Hello, hello! We're up to chapter 13, and just a few days past the 1-year anniversary of AJAR! Can you believe it? I certainly can't! I'm proud of myself for making it this far, and there's still plenty more to go! I want to thank each and every person who has been reading my stories, and I especially want to thank those of you that have been following me since the beginning of this story. Your continued support means the world to me! Bonus points to those that get the chapter title song reference! Enjoy~!

Warning: This chapter will contain some brief, graphic depictions of death. Please read at your own discretion.

Chaos.

Complete and absolute chaos.

That was what Yang would describe the scene that was unfolding before her exhausted eyes as. Just after their duel ended, panicked screams had pierced the air around the groups, sending more and more people into a frenzied panic.

Yang would have guessed that their duel and all the people who were betting on it had attracted the nearby Grimm with their negative feelings. She should have paid more attention to the gossip of the travelers leaving the normally peaceful city of Pesca. Perhaps if she had, they could have moved their duel to a place where they would have had less of an influence on the townsfolk.

She knew that hindsight was 20/20, and that lamenting her actions and lack of attention would not truly help anything, but she couldn't help but curse herself for putting Weiss into such a perilous position.

She, Pyrrha, and Winter had quickly realized what was going on and hastened to rally their respective groups to action. While Winter was under oath to help the people as one of the rulers of Atlas –a fact that her father had seemingly forgotten about when he took the crown- Yang was under no such obligation. Perhaps it was heartless to abandon the townsfolk, but getting Weiss to safety was her number one priority, and she was in no real shape to fight anyhow.

Her right shoulder burned as she half escorted half dragged Weiss through the city, keeping the frightened former noble as close to her as she could. Between her right shoulder, her heavily bruised left arm, and her left leg, she was hardly able to walk, let alone nearly sprint through the hordes of fleeing townsfolk. The steady pounding of one of her burlap sacks against her back and the jangling of her newly replenished coin pouch against her hip weren't helping matters either.

In the pandemonium, she and Weiss had been separated from the majority of Winter's fragmented group, though surprisingly –or unsurprisingly—Pyrrha and two other soldiers managed to stay fairly close to them.

"Yang," Weiss huffed, her lungs having a hard time keeping up with their frantic pace. "What are we going to do?"

"We have to get out of town quickly," the blonde practically wheezed, her lungs screaming at her to rest. "The longer we stay, the more likely we'll die."

Though Yang couldn't afford to turn and look at the former princess, she could tell that Weiss did not like her plan. "What about the townspeople?" she nearly whispered, forcing Yang to strain her ears to hear the girl over the din of chaos.

"As much as I dislike saying this, our priority is to keep you safe, my lady. We cannot stop the Grimm with but a small group of soldiers who are already weakened from our earlier duel," Pyrrha broke in, her voice thick with frustration and bitter determination. "We will help who we can, but we… cannot save everyone."

Sadly, there was a logic to the captain's argument that Weiss couldn't refute. It didn't make the truth any less painful. Perhaps if she were a better fighter, if she were braver, or perhaps even just a bit less selfish, Weiss would have argued with them on it, but she was none of those things, so she silenced any further comments, shame gnawing at her exhausted mind.

They ran blindly through the streets, which were remarkably harder to navigate when buildings were reduced to rubble and fires were blazing out of control. Over the screams of the crowd, a horn sounding, alerting anyone who wasn't already aware that the town had to be evacuated.

The captain, despite losing her duel, had fewer lasting injuries than Yang, so she was better able to fight off the attacking Grimm than Yang was. She seemed to have realized this, as she took point in their impromptu formation; Pyrrha was in front, Weiss and Yang were in the middle, and two other soldiers took up the rear, trying to keep any Grimm from catching them by surprise. They did their best to defeat any Grimm that was in their path, but they could spare no energy to fend off anything else.

Their pace, despite their running, was slow. Weiss was not used to such levels of exercise, and Yang and the others were exhausted and injured. If Yang had been in better condition, she would have carried Weiss on her back and helped Pyrrha and the other soldiers fend off the Grimm, but she couldn't do that, and Pyrrha couldn't afford to be weighed down by Weiss when she was in the best condition to defend them. It was a no-win scenario.

When they rounded a corner, Pyrrha nearly ran directly into the open jaws of a Beowolf, which they found was alone –a rare thing to be sure.

Upon sighting new prey, it opened its maw wide, enough to swallow a small child in a single bite, before it let out a piercing roar.

The small party winced, covering their ears at the deafening sound, before a blood-curdling scream came from behind them.

The group whipped around, horrified to find one of the back soldiers had been snatched up by a Beowolf that had heard the cry of its companion. The soldier whimpered, his eyes glassy as a large canine was being driven through his stomach and protruding out from his shoulder blade.

With a sickening crunch, his spine was snapped between the Beowolf's jaws and he disappeared down the gullet of the beast, leaving not even a single drop of blood behind.

The remaining back soldier, a girl who looked to be just a year or two younger than Pyrrha, shuddered with a chill that racked up her spine. She could feel tears forming at the corner of her eyes, her heart pounding a mile a minute, and her palms breaking out in a cold sweat.

She'd been trained to fight soldiers, people, but never Grimm. She'd heard tales of them, their existence being used to scare her many times as a child, but never once had she imagined she would have to fight one face-to-face.

Her nightmare had come to life, and it was standing before her, snarling at her.

She gulped, her eyes wide with panic, before she drew her sword and charged, the blood rushing in her ears preventing her from hearing her captain call out to her.

She swung her blade, managing to lop off the left arm of the beast. She let out a puff of air, relieved that she had managed to harm the beast.

Pyrrha, Weiss, and Yang watch in horror as the right arm of the Beowolf swung out, stabbing the soldier through the abdomen with a claw before slamming her into the wall, her neck and spine snapping with the impact.

Yang covered Weiss's eyes as the girl's head lolled back, her lifeless, empty eyes staring into the cloud-covered sky.

Weiss choked down the urge to vomit, holding a hand frantically over her mouth and desperately willing the images that danced behind her eyelids to disappear.

Yang wanted to soothe Weiss, but she had to stop the approaching Grimm, which had begun to surround them. She gritted her teeth as she glanced at the crumpled body of the female soldier, before she nearly growled to Pyrrha. "You take care of the wounded one. I'll handle the one in front of us."

Pyrrha only nodded, not trusting herself to speak, before she dashed forward, sliding along the wet cobblestones and stabbing the Grimm through the throat.

The beast let out a warbled roar before it disintegrated. Pyrrha noted numbly that the body of the male soldier did not appear, seemingly fading away with the Grimm.

She heard Yang defeat the remaining Grimm before she kneeled before the young female soldier, righting her neck and gently closing her eyes. She was by no means a religious person, but she sent a silent prayer to whomever was listening that the two soldiers had found peace in the afterlife.

Yang came up behind her, resting a hand softly against her shoulder. "We have to go," she said quietly, the pain in her voice betraying her words. Still, she was right, and thus, Pyrrha rose and they kept moving.

Winter was exhausted, her mind and muscles screaming at her to rest, but she couldn't; not when she had to ensure the safety of as many citizens as possible.

The remaining soldiers did their best to help, either directing people to evacuate, or to fight off the Grimm who were feeding on the panic. Jaune had taken on the former role, though his bloodied nose was making his voice rather nasally and difficult to hear. He was a rookie though, so he had little to no experience fighting Grimm, especially Beowolves.

The Atlesian military trained its soldiers for combat with as many different types of enemies as possible, but Grimm were only for more experienced soldiers, and even then, they mostly practiced on Creeps and Boarbatusks. Anything above that was only to be fought by the most elite soldiers, or the rare hunter or huntress.

All things considered, the soldiers were doing a fairly good job of fending them off, working in small groups to take out the most imminent threat to the evacuating citizens.

They had already lost a few of the soldiers, who had been unconscious at the time of the attack and had been unable to be roused. Winter felt guilt gnaw at her, but she knew that there was little that could be done about the situation; they had not been prepared for anything like this.

She slashed through the torso of a nearby Beowolf, its body disappearing quickly afterwards, before she shouted directions for the fleeing citizens.

Pesca would likely become a ghost town, its name blotted off the map and legacy scribbled into the history books as a tragedy of colossal proportions. King Schnee would not likely hear about the loss of the town for several weeks, and it would take even longer for him to find a new suitable place for such a lucrative fish mongering port. The loss of lives would mean far less to him than the loss of tax revenue. And the displaced citizens, well, they would be on their own.

Winter clenched her jaw. If she had to, she would build them homes with her bare hands at the soonest moment she could. No doubt it would be after she ascended to the throne; King Schnee would never bother with such niceties.

She spared the briefest of seconds to glance up to the sky, a flash of lightning briefly illuminating her surroundings. She hoped that Weiss and Pyrrha were alive.

Weiss, Yang, and Pyrrha had nearly reached the outskirts of the city to the northeast, which would lead them to the path to Ostlich Pass. It wasn't the most ideal direction to be heading in, especially considering the coming autumn weather, but they had no choice; heading back through the city to return to Postres was tantamount to suicide, and there was no guarantee that the Grimm wouldn't eventually make their way over to the smaller town anyway.

They had torn through several packs of Beowolves, passing hundreds of mangled and battered corpses on their way, which Yang softly instructed Weiss to avert her eyes from. She wished the former princess could have been spared of seeing all of the carnage, but there was nothing Yang could do; their time in Pesca would be a memory that would haunt Weiss for the rest of her life, plaguing her nightmares and startling her awake in a cold sweat. Yang would do her best to comfort her and help her through it, but she knew from experience that Weiss would have to come to terms with it on her own.

When they reached the path that led into the forest just outside the northeastern gate, they stopped briefly, peering into the tree line for any lingering Grimm.

Fortunately for them, it seemed the majority of the pack was elsewhere, so they took a moment to catch their breaths.

Weiss had nearly collapsed, doubled over and clutching her stomach as she gasped for air. She had enjoyed exercising in the castle, but running almost nonstop for her life was something that had been outside her expectations.

Her mouth felt like it was full of blood, and each heavy, gulping breath was plagued with a terrible urge to cough, though she feared that if she did, the raw lining of her lungs would rupture.

Yang gently rubbed her back, ignoring the pain in her shoulder that had worsened from a dull ache to a shooting pain, and instead focusing on soothing the itching in the smaller girl's lungs and providing the slightest bit of comfort in a situation devoid of it. Her lungs were hardly in better shape, but she had been pushed this far before, so she knew how to combat the pain and itchiness.

Pyrrha slowly stumbled over, her own breathing labored and her skin dripping with sweat. "What… should we… do?" she gasped.

"We should… head for… Mitte… through Ostlich Pass," Yang huffed.

The captain nodded. "And what of… Winter?"

"We should," Yang coughed, "send out a signal –let her know… we're alive." She gestured tiredly to Pyrrha's rifle. "How many… bullets you got left?"

"Enough to… spare one to signal." She gestured to Yang's gauntlets. "And you?"

"Same. We have to move as soon as we do. Don't want to stick around for Grimm to find us."

With a nod from Pyrrha, they prepared themselves to flee once more. Yang wished she'd had time to grab all three of her bags, but she knew there would have been no chance for her to keep them all; they would have weighed her down, and she was already exhausted.

She peeked inside as she detached her coin pouch from her waist and deposited it in the bag. Luckily, it was the bag that contained the majority of her and Weiss's clothes, along with the last remaining bit of deer meat. While losing the blankets was unfortunate, they were easier and cheaper to replace than clothing.

When they were satisfied that everything was in order (Pyrrha had nothing but her uniform and her weapons), Yang and Pyrrha aimed their weapons to the sky, firing off a single shot each.

Elsewhere, Winter turned her head up to the sky upon hearing the distinct sound of Pyrrha and Yang's weapons, spotting the explosion of dust in the sky. She breathed out a sigh of relief, glad to know that they, most likely along with Weiss, were alive. She could trust that the captain and the blonde brawler would keep her little sister safe.

With that comfort, she returned her attention to the battle and the last of the evacuating civilians.

As soon as the dust explosions faded in the rain, the trio fled the city and disappeared down the path towards Ostlich Pass.

They were silent as they went, both to avoid attracting Grimm, and to avoid discussing the carnage they bore witness to. It was the elephant in the room that none of them were willing to address so soon. It was a conversation for a later time, when their bodies weren't as heavy and their minds weren't as exhausted.

The forest was quiet –it always was when Grimm were near—save for the steady pattering of rain. It made the dirt road far harder to travel on than it normally was, but they had to push forward regardless; lingering would only invite Grimm to find them.

Pyrrha stayed near the front, her emerald eyes constantly scanning the tree line, while Yang stayed in the back, watching their rear and keeping Weiss within her sight. Weiss herself elected to keep an eye out for stray Grimm, but she knew it was little more than a formality with Pyrrha and Yang's experienced eyes doing the exact same thing. Still, she didn't feel as useless as she knew she was.

The sky to the east was beginning to brighten, if only a little, signaling that dawn would soon arrive. It served to remind the trio that they had been awake for nearly 24 hours and that they were most definitely exhausted. They would need to find a place to sleep as soon as possible.

It was only after several more hours of walking, when the sun was likely nearly at its apex, that they managed to find a small cave, just large enough for them to fit into a build a small fire.

As soon as they entered, the rain increased in intensity, and they counted their blessings that they had managed to find a place just in time.

Pyrrha removed her military-issued cape and began tearing the fabric into strips, wringing out as much water as possible before forming a small ring of rocks to start their fire. Any sticks they could have collected would have been soaked through, and thus unusable for a fire. Pyrrha wasn't particularly sad to see the cape go though; it was impractical for battle, and was meant to do nothing beyond look impressive.

After a few moments of trying, she managed to create enough of a spark to catch one of the strips on fire, though it was little more than an ember. She carefully blew on it, willing the flame to hold on and spring to life. With a second slight puff, the ember grew and began consuming the cape strips.

Satisfied that they would be able to warm themselves and dry their clothes, she instructed the other two to remove their soaked and bloody clothing and lay them near the fire.

Once they did so, Yang pulled out some clothes that had remained mostly dry after the onslaught of rain and distributed them to Pyrrha and Weiss, making sure to clean her wounds as best as she could without proper medical supplies before pulling on her own clothes.

With her wet clothes removed and her dryer ones on, Pyrrha shifted her attention to determining who would take the first watch while the others slept.

Though Pyrrha and Yang had both protested, Weiss immediately volunteered, citing that she wasn't injured, and hadn't done any fighting, so she was the least exhausted among them.

Begrudgingly, the two warriors relented, though they made her promise that she would wake them in an hour or at the first sign of trouble.

Weiss agreed, though she had no intention of following the former condition; they would need more than an hour of sleep after the massive ordeal they had managed to survive. She'd only wake them early if there was any sort of threat.

Pyrrha laid down opposite the side where Weiss and Yang were, curling up slightly and releasing a soft sigh when she felt the gentle heat of the fire warm her skin.

Yang curled up near Weiss, her head less than a foot away from the former princess's thighs. She slowly reached a hand out to softly stroke Weiss's hand, tangling their fingers together after a moment.

It was a comforting gesture for both of them, a bit of familiarity and normalcy after the chaos they lived through.

With a final gentle squeeze of Weiss's hand, Yang drifted off to sleep, her mind and body happy for the reprieve.

Weiss smiled softly at the sight before she gently brushed some of the blonde's unruly hair out of her face with her free hand, careful not wake her companion as she did so.

As she watched the cave entrance, the fire crackled softly, serving as an accompaniment to the rain that continued to fall heavily. She hummed softly, recalling a song about rain that her mother had taught her as a child, the words lost to time but the tune persisting.

It made her feel better –or at least helped her keep her thoughts away from Pesca. She would have to face what she'd done –or rather hadn't done—eventually, but it was something that she would put off thinking about until later. She wanted Yang to be there to comfort her when the time came, to tell her that everything was fine and she had done what she could, to hold her gently in her powerful arms that made Weiss feel safer than she had inside Atlas Castle.

For now though, she would continue to hum her tune, letting the rest of the world outside the cave fall away. The only things that mattered at that moment was her song, Yang's hand in hers, and Pyrrha laying just across the fire.

What will we do tomorrow? What will it bring?

She sighed.

With any luck; peace.

And chapter 13 is complete! How was it? It was fun to write the absolute chaos that came after their duel, though I felt bad for the two soldiers that died during the escape. I know that with all of their personalities, it would be unlikely for Pyrrha, Weiss, and Yang to defend themselves and not help the townspeople, but they are exhausted, injured, outmanned, and mostly outmatched. Since they know they would die if they tried to save everyone, they would rather try to cut the losses to a minimum and keep themselves alive rather than sacrificing themselves, which would do little good overall. It's a hard choice to make, and it will certainly come up again, but for now, they had to make the most practical choice, a difficult one, but the most practical one. And for any gun enthusiasts who would point out that guns can't fire in the rain, dust operates differently that gunpowder, so it wouldn't be a problem. I hope everyone enjoyed and will continue to support me in the future! Until next time~!