched, he saw her.
Quickly kneeling over her, he placed his hands over her, eyes closed. Ruby watched in astonishment as his hands started to glow, aura pulsing out rhythmically. Sweat dripped from his brow as his hands started to shake from the effort. Ruby's awestruck eyes reflected the miracle, amazed at what she was witnessing.
Ren's face went slack as his job was done, his aura depleted. Breathing heavily, he stroked her face, gently speaking into her ear,
"I'm here Nora."
The edges of her mouth twitched into a smile. Without even opening her eyes she could feel Ren's presence causing happiness to flood through her. Opening her eyes, she embraced him. Tears of joy ran down her cheeks.
Ruby stood up, wincing at the pain in her arm. She retrieved her weapon, ready to continue searching for Yang. Ren and Nora, now standing, looked to Ruby for what to do next.
"Ruby?" Ren questioned softly.
"We need to find our teammates." She responded, only able to think about her sister.
The sound of footsteps echoed off the ruined walls. The three survivors weaving their way in between corpses of both Grimm and human alike, trying to ignore what lay before them.
"They came out of nowhere didn't they?" Nora observed, gingerly stepping over puddles of blood. "It was like BAM—" she gestured wildly with her arms, "and there they were."
"Few reacted to the attack quick enough to do any good." Ren added in a low tone, "They were caught unaware and slaughtered as they tried to run."
Nora looked at the mangled corpses of her fellow students, crestfallen at his words. Looking down, she muttered under her breath, her hands tightening angrily around her weapon.
Rarely, if ever, had Nora ever been angry in Ren's memory, so this got his attention. If nothing else, he thought, he should be angry at them for doing this to Nora, but he was finding it hard to feel anything at all. He only felt empty from all the death around him.
Looking ahead, he caught sight of Ruby. He could see the growing panic within her and could only imagine what she had to be going through.
They had been wandering through the demolished halls for what had seemed like an eternity and Ruby's hope of finding her sister was fading. Doubt had begun to eat away at her as to whether or not they would actually find her. Finding their way through the twisted maze of corridors had not been easy, as most of the passages were filled with rubble from floors that had collapsed from above.
Ruby glanced back at her two companions, seeing them hand in hand. A spark of hope ignited in her numb mind, spurring her on with a renewed vigor. She turned a corner and stopped dead in her tracks.
Ahead of her lay the rubble of her team's room, partially burned books littered the floor, bed frames splintered into nothingness, fire leaping happily off the mattresses. Remnants of the stone floor covered the scene, fragments of the beams that once held up the room smoking slightly.
Ruby rushed forward, leaving a cloud of rose pedals behind her. She frantically began to throw rubble off the pile,
"Yang!" She called out, desperately wanting to hear a response. The last shred of her self control disintegrated as she broke down weeping. Collapsing into a pile on the floor, she locked up, anguish overcoming her.
Nora caught up to Ruby and went to her aid. She knelt next to her, trying to quell her sobbing. For the first time in her life she didn't know what to say. Instead, she took Ruby into her arms, holding her tight against her chest. Tears dripped down her face.
She looked up at Ren. He threw junk off the pile, determination showing clearly on his face. Sorting through piles of books, he picked his way through the jumble of ruined belongings. Body going into autopilot, he remembered just how lucky he and Nora had been.
Ren snapped awake, sensing that something was wrong. He inhaled, the faint smell of smoke greeting his nostrils. Sighing softly, he extracted himself from Nora's embrace. She had fallen asleep while they were listening to Blake tell a story. Ren's mouth hinted a smile at the memory of Nora's squeals of excitement when she had finally convinced Blake to tell a story. The story had been entertaining, but Nora hadn't been able to keep her eyes open through the slow parts.
The party seemed like it had just ended, they had all passed out on the floor of both team's rooms after dancing, pillow fighting, and doing who knows what for what had seemed like hours. He held his back tenderly, remembering that he had attempted to dance with Nora. He laughed softly at the memory of how he had failed to keep up with her wildly flailing limbs.
Looking around the room, he noticed that Blake was gone from where she had fallen asleep. He sighed, knowing it was probably nothing.
He slipped on his shoes and pushed his hair out of his eyes. Getting up, he examined the room more closely, sighing at the thought of how long it was going to take to clean up all the feathers. Walking out of the room, he grabbed StormFlower just in case.
Not even getting past the next door, he heard Nora bouncing up behind him, her normal energetic self.
"What's up Ren?" She asked brightly.
Did she have unlimited energy? How did she… He thought it better not to ask. Tiredly, he turned to her.
"I want to check something out." He replied, knowing he wouldn't be able to dissuade her from coming with him.
She grinned broadly, "A quest! I like it! Wait just a moment, I'll need Magnhild for this to be a proper quest!" She bolted back into the room, returning with her formidable Grimm smasher and grinning like a madwoman given napalm.
Ren didn't even blink at her antics. He just turned and continued walking. Nora, meanwhile, bounced and skipped around behind him, coming up with a grand adventure that was awaiting them around the next corner. Trying to block out her fantasy, he concentrated on trying to follow the smell. Some time later Nora stopped and sniffed the air,
"Ren, is that smoke?" She asked, looking at him quizzically.
A quick hand motion silenced her. Ren thought he heard something, eyes closed trying to listen. Nora crept up to Ren, sliding beside him,
"It's our quest!" She whispered loudly into Ren's ear, making him jump.
Before he could reply, their attention snapped towards a sound from outside. A Beowolf howling. Then another howl, and another. Rapidly, there were howls coming from everywhere.
Ren's mind worked at a frenzied pace, trying to comprehend what it meant.
Similar thoughts were racing through Nora's mind, but were halted by Ren's words.
"Beacon is about to be attacked. Go get the others, we're going to need—"
The wall they were standing next to exploded inwards, knocking them to the floor.
"I think our quest found us!" Nora coughed, brushing herself off.
"Ren?" Looking around for her friend, she saw him getting up slowly. He brushed himself off, uninjured.
"I'll never understand how your mind works, Nora." He said before being interrupted by more howling, louder this time.
More explosions echoed down the hall, jolting them back to the matter at hand. They turned to sprint back the way they came, only to get blocked by Grimm. They swarmed out of holes in the walls, red eyes glowing at the two figures in front of them, anticipating easy kills.
"By golly! The quest is upon us!" She exclaimed, realizing that this was way better then what she had come up with.
"Well…" Glancing at Ren slyly, "It's hammer time!" Her hammer unfolded majestically, a mischievous glint in her eye.
"Nora…"
"Yes Ren?"
"Please don't say that again."
The hoard of wolves charged, but their movement was restricted by the confines of the hall. They leaped into action, Nora smashing anything to oblivion that dared to get too close. Bullets flew as Ren unleashed his pistols. Dealing with wolf after wolf, Nora cackled and giggled at the results of her wide swings, beheading multiple adversaries with single hits.
A glint from behind the dwindling hoard caught Ren's eye. Pyrrha, clad in her gleaming armor, was fighting her way towards them. Next to her was Jaune, hacking at wolves mercilessly.
Ducking and slicing with his bladed pistols, he dispatched enemies with ease. Glancing over at Nora, he smiled. Beacon had taught them a lot in just one semester. She grinned back, saluting him in jest. Snorting, he returned to slashing the diminishing hoard.
Suddenly, an explosion rocked the school, knocking them to the ground. Dust filled the air as the ceiling threatened to collapse. Darkness filled the hall as the lights flickered out. The only light left came from moonlight filtering though holes in the walls.
"You guys okay?" Jaune asked.
"A-OK!" Nora replied, rocking back and forth on her feet, grinning at their handiwork littering the floor.
Another explosion rocked the building, closer then the last.
"We need to get out of here." Ren urged forcefully.
"First we go get the others. We're going to need help fending this off." Jaune responded.
They nodded in agreement and were turning to leave when another explosion went off directly above them, sending them all crashing to the floor.
(A/N) Many thanks to MadCinder for Beta reading.
Constructive criticism would be enormously helpful.
Thank you for reading.