Twenty minutes later, Roy emerged from the room and nodded to Aster, "You should probably wait until it gets dark to leave. Otherwise, someone might stop you."

Aster's scroll chimed in her pocket and she checked it, "Sounds good, what are you guys gonna do while I'm gone?"

Roy's hand toyed with Μόνος' hilt, "I'm going to talk to Peri to see what we have for defenses. I can't remember everything from Prof. Greene's class but I know I can come up with something."

Dahlia cleared her throat, "I think you mean we'll come up with something. It helps that Akichi has a perimeter wall."

Roy nodded, "It really does, but the lack of any sort of door is worrying."

Aster grinned at the two, "I'll leave you guys to it. I'll stay out of sight until it's time to go."

Roy nodded, "Good luck Aster."

The pilot winked, "as if I've ever needed luck."

Roy and Dahlia left the room, descending the stairs into the main hall. Peri was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. "Okay huntsmen, you got us into this mess, now you're gonna get us out."

Dahlia raised her hand, "Um...I'm a huntress."

Peri waved her hand, "I don't care, Now…" her brow furrowed, "where's the tall one?"

Roy's mind raced for a moment, but Dahlia spoke for him, "She's resting upstairs, it's that time of the month."

Peri nodded knowingly, "Ah, I hope she feels better before tomorrow."

Dahlia laughed nervously, "Yep, it's a rough one."

Roy cringed inwardly as he realized what Dahlia meant, Well, that's definitely a better lie than I would've come up with. "What are our plans for defenses?" he asked.

Peri motioned for them to follow as she led them out of the house, "Our walls are strong but as you've probably noticed, we lack any real gate or door. We've decided to build ourselves an impromptu gate."

The three of them walked down the main street toward the gate, where several of the town's warriors were hard at work. As they drew near, the wall came into view. It was about 20 feet high and was made of brick covered in plaster to give it that spotless white appearance. The gate that pierced the wall was round, standing about 10 feet in height and lacking any sort of gate. Many pieces of wood had been fashioned into a makeshift gate and pressed up against the opening of the gate, held in place by several large rocks.

Roy eyed the construct skeptically, "That's not going to hold."

Peri huffed, "Even if it doesn't it will funnel the grimm through the gates; making them easy targets."

Roy turned to fix the woman with his single blue eye, "You've never seen a grimm pack invade before have you?"

Peri stiffened, "And you have?"

Roy nodded, "It's like a river of black and white, a river that will kill or maim anything that is foolish enough to be in its path."

Peri sighed, "I can tell from your eyes that you're not lying. What would you suggest we do?"

Roy stood back and looked the street up and down. "I have one idea, it's an older tactic but it just might work." He pointed to the sides of the street, "If we make barricades of sharpened sticks and set them at strategic intervals, we could funnel the grimm down the main street. That way, we can control the flow better and won't be overwhelmed."

Peri chewed her lip, "We would need to send teams to get wood."

Dahlia raised her hand, "we can do that." The armored woman's eyes narrowed and Dahlia sighed, "I'll make sure he doesn't go anywhere."

Peri grunted, "You'd better."

The smaller girl offered her a smile before turning and walking toward the outer wall, pulling Roy by the arm. A short time later, the two of them wandered into the woods with axes in hand. After a few minutes of walking, they reached the area where the Dusty Daydream sat. As the ship crashed, a large amount of trees had been knocked over, giving them plenty of material for their barricade.

Roy walked over to where the trees had been set aside and began swinging his axe into the trunks. Dahlia began to chip away at the open ends of the logs until they were sharp, her axe making short work of the soft birch. The late afternoon sun was still hot, and Roy ended up shedding first his jacket, then his shirt. As he swung his axe into the tree once more, he realized Dahlia had stopped. He turned to check on her and found the smaller girl gazing at him with a sad look on her face.

"What?" he asked, a bit more forceful than he meant to.

Dahlia winced slightly at his tone, "It's just...You've got more scars than you used to."

Roy tensed slightly as she moved behind him to examine the scars and felt her hand gently touch the three vertical claw marks. "Are these…" she began.

"From the beowolves? Yeah." he finished.

Dahlia was quiet for a couple seconds, then spoke in a quiet voice, "Sit with me."

Roy went to grab his axe once more, "Lia we don't have time."

Dahlia sat on the log and patted the spot next to her, "We make time then."

Roy sighed and settled next to her. The woods were quiet around them and not the good kind of quiet either. It was a calm before a storm, a quiet with unease rippling through every second. No birds or bugs singing, just the rustle of the leaves and the occasional creak of a tree.

Despite this, Roy could still see how beautiful the area was. Under different circumstances I would love it here.

"So…" He said quietly, "Want to have that talk?"

Dahlia nodded and Roy sighed, "Where do you want to start?"

The smaller girl leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "Something's wrong with you."

Roy couldn't help but let out a short, mirthless laugh, "Everyone else thinks so too."

Dahlia leaned back, "maybe that should tell you something."

Roy nodded, "it does."

The smaller girl gave him a slightly incredulous look, "Does it?"

"Yes!" the faunus snapped, standing up quickly, "I know I screwed up! Everyone in this village is in danger, Ebony is injured and…And...!" he clutched his head and sank back down on the log as his emotions overpowered his voice, "I hurt her. This whole mess is my fault."

Dahlia patted his arm. "The fact that you know you screwed up speaks volumes," she said quietly, "It means you're one step closer to fixing it."

Roy took a deep breath, bringing his emotions back under control, "I just wish it hadn't taken losing Ebony to make me see."

Dahlia hummed thoughtfully, "You didn't lose her. She knew it was the only way and I think she was right."

Roy looked at the smaller girl, "She told you this?"

The smaller girl nodded, plucking a dandelion from between her feet, "She needed someone to discuss the decision with and I agreed."

Roy processed the information, "Why did she want Morado?"

Dahlia began plucking the fuzz off of the dandelion, "She wanted to apologize on your behalf and ask him to talk to his parents about the agreement."

Roy felt a pang in his heart; even after everything he'd done, Ebony was still vouching for him. "I don't deserve her, Dahlia." he said quietly.

Dahlia snorted, tossing the dandelion stem to the ground, "I know she'd box your ears if she heard you say that. You're not perfect, and you screw up sometimes, but everyone deserves to be happy."

The two of them lapsed into silence, looking out over the glade. The birds still weren't singing, but a few crickets had plucked up their voices to add some cadence to the quiet scene.

"Is…" Dahlia said quietly, "is the one horizontal scar on your back from…Adam Taurus?"

Roy looked over at the smaller girl and found her hand clutching her shirt above where she'd been stabbed. "Yeah, it is." he said simply, "How did your wounds heal?"

Dahlia raised her shirt slightly, revealing her stomach. The scar stood out pale against the surrounding flesh, sitting slightly to the left of the navel and stretching down to just underneath the waist of her pants. Roy took the sight in then looked away; it felt slightly odd ogling his teammate like that.

"Not very pretty is it?" Dahlia asked sheepishly.

Roy shot her a questioning glance, "You do realize who you're talking to right?"

Dahlia let out an exasperated sigh as she dropped her shirt back down, "I knoooow, I'm just not used to having them." She was silent for a few moments. "Do you think Hunter will mind?"

Despite how he felt, Roy couldn't help but chuckle at the smaller girl's words, so that's what the real problem is, "Dahlia Shino, Hunter will be relieved you're still breathing. If there's one thing that I've learned from Ebony, it would be that love is blind to scars."

Dahlia smiled cheerily at Roy, "I hope so, I just hope I don't have to fight other girls off for him when we get there."

Roy laughed, "I hope so too. Come on, we should get this done before it gets dark."

Dahlia dramatically draped herself over the log, "My arms will be so tired once we finish! You will have to carry everything!"

Roy smiled at his teammate's dramatics, "Yeah, not gonna happen."

The two of them resumed their work, the sinking sun a steady reminder that they were running out of time.

-:-

Darkness had settled over Akichi when Aster finally made her move. Using her semblance, she wrapped one of her ribbons around her bedpost and used it to swiftly rappel down the sides of the town hall.

This is just like that one Spruce Willis movie. She thought, beginning to hum the theme to herself. She finally reached the ground and allowed the ribbon to fade away. "Alright," she whispered, " now to…" she patted her pockets and felt her heart drop, "awww dammit."

After one more trip back up the wall, Aster once more set foot on the firm ground; this time with her scroll securely in her pocket. That would've sucked, she thought as she made her way towards the north wall of the village. The pilot reached her destination and strained her eyes in the dim light to find a nearby tree to wrap her ribbons around.

"Miss?"

Aster cursed inwardly as she heard a female's voice from right behind her, just play it cool, Aster.

She turned around to find one of the town's guards, a very cute squirrel faunus with a large bushy tail, regarding her with a confused look.

"What's up?" Aster asked nonchalantly.

The girl raised an eyebrow, a nose piercing glinting in the light of a lantern she carried, "Apparently you at this hour."

Aster laughed, trying to keep the nerves out of her voice, "Well you know, I find it hard to sleep without a little cutie to cuddle."

You idiot! Why are you flirting now! she screamed inwardly.

Fortunately, the guard blushed and a small smile appeared on her face, "Well I hope you find what you're looking for and get to sleep soon."

Aster leaned against the wall, "Maybe I already have." she said seductively.

Oh my gods! WHYYYYYYYYYY?! her inward voice howled.

The squirrel faunus let out an adorable little squeak and the blush on her cheeks deepened, "I...Well...Not tonight. I have to pull an all-nighter."

Aster sighed sadly, "Maybe after this whole mess then?"

The squirrel nodded, "Aye, maybe." she quickly turned away with a swish of her bushy tail and vanished between the houses.

Aster couldn't believe her ploy had worked, Although honestly, I wouldn't mind spending the night with...no, behave Aster!

She waited a few more minutes until she was sure the girl was out of earshot. Then, she flung out one of her ribbons, hooked onto a thick birch tree, and pulled herself over the wall. Twigs snapped beneath her feet as she landed, sounding much louder than normal in the stillness of the night.

Quickly taking out her scroll, she clicked it on; illuminating the woods around her in an eerie blue light. She could see her scroll on the map, highlighted by a purple dot. The bandit camp was marked by a small dagger icon, about four miles in front of her.

Aster placed the scroll back into her pocket and took off, full speed, into the woods. As she ran, she felt her chakrams bumping against her thighs as she ran. They'd been a gift from her more adventurous aunt. Her mother had never approved of her having them and had taken them away. Aster could safely say that the day she stole them back and left home had been the best day of her life.

I've never used them against grimm, but how hard can it be? She thought.

The woods passed in a shadowy blur, branches and bushes giving way before the pilot's onward charge. About 12 minutes later, she crashed through a bush and almost collided with a pack of four ursai standing directly in her way.

"Welp!" she yelped, backpedalling furiously, "I guess there's a first time for everything!"

The largest of the grimm let out a thunderous roar and the pack charged her. Aster drew her chakrams, feeling her aura wrap itself around the weapons. She flung one of them forward and felt it sink deep into one of the rearmost grimm. Yanking on the ribbon, she pulled herself forward and used her remaining ring to scythe through the other grimm straggler. The pilot landed on her feet, recoiling her aura and recovering her dancing ring. She began to bounce on the balls of her feet, gripping her weapons tightly as she faced down the two remaining ursai.

"Come on boys, don't keep a lady waiting!" she taunted and the two grimm charged her with a roar.

Aster struck a pose and then launched into her dance. The bladed rings sang in her hands as she twirled and dipped, launching a kick into the closest ursa's face. The grimm staggered back, but the second one charged forward, capitalizing on the opening and bowling her over. Aster turned her tumble into a graceful roll, coming up on one knee. Both Ursa began to circle her, snapping their jaws and scraping the ground with their massive claws.

I don't have time for this,

Aster thought, I need to get to the bandits before sunrise.She shot toward the smaller of the two, expecting it to stand and take the blow. The ursa moved faster than she expected, dodging to the left and raking her with its claws as she passed. The claws were deflected by her aura, but the blow sent her spinning off course. Her back collided with a tree and she felt her aura drain even further.

Shit, she thought, shaking her head to clear it.

The ursa was already charging her as she staggered to her feet. Standing her ground, Aster swung both rings horizontally, smashing into the grimm as it pounced. The blow relieved the beast of its jaw and cut its throat in one go. The ursa slumped to the forest floor with one final gurgle.

Aster was breathing hard as she stepped around the corpse. "Whew, that was… she paused, "Wait, wasn't there-"

The last ursa smashed into her, breaking her aura and sending her weapons flying from her hands. Aster cried out as she bounced off of the ground, feeling twigs and rocks tear her skin. She finally came to a stop and turned to find the ursa already charging her. It lashed out, its claws tearing wide bloody gashes in her arm as she dodged. Her hand flew to the injury feeling the blood drip between her fingers.

"Agh, shit!" She hissed, running away from the enraged beast.

Her foot hit a root in the darkness and sent her sprawling onto the ground. Her head hit the ground a little too hard, causing her to see stars. She could feel the ursa coming closer and closer, but her head was spinning too hard to get up.

I'm sorry Roy, She thought, her fist clenching, I effed up.

The ursa was standing over her now, raising its paw to finish the job. Aster closed her eyes, accepting her fate with a defiant smirk on her face.

A blade suddenly pierced the beast from behind, scyting upwards and cutting it in twain.

"What the…" Aster breathed as she watched the grimm slump to the ground. Edel Veiss stood where the ursa had been, her sword glinting in the moonlight.

"You have a lot of nerve showing your face around here," she snapped, "is the cat-eared idiot with you?"

Aster shook her head, "no, but he sent me with a message; we need you."

Edel sighed, sheathing her sword with a snap, "I know you do, we noticed something driving the grimm into a frenzy. But why isn't he delivering the message himself?"

Aster grit her teeth as the pain in her arm flared slightly, "Mrs Der-Riese told him not to talk to you, so he sent me instead."

Edel's eyebrow went up, "he actually listened? Maybe there is still some hope for him."

Aster stood, feeling the blood drip down off of her finger tips, "I know there is ma'am. He's a good kid, he's just been hurt in a lot of ways."

Edel hummed thoughtfully as she moved Aster's hand to look at her arm, "perhaps. Come to the camp, we'll fix your arm and see how well you can argue your case."

-:-

About 15 minutes later, Aster sat in the main long house in the bandit's camp. At the front of the room, sat Argent, with Edel sitting to his right and his son sitting to his left. Aster was sitting on a wooden bench, her flying jacket draped next to her as a healer's needle weaved in and out of the cuts on her arm.

Argent regarded her sternly, his eyes steely and resolute, "Why are you here?"

Aster winced as the needle pierced her flesh once more, "I came to ask you to help us."

Argent sighed, tapping the arm of his chair, "It isn't that simple, we have a reputation to uphold. If any of the other bandit tribes heard we shrugged off someone attacking us, they would see that as weakness and move in to claim our land. Your friend's village wouldn't last much longer after that."

Aster nodded, "I understand, but Akichi needs your help. The people there aren't warriors; there are only a handful of guards there. Roy knows how important your help is, which is why he sent me."

Argent stood and walked forward to look down on Aster where she stood, "If it's so important, why didn't he come himself?"

Edel followed her husband and whispered something into his ear. Argent raised an eyebrow at his wife and returned to his seat, "So that's why, alright Aster Ving, let's hear it."

The medic finished up and moved away, allowing the pilot to stand. Aster took Roy's scroll out of her pocket and set it on a small round platform sitting a few feet in front of where the bandit leaders sat. A few seconds later the scroll began to project an image of Roy above the platform. Looking at him now, Aster realized just how tired Roy looked. He had dark circles under his eyes and his hair, which was already starting to grow out, was disheveled. After a few seconds, Roy cleared his throat and began to speak.

"This message is for Argent Veiss, the head of the Veiss tribe. You have no reason to listen to, much less forgive me. I will beg your forgiveness in due course, but the safety of Akichi comes first. The village is being threatened by a large group of grimm, which I caused the wyrm to attract when I attacked it. This village didn't attack you, I did. Please don't punish them for my actions. I will be better. I must be better. But I cannot fix myself alone. Once we've fought the grimm off, I will present myself for whatever punishment you see fit. Pause the message here Aster."

The pilot silently stepped forward and paused the message. The Viesses exchanged looks, Argent murmuring a few quiet words to his wife. Morado leaned over and added his own hushed tones to the quiet conversation. Aster fidgeted slightly, waiting for the bandits to finish their deliberation.

The bandit chieftain turned his steely blue eyes to the pilot, "I've heard his argument, but I'd like to hear yours."

Aster raised an eyebrow, "my argument?"

Argent gestured to the scroll, "While I would commend the boy for his cleverness, a recorded message is technically talking to us. I'd like to hear how you would've asked for our help."

The pilot took a moment, choosing her words carefully. "I fought for my life tonight, and I lost." she began, If Mrs Veiss hadn't been there I would've died. I'm not used to fighting grimm for real, but those people in the village are even less prepared than I am. My friends and the guards aren't enough; they need your help."

Argent nodded, "That was well said, if brief"

Aster tossed her head with a small scoff, "I'm not one for speeches."

Morado chose that moment to speak up, "If everyone in the village dies, won't we have failed at a duty that our ancestors have upheld for decades?"

Argent grunted thoughtfully, "Methinks Akichi has grown a tad too comfortable relying on us. After this is over, we should lend a hand training their guards."

Aster perked up, "then you'll help?!"

Edel rolled her eyes, "Of course. Young as he is, our son makes an excellent point. I'm not about to let a village we've been protecting get overrun by grimm."

Argent nodded, "Indeed, but we'll need to formulate a plan."

Aster raised her hand, "I think Roy might have you covered there."

Leaning forward, the pilot pressed 's face was replaced by a map schematic that showed the grimm's location.

"In hopes that you will help us, I humbly offer up the following plan. We need to do something about the wyrm. It seems to be giving off some sort of pheromone that keeps drawing in grimm from the surrounding area. If we can cut off the source of the pheromone, we can stop the grimm from coming. While we distract the main force of grimm here at Akichi, you and your tribe will be taking on the wyrm. It's armor is too thick to be attacked from the sides or above, your only option is to attack it from below. From what Ebony and I experienced yesterday, we know it can spit a poison that sticks to a target until their aura is broken. Avoid this at all costs. Its flank is guarded by its stinger tail which appears to inject subjects with the same type of poison. I am sending Aster along with you as insurance; a way to show that we're not just sitting back and letting you do the hard work. Me and my teammate Dahlia will defend Akichi until we either win or die trying. I pray you decide to help us."

The message ended, the blue glow of the hologram fading away. Aster picked the device up and stowed it back in her pocket. All was quiet, save for the sounds of the forest outside.

Finally Argent spoke, "He certainly gave us an outline of a plan."

The dismissive way he said this caused Aster's heart to fall, "Not enough for you?" She asked.

Argent shook his head, "It is a sound plan, but it's missing several key details. Mainly how to defeat the wyrm. He does give us a list of its weaknesses, that in itself is rather helpful."

Aster pointed at Edel, "Why don't you just use her silver eyes?"

The older woman blinked, "My...what?"

Aster felt her jaw drop, "lady are you telling me you have no idea what silver eyes are?" Edel shook her head and Aster pointed to her own pink eyes, "It means you can freeze grimm with lasers from your eyes! My aunt used to tell me stories about them when I was a girl."

Argent was looking over at his wife, "Your father never…"

Edel shook her head, "he told me stories about silver eyed warriors, but thats all they were...stories!" The bandit Matriarch looked torn, "but, that...thing that happened the other night with Roy...could that have been..."

Aster raised an eyebrow, "I was unconscious the whole time, what happened?"

Edel looked over at her son, her silver eyes never leaving him as she spoke, "Roy was threatening my son and I was angry. Suddenly, my head hurt and everything went...white."

Aster scratched her head, "well, suffice it to say, you can't just use them. Even if you did, they'd probably only be able to stun the grimm. But if we can stun it, maybe we can knock it off balance and expose its underbelly."

Argent snapped his fingers, "That's what I wanted, a plan of attack. Question is; do you have a backup in case my wife can't shoot her lazer beams."

Edel smacked her husband on the arm, "Honey! Stop talking about it like that! I'm not a damn robot."

Aster chuckled, "if I can wrap my aura ribbons around its head and yank it back, that should provide enough access to its belly to get a good blow in."

Argent nodded in approval, "What was the situation at Akichi when you left?" He asked.

Aster grew serious, "Roy and Dahlia are doing their best to shore up the defenses but there's no telling how long they'll hold; the town is nowhere near prepared to deal with the amount of grimm heading their way."

Argent gazed solemnly at his wife, "I hope they can hold as long as they have too."

This chapter took a lot of reworking to get it to where it is, but I'm a lot happier with it now than I was before I edited it. That's the beauty of writing. You start off with grammar vomit, full of errors and mistakes, only to end up with something that might actually be enjoyable to read. This story isn't over, not by a long shot.

Until next we meet!

-Ar3mRising