Chapter 10 – Sabotaged


Glynda


She is sat down at the desk which once belonged to Professor Ozpin, her hands clasped together, and head held low with sunken green eyes. Her blonde hair swept over the side of her head with her eyes staring down at the documents on her desk. Many names and faces on them, the faces of the dead and one of the faces is Penny Polendina. She did not know the little synthetic girl very well, but she wishes she could have done.

Feeling her heart pounding a thousand times a second with her heart in her mouth, everything seems like it is getting worse. She exhales, lifting her head up to see the hazy view of the Shadow of Broken Promises in the sky. Looking like it is ready to unleash the full force of the Black Gallows from the safety above, reigning fire and death from the stars. But there would be nothing they could do if they decided to level the Academy, so she calms herself down – knowing that Killian would never do such a thing.

Or at least she hopes so.

As she sits there, she hears the sound of the door behind her opening, and she turns to see Ironwood standing behind her with his hand resting against the door. She looks at him then sighs with sadness, looking out the window again and feeling worse and worse over this situation. "James…" She softly says, staring down at the desk yet again as Ironwood walks inside with Oobleck and Port at his side.

"Good afternoon, Glynda…I can probably guess you know why I am here." James says, walking over to her with his voice filled with concern. Professor Port and Doctor Oobleck follow him, and they both stand by the pillars as James approaches her desk and he leans against it with his arms crossed. "The reports I have received, Glynda…they've been worrying me." He admits, trying his best to make it sound as kind as he possibly could. Glynda sighs, looking up at him, and she looks like she has not had a good nights' sleep ever since the Battle of Beacon.

With exhausted eyes look up at him, bags formed underneath the eyes themselves and her scleras are badly bloodshot from her lack of sleep. "I know…I know, James." She stammers as she touches the table with her hands.

"A kid with Paranoid Schizophrenia allowed into the Huntsmen Academies? Not excluded after the revelation we learned? I don't want to jump to any conclusions, Glynda, but it looks like who have been slacking on the simpler rules." James explains as he lists the strange things that have been happening lately. Glynda gets up from her desk and she walks over to the window, stammering a breath as she approaches it, staring down at the academy where the Black Gallows have infested the infrastructure of like rats. She presses her palm against the window and she lets out a shaky breath.

James stares at her, worried for her mental health, the attack is enough to mess with anyone – hell it has been getting to him as well. "Glynda? I'm worried about you." He tells her, pushing himself away from her desk and standing behind her. She squeezes her eyes shut with a sharp intake of air, biting her lip as tears trickle down from her eyes. She turns to him and the three of them see her struggles as clear as day in her eyes.

"I don't know what to do…James…" She sniffles as she stares at him, he notices her hands shaking and her inability to contain her own emotions. He heard about her snapping at the students after the fight between Sun and Jaymes, and he is no fool. She is displaying signs of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, something extremely understandable after what she witnessed. No matter how hard of a warrior you are, the mind cannot be expected to withstand every horror that they are confronting.

James immediately walks over to Glynda and kindly wraps his arms around her in a warm embrace, she gives in and she holds onto him in return, sniffling through her sorrow. She hugs him tight, showing her weaker side to the three teachers that stand in the office with her. At least she can get the tears out around people she can trust, opposed to it happening in front of all the students during an assembly when she is meant to be giving a heartfelt speech to them all. "Ssh, it's okay." James assures as he caresses her blonde hair with his metal gloved hand.

"We lost so many people, James…not just teachers but children too. That boy? Ickford? His cousin was ripped apart by the Grimm in front of him…Penny Polendina, hell nearly Pyrrha Nikos died. It was hard enough losing Professor Peach." She sniffles, a death that none of the students even know about. The teacher who taught them all about survival and tracking, the same woman who asked them to get the tree sap from the forest of Forever Fall. When bringing her name up, the two teachers here in the office with James both mournfully lower their heads sadly as they remember her.

James holds her close, in a warm embrace with his large hands grasping onto her so then she has someone to cry onto their shoulder. "I'm sorry, Glynda." He says to her with a soft-spoken voice, showing that despite being the tin man, he does still have a heart. He releases Glynda and she steps away from him, wiping her tears from her cheeks as she stands there. Port and Oobleck both walk over to her, seeing her with so much suffering affecting a woman who was once filled with so much certainty. Now she looks so broken and unable to speak sternly, just a shattered remnant of who she used to be.

"And now the Black Gallows are here, threatening my students and my staff with being taken away to a prison we've no idea where it is located." She adds with her tearful voice, breaking constantly with every cord created as she speaks. She walks over to the window and stares at some of the Black Gallows soldiers that patrol the courtyard, yelling at some students to get them to their lessons or else. One would think that they are machines opposed to real human beings, pointing at them with the barrels of their rifles. James walks over to Glynda and he stares down at the soldiers forcing the students to their lessons as more dropships land down at the courtyard, deploying small bases down in the area. Armouries and other small facilities being used for their own purposes.

The dropships rise into the sky after deploying the structures with their mechanical arms, powerful thrusters blasting them up into the sky to return to the Shadow of Broken Promises. One of the Wasp Ships slowly patrols the skies, scanning the area for any signs of irregularities, but not attacking the Grimm. There are so many that it would be deemed far too much of a risk, it can be seen from all the way up here in the C.C.T Tower…the smog is growing larger by the day. Taking up most of the Emerald Forest and Forever Fall. "It will be fine, it was just a fight. Hopefully Killian will understand that." Ironwood states as he sighs, scratching the back of his head.

"Will it? You've heard the stories about his crew, James. People who cross the Black Gallows never return to see the light of day. Some people theorise that they test on them…find cures for plagues on them or make test weapons on their prisoners. I will not let my students suffer the same fate." Glynda states with a scowl as she stares at the back Atlesian Vessel in the sky.

"They won't, we won't let them." Oobleck promises, stepping forward with his hand pushing his glasses back up with his fingers.

James looks at Glynda, and he sighs. "I know you're struggling without Ozpin, Glynda…that is why we are here. Winter and I have both agreed to help take lessons for the teachers who either left...or we lost." He promises as he places his hand on her shoulder, she smiles as she looks at him.

"I also heard this Eryka Vasillias has offered to take the place of Professor Peach, she is a Hunter and knows how to track." Oobleck tells them with a smile, that is not happy but more compassionate to their friend.

"I will take on more lessons, more students too. We just need to keep everything calm so then people can be happier – when the Grimm retreat we can have the party. It's all we need." Port explains with a smile on his face, eyes hidden behind his thick eyebrows. Glynda turns to them and she smiles.

"When was the last time you slept, Glynda? Go get some rest, I will handle the headmaster stuff for you. You must be exhausted." He says to her, but she shakes her head, still the stubborn teacher she has always been.

"No…I need to do my job…Ozpin has put his faith in me to do my job. If I can't do this then what is the point in me being the Vice Headmaster?" She questions as she covers her face with her hand, so exhausted yet so stubborn to give in. James looks at her and he sighs, able to understand her struggles in the way she acts. She has always been one to complete her duty at all costs, she would never fail.

"Doesn't mean you have to do it alone." Oobleck reminds with a smile, and she sighs, wiping the tears from her cheeks and eyes.

"I…I know…But…he trusted me." She stammers, and James looks at her with a smile.

"And he still does, but he wouldn't want you to fall apart because you are carrying everything on your shoulders." James explains to her, but she sits down, and sighs, pressing her hands to her head.

"But what am I supposed to do? I know that Jaymes should not be in the Academies at all because of his condition. But it was never on his file to begin with, his father was the one responsible, taking it out…his father abuses him every single day and his uncle is even worse. And his cousin is that same uncle's son…if we send him home he will be killed." Glynda explains with worry in her voice.

"But Glynda…if he stays here he could trigger panic, I have read his file too and I have seen what his semblance is. He can form electricity, mix that with Paranoid Schizophrenia and you have a ticking time bomb." James explains, looking at it from a logical and Atlesian way, but Glynda shakes her head.

"We are a school, what kind of teachers would we be if we did not protect our students?" Glynda questions as she stares at him, her eyes not as wet from tears anymore but she looks angrier again. Something that feels normal in comparison to seeing her broken and upset, yet she is still lost for answers.

"We might want to take care for our students…but also as a whole, Glynda. I hate to say it, but one student's welfare is nothing in comparison to the welfare of every single student." He explains with narrowed eyes, but Glynda stares right back with angered eyes.

"Do the world really view the Valerians the way they do because we actually care? You see as us arrogant because we actually want our students to be safe?" Glynda questions with anger, but Ironwood shakes his head with annoyance at his own failure of words.

"I didn't mean that, and you know it." Ironwood states.

"Do I? The Black Gallows are Atlesian and you sound a lot like Killian right now." She says, insulting the General who stares at her.

"I am nothing like him – that monster would rather just kill Sun, Pyrrha and Jaymes and be done with it. We are lucky he hasn't just assassinated them already." He explains with concern in his voice along with disappointment around the fact that Glynda saw him that way. She sighs, massaging her brow with her hand.

"I know…and I'm sorry." She sighs. The four of them in this room look around as they think on the situation at hand, every conversation seems to surround the Black Gallows lately. "I'm sorry…you're not like Killian…I just want to help him. The poor boy has had to suffer with so much."

"I understand, Glynda. But…maybe we can move him to another school. Maybe even to Atlas, it suffered the least punishment from the Battle of Beacon." He suggests, and Glynda ponders on the idea of possibly moving him away to another area.

But before she can easily answer, the doors open, and they all turn sharply to see them standing there. Commander Killian and two Black Gallows soldiers standing at his side with rifles in their hands. "We have a situation."


Winter


The body has been found, washed up at the edge of the river aways down from wherever it was the poor courier was murdered. With a deep stab wound in the side of his neck, it is clear he was killed by the shock and sudden stabbing, most likely severed the vertebrae with the twist of the knife. Stood above the body is Winter, since Weiss is with her team and getting to her lesson she now has the time to do some of her work as a soldier.

Although she never expected to see this, someone who has been assassinated with essential drugs to deliver to someone who really needs them. She narrows her eyes as she stares at the scene, unable to tell where it happened, but from all the water that drenches his corpse and the fact there are no tracks where he has washed up…he was dumped into the river to hide the scene of the crime.

This is work done by a professional killer, not some thug.

She exhales, turning to the sound of a Bullhead approaching their location in the Emerald Forest, and it descends into the trees, slowly moving towards the ground and its landing gear folds out and sets forth onto the soil. Holding into the internal handles is Ironwood with Port, Oobleck and Killian, since Glynda has been told to try and get some sleep. She really needs it after all, she could barely stand from how tired she was.

James drops down from the Bullhead, and he walks towards Winter who approaches him with concern apparent in her blue Schnee Eyes. "Winter, report." James speaks, and she nods her head.

"It's the courier that was supposed to sneak these drugs into Jaymes' Dorm Room, without raising suspicions. He's been killed by someone." She explains, he nods his head and approaches the body on the ground, crouching down to stare at the wound he has suffered. The blade must have been small, able to fit right underneath the helmet with ease without even scraping the armour plating in any points.

Not only was the attack precise but the weapon was practically designed for this use. Perfectly plunged straight into his jugular, killing him quickly and leaving him in the water. Ironwood turns when he hears the sound of an Altum Eagle calling out overhead, seeing Eryka approaching the scene of the crime with her eyes searching the area. She might be extravagant in the ways of which she does things, but one cannot deny her usefulness in a situation like this. "He wasn't killed here." Eryka states, knowing this to be the fact just from looking at his body.

"And who might you be?" Ironwood asks her curiously, rising up to face her. She smiles and extends her hand to him.

"Eryka Vasillias." She answers, he shakes her hand with a nod.

"Neptune's sister?" He presumes.

"Good eyes, General. I was called to Beacon to look out for him, but it looks like you have bigger fish to fry at the minute." She explains as she crouches down and she examines the body, looking for things that the others would have missed. It is as if she can see in a different spectrum to normal people. Able to notice the smallest things on the body that could be possible clues, things that she cannot help but point out aloud.

She touches his skin and clothes, feeling the temperature of his corpse from the water that covers his body. "Water has drenched his body and clothes, turned him cold as ice, his skin has bloated slightly as well. Must have been in the water for quite a while for this to happen." Eryka describes as she prods his skin, feeling it squelch from the amount of water that has gotten trapped in his body. "But he wasn't drowned…stabbed in the neck with a razor…right into his spine, managed to part the bones in his neck. Damn good assassin, quick and silent kill, not even a grunt would have been made…no signs of struggle at all." Eryka explains, Ironwood looks at Winter and both of them look impressed by her ability to see these things. Ironwood looks at her clothes and then at the bow on her back.

"You're from the Mistraalian Mountains, aren't you?" He asks her, clearly knowing about the people of which that trained her.

Eryka chortles as she checks over his body. "Checking me out already General?" She asks him, knowing he could have only deduced that from the clothes of which she wears. He sighs as he shakes his head.

"You know what I meant, and I can guess I'm right from that Altum Eagle above our heads. You're a Falconess?" He asks her curiously.

"Yup, wasn't raised there though…they helped me fix my path. I used to be a really angry chick, now I'm moderately annoyed." She jokes with a wink, looking back to the body at her feet. There is more than just the stab wound in his neck, for there are also some slashes across his chest as well. As if he has been attacked by a few swords at once, deep gashes with blood pouring from the wounds. However, they were not what killed him…this could have been from the Grimm.

He is in the Emerald Forest after all.

She swipes her fingers across the soil and feels the things inside. She sniffs it, and she smells the irony scent of blood in the soil, meaning he was still bleeding when his body ended up here. "Blood in the soil, meaning he couldn't have washed up far from where he was killed." She determines as she stands up and looks up the river, looking at the path.

She tracks the river down and notices that the river bends westward, and the body has ended up on the eastern side of the river, so he was washed up on the turn. Meaning he came from uphill, not downhill. "He was killed somewhere up here." She states, pointing up the hill where the river trickles down. Ironwood looks at Winter and then at Killian who speaks with some of his soldiers, telling them to search the area.

"Winter go with Eryka and see if you can find the scene of the crime." Ironwood orders, Winter looks at Eryka who whistles to Dulcis and he flies down to her and lands on her arm, chirping as he looks at his motherly master. She then looks down to the completely ruined drugs that have been contaminated in the water, totally useless now and probably dangerous if he took them. Who knows what kinds of diseases he could contract if he took any of these meds.

She stands sharp and she salutes him. "Yes sir." She proudly assures, Ironwood nods as he crouches down by the body as the Black Gallows soldiers take a body bag out and they prepare to lift the body out of here so then he can be tended to. Winter follows Eryka up the stream as they search for a point of which where the murder could have happened.

Eryka just moves her arm slightly and Dulcis takes off again, searching for any clues himself, clues he would screech to get her attention, whilst they walk up the hill. Eryka looks at Winter and she smirks slightly. "So…Winter Schnee? Specialist in the Atlesian Military? Do they always let chicks in Atlas wear perfume?" She asks curiously, getting a confused look from Winter.

"Excuse me?" Winter questions with a shocked look on her face, mostly at how Eryka managed to smell the perfume that she wears.

"If my nose if correct, that is lavender scented, correct?" She asks her, and Winter sniffs herself quietly to see if she put too much on. "Relax, Wints. I won't tell him." She snarks, getting a furtherly shocked look from Winter.

"Him?" She questions.

"The General, dummy. Why else would you wear perfume around him, not like I blame you he is a pretty dapper man. A little older than you though." She reminds, but Winter scoffs in disgust at her.

"That is my commanding officer, and that would be indecent fraternization. Besides I have never been overly lucky in that department." She states as she walks with Eryka, stepping up a small incline in the hill with her blue eyes scanning the environment. Eryka shakes her head as she walks with her.

"Sure, sure…maybe that is the case. I dunno though, and to be honest I don't know if I care. I'm just here to look after my baby bro and the boyfriend of your sister." She informs with a small grin, knowing very clearly that Winter has absolutely no idea on this matter. Winter freezes with stern blue eyes glaring right at Eryka, and her voice becomes sharp.

"Boy – Friend?" She slowly bites as she glares at Eryka, and she turns with a smirk.

"Uh Oh…you didn't know?" She teases with a grin on her face. "Well in fairness they aren't dating, but they really like each other." She informs, and Winter shakes her head with annoyance.

"I've the feeling we are gonna end up working together quite a lot, so please don't do that again." She begs her, getting a laugh from Eryka as she walks ahead, scanning the soil for any signs of a scuffle. There would be signs of this in the ground no matter how stealthy or quick the kill was, two pairs of footprints on the same spot and a depression in the soil where the body was thrown.

"Don't fret, just teasing you with some playful banter. But the two of them are close, thought Weiss' big sister should know that. You know, big sister to big sister, right?" She asks her, and Winter cannot help but agree with her, she does not seem to mean anything harmful in what she said. Just being her playful self, and the two of them continue their way through the woods to find where the courier was killed. "I do hope they get together though…for Neptune's sake." She sighs as she walks, eyes looking down to the ground.

Winter looks at her curiously, catching onto the tone in her voice, she knows that tone. She has heard it in her family for so long…the tone of fear. "What's wrong with Neptune?" Winter inquires, and Eryka looks at her.

"Nothing…not with him anyway. The problem is that he has always looked up to me…a failure to the family…someone who could never cut it in the Academies. And for some reason he idolises me – so much that he wants to be me. The hair, the way he dresses…he thinks I'm so cool…and he is afraid that if he is not like me then nobody else will care." She sadly explains, feeling for him because she thinks that she is the reason for the way he is. Winter nods her head, knowing exactly what Eryka is talking about.

"He's insecure, isn't he? About the way people view him?" She guesses, Eryka looks at Winter.

"You know what it's like?" She asks her.

"It seems Weiss and Neptune have more in common than we realised, because I know Weiss is the same. She might say she joined the Academies because she believes it is right and all, and it may be the case now…but I know deep down she only rebelled against her father because I did." She says, with sunken eyes. "Sometimes I wonder how different things would be if I stayed…would Weiss have developed an eating disorder? Would she have fallen into depression because of our lousy father?" She questions when walking alongside Eryka. The Vasillias Falconess looks at Winter with saddened eyes, never even realising that side of Weiss ever existed.

"I didn't know…I'm sorry." Eryka apologises, and Winter sighs as she flicks some of her white hair over her shoulder.

"Ancient history now…I just want what is best for my little sister. Like you said, it's our job to protect them." She states with the shrug of her shoulders, and Eryka sighs.

"Ain't that the truth?" Eryka huffs, walking further up the river to where they come across something very interesting. She stops and her eye swivels round to notice something on the bark of the tree nearby…and there is a bloodied handprint on the tree. Very faint, as if the owner of this print realised they just pressed their hand against it and pulled the hand away as quickly as they could. Then used their sleeve to wipe it away, this must belong to the killer from how it appears.

Impossible to belong to the victim, he would have been killed instantly from an attack like that. Eryka follows the trail, whilst Eryka follows and keeps her eyes open. The Grimm are still inside of the Emerald Forest, they are just lucky that they are in an area where there are no Grimm. However, this still raises one very good question, a question that has been eating away at Winter. "Why the hell is the courier out here if these meds were meant to get to Jaymes in Beacon?" Winter questions with confusion, but as they walk further…

Eryka stops so suddenly that Winter bumps into her with a grunt, furrowing her brow. "What the hell?" She questions, but Eryka points at the ground, seeing the point of which it happened. Even Winter can see it, that is how clear it is right now.

"Look…this is where it happened, he was killed here and was thrown into the river to try and hide it." Eryka explains, crouching down to the point she noticed. There are four footprints, one clearly belongs to the Atlesian Courier, but the other set are so much smaller than his…almost the same size as what would be expected of a Student. The blood has only just started to harden, this happened recently.

But there is also something else…

Something has been buried at this spot, almost so well that nobody would notice, but Eryka could see the mound and the scratches in the soil where someone had dug a hole with their bare hands. "Whoever killed the poor guy was trying to hide something." Eryka states, digging with her hands…something that totally repulses the prim, clean and proper Winter Schnee. Seeing how she does not even react to getting dirt under her nails really makes her shudder – Winter is not afraid to get dirty, but only if there is either no other way or if it just happens with the job.

Eryka could have used something to dig up the dirt with, but no…she uses her hands like an animal. Eryka pulls the dirt back, and her eyes widen from what she sees…the blade that was used. It is indeed a knife, one with extremely serrated edges with the blood still soaking the blade. "Looks like our killer didn't have time to think, they could have just thrown the blade in the water, but buried it instead…strange choice." She says as she looks at the knife. Since Winter is wearing gloves she reaches over to the knife and picks it up, putting it inside a plastic bag.

"We can search for fingerprints with this." Winter says, but there is something else buried, something Eryka notices at the last second.

"Hold on…" Eryka says, and Winter looks back at her after standing up. She looks over her shoulder to what Eryka has uncovered, curiosity grasping both of them and not letting go.

Eryka swipes the dirt from the lens to reveal a small camera, a built-in camera which was most likely mounted atop the Atlesian Courier's helmet that he was wearing. "It must have still been recording…" She says, opening the camera to reveal the screen inside. "The killer didn't take out the memory card in the camera…on purpose? If you bury a camera then you would know that it would have been recording, right?" Eryka presumes as she looks back at Winter.

"You have to rip those things off too, they don't come off by accident. This was intentional." Winter adds, able to tell that this must be part of the killer's sick little game. Meaning that have a scheming killer on the lose right now.

"Let's see what happened…maybe we can find some answers." Eryka hopes as she presses the play button and lets the camera start rolling.

Heavy panting breathing at the very first few seconds of the video are the first things that they ever hear. The camera shaking as he flees from something, looking over his shoulder and only hearing the caw of a bird behind him. Like a Crow or a Raven, chasing him down through the woods.

Distant nightmarish howls of the Grimm echo round the soldier that flees, still holding the bag of drugs in his hand. "This is Private Tarkas! I think this will be my final recording…oh by the gods it hurts so much…" He winces in pain, crying as he stammers, stumbling across the grass, hearing the Grimm getting closer around him. He keeps fleeing and the river is not in view yet from his camera, just the trees endlessly stretching ahead of him.

He coughs, vomiting blood and as the camera lowers down they can actually see his hands pressing onto the wounds. The recording does not show the slashes he got before getting stabbed in the neck by someone. He was bleeding heavily in his last moments, could have died just from his blood loss he suffered from. "Son of a bitch…I don't wanna die…I was attacked by something when delivering these medical supplies for the Jaymes Ickford boy…but on the way there I was attacked…corralled into the Emerald Forest. I don't know where I am…but I am going to activate a signal for people to know! I don't want my girlfriend to not know what happened to me." Tarkas whimpered with terror, weakly limping across the grass.

The cawing from the bird grows louder and louder.

"Oh gods…he's coming! Please! I don't want to go!" He wailed in terror, now the trickling of the river can be heard. "No!" He screeches as something forms in black smoke before his very eyes. That's when his voice gets cut off by the crunching squelch of a knife plunging into his neck, killing him instantly.

And almost mercifully.

The body collapses to the ground and his head falls towards the ground, but the body is held upright, stopping him from falling. Then the killer silently shoves him into the water, where the man's legs are standing in as the water rushes around him. The man crouches down and he picks up the camera and breaks it off, holding the lens downwards as he speaks to the killer. His voice chillingly sharp and vicious, like the voice of a monster.

His voice sends a chill up Eryka's spine. "Good work, now the drugs will not get to the boy." The man says, the voice is eerily familiar yet Eryka cannot place why. "Leave the camera here, I want them to find it. Make things more interesting." He chuckles sinisterly, before ending the recording.

That must have been when he gave it to the killer and buried it.

"Seems like our killer is not working alone…someone else is in charge of this." Winter deduces from what they heard, the only things they have on the man is that he wore black trousers and a trench coat. That is about it, all in black but nothing else worth noting. Apart from the fact that there was a metallic sound when he picked the camera up, could have just been the camera…or he has cybernetics?

"This situation just got a whole lot more complicated." Eryka says as she gives the camera to Winter so then she can store it for safe keeping in those bags that she has. Eryka stands up and walks over to the river, staring at the clean water and the ground beneath it, luckily it is not a very deep river. But either way there are no tracks left behind, whoever it was managed to get in and out of here very fast without leaving any tracks behind.

But the killer?

The killer did.

"Eryka…" Winter says, since even she can see the tracks with her own eyes.

Eryka walks over to her partner and she watches the trail as it stretched out.

Towards Beacon Academy.

"Shit…the killer is in Beacon." Eryka realises, until suddenly a monstrous roar ignites from behind them, making the two of them jump. A pack of Beowulves have found them, roaring aggressively at the two Huntresses. The pack snarl at them, but Eryka and Winter's eyes both widen with disbelief as they stare at the Beowulves. They have changed, they are no longer the tall lanky creatures that they once remembered anymore…

They are bigger, more muscular and vicious looking than they remember…they are evolving. Winter reaches up to her earpiece after drawing her sword. "General! We've got Grimm incoming!" She advises. That's when they hear the gunshots from where the others are currently at.

"They're already here!" Ironwood replies, firing at the Grimm that have come pouring in from the woods. The smog has not found them but a large contingency of Grimm have located them, meaning they are gonna have to fight their way out. Most likely the hopes of the killer on the loose, that the investigators will be killed, and all this will be pinned on the Grimm. The Beowulves roar, and they all charge towards the two Huntresses.

Winter darts towards them with her glyph forming beneath her feet, whereas Eryka draws her bow and launches an arrow towards one of the Creatures of Grimm. The Beowulf roars with fury, until suddenly the arrow lodges straight through its eye socket and it falls onto the ground. Winter slides underneath the legs of one of the Grimm, slashing her blade upwards and cutting through the legs of the creature. The stumps glow bright red as the beast collapses to the ground, roaring in pain and fury as the thick black smoke pours from its wounds like blood on a Human or Faunus. The Beowulf that Winter amputated still crawls towards her, one of the main reasons that scientists know that the Grimm are nothing like the average fauna.

They act on pure hate and rage, nothing more, driven by a sense of purpose that is almost terrifying. The Beowulf roars at her, and Winter spins through the air, stabbing the blades straight through the skull of the creature howls in agony, twitching in pain as the thick smoke pours from the opening inside its head created by Winter's curved blade. She twists the blade and rips it through the side of its head, purposefully so then she can slice the other jumping Grimm out of the air.

The Beowulf crashes down into the soil with a growling grunt, staring ahead to see Winter blasting towards it with her Glyph shooting her as fast as a bullet. She rams the blade of her sword right into its chest, so hard she plunges the sword straight through one of the Emerald Trees. The Grim roars in agony, slashing its claws at her face constantly as she turns to form a glyph and blast icicles towards a Creep that erupts out of the ground behind her. The skull of the Creep shatters like glass, roaring with anger as it breaks away into thousands of ash crystals. The Beowulf still pinned to the tree snarls at her viciously, until an arrow comes shooting past Winter's head and into the eye of the Creature, killing it quickly.

Winter looks back to see Eryka in action against the Grimm, she sprints towards the pack and she slides under the legs of an Ursa that emerged from the bushes. It roars at her as it swings its huge paw at her, but she nails the dodge, sliding under the creature on its hind legs. She leaps up after passing the creature and grabs onto the bony spines on its back. The Ursae have also changed, looking more like Grizzly Bears now than overgrown badgers. Eryka hooks her bow round the Ursa's neck and it roars, swinging its huge paws around as it tries to grapple onto her, but it cannot, just stumbling further and further.

Eryka pushes her boot against the back of its neck and she draws her bow back as she aims the telescopic arrow at the creature. She fires, launching said arrow into the back of its head, and the arrow punctures through the point in the armour where it has parted for better movement. The arrow stabs through where the brain would be and protrudes out the back of its head. Thick billowing black smoke pours out from both ends, and Eryka runs round the collapsing titan, and she jumps up and draws a knife that she also has on her person, stabbing it right into its jaw and with all her might she slams the beast downwards with full force. The Ursa roars and crashes down into the ground, she takes her hunting knife and brings it up, roaring before smashing it back down in between the beast's eyes.

The Ursa's body crumbles away into ash and Eryka spirals round, taking her knife and throwing it, mastering the ability to throw knives too. The hunting knife spins through the air and stabs right into the chest of the Beowulf that roared at her, silencing it in immediately. She smirks as she draws another arrow from her bandolier, the arrow extending outwards with the arrowhead opening up on the end too, as do the feathers. She runs towards a Boarbatusk that charges her, roaring as it accelerates and swings its curved tusks at her animalistically. The tusks carve through the soil, throwing pieces of grass into the air along with roots too.

Eryka jumps and rolls out of the way in time, just dodging the large mammalian like beast as it turns, slamming against one of the trees. It screeches as it scrapes its hoof against the soil, preparing to charge. Eryka draws an arrow and she focuses her senses, tracking the wind and the direction, so she aims the arrow up at an angle before firing it, letting the wind carry it. The arrow curves in the wind and punctures the place between the shoulder and the muscle of the beast, making it roar in pain. She then smirks as she presses a button built into her bow, which detonates the arrow.

The white bony armour explodes, breaking apart and revealing the soft black hide beneath with the smoke peeling away from the muscle. The pained squeal from the overgrown demonic pig devolves into fury, as it charges towards her and then enters a rolling frenzy at her. She just moves in time but still gets clipped in the leg from the creature. She spins through the air then rolls across the ground as the Boarbatusk comes to a stop. It snarls and charges her again, until suddenly Dulcis dives down and slashes his talons across the opened wound in its side, making it screech in pain.

It staggers and Dulcis takes off again, leaving the beast confused of what just attacked its now open weakness. Eryka holds her bow and launches a hard-pointed arrow. These arrows are stronger with much bigger arrowheads in comparison to her normal ones, also completely made of metal opposed to them having a combination of minerals. These are used to take down big prey, or heavily armoured ones like this Boarbatusk. The arrow gets caught in the wind once more and shoots down into the side of the creature, killing it as it punctures the heart. The Boarbatusk roars in pain before crumbling away into dust, Eryka gets up and grabs the arrow she just fires, and she nocks it into her bow, firing it towards the Beowulf flanking Winter.

Winter nods to Eryka, swiftly spinning round as she detaches her smaller blade from within her sword, and she launches it across the forest and into the knee of another Beowulf, the beast yelps in pain as it staggers with the sword impaled in its leg. She forms a protective Glyph behind her that protects her from the charge of a Boarbatusk as well. The creature crashes against it, dazed and sliding across the floor. Winter jumps in the air, flipping round as she presses her legs against the glyph she conjures behind her in the air and she blasts off it at great speeds, stabbing her sword straight through its stomach. She drags the beast across the ground and she spins round, turning to see a huge King Taijitu erupting from the forest with a hissing roar. It snarls at her with its long-forked tongue flitting out at their faces, then the white version if its head rises up behind it, staring at her with both sets of glowing red eyes.

Winter's eyes widen, so she darts backwards to avoid the downwards attack from the creature as it tried to bite onto her with its fangs. She cartwheels away from the second and she grabs onto her other blade still in the leg of the limping Beowulf. She rips it out and quickly beheads the creature right after taking her sword back. She backs up as the huge snake slithers towards her, before rearing up with a deep demonic guttural hiss. It lunges forward and shatters a tree as Winter dodges the attack, slashing across the snout of the other. Winter runs straight at the creature and she jumps onto its spine, sprinting across it and slashing the Black Head across the eye. The Taijitu roars in fury, waving its head around to shake her off, and Winter flies off, only to form a glyph in the air to blast off. She slashes the creature across the side of its face before landing on the ground.

Winter stare up and she blows her hair from her eye to stare at the monster as it coils round with the second head also rising up, whereas the first is still quite injured from Winter's last attack. But then Eryka launches three arrows into the creature's side, making it roar in pain as the arrows stab deep into the scales. Winter gets an idea and she looks at the weakest head, and she has a plan for the White Head. "Eryka! Jump!" She yells, and Eryka nods to her, jumping up in the air as Winter commanded.

Winter conjures a platform above her and she lands on it, standing upside down in the air, and she draws her bow and aims one of her explosive arrows at the weakened head as it lunges at her at great speed. "Nightie-night." She winks, launching the explosive arrow and it shoots straight into the open jaws of the massive snake. The arrow detonates a fiery glow of an explosion from within the skull of the snake, the roar silenced instantly into a cloud of black smoke. The black half of the Taijitu collapses to the ground with an Earthquake like bang. The White Head rises up and it lunges at Eryka too.

The Falconess jumps away from the huge snake as it passes by her, dragging the corpse of its twin behind it, turning round with the flick of its forked tongue. "What about the white one?" Eryka asks Winter as she lands beside her, keeping her bow drawn.

"Give me some time!" Winter replies, spinning her sword through her fingers and stabbing it into the floor as a Glyph forms beneath her feet and another right in front of her. She is beginning to summon one of her fallen enemies she has fought in the past. Eryka nods, and she whistles to Dulcis and he dives down, slashing his talons across the side of the Serpent's head to make it recoil back with a snarl. Winter keeps her eyes closed as she keeps her mind focused on forming her summon…white energy forming around the conjured entity. Eryka rolls away from the huge snake and launches an arrow from the quiver and into the chest of the Taijitu White Head, and she presses the same button on her bow.

The arrows only become live when they are fired from the arrow, for it sets a certain setting in them when launched, going through the prongs that are used to aim, but also to activate them. Pressing the button just detonates them when they are live. She does so and suddenly the arrow ignites into a sparking lightshow of electricity, causing the huge snake to roar in agony, writhing as it rears back, but the arrow does not last forever. Enraged, the Taijitu lunges fast and smashes Eryka back.

Eryka crashes against the tree, then her blue aura crackles across her body as she groans, falling to her knees in pain. The Taijitu rears up with a snarl, ready to devour her.

Winter's Summon finally forms, a huge glowing white Beringel pounds its fists against its chest with a howl, before charging towards the huge snake. It grapples onto the dead half of the snake and pulls it back, the White Head roars in anger turning round to see the glowing Beringel sprinting across the corpse of its fallen twin. The snake snarls then roars, lunging towards it, but then the Beringel jumps high in the air with both fists held over its head. It roars monstrously as it jumps towards its prey.

The Beringel slams both fists down into the cranium of the Taijitu so hard that the skull cracks from the force, and it crashes down into the ground. Killed instantly from the attack, the Beringel pants and growls, before it fades away as well into white dust. The Taijitu crumbles away into ash finally, and Winter stands up, looking over at Eryka as she gets up, coughing from that hit. "Eryka! Are you alright?" She asks her, but Eryka shoves her aside as she stands up.

"I'm fine." She sharply answers, hearing more gunfire from where they left. She picks her bow up and she sprints as fast as she can, limping with her hand held to her stomach, weak from the attack she suffered. Winter looks at her then realises her aura is already down, she only got hit a few times and that hit from the Taijitu should not be enough to break the aura of a Huntress. No matter how strong their aura is, it never goes down that fast.

They reach the ridge and their eyes widen as they see Ironwood, Oobleck, Port and Killian holding off the Grimm that have ambushed them. Beowulf upon Beowulf charge out from the forest, attacking them. The Black Gallows are holding them back but soon their ammunition will run out. They do not have much time, and as more of them start coming out from the forest, Eryka narrows her eyes as she gets an idea. "Tell your general and his friends to get down." Eryka orders as she draws an arrow with fire tattooed across it.

"What? Why?" She questions.

"Just do it!" Eryka yells, as she nocks the arrow and draws it back, Winter complies, and she presses her finger to the earpiece on her ear.

"General! You and everyone else get down now!" She yells, and Ironwood looks at her…he trusts her, so he does so.

"Everyone hit the deck!" He orders.

"Are you mad?" Killian yells back.

"Do it!" Ironwood bellows, as he grabs one of the soldiers firing and forces him down to the ground. Eryka exhales, calming her senses down as she aims the arrow at the centre of the group.

"Just like we practiced buddy…" She whispers, then she whistles to Dulcis, firing the arrow towards the group as the huge swarm of Grimm jump towards them. Winter's heart is pounding so fast, seeing her General about to get ripped limb from limb because of Eryka. But then, Dulcis dives down and he splays out his wings, and grapples his talons onto the arrow, holding onto it tight.

Then…

Fire ignites across the arrow that spreads onto the Altum Eagle and to their aura something incredible happens. The beautiful feathers ignite, then there is a pulse of aura that explodes into a huge Phoenix of fire, dwarfing the eagle he once was. An epic screech emerges from Dulcis as he burns every single Grimm beneath him into ashes, killing every single one of them. The Grimm burn away under the massive fiery feathers that splay out like this, and Ironwood's eyes widen as the huge fiery entity glides over their heads. He banks round and burns the rest of the Grimm as they attempt to flee from the scene, being wiped out as well.

The fire soon dissipates across his body, the smoke trails from both the arrow and the Altum Eagle as he returns to his master. He goes to land on her, but he turns, and she catches him…completely exhausted from using that ability that he has. Even Eryka collapses from exhaustion, her nose beginning to bleed from focusing that hard with her beloved Eagle. She gently caresses his warm feathers as he snuggles up to her, chirping softly.

Ironwood and Killian stand up with Port and Oobleck…everyone looking shocked at that ability that she just displayed. "That was incredible." One of the soldiers chuckles with awe, whilst Eryka recovers her strength and she pulls a tissue out from her pocket to wipe the blood off. She knew she would get a nosebleed from that, just expected perhaps. Winter looks down at Eryka and she crouches down beside her, seeing her so exhausted.

"I've never seen a semblance like that before." Winter says with admiration in her voice, but Eryka stares at her and shakes her head.

"That wasn't a semblance, I don't have one." She tells her, looking back to her Eagle that sleepily sits in her arms.

"How can you…well…I guess I have to ask. How come your aura broke in basically three hits, Eryka? Have you not done any training?" She asks her, sounding as harsh as she always has when it comes down to teaching. Eryka tenses and grits her teeth, glaring straight at Winter.

"I can't! Alright? I'm not as rich or fancy as you Schnees, or like anyone else. I'm a freak…a freak whose aura is thin as paper. Understand?" She snarls with anger in her eyes, before she sighs and kisses the top of her beloved baby's head.

Winter falls silent and she stands up, closing her eyes.

Not everyone is as strong or as capable as she used to believe, just as how Jaymes cannot control his own mind.

Nobody is perfect.

Not even her.


Yang


Miles away in Patch…

The blonde-haired beauty that is Yang Xiao Long groans, finally waking up from her long slumber after losing her arm. She sits up slowly and weakly as she looks around, then gasps with horror when she sees the stump of her arm at her side. She whimpers with horror, then looks out the window to see the forests of her home.

And on the branch of the tree outside?

A Raven?

No…

A Jackdaw.


Author Note - Yang is finally awake! To think that at Chapter 10 of the original it was nearly at the end...crazy isn't it? I really have been stretching this story out, but it is for the betterment of the series. So as you can tell we will be returning back to the main characters now, just wanted to have this chapter surround the other characters. Lots of people wanted some more on Glynda so I wanted to show her struggling to be a leader.

Nobody is perfect is probably the theme for this chapter, you got Glynda and how she struggles, you got the mentions of Jaymes who cannot control his own brain, and you've got Eryka who cannot hold her aura for long. Which is why she is fast and avoids conflict a lot because her aura is not strong enough to withstand combat like other Huntresses.

Also finally got to write some cool action too, gone quite a while without any action at all. Thought I'd change that, and what do you think of Eryka and Dulcis' little trick? Been finding a time to show that for ages.

Hope you enjoyed!

Please review, follow and favourite!

Stay tuned for the next chapter - Sunny Little Dragon

- Matt