"How many are there?" Fox's calm voice cut through the roaring of the Grimm that had surrounded him and his partner.

"More than enough for both of us," Coco replied as she stood back to back with her partner, a lit cigarette burning between her lips. The ember of the tip was a microcosm of the fires that raged across the city as Grimm ran rampant, leaving nothing but destruction in their wake. Slowly she removed the cigarette from her mouth, exhaling smoke as she let the butt of the cigarette drop to the ground. She ground it out with her heel, and readied herself for the oncoming attack.

Despite returning from their own extended mission only a few days prior, Coco had led her team to aid the first years in defending the Vale from the Grimm. The fatigue was evident in how everyone moved, yet they had no choice but to split up to draw the beasts away from the younger teams. Fox wouldn't say it, but Coco could tell he was exhausted already. She admired her partner's heart, but all it would mean here was a few more minutes before the Grimm eventually overwhelmed them.

Tears welled up in her eyes behind her sunglasses and memories flooded her thoughts as she remembered their time together.

...

They had met before coming to Beacon. She had been out shopping with her mother in the months before her first year at the academy without a care in the world when all of the sudden a dark skinned boy collided with her out of nowhere.

"Watch where you're going!" she had yelled.

The boy had looked in her direction only then, absentmindedly offering her a hand up after he regained his feet. He was thin for his frame, yet he was still ruggedly handsome. His hair was a dark orange, similar to his shirt, but not quite. His eyes were obscured by dark sunglasses, and he wore long dark pants and boots. He wasn't dressed particularly well, but the way he carried himself made all the difference. After her quick assessment of him, she decided to take him up on his offer.

She grasped his hand, only to be yanked up with such force that she stumbled and fell into his arms, sending the stranger backwards with her on top of him.

She had landed on top of him, her arms on either side of his head as she braced herself from the fall, but there was no need. He had held her hips with his hands, making sure she didn't hurt herself. His hands were large, strong, and rough from years of physical labor. Their pressure on her hips made her face flush. She longed for him to hold her, and to touch her body in more places, but he had said something.

"…Off."

Coco blinked. "What?"

"Can you please get off?" His voice cut through her trance, and she scrambled to her feet, brushing herself off immediately. It was a new jacket after all.

He coiled his legs up to his chest and sprang up to his feet in one fluid motion. His movements were silky smooth, and the way he carried himself gave out a quiet confidence, despite his somewhat underwhelming attire.

"Coco? Tout va bien?" Her mother had called out to her, only noticing she had disappeared once she had reached a new store.

"Oui Mama!" Coco turned back to the young man in front of her. "Are you alright?"

"Just a little turned around is all," he said with a small smile. He still hadn't looked her in the eye.

"What do you need?"

"Which way to the café?"

"Ah! It's a block that way," she had gestured back toward the direction she had come from, trying as hard as possible to still look dignified while her face was three shades darker red than it was supposed to be.

He simply smiled wider at her antics. "What is your name, beautiful?"

Coco's cheeks turned an impossible shade crimson at the compliment. "Coco. May I ask yours?"

"Fox."

...

Bullet casings rained down from Coco's minigun as she directed the unending stream of dust rounds at the mass of Grimm before her.

"Fox! On your right!"

Fox turned immediately to face a charging Boarbatusk, stopping it dead in its tracks with an overhand punch.

It was not enough though. As soon as they killed one Grimm, two others replaced it, and they would soon be overwhelmed.

"We've got to pull back! There's too many!"

...

This was what she had been waiting for: Initiation day. Professor Ozpin was giving some speech about landing strategies, but Coco was only half listening. She strained to see over a small rabbit Faunus next to her that couldn't stop shaking.

"Hey."

The Faunus girl looked up at Coco, her eyes wide.

"Relax. Tout ira bien."

A confused look crossed over the girl's face.

"It means everything is going to be ok." Coco paired the reassuring saying with a warm smile, trying to comfort the nervous young Faunus.

The girl cracked a grin, but quickly covered it as she abashedly pulled her ears over her face. She had flushed scarlet and turned away from Coco, stealing glances toward her whenever she thought the taller girl wasn't looking.

Coco used the opportunity to peer over her, eagerly searching for Fox amongst the other new students. She had brought several friends to Beacon, and had made several more in her brief time there, but when it came time to partner up, there was only one person that she could ever want to be with.

Someone who made her stomach flutter every time he spoke her name. Someone whose touch sent her to a world of bliss. She had never known anyone like him, and her heart called to her to find him before anyone else could claim him.

Finally she spotted him. He was standing midway down the line on his launch pad, wearing his same old rusty shirt and dark pants. After all the shopping we did, and that's what you wear on your first big day without me? Coco smiled to herself.

He still wore his dark sunglasses almost all of the time, but she had managed to steal them away from him whenever he was in the changing room while they went shopping. And he was fine with it. She could keep a secret.

The platforms began to launch students toward the forest. Fox was sent flying well before her, but she would not be defeated so easily. Moments later her pad launched her after him, and she quickly adjusted her angle to sail towards him, her light frame allowing her to speed after him.

She hurtled through the air, homing in on her target. Fox had no idea she was there when she caught up with him midair and there was no way he could hear her over the wind, yet she had to get his attention somehow.

As the distance to the tree line shrank away, Coco made a decision. Gliding toward his head, she reached over him and plucked his sunglasses from his face. Fox was already twisting, trying to sense who took his shades, but they were amongst the trees in a moment, and she lost sight of him on the way down to the forest's floor.

She landed gracefully on her feet, keeping her composure as always. She brushed off the stray leaf that landed on her shoulder and took out Fox's glasses to examine them.

A pair of dark lenses connected by a black wire frame made for a very stylish look that could go with anything. She rubbed the smudges off the lens and slid them on, smiling at her new appearance. A stick cracked underfoot and she turned to face Fox, looking him square in his sightless eyes.

"Thanks for the glasses, partner."

...

"FOX!" Coco cried out as the Beowolves began to swarm him from all sides. She turned her weapon from the swarm of Grimm in front of her to the pack around her partner.

The rounds torn the Grimm to pieces, but Fox had managed to escape the same brutal fate, ducking under the stream of dust rounds before picking himself back up and sprinting toward Coco.

"We need to keep moving!" His normally calm and stoic voice had an edge that she had never heard before, an edge honed by the will to live.

He was not going down without a fight, and neither was she.

...

"Shhh! Velvet and Yatsu are sleeping!"

"None of your second year friends were willing to loan us their room, huh?" Fox whispered quietly into Coco's ear.

"No, they know us! Everyone would know what we'd be doing!" Coco had snuck into Fox's bed. He had been a perfect gentleman that night, and she was finally ready. They had danced together all night, and Fox even had an encouraging pat on the back from Professor Port as they left the ballroom together.

Coco was only in her thin nightgown, while Fox slept nude, as always. Only the thin layer of silk separated them, but it was still too much. She yearned for him to touch her everywhere. A warmth spread throughout her, and every second she spent apart from him drove her mad with desire.

"Are you sure you're ready?" Fox had positioned himself behind her while laying down, his lips barely away from her ear as his warm breath tickled her skin. He rubbed her thigh as he did so, and her heart raced even faster.

"Tout ira bien. I'm ready."

Fox pushed inside her, and Coco felt an explosion of ecstasy in her hips. She craned her neck up and locked lips with him, moaning quietly in pleasure.

They made love through the night, the fire between them unquenchable.

...

Flames raged around them, but that was it. No more Grimm. They had managed to kill all of the beasts that had pursued them, but in doing so they each suffered fatal blows.

They laid facing each other, curled up with their heads pressed together.

"It's not fair," Coco whimpered, pain searing through her body as she struggled to breathe. "We didn't have long enough." Tears cut through the dirt on her face, but she didn't care anymore. These were their last moments together.

"Shhh, it's ok," Fox whispered as he laid a kiss on her forehead. He ran his hand through her hair and caressed her cheek, wiping away the tears from her eyes.

She finally broke. "I'm scared," she cried as she clutched at his chest, desperately trying to pull him closer, not caring anymore if neither of them could move without excruciating pain. She just wanted him to hold her tightly one last time.

Fox obliged, gritting his teeth through the agony of moving and closed the distance between them. He tilted her head towards his and kissed her one last time. When they broke apart, he brought her in close to him, squeezing her to his chest for the final time.

"Please don't leave me. I don't want to be alone," Coco whispered into his chest.

"Tout ira bien. I will never let you go."

They died intertwined in each other's arms as a light in the distance filled the sky.

"Yatsu, there's too many of them!"

Her silent protector only slid in front of her, shielding her from any Grimm that dare challenge them. He towered over many of the Beowolves, and could see eye to eye with Ursai. He leveled his blade towards those that pursued them, but Velvet tugged his arm.

"We can't fight them! We have to draw them away from the first years!"

Begrudgingly he turned and followed her, running side by side with her down the main street. Even though his stride was twice of her own, the fatigue from their previous mission weighed him down enough for Velvet to keep up with him.

"This way!" Velvet turned suddenly and took off down a smaller street, drawing the Grimm away from the first year's positions along the main street. She heard Yatsuhashi grunt as he followed her. She glanced back to see a Beowolf latched onto his left arm, trying to slow him down enough so more could of the monsters could pile on top of him, but to no avail. He tore his arm free of the beast and sent it tumbling behind him, its body slamming into the Grimm chasing them.

She sprinted further ahead of the pack, picking up speed as she went. As she put more and more distance between them and the first years on the main street, she turned her head to check on Yatsuhashi.

He was lagging behind her, but still managed to stay ahead of the swarm of Grimm hunting them. Just as she was turning back to the road in front of her, something slammed into her hip, sending her sprawling to the ground.

She writhed in pain, unable to move her legs. Screams of agony erupted from her, as any small movement intensified the pain shooting through her body.

Her survival instinct kicked in though, and she began to look around for what had hit her.

A Boarbatusk was down the street, turning to make another run at the helpless Faunus. It began its charge down the street toward her, intent on a killing blow this time.

Not like this, not this way, her thoughts raced as the beast signaled her imminent demise. She began dragging herself out of the path of the Grimm, but to no avail.

In a moment it was upon her, its tusks poised to impale her, and she turned away, unwilling to see her end.

But there was no impact. No tusks protruding from her chest. The Boarbatusk was squealing, stopped dead in its tracks, with a massive copper sword separating the front and rear of the beast.

Yatsuhashi scooped up his companion and slid her onto his back. Velvet wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and held on for dear life, her legs hanging lamely, unable to support her. Yatsuhashi pried his blade free of the fallen Grimm and continued their mission, drawing the Grimm away from the main street.

They had made it almost 10 blocks from where they had split up with Coco and Fox in an attempt to draw the Grimm away from the first year teams on the main street. Beowolves had begun to catch up with the pair as exhaustion set in for Yatsuhashi. Velvet bounced along his back and sobbed quietly from the pain of every small movement.

"Velvet... you... must... use it," Yatsuhashi's voice was strained to get the words out between his ragged breathing. "There's... too many... I can't... keep... running."

"I can't do it with one arm!" Velvet's voice was laced with panic as she responded to the enormous man carrying her.

Yatsuhashi immediately dropped his great sword and swung Velvet around to in front of him, cradling her like a child to free up her hands to prime the box.

"Yatsu! Why-"

"This is... the only way... you can use it... I won't... need it soon... anyways."

Velvet somberly opened her box, careful not to let it drop as Yatsuhashi forged ahead. Small machines churned within, surrounding a perfect sphere of dust. It was a clear ball, no larger than an apple, with each color of naturally occurring dust swirling within, a faint light emanating from the core. The dust inside drifted in beautifully random patterns. The beauty of the sphere betrayed its raw destructive power. The devices whirring around the orb kept the dust stable and the volatility in check until she needed to use it. Funny that such a little thing would be able to do so much damage, she thought as her fingers deftly removed the safeties from the device. This is how it ends.

After she removed the last failsafe, she resealed the box. It had already begun to heat up, and she quickly tossed it behind them, leaving it on the street to be trampled by the Grimm that followed them.

Yatsuhashi turned toward a home nearby and quickly kicked the door open, intent to spend their last moments not being pursued by Grimm. He slammed the door shut before gently lowering Velvet to the ground nearby. He quickly barricaded the entryway with whatever was around: a chair, then a bookshelf, then a desk. Anything and everything he could find to brace the door, he used.

Finally, when the pounding of the door stopped and the Grimm moved on to weaker prey, he turned to his Faunus companion. A rumbling had already started to come from the distance, and they didn't have much more time together.

Velvet squeezed her partner's hand as she laid on the floor, her hip shattered from the Boarbatusk's charge. The light in the room faded around her as the pain washed over her in waves. It will all be over soon.

She felt Yatsuhashi lay his hands on her and begin to recite words in a language she didn't quite understand. Slowly she felt a warmth spread through her body, as her aura was inundated with his.

The rumbling in the distance was upon them, and all around them a white light flooded the home, passing through the walls without damaging them, but anything organic began to disintegrate, Yatsuhashi included.

Velvet slowly regained full consciousness only to have her eyes assaulted by Yatsuhashi's body falling away like dust in the breeze.

"Yatsu! NO!" She struggled to sit up, but her broken hip restrained her from moving toward him. Helplessly she watched as her best friend was falling to horrific pieces before her.

The wave of light spread through her, but the additional aura from Yatsuhashi kept her with enough to outlast the dust bomb's effect. Yatsuhashi smiled at her one last time as the rest of his body crumbled away to ash.

"No!" She reached out, but nothing was left of him except his aura that he gifted to her in his last moments.

Tears sprang from her eyes, and she slowly laid back down, unable to process what had just happened, paralyzed by the events that had just unfolded in front of her.

"Please don't leave me. I don't want to be alone," she whispered to the void.

No one answered.

She broke down and cried.