Ch 7: Broken Wings
"Do you always sleep when you have nothing else to do?" A sassy voice ends my slumber as I wake up, in my seat next to Weiss on the airship.
"Do you always have to wake me up?" I reply to the Heiress who answers my question with an unamused frown. "To be honest no, I do not always fall asleep. It's just if I have learned anything about you Weiss, it's that having a conversation with you is like navigating a minefield."
Her face begins to turn red, "You take that back!" She spits back at me.
"Fine fine, whatever. It is just really hard to have a conversation with you where you don't explode into anger." Her tone and expression doesn't lighten up after I exclaim this. Great job Devin.
"Let's change the topic then, okay?" I ask her.
"Sure, whatever."
"Did you like visiting Beacon Weiss?"
"I enjoyed it, all of it excluding the whole ambush by the White Fang ordeal. But besides that I have to say I am impressed by the school. I most certainly want to attend it when I am older." The question obviously succeeded in changing the topic since Weiss was no longer red with anger. "Do you know how much longer we have until we arrive back in town?"
"I don't have the slightest idea, remember I was asleep." I grin as I tell her the honest truth.
"Fine, I will just ask this gentlemen next to me." Weiss turns to her left and faces across the aisle on the crowded airship. At least we are in first class again, that was a plus.
"Pardon me, but do you know how much longer till we arrive at our destination." Weiss asks a rather large man in the seat next to us.
"I'm afraid I do not."
"Oh that's fine, I will figure it out eventually." Weiss sighs and turns back towards me.
"Who cares when we land, we are going to get their sooner or later."
"I prefer sooner." She folds her arms faces back towards the front of the craft.
Geez she has such an attitude, I really hope the pay is good for having to deal with her.
-Later—
Time seems to be unmoving as Weiss and I remain silent on our flight. To be honest everyone on the crowded flight was quiet.
This changed quickly.
With no warning what so ever I hear a large bang, an explosion from behind us. "What the hell was that?!" The pilots voices screams over the intercom.
I unbuckle my seat and look behind us to realize that the whole rear portion of the ship was gone. Flames ran wild in the section of the ship where it split in two. What in God's name is going on?
"We are losing altitude fast, tell everyone who is still with us to buckle the fuck up!" The copilot screams from inside the cockpit.
"This is your captain speaking, it seems we have suffered severe hull damage. Please buckle up and prepare for an emergency landing." The intercom changes to static as the pilot switches it off.
"What's happening Devin!" Weiss asks me, tears in her eyes.
"I don't know, I don't know!" I yell at her. Glancing out the window I realize we were dropping fast and where right above a forest of some sort.
"What does the pilot mean by emergency landing?" She asks me another question, tears now rolling down her pale cheeks.
"It's a sophisticated way of saying we are going to crash, now brace yourself!" Just as I tell Weiss this I feel my head whip back and forth and everything turns to black.
Unknown Amount of Time Later…
I struggle to open my eyes as I begin to take in my surroundings. The whole fuselage of the ships is in flames. I have to get Weiss out of here: it's my job.
I angle my head to my right to realize she looks surprisingly unharmed. I unclip my seat buckle and reach for my back that is beneath my seat. After which I unbuckle Weiss and sling her unconscious body over my shoulder. Got to get out fast.
My bag in hand and Weiss over my shoulder I make my way to the exit door near the front of the ship. As I reach the door I glance into the cockpit to see a grotesque site. A tree branch had impaled the copilot during our crash, his torso split by the dark wood. The pilot didn't fare much better, his face was crushed beyond recognition on the front of the control panels. Should have buckled up, you busted your skull on the front of your flight controls.
I sigh and exit the burning wreck and hurry along, attempting to put distance between Weiss and I and the burning wreck. If I have learned anything from TV, it's that burning wrecks always blow up.
Setting Weiss's body up against a tall oak tree, I unzip my bag and pull out my staff. Sliding it over my shoulder I cock back my handgun, taking note of how many rounds I have left after the ambush before Beacon. 5 magazines should be enough, if not I always have my staff.
Looking back at the burning wreck I notice silhouetted figures inspecting the crash. Who the hell is this?
The flames cast shadows on the trees around the crash as the figures get closer to the wrecked ship. Eventually the flickering flames reveal who they were. The red slash marks that acted as logos on their backs showed their allegiance: The White Fang. That would explain why we crashed. No well-made airship simply splits in two on its own.
"You think she survived the crash?"
"If she did she didn't get out." Two WF goons begin to strike up a conversation as they walk towards our direction. Time to move Weiss and deal with these guys.
Picking up the still unconscious Weiss I quietly make my way over to a bush where I set her down along with my bag. "Time to see why the hell they shot a civilian flight down." I mutter to myself as I cock back the chamber on my handgun.
Returning to the edge of the crash site I realize how few of them their actually were.
"Please, help me!" A cry for help comes from someone who was crawling out of the burning wreck. The body was burned severely and it was impossible to distinguish if it were a man or women, human or Faunus.
"Hey boss, we got a live one over here." A WF soldier exclaims as a recognizable woman wearing a red hat and sporting two daggers turns around to acknowledge the statement. That bitch should have left us alone.
"Why are you telling me this you dumbass. Just kill it." She barks out the order at the goon who trains his gun at the burned passenger.
"No, please don't." The passenger cries for mercy are silenced by a single gunshot. That's it, there are 5 of them including that fox eared bitch Faunus from earlier. Shouldn't be too hard.
I leap up the nearest tree and hunch over on top of a branch, analyzing my surroundings, trying to figure out the best way to attack. I think a straightforward brawl would work, its dark and they would be surprised. Should give me enough time to dispatch all of them.
Jumping from the tree branch with my staff in hand I drive it into the back of the closest goon. His back snaps back from the force, the blood spurting from the wound as the others realize what is happening. Leaving the staff planted in the poor bastards back I draw my handgun and dispatch 3 more in 3 back to back pulling of the trigger. Their heads exploding into pink mist.
"Fine work, should have known you wouldn't let that white haired bitch burn in the crash." The faunus girl exclaims as she readies her daggers.
"What the fucks wrong with white hair?" I ask her as I point at my own hair. Still waiting for her response I yank my staff out of the WF soldier.
"Oh nothing is wrong with it, I was merely using it to describe the spoiled bitch you are protecting." She grins as she lunges towards me.
In one swift kick I knock her to her back. "Fuck that hurt."
"Oh come one, please be more of a challenge than your fellow members of the White Fang." I chuckle to myself as she throws one of her daggers in my direction.
This caught me by surprise which in turn was the reason why it struck me in my chest, in my lower abdomen. "I bet that really hurt!" She yells at me as she sprints towards me, her other dagger in hand. Damn, learn to dodge Devin.
I struggle to block her savage slashes on my person, a couple making contact with my flesh, the sharp pain adds to the already aching feeling emitting from my lower abdomen. Her blade strikes my wrist, which makes me let go off me staff.
"Awh I thought you would be more of a challenge this time." She laughs as she swings again. Holding up my arm I block her arm from getting closer to me, therefore keeping the blade away. In the same fluid motion I reach for my handgun with my free right hand and quickly un-holster it. Pulling the trigger which sends a single round into her shoulder.
"Dammit!" Yells the fox eared Faunus who falls onto her back as she clenches the wound. Her dagger now lays on the ground in the mud.
Cocking back the gun again which sends the shell casing into the air I approach the assassin who attempted to kill Weiss and I now twice.
"Please spare me!" She begs to me as I near her.
"Why would I spare you, you had that injured passenger executed when he or she begged for mercy." I train my guns sites on the Faunus.
"Please, we have no quarrel with you only the Schnees. Just let me live." Tears roll down her eyes as the rain begins to fall, splashing mud and dirt all around us.
"You would just come after her." I mutter this as I pull the trigger, making her head slump back into the mud. I holster my weapon and turn around to see two figures watching me. I recognized them from before, one wore the same black trench coat I had seen him in before, and his mask had rainwater flowing down its edges. The other, the girl from earlier with the black bow and amber eyes stood there watching me in silence. Oh great, more company.
"Why did you do it? Why did you kill her?" The male mutters from behind his mask. Tears began to roll down the girls cheeks as she stood by his side. I remained silent as I pulled the dagger out of my chest and tossed it aside.
"Answer me dammit!"
"She has tried to kill me and the girl twice. I wasn't going to allow there to be a third time." I grab a hold of my staff, which now had blood stains on its shaft.
"Speaking of the girl where is she?" He yells at me, pointing his gun blade in my direction.
"Doesn't matter, all that matters is I'm here in front of you." I get in a defensive stance as I wait for them to attack. He begins to walk towards me, his sword in hand.
"Adam stop! This has gone too far. We never needed to bomb a civilian plane. Kill innocent people!" The girl screams at him as she draws a gun blade of some sort.
"Blake you will never understand why we the oppressed have to do these sort of things." I replies without looking back at her.
"I joined the White Fang to help our people exit oppression, to fight for our rights. I didn't join to hunt down the daughter of a major businesses lead executive. I didn't join to kill innocent people. Let's leave this wretched forest and go back home."
"Blake, I'm not doing this for the White Fang, I'm going to kill this bastard because he killed so many of our friends." He yelled back.
"You are doing nothing Adam!" The girl runs up to him and turns him around so he is facing her. "We are leaving!" She snatches his weapon out of his hands and begins to walk away.
"Dammit Blake, you never have the will power to let me finish things! I will be back for her." He exclaims as he begins to follow the girl in the bow.
The rain continues to fall as I make my way back to Weiss. Well that was a thing.
Waking the heiress she screams, scared by all of the blood that now covered me.
"What happened? Are you okay?"
"Been better, time we headed back to the crash site to get some shelter from this rain. Can you walk?" I ask her as I give her a hand.
"Yea, I think so. But what the heck happened to you?"
