December 30, 2020

The end of the year ball was underway! Upstairs, the company ballroom was packed with sharp-dressed people as firefighters and their guests laughed, danced, sang, and talked amongst themselves. The DJ was a member of Goodwill Fire Company who worked part-time DJing for numerous parties. You could tell who requested what song by how old each song was. Often, the younger firefighters requested hip hop, whereas the older firefighters requested classic pop and rock.

Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, George, Jaune, Sun, and even King Delwyn IV all sat at the same table. Ren stayed home with Nora, both of them having attended last year. Sun was telling a story about when his team hunted for the first time after graduating. "And so, in short, we may have levelled a house and 2 cars, but we killed both of those Grimm in that town, and that's all that matters."

The rest of the table laughed. Delwyn said, "Indeed. Sure, a house was destroyed, but think of all the houses that could have also been destroyed if those Grimm hadn't been taken care of." He then heard a song start up. "Say, Ruby, wanna dance? I love this song."

"Sure," Ruby replied. "I mean, I don't know dancing that well, but you can teach me." She then stood up and let Delwyn take her hand.

George turned to Yang and said, "Wanna join them?"

Yang smiled and replied, "What do you think?" She then took George's hand and led him to the dance floor.

Jaune turned to Weiss and said, "So, Weiss, I've been thinking. We've been together-together, as Nora would put it, for a while now, yet I haven't said 3 certain words to you yet."

Weiss turned to Jaune and held her right index finger to Jaune's mouth, saying, "I know. I know what those words are." She then kissed Jaune, closing her eyes and stroking the back of Jaune's head.

Sun and Blake looked on in surprise. Sun said, "Uhhh... Hey there, lovebirds..."

Weiss and Jaune turned to the other couple and laughed. She then turned back to Jaune, saying, "I love you too."

Blake asked after drinking some water, "So, what are the odds we'll get a four letter word that begins with c that isn't country matters?"

"The paid guys already got a medical during the party. I think they just came back. Also, nice censoring of both of those 4 letter words." She and Blake laughed.

Meanwhile, as Yang was filling up a glass of water, she noticed Denis grabbing some food. She walked over to Denis and said, "Hey there, kid. Where's Tracy?"

"She's sitting at my table," the young teenager replied. "Her girlfriend was going to come, but she had something else to do. Trace isn't too happy about it."

"Are you thinking of making a move on her?" Yang giggled.

Denis blushed and quickly replied, "No! What do you mean?"

"Aw, cmon, Denny. You and I know she isn't too happy about her current relationship. Throw a few signs out at her and see if she throws a few signs out at you. It won't hurt. Well, I gotta go back to my man. Good luck." Yang then walked away.

Meanwhile, as the last song finished, a slow song began. Delwyn blushed and said, "A slow song? Well then..."

Ruby giggled and held both of his hands. She said, "Don't worry. This is literally the easiest form of dancing."

Delwyn turned around and saw his 2 guards watching him. One of them smiled and gave him a thumbs up.

Then, the 2 began slowly swaying themselves to the beat of the song. To them, it felt as though there was nothing else in the world. Ruby laid her head against Delwyn's chest and said, "You're so sweet."

"You too," Delwyn replied. As the song entered the second chorus, Ruby turned to face Delwyn and gave him a kiss. Delwyn responded the same.

Yang and George, watching from nearby, enjoyed the sight. Yang said, "She's growing up so fast. I can still remember when she was a toddler and I was a little kid. Now she's courting the God damn king of our nation..." She then turned to George. "And I am courting a handsome devil and a fellow brother in the fire service."

George replied, "Awwww, thanks, Yang. That really means a lot. As for me, I am courting the most beautiful woman in the world." The couple then kissed as well.

Suddenly, 3 seconds into their kiss, they all heard the siren roar up. The DJ immediately turned off the music and synced the speakers to the paging channel. The lights flipped on as any firefighter who was sober ran to the fire poles in the other rooms.

Yang quickly took her heels off and said, "It sounds like a Box Alarm. You brought your gear, right?"

"Yep," George replied. "I'll drive my car to the scene."

Within seconds, the dance floor had mostly emptied, save for the heels of many girls who had taken them off to go to the call.

On the first floor, the Vigilant firefighters all suited up. George had put his gear in an empty locker next to Yang's. He took longer to get his gear on since he had yellow pants that went with his gear.

Delwyn, who had unexpectedly slid down the fire pole as well, caught up to Ruby as she was about to get on Truck 201. He said, "Ruby! Please, be safe."

Ruby replied by giving him a kiss and saying, "I love you, my king."

"I love you, Ruby." The couple then hugged before Ruby split to get on the truck.

Delwyn then stood back as Blake and another firefighter ran to the truck to get on. Once they got on and filled the 9th and 10th seats, the cab doors closed and the king watched as Truck 201 raced out of the firehouse and to the call, sirens blaring and lights blazing.

One of his bodyguards said to him, "Well that was interesting."

Delwyn ignored him, still in awe of the moment.

At 9:48, the three trucks arrived at an 8-storey apartment building with fire shooting out of a window on the 5th floor. The truck crew immediately got out and began suiting up to get in the building as the driver of the truck ran to the back of it. He then climbed up to the control panel of the aerial ladder and began raising the ladder up to a fire escape on the 5th floor.

Because the captain of Vigilant and Weiss's dad Hermann were not sober and couldn't respond, the incident commander for now was Alfred Schnee. He said, "I want the truck crew to climb up the ladder to the 5th floor with 2 hand lines and pike poles stat!"

Ruby, Blake, and Weiss all strapped their SCBAs in and grabbed a hand line from the side of the truck. Ruby dragged the line out by 200 feet approximately, and then Weiss decoupled the line. Meanwhile, Yang and another firefighter hit a hydrant to supply the truck with water. Once they secured a supply line to the hydrant, they received a hand signal from the pump operator to turn it on. As they did, several more trucks from more companies arrived.

Eventually, 6 firefighters began climbing up the ladder, carrying 2 hand lines and 4 pike poles. As they inched closer to the fire escape, just feet from the flames, they all masked up as smoke blew into their faces.

Ruby was the first to reach the tip of the ladder. She noticed ice on the fire escape and yelled down, "Be careful! There's ice here! Get me a pike pole to break it!" After receiving a pike pole, she broke the ice and swept it away. Afterwards, she carefully stepped onto the fire escape, a nozzle in her hand.

Once her and another firefighter stepped off, they began spraying down the flames on the fire escape. Ruby motioned the other firefighters to enter the apartment next to the burning one by pointing at an open window next to the burning window.

Eventually, all 6 firefighters entered the next door apartment. A radio transmission said, "Vigilant Truck Interior, be cautious and get out of the way if you can. Goodwill is gonna spray down the apartment next to you with their deck gun."

A senior firefighter amongst them radioed back, "10-4, we'll be careful up here." Soon after, Engine 202 began spraying 500 gallons of water per minute at the burning apartment with their deck gun for 30 seconds, knocking down the fire.

Once they finished, the senior firefighter said, "I want one line in here and pike poles to be used for breaking up the ceiling. I want the second line in the hallway, fighting the remaining fire."

Ruby began ripping up the ceiling with a pike pole, bringing down some burning debris that the first line crew, consisting of Blake and another firefighter, put out.

Meanwhile, Weiss and her cousin Elsa, Alfred's 17-year-old daughter and his youngest child, began advancing the second line into the hallway. Weiss opened the gates of the nozzle and sprayed water at the flames in the hallway, knocking them down. She then heard a radio transmission say, "Vigilant Truck Interior, be advised, you have 2 more apartments above you on fire at this time. We got 4 more lines and 15 more guys coming up."

As they reached the burning apartment, Elsa noticed the ceiling behind them cracking. "Weiss, look out!" She then pushed herself and Weiss out of the way as a part of the ceiling came down just behind them.

Weiss dropped the line and said, "Oh my God..." She then grabbed her radio and said, "Second Line Crew to the rest of Vigilant Truck Interior, we just had a partial ceiling collapse behind us. Can you send some crew over to clear the debris?"

"Got it," the senior firefighter replied. "We'll head over. Do you need to call a mayday?"

"Negative at this time. We can still get out the other way if we have to. No mayday." Weiss then turned to Elsa and said, "Thank God you pushed me. We both could have died right then and there."

Elsa replied, "Thanks. Let's see if this line still works." Weiss nodded and tried to open up the nozzle, but barely any water came out.

"Agh, fuck. Looks like the collapse either flattened or punctured the line. We'll have to drop it." The 2 of them then got up and began clearing out debris so they could get out.

Eventually, both of them stumbled back into the apartment they had started in. The senior firefighter said, "Both of you, go out to the fire escape and cool off. Take your masks off out there to conserve air. You should only have about 9 to 10 minutes left out of 30."

Then, a firefighter from another company shouted, "Holy fuck, we got kids in this apartment here!"

The senior firefighter ran out and said, "We'll be right over! Everyone except Weiss and Elsa, follow me!"

Weiss shook her head as she and Elsa walked out to the fire escape, taking their helmets and masks off. Elsa said, "There's no way they're saveable. They were in there for too God damn long."

As Weiss looked out onto the city street, packed with snow, ice, fire engines, firefighters, and onlookers, she said, "Don't say that. They're not not saveable until they're declared dead, or unless they're a charred corpse, or if their consistency is similar to chunky salsa."

Elsa said, "Gross, but true. Fucking kids, though, like, why? They don't even have a concept of how permanent death really is if they're under 12."

"Well, this will certainly put a damper on the festivities back at the firehouse."

At 11:21, all Vigilant trucks returned to quarters. Soon after, the firefighters that had responded to the call were back upstairs, partying and trying to get the images of the victims of the fire out of their heads.

As Theresa and Denis, neither of whom went on the fire, talked, Yang walked up to them and said, "Hey there."

"Hey Yang," Theresa replied. "How was it?"

Yang sighed and said, "Trust me, be glad you were not there. That's all I'm gonna say." She then downed an entire 4 fingers of hard liquor. "No more calls for me tonight. No fucking way, kiddos. So, Tracy, how's the oh-so-wonderful pan life treating ya? Going not too bad for me."

"Well, it's going not too bad for me as well. The thing is, I don't really like my girlfriend anymore in that way, but I wanna hold off on breaking things off until after Independence Day since breaking up on that day is kind of a dick move."

Denis nervously replied, "I can agree with that." Yang smiled and nodded at him.

The older blonde then said, "I think you've written yourself into an interesting dilemma. Now, why don't you like your girlfriend anymore, Theresa?"

"Well, I like a guy, but I don't know if he likes me back."

Denis blushed. Yang replied, "What's his name? C'mon, we trust each other with our lives."

"Ehhhhh... I don't know if that's a good idea. I mean, what if he hears about it?"

Yang then paused, and suddenly said, "It's Denis over here, right? It's gotta be. He's the only guy around you to hear you admit it."

Theresa blushed and said, "Den... Denis? Yang, can you excuse me and Denny here for a moment?" Theresa then got up and motioned for Denis to get up as well. "Come with me."

Yang gave a very nervous Denis a high-five as he walked past her. She said, "Go get her, tiger."

Back at the other table, Blake sat quietly, still thinking about the fire, as Ruby and Delwyn talked endlessly about other topics. Sun asked her, "You've been quiet for a few minutes. What happened?"

"There were 4 kids there," Blake replied. "And 2 adults. None of us know about their condition in the hospital."

Sun paused and then said, "Oh... Do you want me to stay quiet?"

"No, please. I need interaction after what I saw there, okay? The only thing I want is someone to talk to, yet my brooding here is making others ignore me, Sun." She then hugged Sun.

Ruby looked at Blake and said to Delwyn, "Blake didn't take the fire well. Usually, that's not like her at all."

"I can tell," Delwyn replied. "She seems to be the type who can deal with stuff like this the best. Anyways, about what I said to you back there before the call-"

Ruby put a finger to his lips and shushed him, saying, "I mean what I said. Do you?"

"Yes."

Ruby replied by kissing Delwyn. "Then it's official."