The four huntresses entered the Emerald forest together. They were close to home now, only another days travel and they would see the walls of Vale. The forest held many memories for all of them; it was where they had become a team, where they had first fought as a team. It was where they had found their partners. Blake told the group that they would come across a village in a few hours, a small Faunus settlement that had been recently constructed after the army's sweep of the forest. The team was overjoyed, the settlement would have signal towers set up, so their Scrolls would finally have proper reception and they could call for assistance. That meant an end to walking, which everyone was ecstatic about.
Ruby looked over at her partner, who was at this point completely tired of the whole situation. She had a constant frown set on her face, and was set to blow up at anyone who annoyed her. There had been several disputes with Yang already; both their tempers were very short. Ruby had tried her hardest to break Weiss' foul mood, but had only managed to calm Weiss down enough to stop arguing. While her grumpy state was getting on everyone's nerve, it was pretty cute. Especially when she would stop frowning, only ever for a second, when she was near Ruby. Yang and Blake also seemed fairly happy; there were a lot of awkward glances between them, Yang quite obviously enjoying watching Blake move, Blake knew this of course and would eventually catch Yang's eye. With a raised eyebrow and a wink Blake would tease Yang, who would always look over her shoulder towards Ruby, sighing deeply. Ruby did not want to begin imagining what they would be doing if she was not around. It did surprise Ruby that Yang was in fact being so reserved, she had never seen her sister be so patient when it came to romantic matters; she was more of a rush in and enjoy it while it lasted. This was probably why over the years there had been no long term relationships.
Blake still showed signs of injury, but she had perked up and started moving faster as they had gotten closer to the Faunus settlement. Ruby was just hoping they had some fresh food and some tools so she could fix Crescent Rose. What if the town has a bakery, what if they have cookies? Ruby squealed with excitement, attracting Weiss' attention. "What has you so excited?"
"Oh you know, just ready to be back in civilization"
"I would hardly call it civilization we are still out in the middle of a forest". Weiss was being Weiss, nose in the air, scowl set firmly on her face. Ruby chuckled slightly wrapping her arm around Weiss' waist, giving her a peck on the cheek. 'It's not so bad Weiss, its quiet and peaceful, I wouldn't mind living out in a small village one day"
"Well I don't know why you would want that"
"Maybe I just want to be somewhere that no one can disturb us", Ruby stared into Weiss' eyes with mischief written across her face. "I guess it wouldn't be that bad" Weiss responded in a soft tone, breaking Ruby's gaze and blushing slightly. Ruby let out a happy sigh and leant in for a kiss, Weiss protesting "we need some rules about public displays of affection"
"But I thought this wasn't civilization, doesn't that mean it's not public". This brought a faint grin to Weiss' face, "You are impossible you know that". Ruby wrapped her arms around Weiss in a hug, the tired but happy Ice queen content to simply enjoy the moment. "Break it up you two, Blake smells trouble", Yang shouting behind her, Ruby hadn't noticed they had fallen behind. The two broke away and caught up to her. The three of them watched as Blake smelled the air, a frantic look on her face. "How much ammo do you guys have", Blake drawing her weapon. Yang shrugged,
"I used up the last of my ammo on that lizard thing"
"Same here", Ruby looking sad as she held her broken weapon, "And I don't really have a functional weapon"
"I have a little bit of dust left, not much but enough to do some damage". Blake frowned, checking her ammo clip again, hoping for a miracle. Ruby took charge, "in that case Weiss you will take point, Yang you take the rear". Yang let out a little snigger
"Rear…" the group let out a collective groan. Taking positions they move down towards the area that Blake had sensed danger. Weiss scanned the forest, waiting for whatever attack Blake suspected. None came, the team however pressed on in formation. Weiss was the first to break into the blearing, the first to see the village. Blake's nose had been spot on, there had been danger, and it had destroyed the village. The small settlement was in tatters, the portable huts that had been used were torn, turned over and in general states of disrepair. The attack looked recent to Weiss; the bodies that were scattered around the town were fresh. "Weiss what is it?" Blake stepping past the motionless girl in white. Blake stopped in her tracks by the horrible sight, eventually all of Team RWBY stood overlooking the village. They were supposed to be safe, we cleared everything out, this wasn't supposed to happen. Ruby's thoughts kept returning to that fact. This wasn't supposed to happen. The whole point of the expansion operation was to ensure that towns like this one could exist in peace, without the threat of Grimm.
Team RWBY moved forward into the ruined town. Cautiously the four huntresses scanned the town, knowing that there were likely still some creatures nearby. Fanning out they found more destruction, Yang staying close to Blake, seeing that all the Faunus deaths were starting to get to her. Blake fought through the tears, through the stench of death, trying to find solace in anger as she hunted for the beasts that did this. Her hearing picked up a faint scratching sound it was close. Blake signalled to Yang to halt, her partner pulling up behind her "got one?"
"Yeah, leave it to me". Blake started to round the corner before yang stopped her, looking deep into her eyes. "What is it?" Blake growing impatient, Yang shook her head
"Nothing, just stay focused". Blake shrugged Yang off, rounding the corner she was met with the sight of a Beowolf feeding. The sight pushed her over the edge, and she ran at the beast. It barely had time to look at its assailant before a blade sliced across its torso. Wounded and surprised the beast wasn't able to block any of Blake's following attacks. Her raged spilling out in a flurry of blows, blinding her to the world around her. She could feel someone trying to grab her, she could hear something approaching. She lunged towards the new sound, hoping it was another beast she could put down. Instead her blow met steel, parried away. Blake looked up at the thing that had blocked her attack. A confused orange haired girl wielding a hammer looked down at Blake's crouching stance. "Hiya Blake, it's so good to see you!" The orange haired girl embracing Blake in a tight thug. "Nora, what are you doing out here?" Blake still shaken by her outburst could only manage the simple question. From behind her she heard Yang come running up to her, "Blake are you ok~ Nora! What are you doing out here?" Yang equally surprised about the sudden appearance of the boisterous huntress.
Ruby heard the sounds of fighting; alerting Weiss they ran over to see if their teammates were alright. They were surprised to see that instead of Grimm their teammates had found Nora and Ren. "Nora? Ren? Aren't you supposed to be working with the first expansion force?" Ruby's suddenly piecing together what she hoped wasn't true. It was Nora who spoke up, "oh god you guys have been out of the loop. Well you see, there were like a million Grimm, and Ren and I killed like half a million but we had to leave before we could finish off the other half". Everyone looked to Ren, waiting for his usual correction that Ren was prone to giving as to Nora's exaggerated stories. Instead he just shook his head and gave Nora a knowing look, Nora frowned "fine, what really happened is that we were helping out the second expansion force, when we came up against like a ton of Grimm, and they sorta overwhelmed us. Now we are here trying ot evacuate the village, but we were too late". Nora clearly embarrassed at the admission of failure, Ren placing a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. To say everyone was surprised by Nora's admission of failure was an understatement, never before had they seen Nora admit to any sort of failure. Usually she would cover it all up with an exaggerated story; Ren would clear things up and save Nora any embarrassment. Ren noticed to confused looks and nudged Nora, giving her another knowing look. "Oh yeah also, Ren had an injury a little while ago, it may have ruined his voice, now I have to do the talking for both of us", Ren smiled and gave Nora a reassuring hug, his simple gesture enough to communicate his love for the slightly crazy Nora. Ren pulled down his high collar to show of a wicked scar that ran across his throat.
Weiss spoke up next, interrupting the touching moment, "well it seems that both armies have failed, so is the expansion over? What is happening in Vale?" Nora and Ren shared and nervous look, "Well uh, we are kinda preparing for an attack"
"You mean we are still going to send forward more forces to attack the Grimm", Ruby as always hoping against hope for the best possible outcome. "Not really, more of the Grimm are attacking us and we are defending", Nora and Ren waited uneasily for team RWBY's response.
"Wait you mean the Grimm are going to attack Vale, they have tried before and failed, I'm sure this time will be no different". It was Blake, who responded,
"Weiss you fought that thing back at the edge of the forest that was a new type of Grimm, maybe there are more, maybe they are worse than what we have seen". Ruby once again tried to find positives, "I don't know, Weiss is right, they tried and failed and new Grimm pop up now and again, what was it that Professor Port said…" Ruby trailed off deep in thought, Weiss finishing her thought
"He said that Grimm are always evolving, reacting to the negative emotions of humanity. New ones pop up here and there but usually don't survive long enough to become a sub species. I doubt we have anything to worry about, we just were not adequately prepared for the expansion, especially after the loss of the automated soldiers"
"uuuuhhhhh, I don't know a whole lot about what you're saying, buuuuut some of the others are pretty worried, Ozpin and the council have really been hunkering down" Nora scratching her head. Ren simply shook his head and motioned for the others to leave. Everyone shared a look and followed Ren and Nora back, to Vale. Blake kept looking back at the town, Yang pulled her away, "We will come back, give them a proper send-off" Blake nodded sadly. They were home now, but even having made it to safety, they were not safe. It was not over; they now faced a greater challenge, the defence of Vale.
Author's note: Arc 1 comes to a close. Arc 2 promises more fluff, more action and if we are lucky some form of citrusy fruit. Thank you for all the follows, favourites and reviews the feedback and support is greatly appreciated. So keep on being awesome, see you in the next chapter.