"Lord Commander, the tracking device shows that Captain Scarlatina's vehicle is close." The junior officer had been assigned by Weiss to follow the location of the tracking device that was present in all of the army's vehicles. According to the tracking device, Velvet had begun driving back towards the camp just a couple hours ago. "The vehicle is moving at high speed."
"Understood." Weiss acknowledged. She was doing everything she could to contain her worry and anxiety under a calm and cool exterior in front of her soldiers and friends, but it was becoming difficult. "She must have Blake with her. Get a medical team ready." Weiss ordered.
"You think they're okay?" Jaune asked. "They've been gone for a while now." It had been nearly eight hours since Velvet had stolen the bike to find Blake, and now it was deep in to the night, nearly dawn. The sun would be rising soon, and none of them had gotten any sleep.
"They're both huntresses." Pyrrha said. "It will take more than a few soldiers to stop that pair." Pyrrha tried to sound more confident in that statement than she felt, but it was a hollow confidence.
"She's almost here." Weiss interjected. "I'm going out to meet her."
"We're coming too." Jaune said as he followed Weiss, Pyrrha at his side. The trio jogged in the direction Velvet and Blake were approaching from, the dust plume in the distance created by Velvet's bike, barely visible under the light of the stars and moon, acting as a guide. The closer they got, the faster they began to jog, their anxiety and uncertainty growing at an alarming rate.
They paused once they reached the camp's edge, the medical team arriving a few minutes before them. The four members saluted Weiss, Jaune, and Pyrrha as they approached. Weiss tapped her foot impatiently while Pyrrha took Jaune's hand for comfort, everyone staring at the approaching plume of dust. Within minutes they could see a vehicle approaching at high speed, steadily increasing in size at it approached.
Once Velvet was close enough to see them clearly, she began slowing down. Pyrrha, who had the best eyesight out of the three friends, gasped in surprise. "She's got Blake with her!"
Weiss breathed a sigh of relief. But that relief was cut short and blown away as Velvet continued her approach and everyone got a better view of Blake. Blake was tied onto the bike in a sitting position, a rope going around her waist and Velvet's. As Velvet pulled to a stop, the medical team rushed forward to provide assistance, but Velvet waved them away. They were baffled for a moment, because surely someone who needed to be tied on to a bike was in serious need of medical assistance. It clicked moments later though as Velvet untied the rope holding Blake to her and dismounted, lifting Blake into her arms.
Blake was deathly white, what little color she had before in life was now gone in death. Her clothes were stained with so much blood that even the black fabric couldn't hide the sheer volume of it, and even more could be seen through the cuts and bullet holes in the fabric. None of that mattered to Weiss, because all those details were minor compared to the fact that Blake lay limp in Velvet's arms, with one of her own arms resting across a terrible wound in her abdomen while the other… wasn't there. Blake's left arm had been severed just above the elbow. It wasn't bleeding though. None of Blake's wounds were.
"No." Weiss whispered. "No." She backed away. "Not Blake too." Weiss collapsed to her knees. "No."
Pyrrha moved to Weiss' side, holding her as Weiss stared disbelieving at her last teammate's body. Jaune moved to help Velvet carry Blake, but Velvet shied away protectively. "Velvet?" Jaune asked hesitantly.
Velvet eyed Jaune warily, like a small animal watching a predator. The manic look in her eyes only lasted for a few moments before Velvet returned to her own senses, though. "I tried to save her. I tried everything I knew how to do. I tried." Velvet whimpered. "I thought she was getting better, but then suddenly she was gone. I couldn't do anything." Velvet fell to her knees as well, holding Blake tight against her as she cried.
Jaune turned to the medical team and waved them away sadly before turning back to Velvet. "Come on, Velvet. Let's get you and Blake cleaned up." He gently helped Velvet to her feet while she still held onto Blake's body. Jaune led her towards the medical tents, hoping a familiar environment might calm her enough to rest.
Pyrrha watched the procession leave with sadness as she kept her hand on Weiss' shoulder. "Weiss, we should go with them. We should be together at a time like this." But Weiss didn't move. "Weiss?" Pyrrha asked, looking back down at her friend.
"I was supposed to be the best teammate." Weiss whispered.
"What?" Pyrrha wasn't sure what exactly Weiss was talking about.
"I told Ruby that I would be the best teammate." Weiss said again. "I was going to prove I could use my skills to protect them and to fight Grimm. And now everyone is dead." Weiss slumped. "What kind of teammate does that make me? I'm still here, safe and sound. Cold and alone." Weiss just continued staring at the grass in front of her, looking but not seeing anything.
"It wasn't your fault Weiss. You can't blame yourself for this." Pyrrha tried to reassure her friend, crouching in front of Weiss and grabbing her hands.
"I can, though." Weiss continued softly. "I knew that something like this was bound to happen sooner or later."
"You didn't know that Blake would snap at the fortress. You didn't even know a meeting like that was going to happen. You're smart, Weiss, but you don't know everything." Pyrrha said.
"But I knew enough." There were tears flowing freely down Weiss' face. "I knew Blake was at her limits, and that she wanted to die. I knew that soon enough she would breakdown."
"Blake wanted to die?" Pyrrha asked in a tone of gentle disbelief. "Why?"
"She missed Yang." Weiss was still staring nothing in particular, not even seeing Pyrrha in front of her. "And she was sad. I understood. But I thought, 'surely a few more missions wouldn't hurt.'" Weiss explained softly. "I needed all the people I could get."
Pyrrha got back to her feet, letting go of Weiss' hand. "We'll have a talk about how you treat your friends and soldiers later." Pyrrha scolded. "But right now we have a friend who we need to say our proper goodbyes to." Pyrrha reached out with both arms and grasped Weiss by the shoulders, yanking her to her feet. "So you're coming with me."
Pyrrha led Weiss by the hand towards the medical tents, where Jaune and Velvet had taken Blake's body. Weiss followed along blindly, slowing regaining her senses as Pyrrha walked her along through the camp. They reached the medical tent in short order and entered to find that Velvet and Jaune had placed Blake on a bed. It was a surreal sight; Blake looked almost as if she could be sleeping with how at peace her face looked. Weiss almost expected that Blake would just wake up and ask everyone why they were all standing around her. But then Weiss saw the terrible wound in Blake's stomach, her missing arm, and the staggering number of other wounds that Blake had sustained and fought through.
Velvet was sitting on the floor next to the bed, knees pulled up against her chest and her arms wrapped tight around them as she quietly cried to herself. Jaune was standing over Blake with his arms crossed, waiting for Weiss and Pyrrha to arrive. Weiss broke away from Pyrrha as they got closer to Blake, rushing to Blake's side and looking down at her friend sadly. "I'm sorry, Blake." Weiss whispered somberly at Blake's infuriatingly peaceful looking face. Weiss reached out to stroke Blake's hair, but stopped. The hair was caked with dried blood and wasn't really fit to be stroked or brushed at the moment. "Get someone to clean her." Weiss mumbled. "Please."
"I'll do it." Velvet said from her spot on the floor. Her voice was slightly muffled because she didn't raise her head, but her voice was still audible. "I'll take care of her."
"Okay." Weiss agreed. "Thank you, Velvet." Weiss walked over and squatted besides Velvet to give her a quick hug. "I'm sorry for your loss." Weiss stood back up and turned away from Blake, unable to take being around the body any longer.
"It's your loss too, Weiss." Jaune said as Weiss walked away, stopping her in her tracks. "You were her friend. You're allowed to mourn and be human, too."
"I was friends with Blake Belladonna." Weiss said. "Not… that. That's just a body that Blake happened to use, once." Weiss gestured vaguely in the direction of the body. "And I can mourn my friend later. I have things I need to get done." Weiss didn't look back as she left the others behind her in stunned silence.
Nora was staring back down at the camp below her again. Once the rain and snow had passed she had returned to her position on the edge of the cliff, sitting down and dangling her legs down off the rocky edge. She was staring at the army below her again, drawing lightly on her aura to keep her warm in the pre-dawn darkness. Nora could hear Nori humming while pacing around behind her.
"You've got company." Nori quipped from behind her.
"I can hear him. You don't need to tell me." Nora grumbled.
"Just trying to help." Nori chirped, plopping down next to Nora.
"Commander." Lieutenant Vild's approaching voice said.
"Yeah?" Nora didn't bother turning.
"I have news from Major General Arc." He said.
Nora waited for Vild to continue, but he stayed quiet. "Well?" Nora asked, still not bothering to turn around.
"He asked me to inform you that Major Belladonna has fallen in battle." He said somberly. Hammer Company greatly respected Blake, more so than they did the other hunters, because Blake was the only other person in the army who could match Nora in a fight. As good as Pyrrha, Jaune, and some of the other hunters were, Blake and Nora still were far superior as warriors.
"Really?" Nora asked in surprise. "She's dead?"
"Yes, ma'am." He confirmed. "They've brought her body back to the medical tents."
Nora didn't respond and instead chose to stay quiet, squinting as the tip of the sun began emerging from over Greatwood forest to the south. Nora's eyes drifted westwards, further in towards Vacuo. The rising sun illuminated the landscape below her position on the high cliffs, chasing away the nighttime darkness.
"Would you like me to take command while you go visit?" Lieutenant Vild asked.
"I don't need to visit a dead body." Nora replied distractedly. "And I don't think right now is the best time either."
"Why is that, boss?" Vild asked, edging closer to Nora to hear her more clearly.
Nora pointed. "I don't think we'll have time while dealing with that." Nora's pointing finger directed Vild's gaze to a dark mass on the horizon. "Get everyone geared up. Contact Weiss and make sure she knows they're coming."
Vild tore his eyes away from the approaching army with some difficulty. "You got it." He ran back to Hammer Company's tents, hidden in some nearby caves.
Nora sighed as she hopped to her feet. "I guess we're going to be busy for a while."
Nori smiled. "At least it'll be fun, right?"
"Set up armored defensive lines here." Weiss pointed to the holographic map, highlighting the area so the dedicated communication officers would know where to send the soldiers. "How long until our air support arrives?"
"They're en route, ETA fifteen minutes." The officer reported.
"Too long. Tell them to rush it." Weiss ordered. "Tell Colonel Sten to set up inside the tree line, out of sight until I give the order." Weiss looked back at the map, at the unending swarm of dots that represented the Vacuoan army. "What's Hammer Company's status?"
"They're geared up and waiting for your orders, Lord Commander." Another officer reported.
"Good." Weiss was frantic. She didn't expect Vacuo to attack so soon. Her plan was to use the information that Blake and her squad had gotten from their mission and spread it through the Vacuoan military and the Vacuoan civilians, to both destroy their moral and to hopefully reveal the corruption so the war could be ended. But Blake's attack must have caused whoever was now in charge to want revenge, or to at least to pursue more aggressive tactics. Either way, they were about to come under attack. They had a good position in a narrow corridor between high cliffs and a thick forest, so numbers weren't an issue, but attrition would be. Their superior position was only good as long as they had energy left to fight.
Weiss tapped her earpiece, opening communication to Jaune. "Where are you?"
"I'm with the armored line." Jaune answered hurriedly. "Pyrrha is here too."
"Is Velvet with you?" Weiss asked as she rotated the map in front of her.
"No," Jaune said, "she won't leave Blake's body. We have her second-in-command with us though. He's leading the medical corps."
"Not ideal, but all right." Weiss replied. "Good luck."
"You too." Jaune cut off communication.
Weiss rotated the map again, desperate to try to formulate a strategy to use against the Vacuoan army. She watched as the holographic enemy forces on the map collided with the defensive lines of her own forces. Their initial charge had great weight behind it, but the armored soldiers that made up the front lines of Weiss' army were strong and well trained, and weathered the impact without any significant casualties. The forces began to intermingle as the melee started, but for the most part the front lines were holding strong. "Order a slow, steady retreat." Weiss told the communication officers. "We want to draw them back with us so Colonel Sten can flank them with his riflemen." Weiss watched the lines ever so slowly crawl backwards on the holographic map as the orders were relayed out to the appropriate forces. She reached up and tapped her earpiece again to change the channel, opening communication with Nora.
"Yes?" Nora asked calmly.
"Is Hammer Company still positioned on the cliffs?" Weiss asked.
"Yup. Want us to engage the incoming airships?" Nora seemed very nonchalant about the whole matter.
"No, don't give away your position. I have our artillery and big guns ready to keep the enemy aircraft at bay until our own airships arrive." Weiss explained. "Is there a quick way for you to get down the cliffs to the battlefield?"
The line was quiet for a moment as Nora confirmed her surroundings with her navigation officer. "There's a steep slope we can use to hit the enemy from the side nearby, if you want." Nora went quiet and Weiss heard some muffled voices. "Or we could jump."
"What? No. That's a terrible idea. You're the only one who'd survive the fall." Weiss said incredulously. She could swear the she could hear Nora shrugging over the line. "Colonel Sten is positioned in the forest right now to flank. When you see him begin his attack, I want you to lead Hammer Company and hit them from the opposite side." Weiss ordered.
"Attack after Sten. You got it." Nora confirmed.
"So stay put until then, I'll call again if anything changes." Weiss said before cutting off the call. As Weiss looked at the map once more, she gave out a few more orders to fix up certain formations that were beginning to shift out of place.
"Enemy air forces approaching, Lord Commander!" As soon as the officer said this, a cluster of dots appeared on the holographic map.
"Are the cannons combat ready?" Weiss inquired. The large caliber cannons they had mounted on the beds of large trucks could be refitted for both anti-air and anti-armor, and could be moved on the trucks to better positions if needed. Right now they were behind Weiss' army, but that would be sufficient to hold off any aircraft in this narrow corridor between the high cliffs and the tall tree of Greatwood Forest.
"All cannons are primed and ready for continuous rotating fire, Lord Commander." The officer reported.
"Excellent." Weiss watched nervously as their lines slowly continued to fall back, drawing the Vacuoans further in so they could be flanked. "All right." Weiss keyed in Colonel Sten's frequency on her earpiece. "Colonel Sten, attack now!"
Nora was standing at the top of the cliffs, looking down the slope below her at the clashing armies. She knew she was supposed to attack once Colonel Sten attacked from the forest, so she kept her eyes trained on the forest below, ready for action. The armored soldiers on the front lines were slowly pulling back towards the rifle units behind them, who were in turn pulling back towards the command tents and the rest of the camp.
"The Lord Commander seems to be cutting it awfully close." Lieutenant Vild commented from Nora's side.
Nora could hear an uneasy shuffling behind her as the other one hundred and fifty soldiers of Hammer Company watched their army slowly pull back, without any sign of Sten's counter attack happening. "I'm sure Weiss has it all planned out." Nora said. But even she could hear the slight note of nervousness in her own voice.
"Colonel Sten!" Weiss called out again. "Damn it!" Weiss pulled out the earpiece to look at it. "Doesn't look broken…" Weiss mumbled as she investigated the device.
"Lord Commander, our scouts reports that Colonel Sten's men have been routed!" the officer sounded surprised and panicked.
"What?" Weiss was caught completely off guard. How had they heard nothing about this? He was just fine an hour ago when she ordered him to set up inside the forest to attack. "What happened?"
"It looks like they were ambushed, ma'am." The officer continued as he listened to the report. "Only a few dozen soldiers of the Fifth Rifle Battalion made it out alive, and Colonel Sten is reported KIA."
This wasn't good. Because they were caught off guard, Weiss' entire current plan revolved around Sten's ambush. With Sten and his thousand soldiers dead, Weiss' plan fell to pieces. "Oh, no."
Jaune ducked under a sword that swished just above his head, nearly decapitating him. He then darted forward and punched out with his shield, smashing the soldier in the face and dazing him. Jaune then whipped his sword arm around the soldier's neck and pulled him against him as he spun to his left, using the soldier as a human shield against the second soldier to his left, who fired his rifle at Jaune. The bullets hit Jaune's human shield, killing the soldier. As the second soldier reloaded, his body jerked and fell backwards, two precise bullet wounds dotting his chest. Jaune could recognize such precision shooting anywhere. "Thanks, Pyrrha!" He called out as he blocked another soldier's spear with his shield, throwing it wide and stabbing the soldier in the stomach.
"Sure thing!" Pyrrha replied, who was nearby and firing her rifle into the mass of enemy soldiers. When a Vacuoan soldier got too close, she spun and changed her weapon into its sword form, pulling out her shield with her semblance as she did so. She used her sword to block the incoming spear then used her shield to jab the soldier in the throat, crushing his windpipe. There was a second soldier behind the first who was already swinging at Pyrrha, but he stopped mid-swing as Jaune's sword erupted from his chest. "Thanks." Pyrrha said as she continued fighting.
"No problem." Jaune added as he moved with Pyrrha, the two fighting symbiotically. One set up a soldier for a kill, the other delivered the killing blow. One would block an attack for the other, allowing the other to counter attack. They fought as a single being, their many years of fighting and training together turning them into a twin whirlwind of death. Their presence on the front lines of the battlefield rallied their soldiers, giving them the energy and courage to fight their strongest.
But even as hard as they were fighting, they could sense something was wrong. They had been on the front lines too long, and were retreating too far back. Soon they would be back at the camp. What was happening? The pair couldn't spare the time to ponder though, placing their trust in Weiss' judgment as they continued to fight against the overwhelming enemy force.
Weiss was trying to salvage what she could from the situation, but nothing was working. Their air support had arrived, but they were too outnumbered in the air and were only barely keeping the Vacuoan air force at bay thanks to the help of the cannons. Adding onto her problems, Weiss couldn't order the cannons moved and repositioned farther back because if they stopped firing then the enemy ships would break through and either take out the main camp, or attack the soldiers themselves and do catastrophic damage. Either way, Weiss was stuck with keeping the cannons where they were as her armed forces were slowing being worn down.
"Call a full retreat." Weiss ordered. "Scorched earth. Burn everything behind us to slow them down enough for us to escape to the east!"
The officers were in shock. Retreat? They had never had to launch a full retreat in such unfavorable conditions before. "Lord Commander, if we retreat now…" He didn't finish his thought. If they stopped firing their cannons and brought them along, they would get ripped to shreds by the enemy aircraft. If they left their cannons behind, then they would lose some of their most powerful weaponry in addition to a chunk of their army.
Weiss tapped her earpiece again, opening a channel to Jaune and Pyrrha. "Full retreat!" She ordered.
"We can't do that right now!" Jaune yelled back, out of breath.
"There are too many, Weiss!" Pyrrha yelled, grunting as she engaged another soldier. "They're mixed in all with us now, we can't retreat!"
Weiss looked at the map again, grimacing as she saw that Pyrrha was indeed right. Both Weiss' army and the Vacuoan army on the front lines were mixed together, leaving no room for retreat. How had she missed that? If she tried to pull back now, then they would be leaving half their force behind to die, including Jaune, Pyrrha, and over two dozen other hunters.
"Is this finally it?" Weiss whispered to herself, just quiet enough that no one else heard her.
"What are they waiting for?" Nora grumbled discontentedly. With her overhead view of the battle, she had a very clear view of what was happening, and none of it was good. Their front lines were crumbling under the onslaught of the Vacuoan army, what little air support they had was only barely holding back the enemy aircraft, and still Colonel Sten was nowhere to be seen. Nora tapped her own earpiece, trying to contact Weiss. "Weiss! Where's Sten!" She yelled.
"Ambushed. Dead." Weiss said in monotone. "We can't retreat." Nora could hear the hopelessness in Weiss' voice; the Lord Commander had never been so thoroughly defeated before.
"Why not?" Nora yelled angrily.
"They would just keep stabbing us from behind, or shooting us from above." Weiss answered robotically.
Nora stared down at the armies below her, at the mass of blood and bodies, fire and smoke, flesh and machine. "So you just need some time to escape, then." Nora whispered.
"What was that?" Weiss asked, but Nora cut off communication.
"I don't like what you're thinking, Nora." Nori said from beside her.
"Get over it." Nora shot back.
"We'll die." Nori said quietly.
"At least it'll be fun, right?" Nora smiled darkly.
Nori looked at Nora for a few seconds, face blank. But then, she smiled too. "Right." Then Nora blinked, and Nori was gone. Nora looked around, but Nori was nowhere to be seen. She briefly wondered what that meant before deciding it wasn't important enough to waste time thinking about.
Nora turned to her one hundred and fifty soldiers gathered behind her. "Hammer Company!" She yelled. They all snapped to attention, eyes on their commander. "Our fellow soldiers are dying down there, and there's no way out. They're going to die unless they can escape, and that doesn't look like an option right now." She looked at each soldier individually. She could see some of them understood what Nora was getting at, while others were still waiting for more. "This is a volunteer mission only." Nora said, quieter this time. "I won't make you do this. We've been through a lot together, and you all deserve to make your own choices this time."
Lieutenant Vild stepped forward, bringing his hand to his heart in salute. "Permission to speak, Major Valkyrie!" He asked stiffly.
"No need for formalities here, Vild." Nora said. "Speak."
"With all due respect, boss." He said, less stiffly. "I don't think I'd miss this for the world."
The rest of Hammer Company behind him cheered, stamping their feet and roaring their bravado. Nora smiled gratefully, the first real smile her soldiers had ever seen, and held up her hand for silence. "Thank you, everyone." Nora dropped her smile, and pointed to her men. "Load up all the ordinance we have! Every rocket, every grenade, I want everything. If we can't carry it, then shoot it at them!"
Lieutenant Vild took over for Nora as she turned away and began checking Magnhild. "If you have tracking or heat seeking ordinance, take out any air craft you can first!" He yelled. "Otherwise, you have free reign with where you choose to shoot among the enemy!" The soldiers cheered once again, loading up packs of rockets onto their backs and partnering up for maximum efficiency in shooting speed. They weren't trying to be accurate, they were just trying to cause damage.
It took less than a minute for Hammer Company to reform their lines behind Nora. One hundred and fifty soldiers, carrying more than three hundred rockets and five hundred grenades. Enough to do some hefty damage, if they were allowed to run free. "Ready up!" Nora called out, readying Magnhild at her side. "We are Hammer Company!" Nora yelled. The soldiers cheered. "And we will not go out without a bang!"
Hammer Company let out a roar, and charged down the slope towards the army below them.
Jaune drew on more of his aura as he grasped Pyrrha's hand, healing both of their wounds and washing away some of Pyrrha's fatigue. He didn't have enough energy left to heal his soldiers under his command like he would've liked to, but he would not let Pyrrha come to harm while he as alive. Healing Pyrrha and himself took a lot of energy though, and he fell to one knee, panting for breath.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha spun around and slashed, cutting down two soldiers around them. She moved to Jaune's side, trusting in their honor guard to defend them for the short amount of time she spent checking on Jaune. Her quick inspection revealed no new wounds and she helped pull Jaune shakily to his feet. "This doesn't look good." Pyrrha said, looking at the battle around them.
"Hey, Pyrrha?" Jaune asked, still holding onto Pyrrha for support as he caught his breath.
"Yes, Jaune?" Pyrrha answered distractedly, keeping an eye on the battle around them.
"Will you marry me?" Jaune tried to stand up on his own, and was only barely successful. "Or is this not the best time? I figured I'd ask once the war was over and, well…" he gestured around them at their broken front lines.
"This is not the best time, no!" Pyrrha yelled. "And yes!" She kissed Jaune on the mouth quickly. "But we need to keep fighting!" Pyrrha turned to rejoin the fray. "Watch my back!"
"My pleasure." Jaune said as she stayed near to Pyrrha, defending her from attacks while she continued laying waste to enemy soldiers. "I was afraid you'd say 'no.'"
"Really not the time, Jaune!" Pyrrha yelled over the roar of battle, gutting the soldier in front of her.
"You're right." Jaune said as grabbed Pyrrha and pulled her behind his shield, blocking a flurry of bullets.
Pyrrha returned fire with her rifle. "Of course I am." Pyrrha leapt back in front of Jaune to continue fighting.
"Major General! We're surrounded and cut off!" One of Jaune's honor guard called out.
"Well that's not good." Jaune commented, hacking at another soldier's neck.
At the same time, both Jaune and Pyrrha's earpieces crackled to life. "Jaune? Pyrrha?"
"Nora?" Jaune asked as Pyrrha just listened, continuing her fight. "We're a bit busy here."
"I see that. On three, you and your men hit the ground." Nora told him.
"What do you-" Pyrrha started, but was interrupted.
"Onetwothree!" Nora said, the three numbers coming out as nearly a single syllable to Jaune's ears.
"Hit the deck!" Jaune yelled as loud as he could. Though the order was strange, out of place, and made no sense, Jaune's honor guard knew when it was a good idea to quickly obey an order. All at once, Jaune, Pyrrha, their honor guard, and all their nearby soldiers ignored their fights and dropped to the ground, catching their Vacuoan opponents by surprise, who stared at their suddenly grounded foes in astonishment.
Their astonishment was short lived however, as dozens upon dozens of grenades impacted the ground in the Vacuoan forces, killing many, injuring more, and throwing even more to the ground. "Get out of here!" Nora yelled over the earpiece.
"What?" Jaune yelled back. "Where are you!" He called out.
"Pyrrha, get him out! And all your men!" Nora yelled.
Pyrrha wasn't one to let an opportunity pass, and quickly pulled Jaune to his feet and began leading him away. "Everyone! Full retreat!" She called out. The order spread quickly, and their allies began getting to their feet and retreating at full speed. The Vacuoans weren't so easily defeated though, and began pursuit right away.
That was what they started to do anyway, before a salvo of what appeared to be nearly one hundred rockets impacted all throughout their lines, doing immense amounts of damage. Jaune followed the smoke trails with his eyes, and saw a small force running down the cliffs to the north, firing rockets as they ran down the steep slope as fast as they could. At the head of this force of a hundred and fifty, he could she a tiny redheaded girl launching grenades into the mass of foes ahead of her. "Nora!" Jaune called out. "What are you doing!"
"Just get out of here!" Nora said with finality, before ripping out her earpiece so she wouldn't be interrupted by Jaune again.
"Nora!" Jaune called out desperately. But Nora couldn't hear him, and he could only watch in horror as Hammer Company continued their charge down the cliffs towards the army below them. "Nora!"
Nora watched as her allies managed to put some distance between themselves and the enemy, thanks to Hammer Company's assault. But they weren't in the clear yet. "All right everyone!" Nora yelled behind her as they continued charging down the cliffs, not even bothering to aim their rockets and grenades anymore, just firing into the mass of enemy soldiers below them. The only soldiers who needed to aim were the ones firing rockets at the airships, and even then those rockets did most of the tracking themselves. "I'll take the ten thousand on the left, you all can take the ten thousand on the right!"
Nora could hear her soldiers laughing behind her, all of them defiant in the face of death as it drew ever closer. A battalion of a thousand soldiers broke off from the army below to intercept Hammer Company. Nora and her forces were offended at such a small welcoming party, and fired all their remaining explosives at those thousand soldiers. The explosions ripped the battalion to shreds, leaving nothing in their wake. The rest of the terrified Vacuoan army attempted to back away from Hammer Company, but their commanders pushed them on and they all turned to intercept Nora's forces.
"Perfect." Nora said with a satisfied, sadistic grin. The entire point of this maneuver was to allow the rest of their army to escape, and it seemed it was going work. Nora's one hundred and fifty had drawn the attention of the remaining twenty thousand troops of Vacuo. And Hammer Company had no chance of winning this fight, no matter how good they were.
But that wasn't going to stop them. They roared a great battle cry and smashed into the Vacuoan lines with the impact of a force ten times their number. The impact was accompanied by the sound of death, explosions, cheers, and pain. Any other group of soldiers fighting against such impossible odds would have fallen then and there, but Hammer Company was made of tougher stuff. Hammer Company was the bravest, the strongest, the wildest, the biggest. And they were determined to make sure no one could ignore their power.
"Yah!" Nora yelled, bringing Magnhild down on one of the giant war robots and caving in its body. Nora watched with a sort of grim satisfaction as she saw her soldiers working together to bring down another robot nearby, a couple of them using some grenades to disable its cannons before another climbed atop it and shoved yet another grenade into the main body's shell, blowing the robot apart from the inside.
The soldiers of Hammer Company who had used up all their explosives pulled out more conventional weapons- greatswords, war hammers, giant axes, all sorts of massive weapons befitting their destructive nature, and began expressing their displeasure with the surrounding soldiers. They smashed, they hacked, they slashed, they crushed.
As powerful as they were, Hammer Company was not invincible, and soldiers began to fall. First one, then two, then a dozen, then more. Each death seemed to spur Nora to greater feats of strength, and with each death Nora fought harder and harder, desperate to make up the difference and to exact revenge for her fallen comrades.
But not even Nora, a titan among men, could hold out forever. At long last she was the only one left standing, a bloodstained warrior standing among a field of dead, bleeding from countless wounds. Vacuo's army had pulled back once they saw that she was bleeding out, unwilling to lose any more soldiers to this destructive force disguised as a small girl. Nora attempted to follow, but she had no strength left and collapsed onto the ground under her, no longer able to move.
"How nice of you… to join us mortals… here on the ground." A voice said from beside Nora's spot on the ground.
With great effort, Nora turned her head towards the voice, and found that Lieutenant Vild was lying on ground as well. Nora could see what was obviously a fatal wound- Vild's lower body was missing below his abdomen. "You… look like crap, Vild." Nora choked out with a smile.
"You don't look… so great yourself… boss." He coughed out, also grinning a bloody grin. Nora started to laugh, but found that her lungs couldn't quite take it. "Hey, boss?" Vild said, his voice almost too quiet to hear.
"Yeah?" Nora whispered.
"It was an honor." He managed to finish his sentence just before the last breath left his body with a quiet sigh.
"You too, Vild." Nora said. "What do you think… happens when we… die?" She asked. Vild didn't answer. "Vild?" Nora tried to focus her blurry vision on the man next to her. She saw his empty eyes, and a distant part of her mind realized that he was gone.
Nora could hear a set of footsteps approaching from her other side. She wondered if it was an enemy, and regretted that Magnhild had no more grenades to show that she was not quite dead yet. A shadow fell over her as the footsteps stopped next to her other side, and Nora struggled to turn her head to see who this person was.
She managed to get her head facing straight up when she felt a finger touch the tip of her nose gently. "Boop." A man's voice said. A familiar voice that she hadn't heard in a very long time.
"Ren?" She whispered. Nora forced her eyes to focus on the figured crouching next to her. She recognized the green coat, the black hair with the magenta streak, and the matching eyes. Beautiful eyes.
"Everything is okay now, Nora." He said. He reached out and grabbed Nora's hand.
"You look very pretty, Ren." Nora said quietly.
"You do too." Ren deadpanned. "Once you get cleaned up, anyways."
"That bad?"
"Yeah." Ren stroked Nora's hand softly with his thumb. "I've been waiting for you."
"Sorry I kept you waiting." Nora whispered.
"I'd wait however long I need to, for you."" Ren answered. "You ready to go?" He shifted his grip so that his hand was holding Nora's wrist, and her hand holding his wrist.
Nora used the last of her strength to nod. "Yeah." Nora sighed her last breath, her chest falling still and rising no more.
Ren let out the tiniest of grins. "Then let's go." He stood up, pulling Nora to her feet so she was standing above her own body.
Nora looked up from her body to Ren. She didn't want nor need an explanation. She had Ren, after all. And he would take care of her. "Yeah." Nora smiled, hugging Ren tight as the world faded away around them.
The retreat was hectic, sloppy, and a disaster in general, but they managed to get out alive thanks to the Nora's sacrifice. Her assault had stalled the pursuing ground forces, and their flurry of rockets against the pursuing aircraft had set them back as well. But the cost was heavy. Weiss' army was down to only a few thousand men now, and all of them were tired and injured. A few thousand could not hold out long against the Vacuoan army, no matter how much damage Nora did. And now, hours later, they finally slowed their retreat and were forced to set up a camp out of sheer exhaustion.
"We shouldn't have left her behind." Jaune shot at Pyrrha. "She was our friend." Jaune barely had the strength to stand after their retreat, and was only able to stand now with the assistance of his arm around Pyrrha's shoulder.
"I know." Pyrrha replied, tears in her eyes as she carried Jaune towards the medical area, which was just a bunch of blankets on cots on the open ground now that they had to leave their tents behind in their retreat. "I know."
"Sorry." Jaune struggled to keep his weight off of Pyrrha for her sake, but was unsuccessful. "It's just… this was a nightmare."
"Weiss must be devastated." Pyrrha agreed. "None of us were expecting this."
"We should go see her." Jaune suggested.
"You need rest and medical attention first, Jaune." Pyrrha scolded. "I'm not letting my fiancé die the day he finally proposes to me."
"Fiancé, huh?" Jaune mulled the word over. "I like how it sounds."
"You better." Pyrrha grumbled as they arrived at the medical area. They saw Velvet, who was moving from soldier to soldier robotically, treating them with her aura if they were seriously injured, and using regular first aid techniques if their injuries were not life threatening. "Velvet." Pyrrha called out. Velvet turned and looked at the approaching couple blankly. "Um…" Pyrrha offered when Velvet gave no response. "Is there somewhere I can leave Jaune?" Velvet just pointed to a row of empty blankets on the far side of the treatment area. "Thanks, Velvet."
"Looks like she's still stuck in autopilot." Jaune commented. Velvet had been like this ever since she had begun cleaning up Blake, before the battle. As Pyrrha helped ease him to the ground onto a blanket, Jaune saw a body carefully wrapped in a separate blanket. He recognized the outline of the body as Blake's. "Velvet must have carried her along." Jaune observed sadly.
"She wouldn't leave her behind." An approaching voice said. Jaune and Pyrrha turned to see Weiss walking towards them, with her eyes red and her uniform dirty and ragged. "How are you two?"
"Tired and injured, but alive." Jaune answered from his spot on the ground. "More than some of our friends can say anymore."
Weiss closed her eyes sadly. "It's all my fault. I should have been ready for something to go as wrong as it did."
"What happened?" Pyrrha asked.
"Colonel Sten and his forces were ambushed and killed in the forest before they could flank our enemy. And once that happened, everything else just spiraled out of control." Weiss explained, rubbing her temples.
"At least we managed to get away without losing everyone." Jaune shrugged.
"We lost thousands today." Weiss responded. "That's more than we've ever lost before."
"But we're still alive to fight another day." Pyrrha said hopefully. Almost as if on cue, an alarm sounded throughout the camp.
"I'd hold that thought if I were you." Weiss said, holding a hand over her earpiece so she could hear the report over the sirens. The news caused the color to drain from her face.
"What is it?" Jaune asked.
"They didn't fall back to recover. Vacuo is approaching again." Weiss answered in a rush.
"That's ridiculous, their men must be exhausted!" Pyrrha yelled, incredulous.
"They must think they can finish us off now and save themselves the trouble of any more battles." Jaune said.
"They aren't wrong." Weiss said, drawing looks of surprise from both Jaune and Pyrrha. "We're also exhausted, and too tired to run away."
"This certainly isn't good." Jaune finished, getting to his feet.
"What are you doing?" Pyrrha asked nervously, moving to hold Jaune in place.
"I'm not staying here while the rest of our army fights for their lives." Jaune growled, staggering towards the front lines. Pyrrha had no argument, and so she just followed behind her fiancé and helped him walk steady. Weiss could only sigh. What could they do at this point? She followed her two friends to the front lines, joining her soldiers on the battlefield for the first time since she took control.
Weiss watched the approaching army with a strange sense of calm acceptance. She knew that this was the end, and somehow found that fact calming. There was no more uncertainty in her world. Her army was arrayed behind her, all the hunters and soldiers spread out to face their enemy head on. "I think this is the first time I'm actually fighting on the field since I took control of the army." Weiss mused.
Jaune and Pyrrha, who were both on Weiss' left, chuckled. "Well, desperate times call for desperate measures." Jaune remarked. "You have to get your hands dirty sometime."
They watched as the enemy army approached, growing larger. "I suppose this isn't the time to say I'm not ready for this." Pyrrha said half-jokingly.
"No, not really." Weiss agreed. The sun was beginning its descent from the sky, and the afternoon sky began to change its color. The angle of the sun was playing tricks on Weiss' eyes, though. She was seeing small spots in the sky.
Both Weiss and Pyrrha were beginning to notice that Jaune was shifting uneasily on his feet. "Jaune? What's wrong?" Pyrrha asked with concern.
"You guys don't smell that?" Jaune asked, fanning his nose.
Weiss sniffed the air. "I don't smell anything out of the ordinary. What's it smell like?"
"It smells gross. I can't quite describe it." Jaune said, pinching his nose. He let go after a few moments. "I feel like I can still smell it even when I stop breathing through my nose." His face was a grimace of disgust.
During this brief exchange between Weiss and Jaune, Pyrrha had frozen with an expression of shock on her face. "Jaune!" Pyrrha said fervently. "You're not smelling anything! Remember your training?"
Jaune stopped fanning his nose, and thought back to the training that Pyrrha referenced. "About bad smells? Bad feelings?"
"With Vimentis! Remember what he said it was like sensing Grimm with your aura?" Pyrrha said, grabbing Jaune's hand. "He said it felt disgusting, like the smell of sewage you couldn't get out of your nose."
Both Weiss and Jaune lost what little color remained in their faces. "Grimm?" A nearby soldier gasped. "There haven't been Grimm sightings anywhere in almost a year!" At this, the news began to spread throughout the army.
Weiss figured telling them not to panic would do nothing, so she didn't bother. "Jaune, can you feel a direction, or something? Anything more than just a feeling? Maybe you're just sick? A concussion?"
Jaune closed his eyes, and tried to focus his aura to possibly feel if he could sense something more specific than what he was already sensing. "It feels like there are Grimm in every direction." Weiss looked around them, but didn't see any Grimm anywhere. Jaune's eyes snapped open, and he turned towards a section of the Greatwood Forest between the two armies. "Over there. Something big."
Weiss tapped her earpiece. "All huntsman and huntresses to the front lines. I repeat, all huntsman and huntresses to me! We have Grimm!" Weiss ordered. There was a commotion in the army as all the surviving hunters rushed to Weiss' position on the front lines, weapons at the ready despite their exhaustion. Weiss was disheartened to see that they had less than forty hunters now, when they used to have so many more. "Everyone else, defensive formations!" Running away from Grimm only encouraged them to attack, so taking up defensive positions was safer option at times like these.
Weiss' army followed orders, despite their fear, and quickly did their best to forge some defensive lines. Jaune's prediction soon proved true as the hunters on the front lines saw movement in the shadows of the enormous trees of Greatwood Forest. "I thought you said there was something big." Weiss whispered to Jaune.
"It's getting closer." Jaune said. His eyes were wide with fear. "It's so big." Whatever he was sensing was frightening him more than anything in his life had before.
The Vacuoan army had spotted the movement in the forest as well, but without hunters of their own they couldn't quite be sure of what was going on. Weiss believed that the Vacuoan commanders must believe Weiss had left a force in the woods again. She could feel the ground rumbling beneath her feet. "I don't know whether to hope that the ground shaking is because it's just a lot of small Grimm, or a few big ones." Weiss said, remembering the size of the gargantuan alpha boarbatusks from her time training at the fortress.
They could see the Grimm now, hovering around the forest's edge. There were all sorts of Grimm, including many species that Weiss didn't recognize. The Grimm paced back and forth at the tree line, looking impatient and restless. "What are they doing?" Pyrrha asked. "Are they waiting for something?"
"It's coming!" Jaune whispered.
As soon as Jaune finished his exclamation, the packs of Grimm parted and the hunters could see a figure emerge from the forest. The distance between them was great, but Weiss was able to see some details of the figure, and it appeared to be a human woman. "What?" Weiss asked, confused. There was no explanation for why Grimm would ignore a person in their midst and not attack them.
The woman was fairly tall, wearing a long, sleek black dress that covered her from her neck to her hands and ankles, leaving no skin exposed except for what was on her face. The dress was tight across the woman's upper body, leaving no extra fabric to flap around and get in the way of anything. The lower half of the dress was loose and flowing, with a slit down the front for mobility that revealed black tights underneath when the wind picked up as she walked. Over the tights were a pair of black boots that came up to her just under her knees. Her hair was long and straight, falling nearly to her waist and fanning out behind her in the wind. She had a rough cut set of bangs that partially obscured her the far right side of her face; not enough to obscure her vision but enough to cast part of her face in shadow. Her hair appeared black, and streaked with a deep and dark red coloring. The woman was too far away for Weiss to make out facial features though, or any small details.
Regardless, all these details escaped Weiss' notice. She was too distracted. Weiss was staring at the woman's gloved hand, which was holding a weapon near and dear to Weiss' memories. The red and black scythe, Crescent Rose. "…Ruby?" Weiss whispered.
"Is that Crescent Rose?" Jaune asked in disbelief. "How did that woman get that?"
Weiss made to run forward to the woman, desperate to confront this ghost from the past, whether it was Ruby or someone with Ruby's weapon. She felt a hand grab her wrist, stopping her and jerking her back. Weiss turned to look at the one holding her, and saw Velvet grasping her wrist tightly. "Let me go, Velvet! I need to find out!"
"You do, but not now!" Velvet yelled. "Look at all those Grimm. You won't make it there alive on your own."
"What if that was Blake over there?" Weiss shot back.
Velvet eyes watered, and she twitched like she had just been punched in the gut, but she held strong to Weiss' wrist. "Then I would wait. Now isn't the time!"
If Velvet had anymore to say, it was dwarfed by what sounded like a low rumble of thunder, and the ground shook beneath their feet. "It's here!" Jaune said, pointing straight at the woman.
"That woman's a Grimm?" Pyrrha asked just as another rumble shook the ground.
Jaune didn't need to answer as the source of the rumbling revealed itself. A gigantic creature emerged from the forest, dwarfing any Grimm that the hunters had ever seen before. It reminded Weiss of some sort of giant, two legged, reptilian monster, standing at least twice as tall as some of the largest Grimm she had ever seen previously. It had a very lizard-like head, with a long snout and mouth filled with razor sharp teeth longer than Weiss' arm. The skull plate covered the entire top half of the skull, and ended at the base, where the skull met its neck.
It's colossal body was covered in what looked like a rough, thick, black, leathery hide that was covered in a plethora of scars, covered in various spots with bone plate. Some of the bone plates were scratched and damaged, further evidence of its many battles. Another set of bony spikes ran down it's spine, sharp and intimidating. The spikes trailed down all the way to the end of its tail, which was more than twice as long as the rest of its body and ended in a bony spike that looked like it could impale an alpha boarbatusk without any problems.
It's massive body was supported by two equally massive legs, with thick, powerful muscles that looked capable of propelling its huge body with great speed. The legs ended in wickedly sharp looking three-clawed feet that left deep impressions in the ground wherever it strode. It's arms were far shorter than its legs, but seemed equally capable of inflicting terrible damage with their clawed, two fingered hands. The creature appeared far more deadly and powerful than anything Weiss, or any of the hunters, had ever seen or heard of before. They weren't even sure how they would go about hurting something so large and powerful.
The creature paused behind the human woman, the rumbling in the ground stopping as its footsteps paused. The Vacuoan army had obviously seen the Grimm now, and were busy moving northward, as far from the forest as they could get, while still maintain a defensive line. They were all but ignoring Weiss and her forces, repositioning all their forces to protect themselves against the Grimm threat. The giant Grimm bent its knees, crouching down low to the ground and lowering its head to place it on the forest floor beneath it.
The woman then leapt up onto the Grimm's head, standing up on its skull plate as it stood straight again, riding the Grimm's skull. Once the creature had straightened, Weiss heard the woman yelling something while pointing Crescent Rose at the army before her, at Vacuo. Weiss couldn't hear what the woman actually said, but that didn't matter, because what happened next gave her a general idea.
The giant Grimm she was riding let out a titanic, deep, ground shaking roar; a primal sound that shook Weiss and her allies to their very bones. Then the horde of Grimm charged out of the forest, swarming in untold numbers towards the Vacuoan army.