RWBY: Back to Back, Side by Side

Chapter 3: Outnumbered, not Outmatched

Ruby

A massive explosion echoed through the room as the north doors blasted inward. Ruby flicked her eyes away from the south door to watch as White Fang members began to pour through Weiss' door, the first few stepping on Weiss' trap glyphs. The black glyphs flared bright as they were triggered, the gravity dust slamming the unfortunate soldiers violently into the ground, breaking bones or knocking them unconscious.

Ruby watched Weiss gracefully call six white glyphs into being in front of her, preparing to launch a volley of projectiles at the soldiers now coming through the door, moving a little more cautiously after seeing what happened to their comrades.

The sound of shattering glass by the south door stopped Ruby from admiring Weiss' handiwork, snapping her eyes back to the task at hand. Thanks to the door's immobile hinges, courtesy of Yang, the soldiers had given up trying to break it down. Ruby could see them on the room's glass roof, helping their fellow members up.

Two of the men made to jump down to the floor through the brand new hole in the ceiling, but were caught in mid-air by the trap glyphs and slammed violently into the ornate floor with a sickening crunch. Ruby winced in sympathy, but quickly suppressed the emotion as White Fang began to pour in through the hole in the ceiling. She fired several rounds into the onrushing mob before having to switch tactics as they got too close for the rifle to be effective.

The battle was joined in earnest, all thoughts pushed from Ruby's mind as pure instinct, drilled into her by her family and her schooling, took over. Due to the low ceiling, she had to keep her feet on the ground, not able to jump around as much as she wanted. She whirled Crescent Rose around her as she dodged, ducked, and slashed at the small army facing her; she rendered faunus unconscious where she could, dealing more grievous blows if that was not possible. From the few glimpses she was able to get of Weiss, the white haired girl was holding her own against the onslaught. Ruby thought she spotted some ghostly white figures of what appeared to be grimm fighting alongside the older girl.

'Huh.' She thought to herself, during a brief moment of respite, 'That's new. I'll have to ask her about that later.'

Half of the White fang engaged the two girls while the other half made a break for the doors to the academy but several rounds from Crescent Rose and ice spikes from Weiss made it very clear to them that they were not getting through that door with the two defenders still standing, so they too joined the fight, backing Ruby towards the center of the room.

She whirled around, spinning her scythe in a wide circle around her to give herself some space, but she kept getting pressed back into the center of the room. She kept giving ground until her back collided with someone else's.

"Oh!" both girls exclaimed simultaneously, and then also as one: "Oh no."

During combat classes at both Signal and Beacon, Ruby's teachers had repeatedly emphasized "NEVER get into a situation where you're completely surrounded and back to back with your ally." They said the odds of coming out of it alive were almost zero.

Her father, on the other hand, had been a tad more optimistic. "If you ever get into that kind of situation," he told her and Yang, "you better make sure you know that other person almost as well as you know yourself."

The White Fang quickly surrounded the two, the soldiers brandishing their weapons, seemingly waiting for some kind of cue to move in.

"Ruby?" Weiss said, her voice tight with worry, "I don't know if we can-"

"We can do this!" Ruby cried, "To hell with the odds! We're getting out of here alive, no matter what!" she reached behind her and felt for Weiss' hand, grabbing onto it, "That's a promise!" she squeezed her hand, trying to reassure her that everything would be fine. "Are you with me?"

"Always." Weiss said quietly, squeezing her hand and dropping into a lower stance, ready to take on the mass of people.

Ruby let go of Weiss' hand and brandished her scythe threateningly. With a cry the mob rushed them, 'The moment of truth.' She thought.

She almost felt a physical click in her brain as she pivoted to her left, swinging her scythe to meet the first faunus to reach them and felt Weiss do the same, engaging foes on the other side, the white haired girl's back never leaving hers. A surge of elated adrenaline coursed through her body, making her feel giddy. 'We can do this!' she thought excitedly. They started to spin and pivot around the circle, dispatching opponent after opponent. As one, they dodged gunfire, sidestepped stabs, and deflected bullets.

Ruby could almost read the whole battlefield, just from feeling Weiss' movements through her back. She estimated that there were maybe fifty faunus in the room when the battle started, and by now they'd managed to cut that number down by a third. She could feel almost everything Weiss did, her steady breathing, every slash and stab with her rapier, her change in stance as she summoned her white knight.

When she wasn't engaging enemies, she swung Crescent Rose in front of her, forcing the White Fang to back up and give them a little breathing room, giving Weiss time to dispatch more of their enemies with her summoned monsters.

'Holy crap!' Ruby thought as a ghostly Ursa sent several masked men and women flying through the air, 'That's freaking awesome!'

As the fight continued, they felt less and less like two individual people, they felt like a single organism, locked in a deadly battle for its survival. It felt amazing. She felt powerful. Neither of the two had ever felt a connection like this before.

As two groups from opposite sides of the circle rushed the two girls simultaneously, Ruby pivoted over to Weiss's side and fired several lightning powered rounds into the crowd as Weiss pivoted to her side, sending her summoned boarbatusk bowling into the crowd. They snapped back to their original positions, and Ruby couldn't help but let out an exhilarated bark of laughter at how amazing it felt.

They continued to fight hard for several more minutes. Both the girls receiving several cuts, burns and bruises from glancing blows. Eventually, Ruby noticed Weiss starting to struggle. Her movements were slightly slower, he back heaved against Ruby's as she struggled to catch her breath. Ruby also thought her aura must be getting low as well; the white haired girl had stopped using summoned creatures and was almost exclusively fighting with Myrtenaster.

"We can do this Weiss!" She managed to gasp out between strikes, "Just…a…few…more…minutes."

Weiss didn't bother responding.

A woman from the crowd darted forward, thrusting her sword right at Ruby's stomach. Ruby deftly stepped to her left, expecting Weiss to do the same. To Ruby's horror, Weiss reacted just a second too late. The sword barely grazed Ruby's side as it passed by.

To Weiss' credit, she didn't cry out as the blade stabbed through her lower left side and only let out a soft gasp as it exited near her navel; even when the faunus woman violently twisted the blade, the only sound she made was a quiet whimper. A man took advantage of the former heiress' distraction and swung his metal staff into her knee.

Ruby heard a crunch, and Weiss' back fell away; she dropped to the ground with a thud.

"No! WEISS!" Ruby screamed, worry and rage consuming all other thoughts in her head.

As the faunus woman removed the blade from Weiss' side, Ruby viciously brought her scythe down, amputating the woman's sword arm at the elbow and giving her a vicious kick, sending her flying into the crowd; behind her the man made to swing his staff again, this time at Weiss' head. Ruby stabbed the handle of the scythe over her shoulder, the small blade at the end sinking into the man's throat, he went down with a gurgle clutching at his esophagus.

She protectively stood over Weiss, who still lay crumpled on the ground, moving feebly. Ruby completely unfolded the scythe, the blade now sticking straight out from the end of the handle. Using the now extended reach, she rapidly spun in a circle, Ruby cleared some space. With a little breathing room, she looked down at her badly wounded friend. Blood had already begun to soak through Weiss' combat skirt, and Ruby could clearly see that her knee was shattered. "Weiss!" she cried, "Weiss! Can you stand?" she realized what a stupid question that was as soon as it left her mouth.

The white haired girl, her eyes wide with shock, could only shake her head as she tried in vain to stop the flow of blood, and it began to pool under her.

Panic enveloped Ruby's mind as the White Fang began to close in once again. They had whittled their numbers down by half, but there were way too many for Ruby to take on by herself.

'I'm so sorry Weiss…' she thought, 'I might not be able to keep that promise…'


Starting with this chapter, a lot of the ideas and scenarios are going to be unwritten ideas from an old fanfic I had going (Air, Earth, Water, Fire and Steel). Honestly, I'm probably never going to finish that story, but I liked the ideas so I used them here.

Let me know what you thought of this chapter; Hopefully its not too confusing!

see you next chapter!