"Move up!" Chaney shouted as she fired into more White Fang soldiers. The Mistral forces pushed forward, fighting for more cover, until they eventually took another city block as night fell. "Defend the flanks and bulk up our forces along the front lines, and tell the reserves to rest up here, neither side will want to fight in the night," Chaney ordered.
"Yes ma'am," nearby officers responded to her order. She let out a long sigh, sitting against a wall of rubble. Before long, her eyes closed, and she fell into a deep sleep as the soldiers around her.
"Take them out! Keep pushing until I tell you to stop!" Roman ordered, firing his cane at more Vacuo soldiers hiding in the ruined buildings along the road they were standing on. As Roman was about to charge with his soldiers, Neo grabbed his arm and held him back. Roman looked back in confusion and Neo pointed towards the sky. Roman hadn't even noticed it was night time, and let out a sigh. "Hold back and form up some defenses for tonight, we've done enough today," Roman ordered.
The White Fang soldiers almost seemed relieved, gathering rubble to build a small defensive wall for them to hide behind. Roman went back to a small clearing that the White Fang was setting up camp in and went into a small building that was relatively intact. Roman and Neo saw the White Fang were setting up a headquarters in here and walked past them to a small back room. There was actually a bed in the room, and Roman pointed it out, "You can take the bed, I'll sleep on the floor."
Neo pouted a little bit, but eventually laid down in the bed. Roman laid on the floor, and for once that day there was silence. Just as Roman was about to fade away into the darkness of sleep, he heard a soft voice from the bed. "Roman? Can you…sleep with me? N-not like that, but I mean in the same bed…never mind, you're probably asleep" Neo stuttered and muttered. Roman said nothing, just standing with a small grin on his face as he got into the bed with a very red-faced Neo. Neither of them said anything, with Roman simply wrapping his arms around Neo and Neo burying her face into Roman's chest. He did his best to hold back a small laugh, succeeding slightly as he drifted off to sleep. Neo fell asleep more at peace, and smiled as well.
"What happened?!" Taiyang came rushing over to help Seth, Tom, and Port while Ozpin simply walked into the clearing.
"We had a little run in with Mercury," Ozpin answered for the three.
"Wait, just Mercury? Where's Emerald?" Weiss asked.
"We don't know, he just said he was by himself," Seth answered, grunting in pain.
"At least you guys made it," Ruby offered encouragement.
"Well, if it weren't for Ozpin, we would've died," Tom replied.
"What happened to Mercury then?" Qrow questioned.
"He ran off after Ozpin saved Seth and we surrounded him," Port replied this time.
"So they're both still out there," Qrow sighed. "Things haven't gotten any easier, and they may have even gotten harder."
"There wasn't else that could have been done. Mercury still could have won even with me there, I simply had to do my best to seem like we had the advantage. He very well could beat me one on one," Ozpin answered.
"I just wish Sam was here," Jaune breathed, the rest of the group lowering their heads.
"I hope you don't mind my asking, but who is Sam?" Chancellor Pierce jumped into the conversation.
"He is the heir to the Tetharan throne, and a very close friend," Weiss replied.
"Where is he? If he is Tetharan he could change the tide of the battle easily?" Pierce continued to question.
"In the hospital at Beacon. He was severely injured in an assassination attempt of a White Fang commander," Weiss continued to answer.
"I see, I'm sorry," Pierce said solemnly.
"Come on, lets get the Council out of the city," Taiyang said as silence met Pierce's words. With a silent nod, Seth called for an airship to pick them up and take them to the headquarters outside the city.
"Salutations! Welcome to the Allied base camp!" an enthusiastic Penny welcomed the group as they arrived.
"Good to see you Penny," Ruby smiled as they got off the airship. Penny had stayed to help set up the base camp and worked along with Chaney to establish the position.
"Where is Ms. Ashcroft?" Ozpin asked politely as the airship behind them took off again.
"She went into the city to fight," Penny reported.
"Right. Well, Team RWBY and JNPR, why don't you go with Penny to where you'll be resting? We will take Seth, Tom, and Professor Port to the medics," Ozpin told the group.
"Right, get some rest you three!" Ruby told Seth, Tom, and Port before Taiyang, Qrow, and Ozpin took them away.
As the group began walking towards their beds, they spoke about their individual abilities and fighting styles. "With my speed, I can get anywhere!" Ruby bragged about herself.
"I heard Seth's semblance is speed too, so I wonder who would win in a race?" Nora thought out loud.
"I'm not quite sure," Ren joined in the thought.
"What about you Weiss? Anything you can do, aside from those glyph thingys?" Yang asked.
"Well, a trait that has been passed through my family is the ability to summon. I haven't really done it all that much, and the biggest thing I could manage was the right arm of a large knight," Weiss replied, not entirely comfortable about being questioned about her summoning.
"Whoa, really?! That's awesome!" Jaune commented.
"Yeah Weiss, you have to show us!" Ruby pleaded.
"Not right now, okay? Again, I haven't done it much, so I can't even guarantee I can summon it again," Weiss shifted uneasily.
"That's alright, perhaps on the battlefield?" Pyrrha tried to head the discussion in a different direction, seeing Weiss' uneasiness.
"Aww man, okay," Ruby and Jaune hung their heads in disappointment as they reached their tents where their beds were. They each said good night and slowly began to drift into darkness.
"Well Merc, you look like hammered shit," Emerald mocked as Mercury returned to the camp that the White Fang had set up.
"Shut up," he ignored the jab and sat down next to a collapsed building, with a medic coming up and tending to his wounds.
"Well? Did you manage to get any of them? Sam?" Emerald questioned.
"The group I attacked didn't have Sam in it, nor any of the Vacuo Council," Mercury begrudgingly admitted.
"Ugh, you had one job! Did you at least kill them?" Emerald looked at Mercury with disbelief.
"No. Ozpin jumped in just as I was about to finish them off," Mercury hated to admit.
"Merc, what is Cinder going to say? This is our chance to take the war and win! How could you fail like that?" Emerald yelled.
"Look he caught he by surprise, alright? I'll get him next time!" Mercury shouted back.
"Given your shape, you're lucky to have a next time," Emerald walked off to an unseen tent from where Mercury was sitting.
Mercury sighed, lifting his head to look at the sky. He was about to close his eyes before the medic stood. "You should be fine by morning. The commander gave the report to Emerald earlier, but I thought I should give it to you now," the medic said as he did. Mercury nodded slowly, "We overran the Vacuo defense with relative ease, hitting the city relatively hard. When Vale and Mistral arrived, however, our forces took heavy hits. But with Roman's help we have restabilized the battlefield," the medic finished.
"Understood, I'm sure Emerald already gave the orders for tomorrow," Mercury was about to fall asleep before the medic spoke up again.
"Only for her forces, yours still need orders," the medic interrupted as Merc finished.
"Ugh, fine," Mercury stood and walked to the tent Emerald had stormed off to to give his orders to his forces.
"How is he?" Glynda asked the nurse, both of them standing at the foot of Sam's hospital bed.
"He's still with us, surprisingly, though he hasn't gotten any better or worse," the nurse answered. "There is one concerning thing, however."
"What's that?" Goodwitch gave a curious look.
"He's been…acting up throughout the day," the nurse replied.
"What do you mean by acting up?" Goodwitch went from curious to concern.
"His vitals sometimes spike, and electricity flows over his body, even sometimes through the bed and floors," the nurse wasn't helping with her description.
"The bed and floor? Is that even possible?" Glynda's eyes widened.
"Some of the other nurses found that out the hard way," she answered grimly.
"They were hurt?" Goodwitch looked towards Sam who lay motionless.
"Yes, but not severely. I can't help but feel it would be best for this wing of the hospital to be evacuated," the nurse suggested. When Goodwitch shot back her questioning glare at the nurse, she quickly responded, "Just as a precaution! With Sam's power, this could easily get worse as his recovery continues."
The professor sighed, then nodded. "Very well, do what you must." The nurse quickly hurried out of the room, leaving Glynda and Sam alone. "What is up with you?" Glynda asked herself, speaking no louder than a whisper.
"Perhaps it's an emotional response?" a voice startled Glynda and someone ran into the room.
"Oobleck, please, don't do that!" Goodwitch tried to compose herself.
"Terribly sorry, but as I was saying, perhaps his semblance is responding to his emotions?" he offered.
"That doesn't make sense," she responded.
"Well, it could, but only in rare occurrences," he slyly added.
"What do you mean?" she questioned.
"Well, it is usually a historical myth that when two individuals are drawn together so tightly, they can feel what the other person feels. No matter the distance, or consciousness," he spoke as if it were true.
"You are going off of a myth to prove this?" Glynda sweatdropped.
"Well, it is looked at as a myth, however, there is some solid evidence behind it throughout history," he responded, not really seeming to care about her doubt.
"Whatever you say," she turned to leave, with Oobleck following close behind.
A white figure ran through hundreds of robots, slaying them in an instant. She danced through more, using dust and glyphs as she did so. Eventually, she was the only one left standing in the arena, and she was shocked by hearing a slow clap from above her.
"Excellent work, Ms. Schnee," the man praised, bowing slightly.
"I'm sure you're here for a good reason other than to give me worthless praise, Ironwood," Winter hissed at the General.
"Surprisingly hostile, that is something I don't appreciate Winter," Ironwood sneered back.
"I'm sorry. Now what is it? Is it time?" Winter seemed somewhat apologetic.
"No, it isn't time yet, not by a long shot. I'm merely coming to observe how you're doing and inform you to be ready," Ironwood had a soft smile.
"Ready? For what?" Winter turned her head to the side in curiosity.
"I'll tell you in time. For now, just continue to train. Oh, and tell your father I said hi," Ironwood turned and left, leaving Winter slightly infuriated at Ironwood's vagueness.
Hey guys! I know this chapter is pretty short in comparison to the others, but there was some information I wanted to put in before the next day of the battle and not at the end of last chapter, so here we go! Thank you guys for reading this far, I really appreciate it. Next chapter: The battle continues! Whats up with Sam? Will Emerald and Mercury go at each other before the good guys, or is that just some tension? Will Weiss summon?! WHO WOULD WIN IN A RACE?! These are the questions that matter. Well, except that last one. Thank you guys for reading, leaving comments over time, so on. Please, if you enjoyed this story or have critiques, leave a review! I won't know if you like it or hate it if you keep it to yourself! (I can't read minds) Thanks again, and I will see you in the next chapter!