What if all the plans you made, were not worth the price they paid? Even with the lives you stole, still no closer to your... Goal.
Weiss
I hate leaving her here like this, especially after she gives me that puppy dog look, she knows I hate that look. I don't care what Blake says, Ruby needs to be with her friends, her family. Not at some white walled, stale air, thin sheet hospital.
"It's for the best, you need to let her heal Weiss." Blake gives a soft smile patting me on the back.
"She can heal just fine if she was with me, I'd hire the best care, I'd-"
"Weiss, we have a Problem" Phillip said running over to me out of breath
"what, what is it!?"
"come quickly, we're under attack" he grabbed me by the hand and dragged me with him as we ran back to the car.
"what is the meaning of this! What do you mean we are under attack?"
He pauses to look at me, brushing his brown curls to one side. His green eyes stare intently at me, it bothers Ruby how he looks at me, I can see why, I shift uncomfortably.
"Weiss it's Vacuo, and Mistrial, they are attacking the kingdom, the military needs the help of the Schnee Dust Company, Ironwood demands to speak with you now! If you don't help the kingdom of Atlas, it could be our down fall" he explained carefully
This is what I always feared would happen, my company could be used as a weapon crippling the people of Remnant, making one kingdom far stronger than the others.
A loud siren going off breaks my chain of thought, Ruby, she's at the hospital,
I turn to Blake she nods already knowing what I'm going to say,
"I'm on it, don't worry Yang and I will take care of her, go!" Blake orders
Phillip pulls me into the car,
"Drive!" he orders
This can't be happening, not again. Why now, why?
"Weiss, your scroll is ringing" Phillip shakes me to get my attention
It's Winter,
"hello" I answer shaky
"Weiss! Listen we need you to approve the use and shipment of dust by the military now! The hunters have already taken Mantel they've teamed up together! If we don't stop them now, we could be next, reports are coming that they are headed toward you, they are going to attack the Schnee Mansion, and the factory, we don't have to time to wait please!" winter said in a panic
"Ms. Schnee please, all we need is your word" Ironwood cut in
"Weiss," Phillip grabbed my hand
It's like everything happens at once, there is no time to respond, to take a single breath, only to watch as it all falls apart. My heart thumps in my ears, I see it through the windshield, the large fire ball headed toward me, the car, it's too late.
"Use everything we've got, and Winter, I love you"
"Weiss?"
3rd person
The line goes dead as the car explodes in flames, hunters and huntress from Mantel, Vacuo, and Mistral load up large catapults with large boulders infused with different types of dust, all supplied by the Diamond Dust Company, and the overrun Schnee Dust factory in Vacuo.
They cheer loudly after they see they have successfully hit their target.
Adam Taurus runs to the front line, faunas behind him,
"Let's bring them to their knees!" he shouts
They all yell and charge head first into the kingdom of Atlas.
Military is quickly deployed, paladins, soldiers, and hunters all run into the thick of battle, their feet trudging through the inch of snow on the ground, the snow still falling gracefully.
Blake gets stopped by some members of the White Fang on her way to the hospital, she backs away readying herself for a fight, 'it's up to you now Yang' Blake frowns as she knows she won't make it to Ruby.
Yang and Raven quickly made their way to the hospital where Blake had demanded they all meet up; Raven knew this was coming, still she hadn't expected it so soon.
Qrow was already at the hospital, with Taiyang, the two watched in horror as hunters attacked the Atlas academy, then the grimm began to show up. Nevermore's, and Sabers quickly made their way into the battle, panic quickly ensuing.
"Hey, you can't be in here!" a nurse yelled
"Shut up, tell me where Ruby Rose is, or we'll kill everyone in this goddamn building" A man demanded
He wore red suspenders over his black collared shirt, he had large dog faunas' ears, his boots were black with a steel toe, his pants black with a green stripe down the side of each leg, he wore a belt with many pouches and holsters, on his back was the symbol of a wolf, half of its face skull the other half grimm. His eyes were yellow, with a green glow, his teeth sharp like a dogs. His hair was long and grey and pulled back in a ponytail, he looked to be around Qrow's age.
Qrow and Tai looked at each other, Qrow quickly going to Ruby's room.
"We aren't at liberty-"
The man snapped the woman's neck, and turned to the crowd,
"Where is she!" he demanded
Everyone began to run in fear, screaming so loud it woke Ruby from her sleep.
She sat up with a jolt, figuring she had another nightmare, though her uncle with his weapon drawn standing guard by the door, told her something different.
"Uncle Qrow? What's going on…" Ruby trailed off as she listened to the sirens, the screams, a weight settled in her stomach, and she had a bad taste in her mouth.
"Relax kiddo, we got this" Qrow smirked but as he said it, he knew they were in some serious trouble.
Yang and Raven hid behind a burning car, waiting for their opportunity to run, when they heard a soft gasp for breath. They looked at each other in confusion, before realizing that the moan had come from the car.
"Someone's hurt" Yang said using her robotic arm to touch the hot metal door and pry it open.
Phillip died shielding Weiss from the blast, a large piece of shrapnel lodged into his back and into Weiss's leg. Weiss lay gasping for air as smoke filled the car.
"Weiss!" yang pulled Phillip off of Weiss and carefully removed the shrapnel from Weiss's leg, before dragging her out.
Weiss coughed and hissed in pain when Yang had taken the shrapnel out.
"Damn it" Raven cursed as she noticed hunters making their way over to them.
"Get her out of here, go!" Raven ordered standing drawing her sword.
"Yang?" Weiss wondered delirious from all the smoke she inhaled.
"Hang on, I'm going to get help" Yang said picking up Weiss and running back the direction she came from.
There was no use going to the hospital, the city was already overrun, they'd never make it. So Yang ran back to where she had come from, which was bad because she quickly found herself surrounded by a pack of Sabers.
Yang's back hit a tree as they closed in on her, Weiss barely conscience in her arms. She slowly set Weiss down, putting her fist in the air ready to fight, her weapon locked and loaded.
She wasn't angry, no Yang was calm she knew this moment didn't just mean her life, but the life of her friend, Weiss, if she didn't win. Yang tapped into her semblance, but her eyes didn't turn red like they usually did, no they turned blue, and Yang felt power surge through her like never before. She had finally unlocked the true potential of her semblance. Her hair glowed white and yellow, and pure aura energy flowed around her, she smirked.
These Sabers didn't stand a chance.
She threw the first punch after a saber leapt into the air pouncing at her. She fired right into its mouth, another came at her from the side, she threw the first one at it, then was tackled to the ground by the third one. She fired many rounds off in its face, it leapt back, the fourth one grabbed yang by her arm, ripping the robotic limb right off her arm. She punched as hard as she could break the mask of the grimm, and causing it to drop her arm.
She dodged the Saber coming in from behind by sidestepping out of the way, before punching it straight down into the ground. She was attacked from all three sides, her life flashed before her eye, then she let her fear get the better of her, her eyes turning from blue to red.
"Weiss!" Yang called desperate for help
More grimm flooded the area, Ursa, and Geist, even a few Yeti (bigfoot grimm).
Yang tried to punch her way out, but a Saber had latched on to her good arm, the other clawed at her back, the one in front of her went in for the kill, she closed her eyes tightly bracing for the inevitable.
Weiss struggled to stand her leg dripping blood, she knew she wasn't going to make it in time, but then a gun was fired and the Saber in front of Yang fell back. In a quick flash the one on her arm was decapitated, the one at her back gutted, then with a blur of pink, white, and brown the one in front of Yang was stabbed in the back.
She bent down to grab Yang's arm off the floor, handing it back to the blond brawler, with a smirk on her face, blinking her eyes changing from pink to brown then back.
"What, what are you doing here" Yang asked amazed
Neo shrugged and handed Yang back her arm.
"Watch out!" Weiss called her voice cracking
Yang punched and ursa right in the face, saving Neo from being attacked, then she reattached her arm.
Neo and Yang shared a look of understanding before turning to face the other grimm around them, Yang didn't know why, but for now Neo was on her side.
…
"Give up, you are nothing but a coward" the wolf man teased Taiyang
Tai struggled to get off the floor his weapon still firmly attached to his hand, lions paw, a brass knuckle with three long metal claws protruding out from it. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
"Shut the hell up, I'm not letting you take her, not ever!" Tai charged the man swiping his claws in the air fire radiating off of him.
The wolf man smiled as he dodged Taiyang attack with ease, he twirled his weapon in circles, which was a medallion with white and black swirls on it, he twirled the dust infused chain, causing a large wind gust to once again blow Taiyang back, turning his power against him.
"Then I guess I'll just have to kill you" the wolf man chuckled
Tai stood his semblance taking over as a fire formed around him the shape of a lion, all the damage he took turning into sheer power.
"Didn't anyone ever tell you," Tai smiled
"What" the wolf man asked suddenly intimidated by Tai's display of power
"They used to call me, the king of the jungle, and let me tell ya there can only be one king" he cracked his neck, got into fighting boxer stance, raised his fist and winked at the wolf man.
Taiyang charged the man with full force, jumping in the air and pouncing like a lion, he tackled him to the ground, the two sliding on the white tile floor, and hitting the front desk. The wolf man grabbed tai by his collar and threw him off of him Tai's back slamming into the lounge table. Tai dug his claws into the wood of the table and lifted it and threw it at the wolf man. The wolf man stumbled back to dodge, not noticing Tai's next attack.
Taiyang launched the claws off his brass knuckles which lodged into the thigh of the wolf man, with a tug on the wire that connected the claws to his hand, the wolf man fell to the ground with a cry out in pain.
Taiyang retracted his claws, then jumped on top of the man, digging his flaming knee hard into the wolf man's gut. He used the bare knuckles of his weapon to hit the man over and over again, a loud pop could be heard with each blow. Blood trailed down the wolf man's face, his head hitting the floor with a thud of each punch. Till finally he was out cold.
Tai let his semblance calm down, catching his breath, and wiping the sweat from his brow, which made him smear blood on his forehead. He slowly got off of the man, his chest heaving with exertion, he then turned his attention back to the hospital. Everyone on the floor was gone, or hiding. The lobby was destroyed, broken chairs, tables, bent desk, and craters in the wall, he sighed.
He walked over to Ruby's room, and knocked twice,
"Qrow it's me" he huffed
The door slid open, Qrow sighed in relief as Ruby poked her head out from behind her uncle curious to what was happening.
"Dad? What's going on, where is everyone?"
"We need to get you out of here now, it's not safe"
"It's not safe out there either, we need to have a plan" Qrow interjected
"Will someone please tell me what's going on?"
"Atlas is under attack, that's all we know so far" Qrow supplied
"The Schnee mansion isn't too far from here, we can make it" Tai tried
"That's the first place they'll look; we need somewhere more discreet"
"What about her, do you think she would help" Tai asked Qrow
"who?" Ruby wondered
"It's worth a shot, I'd never thought I'd be asking her for help again" Qrow smirked
"Who's her?" Ruby pouted
"An old friend, she lives around here, she has a house near the shipping district, it's far, but if we can get there we should be safe" Taiyang informed Ruby
"If we can get there, it's not pretty out there, and Ruby's still in no condition to fight" Qrow sighed
"I can fight; I can, just give me my scythe"
"Whoa there, hold your horses, you are still in pretty bad shape there kiddo, we can't risk it"
"I can fight, the doctor said two more weeks and I could be completely healed, I ca handle it"
"No, that's enough, let's get a move on before some more thugs show up" Tai ordered
Qrow nodded and picked Ruby up bridal style.
"I can walk" Ruby complained
"We need to get to the roof to see what we are up against" Qrow said ignoring Ruby
"Right, the stairs are this way" Tai turned and ran off towards the stairway, Qrow right behind him.
Blake fell to the floor with a loud thud, a dark colored shimmer could be seen on her body as her aura fell into critical range. The three members of the White Fang snickered at Blake's struggle to stand. One went in and kicked her hard from the side, she cried out.
"Hey come on, Adam said he wants her alive" one complained
"So, he didn't say how alive" the girl sneered
"Let's just knock her out already" the third guy complained
The girl walked closer to Blake a smirk on her face,
"One sleepy kitty coming up" she sang
Blake looked up at the girl in fear, she turned her head away ready for the inevitable. When a loud bang drew her attention. Mercury had kicked one of the White Fang members so hard, he flew back and hit a light post, falling to the floor unconsceince.
"What tha!" the girl said alarmed
Emerald came up behind her kicked her in the back of the knee, causing her to fall, before hitting her in the head with the butt of her weapon, knocking her out. Mercury began to walk toward the other guy, who dropped his weapon and ran off.
"Humph what a wimp" Mercury complained
Emerald rolled her eyes before bending down to help Blake up.
"Why, why are you helping me?" Blake asked struggling to her feet on her own.
"Why, doesn't matter right now, what does matter is that we get out of here" Emerald said turning looking for an exit strategy.
"Over there" Mercury pointed.
A path littered with grimm, but the easier path, which led to the docks. Emerald nodded and looked at Blake,
"You coming?" she asked before her and Mercury ran off
Blake watched after them in confusion, before deciding to follow after them.
"Holy Remnant," Tai said looking out towards the city from the roof
"This isn't good, there's too many" Qrow set Ruby down
"Look!" Ruby said pointing up
An atlas air ship struggled to stay afloat while it was being attacked by grimm, just before the ship began to go down a hatch opened up underneath and a long slender missile fell out, the Schnee logo proudly displayed on the side. The missile fell with a whistle right at the front gates of Atlas, a bright explosion lit up the entire sky, though it was far, Ruby could still feel the heat on her cheeks.
For a second the world fell silent, as the brightness died down, and the smoke cleared. Where there was once a large crowd of military robot soldiers, and hunters from Vacuo was now a barren wasteland the ground charred black, not a single soul in sight.
Ruby watched as the fresh snow quickly began to cover the black char mark on the ground, her eyes wide. Qrow was saying something to Taiyang, but Ruby couldn't hear, the only thing she could think of was that this was her fault, innocent lives lost, because of her.
"Ruby!" Qrow yelled finally getting Ruby's attention
"We have to go while we can" Tai said
"She's going into shock; I'll have to carry her" Qrow said not waiting for Ruby to respond.
"Attention citizens of Atlas, please make your way to Atlas academy, this is a mandatory evacuation please. Attention all citizens of Atlas please make your way to the Atlas academy this is a mandatory evacuation" a calm woman's voice instructed on the city intercom.
"They're going to bomb the whole city" Qrow said picking Ruby up bridal style
Ruby watched many images play in her mind, the rose getting tainted with blood, the blood on her scythe, Cinder taking her last breath, the snow falling gracefully to the charred ground. These images were beautiful in a strange sort of way, yet also horrifying.
Ruby watched the city fly by her, as her uncle carried her to a safe place, her dad on their tail.
Look around you, Yang had told her, but when Ruby looked now, the things she thought were only in her head weren't going away. The grimm, surrounded the city, the screams and cries of anguish, it was real, and it took a moment for Ruby to process this.
Took a second for her to realize that all the work her and Cinder had done, would have led to this eventually, and that someone just sped up the process.
Another airship flew overhead, this one from Vacuo. It headed right for the academy, an Atlas airship intercepted it, firing at it. The airships exchange fire right above Ruby, as she stared at the sky not wanting to see what was happening around her.
Then the vacuo one began to fall,
"Uncle Qrow,"
He was focused on running.
"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby screamed as the ship was just above them.
"We aren't going to make it!" Tai shouted.
Qrow set Ruby down, they shared a look, he transformed into a crow flying off, Ruby grabbed her dad, and with her semblance vanished into rose petals just as the ship crashed down.
Ruby and Tai ended up near the city square, many running past them to get to the academy. Qrow landed next to them.
"You guys okay?"
"Yeah, I think so"
"Ruby?"
"Yeah, I'm fine"
"Good, come on,"
"Wait" Ruby said.
"What?"
"I think I see Raven" Ruby pointed to Raven who was limping towards them, mask on her face.
"Raven!" Taiyang shouted running to her.
Qrow picked up Ruby bridal style again and ran after him.
"Are you okay, what happened, where's Yang!?" Taiyang shouted.
"She's fine, she ran for cover after we found Weiss, they ran that way, I was going to look for them" she says slightly breathless.
"Are you okay?"
"No, I was right next to that damn thing when it went off, barely made it out in time" she complains.
"We are headed to Pearls place, we think it'd be safe there" Qrow informs.
"That's a name I haven't heard in a while" she smirks.
"You are in no condition to go after Yang, I'll go, you and Qrow take ruby to Pearls," Tai ordered.
"You sure?" Qrow asked.
Taiyang nodded.
"Let's get a move on then, Yang went that way towards the forest" Raven said.
Taiyang nodded before turning to Ruby,
"Stay safe okay, I'm going to get your sister, don't do anything I wouldn't do" he smirks
"Dad," Ruby wanted to say don't leave, she wanted to say she was sorry this was all her fault but what came out was,
"Promise you'll come back"
"I promise, love you, stay safe" he kissed her on the forehead.
"Tai" Qrow called just before he ran off
"Yeah"
"Don't die on me okay"
"I won't" Taiyang smiled before running off.
"Alright kiddo, let's go" Qrow smiled new determination in his eye
Raven transforms into a bird, following after Qrow, as they made their way to the dock district, snow falling slightly heavier, smoke tainting it and turning it black. Landing on the ground with a quiet unrest.
A/N: hey guys, hope you like the new chapter. Please feel free to leave a comment, all is welcome. Also check out my new whiterose fic, it's more light hearted and funny, also futa, so I understand if that's not your thing. Tell me what you guys think is going to happen next. I actually made the effort to proof read and edit this chapter, so he it's at least a little better. For those of you who read my STRQ fic, I will be rewriting the whole thing so won't update for a while, but I haven't given up on it, I just wasn't satisfied with the way I had summers character. Anyways back to this story, Weiss, Yang, and Neo chapter to come, and more. But until next time,
-Batty