A/N: I'm curious, do you guys prefer long or short chapters? Also for those wondering about Bumblee, don't worry, it won't be much longer until they appear.
Four hours had passed since the beginning of their journey. Weiss was exhausted, noting sourly that Ruby barely broke a sweat. Ever since their first battle, they only ran into little packs of beowolves every now and then. The trees had cleared a bit, the sky glowing down at them from the disappearance of the canopy.
Weiss looked up at the tree she was standing beside, face heating up as she caught view of Ruby's behind, who was at the top of the tree scouting ahead. Weiss looked away the moment Ruby looked down at her.
"I can see the top of the wall from here, we'll be there soon!" Ruby shouted from the top of the tree, oblivious to her teammate's ogling. Ruby jumped down from the tree, landing silently beside Weiss.
Ruby walked forward, planning to move on, but was stopped by Weiss' voice. "So how did you do that ability with the petals and what exactly was it? Teleportation? Freezing time?"
Weiss glared as Ruby laughed, hunched over, before calming down while wiping an imaginary tear. "Nah, it's just super speed, I can go really fast when I want, only downside is that I create petals, I don't know why."
I guess it makes sense I'm not the only one that can use special abilities, it won't be much longer until my aura recovers enough to use mine. Truth be told, Weiss hadn't wanted to mention her own abilities, still somewhat wary of the young girl, and because of the embarrassment that would be caused when she had to explain that she was still too exhausted to use hers. It didn't help that their breaks were so short.
Moving forward, Weiss was finally able to see the top of the wall, giddy at the thought of finally bidding riddance to the atrocious grimm forest. Though, a fear had come alongside it. Ruby had said that the closer they got to the wall, the more dangerous the grimm were, as they were attracted to the negative emotions inside the walls, they tended to bunch up at the base.
The plan was simple, with Ruby's speed she would carry Weiss and dash into the gate, while Weiss would use the last remaining fire dust she had to send a flare up as a signal for the guards.
The wall was in full view now, the sounds of grimm making their way from the wall, the two fighters slowly making their way through, hoping no stray branches were about. Weiss almost jumped in fright when a huge shadow went over them, looking up to see a nevermore flying above.
Weiss didn't realize just how close she was sticking to Ruby, almost pressing herself into Ruby's backside. Had she been able to see Ruby's face, she would've seen what could be equivalent to a volcano erupting. The feeling of Weiss' chest slightly grazing Ruby's back was doing no good, distracting her beyond all reason.
Both girls froze. A branch had snapped. They looked down, confusion alighting their faces when they realized neither had stepped on one. Ruby rolled to the left, Weiss to the right, both barely dodging the overhead haymaker sent their way. There was no need to figure out what to do from there, they already had a plan. Rush the wall.
Ruby made sure to keep the random spots of white in her vision, knowing if she moved too fast she would accidentally leave Weiss behind. All around her she heard the roars of grimm, trees being flung about and the thuds of heavy feet everywhere. Ruby could only hope Weiss was faring just as well.
Glancing to her right at the sudden spot of white appearing, she whipped out her scythe in crossbow mode, shooting a giant bolt towards an ursa rushing Weiss' side, and then spun around while transforming it into scythe mode, taking out the grimm attempting to blindside her. Folding her scythe back into storage mode, she used a bit of her aura to burst ahead before the grimm could surround her.
Right as her enhanced speed ended, the forest cleared away, flat land stretching to the wall ahead of them, now looming over them with how close they were. Turning around, Ruby froze. Weiss had just cleared the forest, and while Ruby was proud of the heiress for making it, the sight of what happened to Weiss brought fear into Ruby's heart. Blood. Weiss was limping heavily, wounds scattered throughout her body. This doesn't make sense, I had her in my sight the whole time! The answer came right behind Weiss. A 'deviant'. A special grimm that could use aura, extremely rare, and extremely strong. In the split second that Ruby had looked away during her use of aura, she hadn't seen the deviant attack.
Ruby appeared behind Weiss just in time, blocking the waves of high pressure air being thrown at them from the grimm, no doubt it's special ability. Glancing behind her, Ruby could see Weiss was barely holding herself up, fear spreading throughout her body as Weiss heavily limped towards the wall, the promise of safety on the other side giving her the will to move.
Ruby barely saw the movement during her check up on Weiss, and it was too late to properly block. The claw would take off her arm, pressurized air shimmering around it as it sped towards her. Clang. Ruby's eyes widened, a blue glyph seemingly materializing out of the air, blocking the incoming claw. Taking advantage of the deviant still recoiling, Ruby focused her speed into her arms, bringing her scythe up and through the midsection of the deviant, Ruby subconsciously noting it had the body of a beowolf, but the size of an ursa major, the biggest difference was the way the bone armor was coloured red instead of the normal white.
Not wasting anymore time, Ruby spun around, folding her scythe away while dashing over to Weiss and picked her up bridal style. In the last bit of Weiss' consciousness, she aimed Myrtenaster up towards the sky and shot the flare. Luckily for the duo, none of the remaining grimm were old ones, and so none bothered to wonder why they had used up their fire dust on the flare.
Ruby deftly made her way through the horde of grimm, watching as the gate opened, guards with shields barricading the other side. Right as Ruby made it to the gate, the middle of the line of guards opened up, allowing her to speed right through and skid to stop. She looked back over her shoulder, watching as the gate closed behind them, a huge sigh of relief making its way through Ruby.
A moment later, the guards surrounded Ruby, and stepped back in surprise when they realized who she was carrying. Shouts were heard, guards immediately calling for medical staff, one guard that looked of higher rank directing Ruby towards where Weiss needed to be taken. Eventually, and much to Ruby's displeasure, Weiss was taken from her, rushed inside a room which was blocked off by two guards, telling her that she had to wait outside.
Every now and then one of the medical staff would leave the room, a different one entering, continuing all day long. Ruby's hopes were slowly diminishing, but she refused to give up on Weiss, seeing the heiress' strength first hand.
Feeling something gently shake her, Ruby slowly opened up her tired eyes, body still exhausted from the day's events.
"You are the one who brought in Lady Schnee, correct?"
Ruby looked up at the doctor for a second, blood staining his gloves and the forefront of his attire. "Yeah, that's me."
The doctor looked down for a second, taking off his mask, sadness most evident in his eyes. Dread gripped Ruby, who could only wait for the doctor's assessment.
"Please." Ruby had never used so much emotion before, let alone in one word.
"Lady Schne-... Weiss Schnee, she didn't make it-" The rest of the doctor's voice was tuned out by Ruby.
This can't be… there's no way she's dead, Weiss is strong, stronger than most people I've met throughout my entire life! There's no way she's dead! Ruby looked down at her hands, barely noticing the tears cascading down her cheeks. Did I fail… again?
"M-miss, would you like to see her?"
Ruby nodded, the act of getting up from position against the wall feeling like the hardest thing she'd ever done. She trailed behind the doctor, time seemingly slowing down as they entered the room. Gazing forward, Ruby saw the curtain blocking the bed of the one she had just met, the one who had returned the light of what being a huntress was about, the one who showed her a kindness where most did not.
Ever so slowly, the doctor moved the curtains back.
"A-are you…" a cough, "going to keep s-standing there and-" another cough, "k-keep staring or are you going to say…" one last cough, "hello?"
Ruby had never found herself smiling so hard before, and after a second, realized she had never found someone else's smile so utterly beautiful.