A Once Pure Snowfall
Everyone had their objectives.
Yang was to deploy in the city's central area and start herding people to the park's evacuation points and spread out to clear as many buildings as they could. Blake was to go to the temporary housing district to organize the people there and set up pick up locations for that area. Weiss, however, was tasked with heading off the Grimm advance and slow it down.
The best way the Specialist could do that was to deploy in the middle of them.
Weiss felt the Shock Trooper drop pod's weightlessness as it reached maximum height from being shot out from the Mantle of Responsibility. She was in charge of eight Shock Troopers, and all were in the air with her. She knew none of them, but she could not bring her friends with her on this mission. Partly because they did not go through the Shock Trooper training she had but mostly because there was a fifteen percent chance of failure in the air.
The sensation of zero gravity ended, and she plummeted towards the city below. In front of her was a reinforced window to see her landing zone. Around her were the other pods that her team was deployed in. Over the communications network, some of her squad cried out in laughter, others sang songs of their unit. One screamed as his pod struck a flying Grimm as it passed, engulfing both in the fire as they fell to the ground.
Weiss braced herself for the hard landing as the airbrakes were deployed and slowed her descent down just enough to not kill her on contact. She counted down the seconds in her head until she hit zero and felt her whole body be thrown against the restraints holding her in place. A second passed, and then the door was blasted open, and Weiss removed herself from the constraints and immediately took action.
Waving of her rapier, a sheet of ice spread across the street under the unrelenting horde of creatures. With a flick of her other hand, spikes formed and shot up from the ice, impaling every Grimm on the street and blanketing it in Dissipate. Spinning around, she did the same thing down the other road, giving herself space to breathe as she helped the squad she was given and open the area up for the extraction teams.
Weiss ran down the city streets, her blade swinging around as she summoned glyphs to burn and freeze the Grimm in front of her. Behind her, squads of soldiers lined up and opened fire into the horde, bringing them down under a hail of bullets and cannon fire. The Grimm's advance was covered in Dissipate as more and more Grimm were killed.
Weiss did not dare to take her eyes off the advancing creatures. Even as reinforcements continued to be deployed behind her. The heavy walking of Paladin Mechs came closer as the stream of fire intensified. She thought it was going well until three figures came shooting from the smoke towards them. Spinning towards them, Weiss saw bullets bounce harmlessly off their bone armour as they rolled through the lines of soldiers, crushing under their weight or slicing them off the scales. One of them managed to roll over a Paladin, pinning it to the ground.
When they folded out, Weiss saw how big they truly were. Covered from snout to tail in thick bone scales, four paws each tipped with razor-sharp claws that carved away at the ground under them. The elongated nose held rows of sharp teeth, and beady red eyes stared down at Weiss. Without batting an eye, she charged forward while summoning a trio of glyphs around her.
Fire shot out of the glyphs and forced the Pangolin Grimm to curl up from the heat as Weiss launched into the air with her Glyph. With the plan in place, she landed on a floating platform of her making and summoned a gravity one under the Grimm. It began to gently float up into the sky after a moment, giving the Paladin's a target for its soft underbelly.
Weiss watched as the Grimm was eviscerated before her eyes, leaving nothing but chunks of flesh that slowly turned into Dissipate while two more Paladins charged forward to take care of one of the two remaining Grimm. The first one sped ahead and caught the Grimm's arms as it tried to leap at the machine. The second sped up and took position right under the first, unloading enough ballistics to tear it in half. Discarding the carcass, the two Paladins resumed dealing with the smaller Grimm while Weiss went towards the final Pangolin Grimm.
It was rampaging across the lines of soldiers, leaving scarred ground in its wake as it chased the soldiers around. Weiss waiting for her chance to strike as she adjusted the Glyph she stood on and flew towards it. She watched as it opened its mouth, and at that moment, she changed her platform into a time dilation and trapped the Grimm in a dome of her making. Bouncing from Glyph to Glyph, she made strikes against its exposed parts until finally went straight up, driving her blade through its jaw and into its brain.
Jumping back, the Grimm fell onto its side and began to smoke, its flesh slowly fading away into nothingness as the soldiers behind her finished setting up the temporary landing platform. Another wave of soldiers jumped out of the Bullhead and took up positions as other specialists began to spread out and look for survivors to bring back. Recalling her squad, Weiss picked a direction that no one else was going and heading down the street.
They quickly checked as many buildings as they could with minimal success. The best they could find was a few chewed and slashed bodies on the street, all heading in the same direction; each had small cases or bags filled with clothing, probably an emergency bag if Weiss had to guess. Weiss followed the path of dead bodies with no other ideas while clearing the Grimm with her squad.
The bodies' trail leads them to a large ramp that led down and ended in a set of massive metal doors inset in a wall. Clawing at the base of the door was a large group of Grimm, all trying to open it. The door itself was covered in glowing Sulfur Fish. Their tails all working together to melt the metal that protected whoever was inside of it. A large glob of superheated metal splattered on the ground, and a hail of bullets came out of the opening. The Sulfur Fish continued to make the hole bigger, allowing the broader Grimm access to the people inside.
With a motion, Weiss's squad opened fire into the horde, causing the Grimm in the back to turn and charge towards them while others struggled to get into the opening, fighting with each other, the bullets coming from within and the molten metal that surrounded it. The soldiers continued to gun down the Grimm, their specialized shots and confusion making quick work of them, leaving Weiss to deal with the older or specialized Grimm.
Weiss kept the Sulfer Fish in her sight as she ducked and jumped around the Grimm. The opening was getting bigger and bigger by the second. Quickly heading towards the ground and allowing the bigger Grimm into the shelter. Fighting harder, Weiss ducked under a claw and thrust upwards, killing a Beowolf and launching herself up into the air, where she summoned her glyphs and rained down with icicle shards.
The whole area was filled with the oily black smoke and the chill of her ice. She could still see the glow of the Sulfer Fish on the door, but now she had a clear shot at them. Spinning the revolving chambers, Weiss summoned a series of Glyphs that allowed her to leap up to the highest Grimm on the door and run it through with her blade. It's scream hurt her ears as she already moved on the next one on the door. One after another, the Sulfer Fish fell to the ground and thrashed in pain before becoming nothing but dissipate.
On the ground, Weiss saw all the other Grimm had been dealt with by her squad. Two were being patched up by the medic while the others secured the area, making sure nothing crept upon them while herding the survivors. Lowering herself to the ground, Weiss made a large ice ramp leading up to it so two of the shock troopers could go with her to help people through the hole. Reaching the gap, however, Weiss was immediately hit by someone inside firing through the hole.
Weiss cried out in pain as the bullet hit her Aura and fell to the ground. Her arm felt numb as she fell to the ground, and the two soldiers that were with her took positions on either side of the hole and stayed out of harm's way. Weiss knew anti-Grimm rounds were big, but she never thought she would be on the other end of one. "Hold your fire!" Weiss shouted as she pushed herself back onto her feet, summoned a defensive Glyph and tried to enter again.
More bullets bounced off her Glyph as shouting could be heard coming from the inside.
"My name is Weiss Schnee of the Atlesian Military! We're here to take you to safety!" Weiss shouted to the people inside.
"The hell you are, Atlesian!" came a reply from inside. Weiss knew it might have taken some to convince them to leave with her. Using a second Glyph, she and the other two troopers she had with her stepped onto it and lowered themselves to the floor so they can speak reasonably.
Inside the well-lit room, Weiss saw a mass of people all huddled in the back; small cots were stacked on top of each other as a makeshift barricade where a line of soldiers all held their weapons trained at Weiss. Still holding the barrier up, Weiss stood in front of them and looked around at everyone around her.
"General Ironwood as given his unconditional surrender! The war is over!" Weiss called out to them. "We are here on a strictly humanitarian effort to save everyone here! We have airships standing by to bring you all up to the Dreadnaught and keep you safe!"
"Where would you take us?" Someone called out to her.
"To Atlas, the last safe kingdom on Remnant,"
"Oh, that's just peachy," someone called out as they stood up. The first thing Weiss noticed was that the man was wearing the Vacuo colours of desert tan and pale purple. In his hands was an assault rifle that was trained on her. Weiss felt that her chances of convincing them to come with them just went down. She still remembered what she did to Vacuo during the opening moments of the war. "Atlas is offering protection to everyone they haven't killed as long as they serve Atlas, convenient."
"This isn't a move to control everything; someone else was pulling strings the whole time! The attack on Atlas that started this whole thing was orchestrated by the White Fang posing as Mistrali forces. Then those same people inside of the Atlesian command painted those targets in Mistral and Vacuo! We're on the same side now,"
"Oh, really?" He asked as he jumped over the barricade and walked right up towards her. The soldiers he was with followed him; they all wore the Vacuoan colours on their uniforms. "If we're all on the same side, why is my home still flattened?" He asked dangerously.
"If you don't want to come with, then piss off and-" the stormtrooper to her left began to walk towards the Vacuoan, but Weiss was quick to turn on him.
"Shut up!" Weiss turned back to the soldier. "Atlas as given their full, unconditional surrender. You will have full support on whoever speaks for you to demand anything you want when you arrive at Atlas," to convince him further, she lowered the protective Glyph between them, only for him to raise his rifle and aim it directly at her face. Her soldiers retaliated by aiming their rifles at him, then the others pointed their rifles at the stormtroopers.
"I want my son back," He told her as she saw his finger slide along the trigger of his weapon.
"Tough shit bitch," The same stormtrooper said as he leaned in with his rifle.
Weiss had enough of this; with a gesture of her hand, she sent the one stormtrooper flying back against the wall, "Stand down," she ordered, and the other stormtrooper lowered his rifle and went back to make sure his squadmate was okay. Looking back at the man in front of her, she felt a strange sense of calm staring down the barrel of the rifle, the scent of fire dust and gunpowder coming from the barrel. "I am truly sorry about your son, but killing me and dooming every single person behind you will not bring him back."
They stared at each other for a few seconds. Weiss could see the anger in his eyes for a sin committed against him. Behind her, she heard a shout from the hole in the large steel doors. "The Grimm are pushing in, and Recovery protocols are being engaged in six minutes!"
The woman to the man's right lowered her rifle and placed a hand on his shoulder. "She's right, Midori," She said. "We don't have the supplies needed to keep these people safe, and with that hole in the door, we're all as good as dead,"
"As much as I hate it," Said a woman with a shaved head, holding a large machine gun, "She's right; the only way to save these people is to go to Atlas,"
Weiss saw the fight inside of him as he weighed his options, a terrible shriek came from the outside, and the man, Midori, grit his teeth before pulling his weapon away from her. "Damn it all," The others lowered their guns and looked back to the people and began to organize them in some semblance of order. Weiss summoned another ramp of ice and made sure to texture it so no one would slip as they were herded outside.
Outside, Weiss saw most of the city was on fire; the Mantle of Responsibility's cannons was getting closer towards them when one of the stormtroopers pulled out a green smoke grenade and marked their location for pick up. Within seconds, three bullheads sped in and landed with two Paladins and a squad of Atlesians to deploy and people to get loaded. They prioritized the injured and children when the Paladins both turned and began to open fire down the street into the encroaching horde.
"Oh, not these assholes again," someone behind her said when Weiss saw the scuttling wave of the Spider Grimm from Ritrr start moving towards them. A firing line was quickly put into position as civilians' screaming only doubled every Grimm's focus around them. Bullheads, filled to the brim, were being flown into the air as the remaining survivors all clung to each other, making it as easy as possible for the soldiers to protect them.
Weiss could hear nothing as her hearing went out again. The high pitched screaming in her ear, drowned every bullet and scream as the line got closer and closer. Reaching into her pouch, Weiss pulled out a refill of her ice dust and slipping it into place before erecting a massive ice wall that grew across the street and past it. She chewed on her lip as she watched Grimm scratch at her wall.
The seconds felt like hours as Bullhead after Bullhead carried survivors to safety with only the occasional Grimm that clawed its way over or around the wall until one of the Paladins turned and opened fire into the other mech. Weiss watched in silent horror as everyone began to scatter and fire on the armoured unit until it turned to face them; on the front, she saw the mask of a Geist.
A Grimm was now in control of one of the most advanced military tech Atlas had to offer.
Weiss saw that the last Bullhead was still on the ground. With a quick look back, she could see soldiers waved their arms for them to get on, but Weiss knew if no one stayed to stop that possessed Paladin, they would all be blown out of the air. Jabbing her finger to her ear, Weiss screamed to the pilot.
"Get that Bullhead out of here now! We'll take care of the Paladin!" She saw the cockpit pilot give a quick salute and lifted up into the air, leaving herself, half the stormtroopers and the Vacuoan soldiers to defend them from the Paladin. Without Aura, Weiss knew the regular soldiers would have nothing to protect them from the Paladin's weapon systems, that much Weiss witness as its chaingun ripped through the regular Atlesian soldiers like paper.
The Grimm began to make their way around the wall, and Weiss knew they had very little time left. Taking a deep breath, she focused on her summon and hoped nothing would interrupt her until her Knight was here. From above her, she saw him pull himself into their reality and stood before her. He towered over them and charged straight for the Paladin. Even with the Grimm firing everything it had at it, her Knight kept charging forward with its sword, cleaving off one of its arms, causing the munitions stored inside to explode, opening the wall to the swarm.
"Everyone get to me!" Weiss shouted as she spun her weapon and took another deep breath. She needed to concentrate if she was going to save everyone around her. Focusing on a large Glyph that spun out around her feet, everyone stumbled as she lifted it up with everyone standing on it. A few of them slipped and fell down onto the Dust fuelled platform, causing Weiss to focus on the careful balancing, so no one falls off from the hight.
Below them, Weiss watched as her Knight ran its sword through the Paladin to pin it to the ground. Reaching with its open hand, it ripped the Geist out of the war machine by its mask, only for its head to be crushed when the Knight crushed it in its hand. The victory was short-lived when the horde latched onto her Knight, dragging it to the ground and tearing it apart before it completely dissolved in white dissipate.
All around them, the city was quickly falling apart; the constant shelling from the Dreadnaught above them levelled half the city, with the other half completely drowning in Grimm.
Around them, Weiss saw the sky was filled with Bullheads all heading towards the Mantle of Responsibility, one of them had Yang's wild golden mane flying in the wind as she hung out the door to watched the chaos around them. She knew there were so many more people that needed to be saved down there, but they were so few, and the hordes of Grimm were endless. She did not envy General Ironwoods' command to decide where the line was to call for the retreat.
The soldiers all looked back at the city behind her; all Weiss could do is look forward and protect the ones she can.
A/N: Im sure it goes without saying, but I'm sorry for having such a large gap between chapters. Life hasn't been kind to me as of late. I can't promise regular updates but I can promise that I have not given up on this series.
For those who have stuck around for me, thank you so much for your patience and support of this series. I can't wait to see what Vol 8 has in store for us but I can't wait to implement whatever I can.
If you enjoyed, leave a favourite! If you already have, leave a comment! I love reading them and I love replying to them. This story is also posted on AO3 under the same name. So if you read there as well, come show your support! And as always, thank you for taking time out of your busy days to read my slice of madness!