(-_-_-_5.13.2016 Update added a few more sentences for consistency & fluidity_-_-_-)

Hey You! Yeah you! thanks for reading my story 'til now. I know It's been a long and tiresome journey, but I promise things will get better. Like, Now!

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CHAPTER 8: The Longest Day: Part 1: Panic

Day #03

June 06,2015

Remnant

Once we took off, I found that I hated heights. Last time I has fallen from a great height, it was under duress, and I had done it in the heat of the moment. This time, it was by choice, and I'd probably be in the Airship for a while. As I stumbled to my seat -the one nearest to the pilot- he must have heard my groaning, because he gave me a nausea pill.

"Helps with the bumps" he said cheerily. The flight seemed very routine, and I almost lost track of time, glancing down every once in awhile to look at the clock.

My first clue that something was wrong was when static crackled over the radio, and a panicked voice came over the loudspeaker in front of us and reverberated through the speakers set into the vehicle.

"ABORT FLIGHT, UNIDENTIFIED HIGH SPEED AIRCRAFT SPOTTED IN AREA. LAND IMMEDIATELY AND PROCEED TO MAKE YOUR WAY BACK TO THE HANGARS ON FOOT".

Our pilot looked confused. "That's strange," he said, as a sour taste rising in my throat for some unknown reason "I've never heard of that before."

We continued forward, cautiously, and the voice rang out again after a few minutes.

"CEASE PROPULSION IMMEDIATELY AND LAND. NOW!"

"Okay, Okay, I'm going! I'm going!" The pilot said, switching on the mic, annoyed and a little worried.

"You guys might want to hang on tight. Buckle in, it's gonna get a little rough as we descend!"

As I observed him, he hit some switches that shut off the engines, slowing us down until we were moving with the wind. He then reached up and pulled a red lever hanging from the ceiling, causing whatever was keeping us afloat to dissipate. As we landed, he made sure everyone else had their harnesses on. Slowly, we came down in a field in the middle of nowhere. As we descended, I looked outside and saw stalks of grain stretching as far as the eye could see, growing bigger and closer by the second. When we landed, there was a long, tremendous THUMP as our airship touched down, bouncing a bit and gouging a light groove in the ground as we slid over the tall stalks flattened by the impact. Although I was pressed into my seat for a few seconds, it was over. The pilot stretched his limbs and got up.

"Another successful landing!" He said cheerily, strapping a walkie-talkie to his belt and grabbing a backpack from a hidden compartment in the hull beside him and walking with me back to the passenger bay.

"What was that all about?" I asked him, worried about Ruby and the others.

"I don't know kid, I just know I'm one heck of a pilot." He said airily, strapping on a holster and a pistol of some sort he grabbed in passing from a side rack. We reached the passenger bay, and everyone was secure. Seeing us, they unlatched their restraints and stretched their limbs. The pilot hit the switch that locked the door shut, and it fell open with a soft hiss. A warm, golden Afternoon greeted us, and we stepped out into the golden waves of wheat-like grasses. We walked away from the craft and looked around. To the Northwest, a crimson plume of smoke wafted up into the atmosphere. At that moment, we knew something was up. Four huge gray shapes materialized out of the distance flying in a diamond pattern: two at the sides and one in the front and back, knifed through the air towards us.

Suddenly, a screeching filled the air, and a sound all us Earthborn cringed at filled the air. I knew that sound, as well as that flight style. It was a typical formation used by bombers after a successful strike. My heart dropped, once again.

"My God" I whispered, barely able to get the words out. "They... bombed... Beacon".

The planes passed overhead, and I got a clear view of the blood red wolf logo emblazoned on their underbellies as they one-by-one veered off. White Fang, I growled, furious. I'd seen it once before, when I was in Professor Ozpin's office. It was on a piece of paper, along with their symbol. If I ever get the chance, I'll kill every one of them, I swore. Two of them slowly faded into the distance, but one continued forwards, circling the area and looking for our airship, which it had probably seen before we landed. The other one froze in midair, then crumbled into pieces like breaking glass.

"Huh? Was that a sonic boom?" Lydia said aloud.

"I thought that the four kingdoms only used Airships. I didn't know you guys had supersonic aircraft. How do you keep the wings from ripping apart?"

The pilot paled, and said in a shaky, puzzled voice "What is that? It sounds like you're talking about moving faster than sound!"

We nodded. "B-but that's not possible!" He stammered. "Everyone knows we're... years... away from developing that tech!"

Overcome by anger, I yelled "Yeah? Well not anymore."

This got all my teammates staring at me. Ignoring their gaze, I continued still extremely frustrated that we were sent away from the warzone, intentionally or not.

"Now help me get this thing started or I'm leaving you. All." I stomped back up the ramp into the gondola, team hot on my heels. Tiffany stayed outside to talk to the pilot.

"C'mon Chris, he just got informed that his enemy has superior tech and has just initiated a ferocious attack on his home he was sworn to protect. Now he can't do a thing about it!" Lydia said trying to talk some reason into me.

"Yeah, well we've gotta get back as soon as possible so we can help our friends out!" I said, a tear rolling down my face as I wondered who would be left and how bad the damage was. I shut the door to the cockpit behind me and sat down in the pilot's seat. Rows of dials and buttons greeted me. The window offered me a surprising 180 degree view of the surrounding area. Panic filled my mind as I vainly searched for the ignition button. I ended up slamming the keys in frustration, breaking a lever and jamming some of the buttons. Exasperated, I stood up and threw my arms up and cursed.

After a few minutes, the door hissed open behind me, and the pilot stepped into the cockpit.

"Done with your tantrum yet?" He said sadness in his eyes as he slid back into the chair and started up the blimp with ease.

"While you were having your tantrum, I was outside listening to the Transmissions. Apparently, Beacon was attacked by a squadron of high-tech fighter-bombers. Several buildings are destroyed, and there are a lot of wounded." he said, causing everyone to gasp.

"But even that's not the worst part. It appears the main target of the attack was the hangar." His voice faded out for a few seconds as the realization dawned on me: Ruby and Pyrrah might be dead!

"How did they get past the defenses?" I said, a bit of anger still lingering in my voice.

"We don't have anything but a small group of guards watching the perimeter. WE'VE NEVER BEEN ATTACKED BY EXTREMELY HIGH SPEED JETS BEFORE!" he shouted in my face.

"SS-Sorry, I'm just under a lot of stress." He said, apologizing. Then I realized how foolish I'd been, rushing into the situation like that.

"Yeah, I'm sorry too..." I said anger being replaced by sadness. You have to be strong, I thought to myself steeling my nerves. For your team. For Ruby. For Pyrrah. For all those other students at Beacon.

"Worse still is that Teams JNPR & RWBY have yet to be recovered. They were last seen sending you guys off. It could be that it just hasn't been long enough for them to be dug out." He said. Noticing my rapt attention, he must have put two and two together. Switching the mic off and making sure the door was shut behind him, he leaned over in my direction.

"Got someone special on one of those teams?" he said, itching to change the conversation. Remembering my discussion with Pyrrah, I silently nodded. "Wow. That must be tough. How long have you two been together?" He asked, softly.

"We haven't." I said flatly, not wanting to talk about it.

"Oh. She doesn't know, does she?" He said, noting the clipped tone in my voice. He set the Airship on autopilot and swiveled in his chair towards me switching back to swashbuckling pilot mode.

"Who is it?" He asked, curiosity tinging his voice. "C'mon, I won't tell."

I shook my head, trying to ignore him. Sighing, he leaned back on his chair.

"My advice? When we get back to Beacon, you're gonna- and I mean gonna- talk to her. Or I will." he continued.

"Why is it soo important that you help me with my love life?" I yelled impatiently. "If Ruby and I are going to get closer, I have to find her first, not sit around talking... about...Oh Crap." I stopped mid-rant, face reddening- again- as I realized what I had just said, causing the pilot to grin.

"Please don't tell anyone I said that. Please don't tell her." I pleaded, mentally chiding myself for being so carried away.

"Hey man, I've heard about that huntress-in-training. She's one of the youngest students to ever enroll at Beacon. She's also a tough fighter, from what I can hear. Man, a girl like that is sure to be snatched up sooner or later. You need to make sure you save her. Okay, Here's how you fly this thing" He said, leaning over in my direction.

"Wait, what? Where are we going anyways?" I asked

"Where all pilots go in case of an attack- Sub Rosa Central"

After he taught me the basics of flying the ship, he sat back and mumbled a prayer. "Who ya praying for?" I asked, still trying to distract myself from negative thoughts. "My wife and kids. They're not at Beacon, but I know they're worried about me!"

"That's good," I said, "My family doesn't even know I'm here!"

"Why not? Don't your parents or guardian have to sign you up?" the pilot asked, hands crossed behind his head.

"Well, normally, you do, but my team and I had some... special circumstances. I'd rather not discuss them right now, because even we don't know them all!" I said, throwing some mystery into my voice.

"Alright man! I'm okay with that! The whole deal wi-" The pilot didn't even get to finish his sentence before a small hole appeared through the window, and his head snapped back.

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Finally Finished! Hey, you faithful readers! It took me about two days to edit this chapter, that's why I'm a little late in updating. See, usually, I spend most of the week writing, and edit it the day of it's update, but for the first few drafts, I couldn't seem to get the tone right. This chapter is meant to be a transition chapter to signal the change in the mood of the story, hence the (hopefully) serious undertones. It shouldn't get too dark, but the next chapter has a... dare I say it... fight scene, where I discover some more of my powers. It's still unknown how I figured out how to use them, so keep that in mind for future chapters.

R&R